Right now, I’m entering the Squad contest with a story called The Write Team! This is the first time I’ve entered a contest, and I’m so excited because contest entries give you the opportunity to get a lot of exposure. Even if you don’t win, there are lots of people looking to read contest entries and ask authors to drop the names of their stories so they can read them. Some of these accounts even share screenshots of the contest stories they read and liked.
So… have you entered a writing contest?
Did you win?
Did your story get a lot of reads?
What are your tips and advice for writers who want to enter a writing contest?
Nice! Good luck with the contest! Just curious, where is this contest being held?
I’ve entered quite a number of contests on deviantArt and was fortunate enough to have won some of them! My story got quite a number of reads because of it but since literature is not as popular on deviantArt, it’s still not much.
My tips for contests would be to understand how your story is graded, which will tell you what to focus your effort on. Are they looking for creative takes on a theme? Or innovative structures in storytelling? Or a focus on characters? Think of how other people are likely to write the theme, and whether you can bring a different angle or concept to the table that differentiates yourself from them.
Also, word limit is a big factor in contests. The maximum word count will determine how big your story can be and you can gear your efforts towards that.
Yep! We had a state writing contest and my teacher suggested I enter. We made a team with our school and actually got first place (for our age group) in the first contest. We had to go somewhere and sit and write following a prompt… no editing, no extended time- you literally do just that. Then you submit the paper we wrote on (computers weren’t allowed).
We heard names being called and we kinda just sat in our seats defeated cuz we thought our name wasn’t gonna be read. I think someone literally said, “well, looks like we lost.” Then we heard our name being called for first place. And we all got to go onto the next competition! It was way bigger than this one. We lost that one but it was still a great experience.
SO uhh… this is a lot different than other types of writing contests and kinda a lot harder lol cuz you have to write within a period of time, you don’t know the prompt before it’s given and you have to write on pen and paper.
Yes I have!
Did I win? Episode hates me, so no. Still writing for the hell of it though
Sort of?
Take your time. Don’t rush to finish, and always make your directing is smooth
The one I mentioned in my post is on Episode. The deadline is July 27th, but since I’ve read that it’s best to release your story as close to the deadline as possible (because they only take into consideration reads after the deadline), I’m releasing my story on July 26th.
Nope, this is my first contest, but with my previous non-contest story, I estimated a publish date and put a countdown on Instagram. My story was finally ready to be published the night before, but I published it an hour before the countdown ended.
My contest story is also ready, but I’m waiting for the 26th. I decided to release it a day before just in case something happens on the deadline day, like my Internet going down or a power outage.
I joined the another world contest and I won. I’m still stuck at 30k reads but to be fair I rarely update.
My friend @baleigh won the kiss and tell contest, she updates frequently and she has 200k+ reads
I think it went from 500(?) to 11k reads shortly after the contest winners were announced, so, yeah. It’d probably get more if my lazy self would write the 4th chapter and release it.
Just write whatever you want. Screw those “contest tips” kind of posts which tell you that you must add things like CC or lots of choices to win. I won without either lmao.
So… have you entered a writing contest?
I’ve entered 5 official Episode contests
Did you win?
Yes 4/5
Did your story get a lot of reads?
3/5 of those contests were for short stories. All 3 (including the one that didn’t win) have over 100k reads with the bulk of the reads for the winning stories gained during their shelf time. 1 story was spotlight. It’s complete (with 13 chapters I think?) and has over 200k reads which I think is a lot for spotlight. The last one has >200k reads with 9 chapters.
It’s probably worth mentioning that none of these stories are romance or drama (although one was initially romance then moved out when the contest was over ).
What are your tips and advice for writers who want to enter a writing contest?
Read the rubric and self-evaluate against it. I think a lot of people miss “easy” points by not including choices and things like that. You can still win without choices or with average directing, but I think those things will just help, especially if there are a lot of really strong entries. Also, make sure your story fits the theme.
I joined one on Episode, but didn’t win
And I joined the forum writing contests here, even won
I’m always to insecure to join a real one. One of my teachers always gave me the flyers for new writing contests because he knew I write stories, but I never joined any of them. I wish I did, now I’m too old for most of them because they are all for kids who are still in school
Just curious, where is this contest being held?
My story got quite a number of reads because of it but since literature is not as popular on deviantArt, it’s still not much.
).