Tag: Book Fairs

Kindness Essay Contest

BioStories is having its first essay contest, and the topic is kindness. Nonfiction only, please, and 3000-word maximum.

From the website:

“We encourage writers to interpret the theme broadly and creatively. Whether focused on random acts of kindness committed by strangers or presenting intimate portraits of lives devoted to doing good deeds—large or small, isolated or habitual, purposeful or accidental–we seek essays that demonstrate the redemptive spirit of humans.”

Prizes:  First place, $250 plus publication.

Reading fee: $10.00

Deadline is January 15, 2014. For more information, please visit their website.

Indies Unlimited is pleased to provide this contest information for the convenience of our readers. We do not, however, endorse this or any contest/competition. Entrants should always research a competition prior to entering.

Book Exposure: Digital Book Today

Book industry veteran Anthony Wessel founded Digital Book Today in 2010. While some of the people behind the promotion sites we’ve been featuring on IU over the past few weeks are authors, Wessel’s perspective on the book world comes from seven years as a sales manager for Borders/Waldenbooks. He’s been immersed in the e-book world full time for the past four years. Continue reading “Book Exposure: Digital Book Today”

Glamour Magazine Essay Contest

Glamour magazine’s annual “My Real Life Essay Contest” seeks—you guessed it—true-life essays. Maximum word length is 3500 words and Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley will be on the judging panel.

Prizes:  First place, $5000 plus will be considered for publication.

Reading fee: None!

Deadline is February 1, 2014. For more information, please visit their website.

Indies Unlimited is pleased to provide this contest information for the convenience of our readers. We do not, however, endorse this or any contest/competition. Entrants should always research a competition prior to entering.

Thriving After A Poor Review

Rutgers graduate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz gets trashed. I loved “Oscar Wao.”

It is late in the evening and you are about to make a mistake that will cause you to toss and turn all night. Sleep will elude you as you see the words dancing in front of your eyes, taunting you with their black and white judgment. There, defiling your Amazon author page, is a one-star review. Blood pounds in your veins as you read. You are naked, revealed to the world as a pretender, a poser, certainly not a writer. Your head drops to your desk, and you slip slowly into madness.

If this hasn’t happened to you yet, then you either haven’t been writing long enough or you lead a charmed existence. The one-star review is a rite of passage. No matter how great the writer, no matter how brilliant the masterpiece, someone will feel that the book was disappointing. Or they will hate it and advise others to skip it. Continue reading “Thriving After A Poor Review”