Jun
15
Are you the next Isaac Asimov? Or perhaps the new Douglas Adams? There’s only one way to find out, and it starts with getting published… and SciFiNow and Tor are here to help.
Millions of sci-fi and fantasy fans across the world dream of having their own novel on sale but unfortunately getting your opus published has always been a much tougher task than even the most skilled wordsmith would like… until now. Demonstrating our commitment to both the best in sci-fi and fantasy as well as emerging literary talent, SciFiNow has teamed up with leading SF imprint Tor to offer an unprecedented prize for one lucky reader: to get your SF masterwork published.
For many it will be the chance to realise a long-held ambition, to others it will be a totally new challenge, but the opportunity to prove yourself as one of the best new SF authors remains regardless of experience. SciFiNow and Tor are looking to champion the best new writers, and it’s down to you to prove yourself worthy.
To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize, readers must enter a full synopsis of their novel along with the first three chapters by 20 August. Needless to say the novel must sit comfortably within the sci-fi and fantasy genres.
After all the entries have been received, a shortlist of six will be drawn up. The winning entry will be decided on by a judging panel comprised of members of the SciFiNow team and Tor. The winner will be announced in SciFiNow #35 on sale 25 November.
All entries should be sent to warofthewords@imagine-publishing.co.uk along with a name and contact details.
For a full list of rules and regulations go to http://www.scifinow.co.uk/competitions/war-of-the-words-rules-and-regulations/
For more on War Of The Words go to
http://www.scifinow.co.uk/category/competitions/
It is good to see that these occasional competitions to find a new writer still take place every few years.
I do wish all those entering the best of luck. Having said that, it does not hurt to have a dollop of sobriety with entrants recognising that those that stand a good chance of winning (or being shortlisted) will allready have had some success with short-story writing in professional SF magazines (_Interzone_ in the UK being a particularly notable example but there are others) or in journalism or other specialist (but professional level) writing.
I guess my concern is that these competitions while worthy can engender false hope as nothing can replace practical experience of finding one’s feet with words.
Look forward to the outcome (hope its rock hard SF)…
Wise words, Mr. Cowie. I’ll be keeping them in mind when I send un my own entry (on the strength of nothing but a two years worth of unsuccessful screenwriting).
Still, this is a great opportunity and I’m rather excited.
I ask the moderators that this competition be opened to residents of the Commonwealth. Say, citizens of Australia, Canada, NZ… so on and so forth.
After all, what’s the point of being a member of the Commonwealth – which you English guys started with your empire, by the way – if there are no practical advantages? (I mean seriously, the Commonwealth games offer no advantage to the average sci-fiction or fantasy reader now, do they? You can’t brandish them around as a consolation prize…)
Here’s hoping you open the competition boundaries – and at the same time stretch the boundaries of the world.
Regards,
Vic K.
Vic:
I suspect the reason that it’s UK-only is due to the fact that any author would be required to attend press events, meet face-to-face in London, go to signings and other such activities, which would be far more difficult if the winner was based in Australia/NZ/Canada, or any of the other Commonwealth countries.
In addition, Tor also has other operations in different countries, they are the UK branch so they handle UK competitions.
We’re not furthering the imperialist agenda, not need to panic.
This is great news for aspiring writers. As someone who has benefited from a similar competition Pan Macmillan ran in conjunction with Channel 4 five years go, I can say from experience that this is an opportunity not to be missed.
On the subject of engendering false hope and being up against more established short story writers, even though Jonathan has made a good point that it’s best to be level headed in terms of expectation, from experience I would say that a new writer (i.e. someone with no previous publishing credentials) probably has as much chance of winning the competition as someone without, because a good short story writer or journalist does not necessarily translate into a good novelist (just look at the winners of Pan’s last novel writing competition in 2004 – not a writing professional among them…) And if the quality of the entries are high enough, I very much doubt that Tor/Pan Macmillan will pass on half a dozen China Mievilles or Neil Ashers even if there is only one overall winner.
That’s just my opinion though (might not be right!) and I’ll be happy to spread the word for the competition as far and wide as I can…
[...] more about the competition here - they’re looking for a synopsis plus three chapters by 20th August. If you’re minded [...]
Dear Sir,
Clause 3 of the rules is not clear about self publishing. In the rules it is ok to have been self published, but in the comments section it appears not. Please clarify asap.
Have tried sending email but you address does not seem to work.
Best Wishes,
Alan Cash
Hi Alan,
I’ll check on Monday when I’m back in the office, but I think that the novel you submit can’t have been self-published before. As I said though, I’ll clarify this next week. As for the e-mail address, that’s peculiar – perhaps try e-mailing it from another account?
- James.
Dear Mr Rundle,
Could I have a reply further to my query of the 26th June and your reply of the 27th June, when you were going to follow this up for me? Many thanks.
Best Wishes,
Alan Cash
Hi Alan,
The rules state:
” Entrants who have had a full-length novel previously published by a trade publisher anywhere in the world will not be eligible, (so you will not be excluded by virtue of having any previously self-published work). Additionally this competition is not open to employees or their immediate families of the Promoters and any companies within the Imagine Publishing Ltd. group of companies or the Macmillan Publishers Limited group of companies. ”
So you should be fine. Confusion arose from previous versions of the regs, before we opened the competition up. Essentially self-published is okay, but if you’ve had a professionally published novel, you will not be eligible.
Hope that helps,
James.
[...] Become a published SF author! Jul 14 [...]
[...] Become a published SF author! Jul 14 [...]
[...] Become a published SF author! Jul 14 [...]
thanksssss
Well… won’t be long now.
amazing work .. beautiful …
Hi. I just noticed that this page doesn’t display correctly in my browser. Oh well, I think I’ll just used the tried and tested Internet Explorer.
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