So you've got a writing award? Well done! Exactly what can you do at this moment to get the most from your award, so it can bring you yet further cash?
Clever award scheme promoters will do every little thing they can to publicise the achievement. Of course, your writer's name, plus possibly the successful tale, should show up in their online site or another public place to pay tribute to you and - particularly - to attract potential entrants to enter in upcoming contests.
All revenue apart, to view your tale published and accessible by thousands of people is often a delight by itself. Many winners in a creative writing contest declare the global recognition is far more enjoyable than the money. In fact, numerous contest organizers have wondered why they bother to give money at all.
Note this word of advice: have a biographical dossier readily available for all those occasions, most likely a lot of them, when some contest publicist will ask you: 'do email me a graphic and around one hundred words outlining your profession, age, family, interests, previously printed tales plus any authors' journals or web forums you take part in.
The latter details are extremely important to a publicity-savvy promoter. If you read a writing magazine or Internet forum, they'll hustle to publicize your triumph there to attract future contestants. They might even tell your nearby newspaper or even radio. (Be sure to make it crystal clear to the publicists, when they approach you, whether you're comfortable about such publicity.)
Compile this dossier into a ready-to-hand file on your computer plus a suitable digital picture. If however you own your own web or blogsite that features your current writing activities a number of promoters will be glad to publicize its address. That may bring extra folk to your site.
Needless to say, there is also cash to be had by putting together your stories - no matter whether they win or fail to win - into an e-book or some other digital item and promoting the tales from your internet site. You could even sell your fiction in the form of a conventional paper book, produced in minimal quantities using a print-on-demand computer printer.
It's easy to discover the how-to's of electronic book creation online.
Do be aware that some promoters of story writing contests require you to send wholly unpublished stories. So they may regard tales that you sell on your website as 'already published' stories. Note the guidelines!
Precisely what could you gain from participating in story contests?
You're not likely to surpass the earnings of Phillippa Gregory by entering writing contests alone, though your narratives will most likely be a whole lot better. Never mind. We'll work the sums...
Imagine you go into only a hundred competitions every twelve months you'll probably gain close to $5500. That is provided you are a proficient author, of course.
Over time, you'll do far better when your skill gets better and you acquire a sense for the things contest judges watch out for. When your strike rate increases, it's easy to accumulate $9000 or more each and every year.
That is assuming you don't gain a truly big prize in four or five figures. Yet, odds are, if you persevere and your craft skill improves - you certainly will. You will probably acquire quite a few serious awards every year.
At this stage you may choose to increase your investment in the quantity of stories you send and your income will grow as a result.
Indeed, by then you will be devoting virtually every leisure hour to working for contests. However, many thousands of men and women do just that! Several big-circulation periodicals and online sites cater for dedicated competition enthusiasts. Virtually every single day these people accept wins, which range from a Hershey bar to a five figure dollar sum or some incredible holiday break.
Without a doubt, at this stage you may not have to submit to any more contests!
Why? You will now have a collection of countless really good tested tales as well as a fabulous list of contest wins to brag about. You can contact a literary agent with a bigger program that you have recently been perfecting, like a major novel.
Indeed, a single win every now and then in a very insignificant competition won't wow a discerning agent. Nonetheless a dozen or more big awards definitely will, particularly when these also include a number of very renowned competitions. And then a publisher might actually look over your work and provide you with a deal. And then your life is going to shift. Most comfortably.
You will have discovered your very own win-win contest workshop. Step one towards a profitable fiction future is quite typically to become an amateur competition entrant.
Clever award scheme promoters will do every little thing they can to publicise the achievement. Of course, your writer's name, plus possibly the successful tale, should show up in their online site or another public place to pay tribute to you and - particularly - to attract potential entrants to enter in upcoming contests.
All revenue apart, to view your tale published and accessible by thousands of people is often a delight by itself. Many winners in a creative writing contest declare the global recognition is far more enjoyable than the money. In fact, numerous contest organizers have wondered why they bother to give money at all.
Note this word of advice: have a biographical dossier readily available for all those occasions, most likely a lot of them, when some contest publicist will ask you: 'do email me a graphic and around one hundred words outlining your profession, age, family, interests, previously printed tales plus any authors' journals or web forums you take part in.
The latter details are extremely important to a publicity-savvy promoter. If you read a writing magazine or Internet forum, they'll hustle to publicize your triumph there to attract future contestants. They might even tell your nearby newspaper or even radio. (Be sure to make it crystal clear to the publicists, when they approach you, whether you're comfortable about such publicity.)
Compile this dossier into a ready-to-hand file on your computer plus a suitable digital picture. If however you own your own web or blogsite that features your current writing activities a number of promoters will be glad to publicize its address. That may bring extra folk to your site.
Needless to say, there is also cash to be had by putting together your stories - no matter whether they win or fail to win - into an e-book or some other digital item and promoting the tales from your internet site. You could even sell your fiction in the form of a conventional paper book, produced in minimal quantities using a print-on-demand computer printer.
It's easy to discover the how-to's of electronic book creation online.
Do be aware that some promoters of story writing contests require you to send wholly unpublished stories. So they may regard tales that you sell on your website as 'already published' stories. Note the guidelines!
Precisely what could you gain from participating in story contests?
You're not likely to surpass the earnings of Phillippa Gregory by entering writing contests alone, though your narratives will most likely be a whole lot better. Never mind. We'll work the sums...
Imagine you go into only a hundred competitions every twelve months you'll probably gain close to $5500. That is provided you are a proficient author, of course.
Over time, you'll do far better when your skill gets better and you acquire a sense for the things contest judges watch out for. When your strike rate increases, it's easy to accumulate $9000 or more each and every year.
That is assuming you don't gain a truly big prize in four or five figures. Yet, odds are, if you persevere and your craft skill improves - you certainly will. You will probably acquire quite a few serious awards every year.
At this stage you may choose to increase your investment in the quantity of stories you send and your income will grow as a result.
Indeed, by then you will be devoting virtually every leisure hour to working for contests. However, many thousands of men and women do just that! Several big-circulation periodicals and online sites cater for dedicated competition enthusiasts. Virtually every single day these people accept wins, which range from a Hershey bar to a five figure dollar sum or some incredible holiday break.
Without a doubt, at this stage you may not have to submit to any more contests!
Why? You will now have a collection of countless really good tested tales as well as a fabulous list of contest wins to brag about. You can contact a literary agent with a bigger program that you have recently been perfecting, like a major novel.
Indeed, a single win every now and then in a very insignificant competition won't wow a discerning agent. Nonetheless a dozen or more big awards definitely will, particularly when these also include a number of very renowned competitions. And then a publisher might actually look over your work and provide you with a deal. And then your life is going to shift. Most comfortably.
You will have discovered your very own win-win contest workshop. Step one towards a profitable fiction future is quite typically to become an amateur competition entrant.
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