Submitting novels to writing competitions

It's hard to get noticed by a publisher or agent. You could have a great bestselling novel, but unless your query letter to an agent or editor knocks his or her socks off, you're not going to get a chance to show off your work.

One solution is enter writing competitions. Some of these have really attractive prizes, like publishing contracts. In 2009 I tried to submit Island of Fog to Writer's Digest, who offer many different competitions. I was interested in the International Self-Published Book Awards, where you get to send your finished printed book and they judge it in its entirety – writing skills, story, production values and everything else. Unfortunately I missed the deadline by one day. I'll try again this year!

Meanwhile I've entered Island of Fog for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA)...

The following are tagged/related posts from my blog...

Review by Publishers Weekly

Posted on May 3, 2010

Today the review of Island of Fog by Publishers Weekly was posted to my CreateSpace account. I promised I'd share it here, even though it's not the best review ever! It's not the worst either, but considering the "it's okay" tone I'm not really surprised they dropped me from the contest...

ABNA Publisher Weekly Reviewer
Hal Frankin and Robbie Strickland, both 12, have spent their entire lives on a fog shrouded island imaging how the world "Out There" compares to their gray existence. As supplies on the island dwindle, a mysterious visitor named Miss Simone comes to the island and starts asking the children if they have started developing any strange abilities. After they encounter a manticore in the woods, Hal and his friends discover they have the ability to shape-shift into mythical creatures, such as centaurs, dragons, and faeries. Fast paced with plenty of action, younger readers will enjoy the fantastical adventure elements of the plot. The narrative moves along despite any noticeable character development. There's a non sequitur moment in Hal's aside about Miss Simone, that she is a person who "spent very little time with children... and underestimated their intelligence" that doesn't fit in with overall tone of the novel. Combining precocious tweens with mythical beasts, the author delivers a solid, if rote, fantasy adventure.

I'm okay with the "despite any noticeable character development" comment, which is a fair observation. I'm also okay with the "author delivers a solid, if rote, fantasy adventure," which is at least half positive! Plus I hardly ever see use of the word "rote" and have to admit I like it. (Note to self: use "rote" in conversation more often. And note to Dad: "rote" does NOT mean "ritten.")

The comment about the "non sequitur moment" left me puzzled. The reviewer is talking about a passage on page 112:

Abigail spent much of the time rolling her eyes at Hal, and he had to agree that Miss Simone was making a fool of herself. Did she really think her feeble lies were convincing? Clearly she had spent very little time with children before, and completely underestimated their intelligence.

What exactly is irrelevant about that, and why doesn't it fit in with the overall tone of the novel? Maybe someone can explain this one to me as I'm a little puzzled by it!

But overall I guess it's a reasonably positive review, so I'm sorta-kinda pleased. It's good to have feedback from a tough critic like Publishers Weekly and be told that my novel doesn't completely suck. :-)

PS: I hope this post doesn't seem rote!

Farewell to ABNA

Posted on April 30, 2010

You may have gathered by now that Island of Fog failed to make it through to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinals. It's a shame, but oh well. Good luck to those who did!

I was waiting for the review from Publisher's Weekly to be posted to my account so I could copy it here. But it could be another few days yet, so I'll just have to post again when it shows up. The semifinals (50 novels in each category) were decided by Publisher's Weekly; they used some kind of point system. So it'll be interesting to see what they say and where I failed.

The good news is that my agent, Whitt Brantley, can now go ahead and talk to publishers directly. While the competition was going on, the book was kind of "tied up" with Penguin (the publishing sponsors of the competition) and Whitt was unable to approach anyone. But now he's free again. There's always a bright side, right?

I miss being "in the running" now that it's over. I'd gotten used to the idea that my book might possibly, conceivably, hopefully win. But there are at least 50 ABNA novels that are better or more appealing than mine, so there you go. That's okay, I'm not bitter. No no no, not at all. Really, I'm not. Am I bothered? Look at my face, do I look bothered? I didn't want to win the stupid competition anyway. I'm glad I didn't win...

Ahem. On a brighter note, I got news from a friend in Australia that my books are being introduced to a school library system there. To quote snippets from Heather's email:

Just heard back from Doris. She ordered the first two books via Amazon just under two weeks ago, and they arrived yesterday. She highly recommended them to the grade 5/6 classes (11-12 year olds) yesterday in their library class, and she also recommended them to [a] teacher to read to the class next term. She couldn't stop raving about them! ... Anyway, she absolutely loved the book and said as soon as she finished Island of Fog she was immediately inspired, which is why she jumped on the website and bought them straight away without even mentioning it to me. She's reading Labyrinth of Fire as we speak.

Thanks, Heather! And closer to home, I delivered 30 copies of Island of Fog to a teacher at the local middle school as requested. 30 copies of Labyrinth of Fire will follow next week.

See? Who needs a publisher anyway? :-p

ABNA expert reviewers

Posted on March 31, 2010

In my previous post I showed the two Amazon editorial reviews that I received for Island of Fog as part of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA). Today Amazon made the full versions of those reviews available in my CreateSpace account. You can't see them unless you log in, so again I'll post them here. I don't know why the "public" versions are cropped so short, but anyway, here they are in full:

ABNA Expert Reviewer

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

Interesting from the very start. The author was able to create an aura of mystery from the very first page. The writing was clear and crisp - to the point that you felt that you were in the woods with the two boys.

I also enjoyed how the story was allowed to build upon itself. The plot grabs quickly but it does not feel rushed. Overall, I was very impressed.

What aspect needs the most work?

The first 10,000 words are excellent, and I don't think there is a single word that I would change. However, the key for this novel is to maintain this type of momentum and not to fall into predictable plot devices, or becoming overly outlandish (see the TV show "Lost"), or having a cliche cookie cutter ending.

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

A nice blend of the TV show "Lost" with the movie "The Village." If the author can continue with this level of quality throughout the entire story I feel that they could have a hit novel on their hands. I certainly would be interested in reading the rest of the story!

ABNA Expert Reviewer

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

This YA excerpt starts with a prologue establishing a framework for the story: a group of people are on a fog-shrouded island, where they are being left according to the terms of some "plan." A stranger reassures them and leaves them with a means to signal her if they need help.

The action begins with twelve-year-olds Hal and Robbie exploring deep in the Black Woods. They discover a strange opening in the earth, Robbie has an unexplained spell that leaves his clothes in tatters, and a frightening creature sends them fleeing in terror. What threats are sharing the island with them? Why are they all there?

"Island of Fog" has many strengths but the most notable is the clean, crisp writing. The excerpt is full of physical action and it's very well described, quite visual in its clarity. We don't know what's really going on but we walk (and run) beside Hal and Robbie and feel their fear.

What aspect needs the most work?

The excerpt as it stands is very clean and well-structured. If there is any aspect that seems less strong than the rest, it's the introduction of the talking beast. I would like to see the story crank up the mystery while staying this side of fantasy–but that's just my personal preference and not necessarily the will of the marketplace.

So far we've met only two characters. Can the author develop the rest of the islanders as effectively? I certainly hope so!

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

"Island of Fog" is a very strong entry. I appreciate the care the author took in preparing the excerpt for submission, and if the story holds up as well throughout, then this book is going to get noticed. I hope that happens because it appeals to me very much.

So again I'm happy and looking forward (although with trepidation) to April 27th when the semifinalists are announced. Ah well, either I go through or I don't. In the meantime I have Mountain of Whispers to concentrate on!

The ABNA quarterfinalist results are in!

Posted on March 24, 2010

After a waiting patiently (or impatiently) for March 23rd to come around, and refreshing the Amazon ABNA page all day long, it wasn't until just before 10pm eastern time that the third round results showed up. I opened the PDF file and scrolled through the list of 250 quarterfinalists in the Young Adult Novels section...

I made it! I'm through to the third round, or quarterfinals, with my novel Island of Fog.

Two "official" Amazon Reviews based on my 4000-word excerpt (the prologue and first chapter) are available on my ABNA page. To save you time, I've posted them here:

Amazon.com Review
"Island of Fog" is a very strong entry. I appreciate the care the author took in preparing the excerpt for submission, and if the story holds up as well throughout, then this book is going to get noticed. I hope that happens because it appeals to me very much.

Amazon.com Review
A nice blend of the TV show "Lost" with the movie "The Village." If the author can continue with this level of quality throughout the entire story I feel that they could have a hit novel on their hands. I certainly would be interested in reading the rest of the story!

These are far more positive than I could have hoped for! I've been following reports from other quarterfinalists and reading some of the reviews they received, and while many are good there are also quite a few that are mixed or offer constructive criticism. So to have two really nice reviews like the ones above... well, I have a spring in my step today. :-)

So Island of Fog is now into the quarterfinals. According to the contest rules, Penguin now have first refusal publishing rights on the novel unless/until I'm eliminated in one of the next rounds.

Over the next month, Publishers Weekly will be reading and reviewing each of the 250 quarterfinalist manuscripts and their "Judging Criteria" point system will determine which 100 novels make it through to the semifinals on April 27th.

More information about the contest (particularly the winning prizes and detailed key dates) can be found here.

As my author buddy Laura Canning would say when excited about something... "Woot!"

Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards

Posted on March 8, 2010

Last year I submitted Island of Fog to the Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards. There was a bit of confusion with the post-mark deadline as the website said one thing and the confirmation email said another; there was a day's difference between them. This wouldn't matter except that I found out too late about the competition and posted ON the later of the two deadlines – so I was never sure if I had made it on time or not.

After I had submitted my novel, I wrote to ask Writer's Digest about the deadline. I received no reply whatsoever. On their website they stated that applicants would find out the results around October 2009. I heard nothing, so assumed I had missed the deadline after all.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the 2010 competition was officially opened to applicants. I considered trying again, but thought I'd wait a bit first.

Today, on March 8th, I received a letter from Writer's Digest – notification of how I fared in the 2009 competition. So I had made the deadline after all! But here they are, extremely late in the day, letting me know how I did after the 2010 competition has already got under way. This seems disorganized and generally unprofessional to me, but hey, at least I know for sure one way or another.

So how did Island of Fog fare? Well, I didn't win! If I had, I assume they would have told me a little earlier (although I'm not 100% certain of that). Here's what they said in their covering letter:

Thank you for participating in the 17th (2009) Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Publishing Book Awards. Unfortunately, your book, Island of Fog, was not among the winners. Competition was particularly fierce this year and we could only award one grand prize and ten category prizes...

There's more, but nothing worth repeating here. There was also a "judge's commentary" attached:

Author: Keith Robinson
Title: Island of Fog
Category: Middle Grade / Young Adult
Judge: 3

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning "poor" and 5 meaning "excellent," please evaluate the following:

Plot: 5
Grammar: 5
Character development: 4
Cover design: 4

Judge's commentary:

What did you like best about this book?
This was a well written sci-fi novel. I liked the idea behind the story. Mr. Robinson had created a situation, characters and a place that work. There is that "it could happen" quality that you find in Dean Koontz novels. The dialogue feels like real kids talking. The suspense works and doesn't frustrate the reader. It makes you want to read the next installment!

How can the author improve this book?
I don't think Mr. Robinson needs to change a thing!

Heh. This is a positive summary, so I'm not put out or anything. I'm still a little disgruntled, but my gruntles come from the way the competition seems so mismanaged. I would have had better gruntles if I had received this summary last October when they initially said it would be due. Oh well!

Meanwhile, I'm waiting patiently (or impatiently) for the results of the next round of Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award winners. March 23rd is still a long way away...

ABNA first round winning pitch

Posted on February 26, 2010

The first round winners were announced yesterday for ABNA, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award... and Island of Fog is one of them! :-)

To recap, there are two categories: General Fiction and Young Adult Fiction, initially with around 5000 entries in each. These have now been whittled down to 1000 entries in each. I'm in the Young Adult category. If you're interested you can find out more about the competition, read the rules, keys dates, and read the entire list of first round winners on Amazon's ABNA page. The next round of winners – 500 in each category – will be based on the supplied excerpt, which is the first 3000-5000 words of the novel. In my case I supplied the short prologue and first chapter, which is slightly over 4000 words in total. (You can read this on my Island of Fog book page if you're interested.)

In a previous post I asked for opinions about my pitch, and based on those opinions I was able to move things around a little and improve it. Here's the final version:

A lonely, foggy island is home to eight families. Twelve-year-old Hal and his friends have always wondered what happened all those years ago on the mainland, that unseen place Out There beyond the fog, and after an astonishing discovery in the woods the children are more determined than ever to find out what their parents are hiding. But their lives are turned upside down when Abigail reveals her closely guarded secret. According to her, the children are slowly changing into monsters! Are they freaks of nature, or subjects of a sinister experiment?

Each child reacts differently to his or her unique monstrous transformation; after all, one may feel proud to be a dragon, faerie, or centaur, but who in their right mind wants to be a sadistic manticore or cowardly harpy?

ISLAND OF FOG is a story of intrigue and conspiracy. The reader follows Hal Franklin as he struggles to accept that he and his friends are something more than ordinary children, and that their parents have been covering up the truth the whole time. With their trust shaken and the unexpected arrival of a strange woman from Out There, the children hide their frightening shapeshifting abilities and pretend nothing is wrong.

Written by a die-hard reader and collector of children's mystery, adventure and fantasy novels, ISLAND OF FOG is a 95,000 word novel with strong series potential, aimed at young readers but suitable for all ages.

The first round (based on the pitch) is in some ways more difficult than the second round (based on an excerpt of the novel). With a 300-word pitch you can spend days and weeks polishing it, and because it's so short you can ask friends and colleagues to look at it and see if it works. You can hone it until it shines. That's all well and good, but would you lavish that much attention on a 50,000+ word novel? Heck, you can even ask a professional to write your pitch for you – but that doesn't mean your manuscript is any good, or that your general grammar and style is readable, or that your story works as a whole – it just means you have a well written pitch.

So in theory there could be thousands of entrants who really can't write at all and have no business entering. On the flip side you could have a New York Times-worthy bestselling novel, with a substandard pitch that is well written but says nothing about the story or otherwise misses the mark. So whether you're a good writer or not, it's all down to that first 300-word pitch. It's pretty brutal, and with a lot of competition.

But the next round is based on a 3000-5000 excerpt and is more likely to separate the wheat from the chaff. This round is based on actual talent and skill. The 500 who make it through to the third round will be writers who can write, and who have a novel that is going to appeal to the masses. I should think the judging will get a lot tougher then.

Will I make it through? Am I wheat... or chaff? Find out on March 23rd!

ABNA pitch

Posted on January 31, 2010

A few days ago I submitted Island of Fog to ABNA (the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition). I've been fretting over the pitch ever since.

The first round of the competition is all about the pitch, you see. Between February 8th-27th, reviewers have to read 5000 pitches in my category and whittle the list down to 2000. These first-round winners will be announced on February 27th.

The problem is, pitches are HARD to write, and the pitch for this competition is slightly different to the requirements when writing to, say, an agent or publisher. So I've done my best; hopefully it will work. The last line I'm still debating over, as it could backfire if the reviewers don't have a sense of humor.

Pitch for ISLAND OF FOG, entered into the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Competition

A lonely, foggy island is home to eight families. Twelve-year-old Hal and his friends have always wondered what happened all those years ago on the mainland, that unseen place Out There beyond the fog, and after an astonishing discovery in the woods the children are more determined than ever to find out what their parents are hiding. But their lives are turned upside down when Abigail reveals her closely guarded secret. According to her, the children are slowly changing into monsters! Are they freaks of nature, or subjects of a sinister experiment?

ISLAND OF FOG is a story of intrigue and conspiracy. The reader follows Hal Franklin as he struggles to accept that he and his friends are something more than ordinary children, and that their parents have been covering up the truth the whole time. With their trust shaken, the unexpected arrival of a strange woman from Out There convinces the children to hide their frightening shapeshifting abilities and pretend nothing is wrong . . . while digging for answers.

Written by a die-hard reader and collector of children's mystery, adventure and fantasy novels, ISLAND OF FOG is a 95,000 word novel aimed at young readers but suitable for all ages. Each child reacts differently to his or her unique monstrous transformation; after all, one may feel proud to be a dragon, faerie, or centaur, but who in their right mind wants to be a sadistic manticore or cowardly harpy?

Part of a trilogy, this story will be of particular interest to children experiencing secret monstrous transformations of their own.

I don't know. I just don't know. I really just don't know. I honestly really just don't know. I could write this a million ways and still not get it right for everyone. Even now I'm thinking I need to alter the "arrival of a stranger" line because there's a possibility this could read like it's the stranger herself who is convincing the children to keep their talents secret... So I'll continue to work on it. But if anyone has any suggestions in the meantime, let me know on or before February 7th, because I can only update my pitch before midnight on that day!

Piers Anthony and Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Posted on January 26, 2010

Today I received two exciting emails and a great Facebook post. The first email came from Amazon.com, announcing their third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. I don't often enter competitions, but this one is a must:

The third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award has begun! The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award offers authors of unpublished or self-published English-language novels a chance to win one of two $15,000 publishing contracts with Penguin USA, and distribution of their novel on Amazon.com. For the first time, Amazon.com customers will vote for two grand prize winners: one for general fiction and one for the best young adult novel. The 2010 competition will now be open to novels that have been previously self-published. Submissions will be accepted from writers around the world through Feb. 7, 2010, or until 5,000 entries have been received in each category. The two grand prize winners will each receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.

You can be sure I'll be entering Island of Fog tomorrow!

The second email came from Piers Anthony, the New York Times bestselling fantasy author who I often name-drop about. Over Christmas I had sent him my second novel, Labyrinth of Fire, just out of courtesy because he enjoyed the first. I explained that he was in no way obligated to read it or even respond; I'd hate to be thought of as one of those annoying types who is always wanting something! So I wouldn't have been offended if he had thrown it away or just never replied.

But once again I was impressed. He not only wrote to say he'd received it, but that the book was next on his reading list. As it turned out he then wrote a few days later to say that a load of chores had come up, and that he would have to deal with those and come back to the book later. That was fine with me.

Today he wrote to say that he had finished reading it, and offered a really neat idea:

I read Labyrinth of Fire and will review it favorably in my FeBlueberry 2010 HiPiers column. Essentially, I love it, as I did Island of Fog. This is a hard-hitting imaginative story that held my interest. My main criticism is that starting with eight children, it is hard for the reader to track them all at first. I folded the corner of page 17 where they are all listed with their talents, and that helped. I think you should have a listing of them at the outset, perhaps on a separate page or on a bookmark, so that no reader need be confused. It is too good a novel to allow the reader to be confused at the beginning.

The bookmark idea in particular is brilliant! What better place for a checklist of characters? Better than thumbing to the front or back of the book. So I'll do that sometime, for sure.

So, after a review for Island of Fog in his July 2009 newsletter (second paragraph), now I'm going to get one for Labyrinth of Fire in the February 2010 newsletter. This is brilliant! I never would have thunk that someone so successful would a) find the time to read my books, and b) actually like them enough to review/recommend them. I'm feeling a little chuffed right now. :-)

While I'm in the self-congratulating mood, Heather in Australia was kind enough to report that she and her daughter had both finished the second book:

Both Ashley and I have finished reading Labyrinth of Fire now. I loved it! So much action going on the whole time, and it's so refreshing reading books that I don't have to mentally edit the whole way through. Loved the way the kids worked through problems and found solutions I never would have though of - there wasn't too much predictability. Ash liked it better than Island of Fog because it was "more exciting" - that's all I could get out of her. A book reviewer she is not :-)

Oh, and my parents seemed to like it too. My dad picked up a couple of very minor errors which I've corrected in the manuscript – which reminds me: If anyone spots a typo or error, please don't keep it to yourself. Let me know. I want to know.

Okay, enough ego-stroking. I'll shut up now.