When you come across a writing contest, do your eyes jump straight to the cash prize? You might start envisioning all the ways you could spend it — a weekend getaway, a beautiful box set of your favorite series or just plain old bills — before you even start writing!
Of course, the potential to win money is exciting, especially for doing something you love. However, while we’re happy to pay our winners and finalists, cash isn’t the only prize to be won. You could also win publication.
As soon as you spend money, it’s gone. Publication, on the other hand, is a prize that bears fruit for the rest of your writing career.
We can only crown one winner, but you have much better odds at being published in one of our anthologies. With all of our contests, we select ten or more finalists, and publish each of their stories after working with them closely on revisions.
For many of our writers, this is the first time they’ve been published — a momentous accomplishment we are proud to be a part of. For others, it’s yet another publication to add to their growing list. Either way, being published in our anthologies is a significant stepping stone for your writing success.
It feels amazing to hold a book that features your story in your hands, or to view it on an e-reader. In that moment, all the time and effort you’ve invested finally pays off. (I still remember opening up the carton containing the author’s copies of my first book, and holding on in my hands — pure bliss!)
Seeing your name in print can also boost motivation and confidence for the next time you write: if you did it before, you can do it again.
Publication is about more than feeling, though. It can result in tangible rewards that bring you closer to your goals.
We recently had a finalist ask us whether they could mention being published in our anthology as part of their query letter. The answer? Absolutely! And you should.
The purpose of a query letter is to convince an agent that your work is worth reading and representing. Your story synopsis may make up the bulk of your letter, but it’s not everything. Another crucial component is telling an agent about your background, so you can establish your credibility — and nothing says “credibility” like prior publications.
Publications show agents that others have already found merit in your work. This sets you apart from the hordes of unpublished writers they see in their inboxes each day. It also demonstrates professionalism, and how seriously you take your writing. In the words of author Meg Eden:
Publications say you have already been vetted as a writer. It tells an agent that you have experience as a writer, and that people have already read your work and enjoyed it enough to present it to others. The ultimate goal of a query letter is to persuade someone that investing in your work will have a beneficial return for everyone involved. By pointing to people who have already invested in your work, you are making a case for your work being a good investment.
Being able to say you’ve been published isn’t just valuable for querying agents. If you’re looking to have short stories or even poetry published, whether in a magazine or another anthology, prior publications can have the same effect with a judging committee.
On top of this, anthologies are a great way to build your readership and expand your network of fellow writers. When the other authors in the anthology promote their work, they’re promoting yours too. (Not to mention, anthologies allow you to have your name on the cover of a book without actually having to, you know, write an entire book.)
Enough talk about publication…we want to publish you in our next anthology!
Submissions are now open for our 2023 Winter Anthology Contest. If you have a novel you’ve been working on, or one you’ve always wanted to write, send in that first chapter.
The deadline is January 15th, 2024. As always, you will receive professional feedback on your story via our Publishability Index™, and have the opportunity to revise before judging.
Find all the details and enter here.
