a contest

From my local Tucson writer group, this came with the morning's emails. If you are an unpublished author in one of the categories listed below, you might give it some thought.  It sounds like a contest that could lead to some helpful tips and winning would be something for your vitae as well as the prizes.

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Hello,

I’m writing you about West Houston RWA’s 2019 Emily Contest for unpublished romance authors, which opened on September 1, 2018, and will close at midnight on October 2, 2018. The Emily has strong final judges and a history of frequent requests for our finalists. We are proud of our first-round feedback for entrants in all our six categories.

We are asking you to share our contest information with your members. Other chapters have posted the below information to their Discussion Loops or shared the links via their Facebook pages, and we would so appreciate your help in spreading the word to your chapter members.

Our contest details are:

***SHARING PERMITTED & ENCOURAGED***

2019 Emily Contest
Sponsor: West Houston RWA
Fee: $25 WHRWA members / $35 all others
Opens: September 1, 2018
Closes: October 2, 2018, midnight CST

Eligibility: unpublished in the category entered.

Entry: First 5600 words, no synopsis.
 
Categories: Contemporary-Long, Contemporary-Short, Historical, FFP/Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, YA.

Judges: First Round Judges: Published in Romance, PAN authors or PRO authors who give positive, helpful feedback.
Final Judges: Two publishing professionals: agent and editor for each finalist.
Top Prize: Silver Emily Pin and Certificate for winner, $100 Grand Prize.
FMI: http://whrwa.com/theemily/.

Thank you for sharing our contest information with your members.

yes or no?

Yesterday's post about a contest is concluded. A winner was found by random drawing. If you didn't go there, the question I asked was one intended to be helpful to me as a writer-- What age heroine do you prefer and can there be an age where she's too old for you to be interested? Paraphrased as I can't remember the exact wording.

There are a LOT of contests online from various sources. Do you think they are good, bad, or indifferent?  Sometimes it seems to me there is something going all the time. Are they distractions? Beneficial? I really wonder about it with no answers for when I should participate or not. Authors, although we are also readers, don't enter into giveaways from other authors. It's considered for the readers. My question is how often should I do it as they take time away from writing.

It is fun to give others presents though. With author contests/giveaways, the hope is a new reader will discover a book or that someone who can't afford books will get them. Random drawings mean there is no way to be sure that happens. These 'events' are considered promotional, but I've never found it was for me. 

Anyway, any thoughts on it? Do you like contests? Lotteries? Giveaways?

 

Marvelous Monday

 As with many writers, I belong to an assortment of groups of various sorts. On Facebook, one of mine is for contemporary western romances. This doesn't mean cowboy but does mean a western ethic that permeates the stories. Unlike some writers, who prefer one genre or another, I enjoy writing historical, paranormal and contemporary romances-- but always the romance and the cowboy up ethic. 

As part of belonging to groups, sometimes there are events and contests. One for Contemporary Western Romance is called MARVELOUS MONDAY. When the idea for making Monday special by a contest came around, I said, hey, count me in and took a date. I then promptly forgot about it.

Sunday, with it being a new month, I turned over my calendar and there was the 2nd with the words-- MARVELOUS MONDAY! I felt a moment of panic and then thought how lucky I had turned the calendar over with enough time to figure this out as to what I'd do for a prize. 

Checking over what others had done, I created a banner and decided on the prizes-- two signed contemporary paperbacks, a necklace, Christmas ornament, bookmarks, and one that doesn't show up on the banner-- $10 Amazon gift card. To enter, answer the question (there are no wrong answers), and be willing to give me your address for both the package and where you want the gift card to be used.

If you have already joined Contemporary Western Romance, then answer the question (where there are no wrong answers). The random drawing will be Tuesday morning (Ranch Boss does that job with his cowboy hat and numbers). If you have not already become a member, join up. It's a place to find out about new books in the contemporary genre-- and there is always Marvelous Monday!