Piatkus Entice Needs You!

Today we have a guest on the Minxes. Anna Boatman of Piatkus is here to tell us all about Piatkus Entice and their current competition.....Thank you for being here today, Anna!

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Hello everyone! My name is Anna Boatman, and the lovely Minxes of Romance have allowed me to take over today, to tell you all about our upcoming Piatkus Entice competition. We are looking for the next digital romance superstar – could it be you?

First off, let me tell you a little bit about Piatkus Entice...
Piatkus Entice was launched on Valentine's Day 2012, and is our digital-first romance imprint. Romance is the fastest growing digital genre – the convenience and lower prices of ebooks are a perfect match for the romance reader; we tend to read loads of books a month and are always keen to discover new genres and new authors, as well as return again and again to series and characters we love. For me, the great thing about a digital-first line is that as an editor it gives you the freedom to try something a little different – the retail market is increasingly restrictive and conservative, but online you can put huge amounts of support behind a debut author writing something totally fresh.

On Entice we pick the very best of romance in all its genres, from Regency romps to ghost stories. We offer a mix of the e-editions of romance superstars such as Sarah MacLean and Eloisa James, to newer voices such as self-publishing success Tim O'Rourke. We're always looking for new authors, but usually accept only agented authors. However, for a limited time that's about to change, as we're offering the chance to win a two-book publication contract with Piatkus Entice...

Our Entice competition is on now! – we're looking for instantly gripping, page-turning romance, in any genre. However, Entice being an ebook imprint, we're also looking for writers who are great at connecting with their fans online and who really enjoy building up a digital profile. So, how are we going to find them? Go to http://www.piatkusentice.co.uk/feature/could-you-be-our-next-romance-writing-star/ to see the full terms and conditions, but the main stages are...

Round One: Enter two chapters and a short, enticing synopsis (something you think would convince readers to pick it out) by the 2^nd of September, 2013.
Round Two: We will pick the three strongest entries by the 1st of October, 2013 and then we'll be posting them on our website, where readers will be able to vote for their favourite!
Round Three: Voting closes on the 14th of October, 2013 and we'll ask the two entrants with the highest number of votes to send us in their third chapter.

The winner will then be announced on November 9th, 2013, at the Romance Festival Gala dinner!

Every single submission will be carefully considered, and so although there can only be one winner, this is a fantastic opportunity to get your work seen by an experienced editorial team – if you love romance fiction and have always wanted to write, this is your chance...

If you have any questions, feel free to email piatkus.entice@littlebrown.co.uk, and in the meantime I wish you all the very best of luck – and the happiest of endings!

New Voices and moving forward

First up, congratulations to the 21 finalists in the New Voices contest. How amazing that the editors have given a chance to an extra writer because there were so many they loved?!

Also, I'd like to congratulate every single person who entered. You not only sat down and wrote something, but you were brave enough to submit your work to public view. That deserves applause.

I'd also just like to remind everyone who entered (and who didn't!) that contests are not the be-all and end-all. Not everyone who finals in a contest goes on to publich that manuscript. Not everyone who gets published gets there via a contest. In fact, your odds are probably even better through the slush pile than through a contest, where there can be only one winner.

So keep writing, and keep submitting.

Now if you're not completed contested-out, here's another you might want to look at:

Author Nicola Marsh is running a pitch contest on her blog until Sunday, with critiques from both herself and the senior editor of Entangled Publishing as a prize.

Talking about Entangled, keep an eye on their blog for updated submission calls each month. This month they're looking for contemporary novellas.

And more submission calls ....

Carina Press is looking for winter-themed sci fi novellas, and Avon Romance is looking for soldier homecoming short stories.

Competitions!

Here's a roundup of some recent competitions we've found - just the thing to get everyone ready for summer! Click on the titles to see more...

1. Brava's Writing with the Stars Competition.
This year, we’re looking for original romance novellas of 15,000 – 20,000 words rather than full-length books. Submissions in any sub- genre will be accepted, providing they’ve never been published in print or ebook form and have a sensuality level suitable for our Brava imprint. (You know just how hot that is, because you’re our most loyal readers.) So that means historical romance, contemporary, paranormal or romantic suspense. We need your submission by midnight of August 15, 2011 – plenty of time for you to write the winning novella or polish up one you’ve already begun.

Once again, Brava authors and editors will narrow down the entries to our top eight contestants, and each of the writers selected will be given a Brava mentor to help her navigate the four challenges ahead. Romantic Times readers will be voting each month to narrow the field, and the winner will be announced at the awards ceremony of the RT convention in April, 2012. Here’s your chance to work with professional writers, publicize your story and win a contract with a New York publisher.
This one is for unpublished authors only, and 15,000-20,000 is pretty do-able by mid-August, do keep us posted if you enter!

2. The Fish Short Story Prize.
This prestigious Irish competition is open from 1st August. Here's the details:
The Fish Short Story Prize welcomes stories on any theme written in English, with a maximum of 5,000 words. The Anthology will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, July 2011.
The winner and nine runners-up will be published in the 2012 Fish Anthology.

First Prize - €3,000 - (of which €1,000 is for travel expenses to the launch of the Anthology.)
Second Prize - a week at the Anam Cara Writers' & Artists' Retreat in West Cork's Beara Peninsula, with €300 traveling expenses.
Third Prize - €300. All those who are published in the Anthology will receive five complementary copies.

3. Stephie Smith's Contest List - lots for romance!
Check out this link for lots of romance competitions, mostly in the US, but many open internationally.

4. Mslexia 2011 Women's Novel Competition
The competition is open to unpublished women novelists writing in any genre for adults, including literary fiction, women’s fiction, young adult fiction, science fiction, fantasy, chick-lit, crime fiction, thriller, historical fiction... but not nonfiction or fiction for under 13s. To constitute a novel, your book must total at least 50,000 words.

Closing date: 30 September - Entry fee: £25
Send up to 5,000 words – which must be the first 5,000 words of your novel. Please make sure you have finished the novel before you send your entry.
Who is the competition aimed at?
•Women with an unfinished manuscript languishing in a bottom drawer. (Could this be the impetus you need to finish it?)
•Women who took up the write-a-novel-in-a-month challenge with NaNoWriMo and have a rough first draft. (Why not polish it up and send it to Mslexia?)
•Women who’ve submitted their completed novels over and over, and have despaired of finding an agent. (If you reach our shortlist, they’ll all sit up and take notice.)
•Women who’ve always wanted to write a novel, but could never find the time.
Get your book noticed
Because publishers specialise in different genres, we cannot guarantee a publishing contract at this stage. But we can guarantee that agents and editors will be falling over themselves for a first read of the winning manuscript. And the prize is £5,000!

There are plenty more out there, if anyone knows of a great competition we've missed, do share it in the comments box! Good luck!