I've Entered A Contest! (What was I thinking??)

Last week, I entered a contest.

I took a leap into the unknown, and in that leap I'll be allowing complete strangers to do one of the things that many beginning (and longtime) authors fear: Reading my unfinished work!

Dun dun duuuuuun!

Shall I explain a little further? Yes? On we go!

Last week, I entered the James Patterson Co-Author Contest sponsored by MasterClass**. If you know who James Patterson is, you can probably see how this could be a huge opportunity to whoever wins. If you don’t know who James Patterson is, (Where have you been? Living under a rock?), he is one of the best-selling (traditionally) published author in the world. Yes, the WORLD. He's also donated millions of dollars to school reading programs and independent bookstores! 

If that still doesn’t ring a bell, he’s the guy you’ve seen in random TV commercials for the last two decades promoting his books.

 See?

I say “traditionally published” because there are authors out there who are the #1 best-sellers in the Indie publishing world, the digital publishing world, etc. However, in this case, we’re talking traditional publishing. (i.e. – When the rights to an author’s work are purchased, published, and [hopefully] promoted by a brick-and-mortar publisher. More than likely one of the Big Six, or one of their imprints. We’ll discuss those big guys another day.)

Back to the contest. In order to qualify for entry, you had to meet the following criteria:

1)      Become a student in James Patterson’s online MasterClass. 

      (I had done this prior to finding out about the contest, and we’ll talk about my experience with the class on a later date.)

2)      Provide the following materials based on your current WIP (work-in-progress):

a.       A two-sentence hook. 

      (The initial statement that is supposed to grab the agent, editor, publisher, reader, whoever, and make them want to read your book.)

b.      A 300-word (or less) plot synopsis. 

      (Do you have any idea how hard it is to fit an entire novel’s plot into 300 words? Do you?? It’s rough. Luckily, they provided an example based on one of Patterson’s already-published novels.)

c.       A sample chapter from your novel (2,000 words or less), showing your writing style and a pivotal moment in your storyline that you want to share. 

      (Again, somewhat difficult if you want to include several key elements in your chapter, but in this case less seems to be more. Especially when you take into account that many of Patterson’s chapters are on the “shorter” end of the spectrum.)

3)      Your submission must primarily be of the Mystery/Thriller variety. Yes, Patterson has written many novels outside of this genre, but let’s face it, mysteries and thrillers have been his main sellers for years. So it makes sense.

All of these materials had to be submitted by March 22, 2016. Yes I cut it a little close, submitting on March 21, but I find I work better under pressure. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!)

There will be multiple rounds of judging, with the top-10 and top-3 entries receiving prizes and recognition. Then, James himself will choose the winner from the top-3. That winner will go on to win an additional prize and have the opportunity to co-author a book with James Patterson!

This is the part where I state that I am not now, nor will I ever, get involved in the debate of those who are “pro-co-author” versus those who are “anti-co-author”. There are many examples of authors working together on novels, sometimes they share a pen name and other times they each have their own names attached to the project. Whether or not these partnerships succeed depends on the quality of the work and how well the writers work together. Obviously, working with an author as well-known as James Patterson comes with the added bonus of high-level publicity. I would hope that everyone who enters this competition is at least a fan of Patterson, or of thrillers in general, but I know that’s not always going to be the case. So why go there?

My point is this: I have personally entered this contest. (Yay me!) Yes, it’s a little terrifying to think of multiple people (and possibly James Patterson!) reading and judging my writing abilities, but this is a big step on my personal writing journey and I’m excited to see what happens! I’ve entered smaller writing competitions before, some with great feedback and others not so much.

I think contests are excellent avenues available to beginning authors, a chance to submit their work and hopefully receive feedback on why they placed where they did in the judging.

A WORD TO THE WISE: BEWARE OF THE “SCAM” WRITING CONTEST! – As sad as it is to say, there are many purported “competitions” out there that will do nothing but take money from writers and then claim their submission didn’t win, but please try again! Soon, I plan on devoting a blog post to these scam contests and how to watch out for them. In the meantime, do your research! If you can’t find any history, reviews, or past winners for an advertised contest (unless it is a newly launched contest by an accredited source: a university, a known publisher, etc.) that is a red flag!

Regardless of if I make it into the top-10, the top-3, or (if by some miraculous alignment of the stars and the moon is in the second house) I actually win, I will continue to finish my novel in-progress and pursue the publishing route that is right for me. 

Traditional vs. Indie/Digital? Small press? The possibilities are endless!

I’ll leave things here for now, and will post updates with my status in the contest as the judging progresses, in addition to any other random blog posts that pop into my head.

Side Note: I really should pick a day of the week to post regularly…Sundays? Wednesdays? Or as Bob would suggest: “We just gotta figure out a way to work around your schedule. Should we work afternoons? Two to four? Three to five? Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday?”

(If you have never seen that movie, go watch it now!)

**This blog post was written with permission from MasterClass. Any opinions stated about the James Patterson writing course and co-author competition are my own and not to be attributed to MasterClass or Mr. Patterson.**