Amber L. Carter's Blog, page 64
February 29, 2012
How to enter a book contest without having an anxiety attack.
Contests for authors are a tricky thing...especially for new and independent (aka, non-rich) authors. You have to have either a lot of faith in the worth of your book, or a lot of money that you're okay never seeing again. Case in point: Today I took a leap and entered HOLIDAY CHICK into the IndieReader Discovery Awards. It's $150 to enter a book into a main category, and $50 for each additional category you may wish to also enter said book into. Even if you don't win, your book will be read by an esteemed panel of agents, publishers, managers, and a bunch of other kids who can help take your writing career to the next level AND you're guarenteed a review on IndieReader (kind of a big deal. In the olden days, authors paid big bucks for them to review a book. Now you just take your chances by sending your book in and hope that someone likes it enough to review it instead of throwing it into a pile to langish for years). The only sad news is that if you win, you're not guarenteed a deal (but let's face it - if the panel liked your book enough to award you a winner...you're gonna get signed by someone).
As you can probably figure out, this contest is a pretty fail-safe one to enter your first time out. With other contests, if you don't win? You're out some serious change, so much so that even the esteemed ones can seem like a racket. But with IndieReader, even if you lose, that $150 still gets a review and your book studied by people you otherwise would have to pound the digital pavement to even get an email read by them. But I was still a little scared, last night, as I chatted with Chris about it on IM. Would it be worth it? Did I really want to spend $150 on a book contest? Would that $150 maybe be better spent on Facebook ads or other marketing stuff or maybe...getting new brakes for my car or something? But Chris, being a filmmaker, related that it was a lot like film festivals - they require entry fees and there's never any guarentee that you're going to get anything out of it, no matter how awesome you might think your film is. But you gotta put up the dough, because it's an investment in your future, and an investment in your craft. And if I believe in HOLIDAY CHICK - and I do - then it's time to put my money where my mouth is.
So! We'll find out in June if the judges and reviewers liked HOLIDAY CHICK, or if they were all just a bunch of cycnical assholes who hate awesome stories about going down the rabbit hole when it comes to God, sex, and hot skateboarders.
What about you guys? Anyone out there enter a contest similar to this? Did you kind of die a little inside when you finalized the entry fee? Or was it the best thing you've ever done? I'll also be checking out some other contests this year to see what's up - I'M GONNA DOMINATE THE INDIE AUTHOR CIRCUIT, YOU GUYS - so if you know of any favorites or total-rip-offs, gimme the heads up. Unless you want to keep the contest a secret so you can win it all yourselves. I totally get that, because I'd probably do that, too.
*Sorry if you came here expecting a "How To" list of how to enter book contests. But there's a billion articles like that to be found on a Google Search, and they're all kind of boring, so you should maybe be happy that you got to read this instead. But just in case: 1) Read the contest directions. 2) Follow them. 3) The End.
Snow-in!
After the big Birkie weekend, I stayed up north to dog-sit for my parents until they got back from their trip late this evening.
Something tells me that I may not make it back home tomorrow.
Something tells me that I may not make it back home tomorrow.
