May 17, 2007 - Winners Announced

Congratulations to all of the winners and to everyone who participated in the competition and made their novels better for it! We look forward to seeing your first three chapters next year when we run the 2008 Strongest Start Novel Competition.

May 8, 2007 - Competition Finalists

We're pleased to announce that the five finalists in the first annual Strongest Start Novel Competition are:

TheNextBigWriter:

• The Willow Tree of Tullamaine by Roisin Moriarty (Highest ranked competition entry)
• Catching Hell by Raconine
• Fallen by Annie

Booksie:

• Vivvie by Priscilla Darcy
• Laurel Ridge by auerrotts

The final round judges will now begin reviewing the entries and the winners will be announced on May 17, 2007.

For more information about the competition please visit the Strongest Start Competition Forum.

Update: The submission period ended on May 3. We will be announcing the 5 finalists (2 from Booksie.com and 3 from TheNextBigWriter) next Tuesday, May 8, 2007. The winners will be announced May 17, 2007. Thank you!

We know that writing a compelling start isn't easy so we've put together a fun competition to help you hone your start to perfection (if you haven't already). We're looking for opening chapters that will create a burning need to find out what happens, how the characters turn out, how the novel resolves itself. The kind of start that gets an agent to call back, a publisher to show interest, and a reader to plunk down their hard earned money. Above all, give us three opening chapters that will keep us reading.

As part of the competition you'll have the opportunity to receive feedback on your submissions, receive access to the Strongest Start Novel Forum (hosted on TheNextBigWriter.com), and to meet and share ideas with other writers who are also trying to create that perfect, compelling opening.

The Competition

The winners of the Strongest Start Novel Competition will be the three writers who are judged to have the strongest three opening chapters. To participate in the Competition, submit your first three chapters to either TheNextBigWriter.com or Booksie.com following the entrance guidelines below. Writers are not required to have finished their novel or to submit more than the first three chapters. Novels can be in any genre and about any subject as long as all entries adhere to the TheNextBigWriter.com or the Booksie.com Member Agreements. The competition is open to fiction as well as non-fiction. All rights to the submitted work remain with the writer per the sites' Member Agreements. Please see the full rules and regulations for more detailed information about the competition.

To Enter

To enter, writers must post the first three chapters of their novel on TheNextBigWriter.com website or the Booksie.com website and include the tags Strongest Start Competition(entered as strongest_start_competition).

Judging

The Competition will judge the first three chapters only of the submitted novels. Writers are not required to submit additional chapters and are not required to have completed additional chapters. The winners will be selected according to a two round process:

Round I: Five novel finalists will be chosen based on the following:

• Three finalists will be chosen from TheNextBigWriter.com Private Online Writing Workshop.
  • Two of the finalists will be chosen by the site’s Editorial Team. The editors will evaulate each submission based primarily on how interested they would be in finishing the book after reading the first three chapters.
  • The entrant with the highest site ranking will be chosen (rankings are determined by ratings given by the site's readers and other writers and are listed at the top of each submission) as an additional finalists.
• Two finalists will be chosen from the Booksie.com Online Publishing Site.
  • The two finalists will be chosen by the site's Editorial Team. The editors will be looking for the most compelling, difficult to put down first three chapters. All judges will be asked to evaulate how interested they are in moving onto the next chapters if they existed. Any styles and genres are welcome as long as the submission complies with the site's member agreement.

Round I ends May 3, 2007. The names of the five finalist will be posted on TheNextBigWriter.com and Booksie.com.

Round II: The manuscripts of the five finalists will be reviewed by an independent panel of judges. The judges will rate each entry by evaluating how interested they would be in finishing the book after reading the first three chapters.

On May 17, 2007, the winners will be announced.

The Prizes

First Place

• A lengthy critique from one of the judges on their winning submission.
• $100 cash.
• A free year subscription to TheNextBigWriter Online Writing Workshop (valued at $39.95).

Second Place

• $50 in cash.
• A free 90 day membership to TheNextBigWriter Online Writing Workshop (valued at $14.95).

Third place

• $25 in cash.
• A free 90 day membership to TheNextBigWriter Online Writing Workshop (valued at $14.95).

To see the full Contest Rules and Regulations, please click here.

About the Competition Sponsors

Is there a cost to this competition?

You can participate without having to pay a fee. It is free to post your writing through Booksie.com. TheNextBigWriter is a private, subscription based site and it does cost a small fee to post your writing there.

What is the difference between TheNextBigWriter.com and Booksie.com? Can I enter from either site?

TheNextBigWriter is a private community where members must register before the material can be read. In addition, the site uses a credit system that ensures all work is read and reviewed. If you are looking for detailed feedback and want to join a strong community of fellow writers, then you should consider joining and entering from TheNextBigWriter.com. The site charges a small subscription fee which includes unlimited posts and free entry into all contests.

Booksie is a free, public publishing site allows writers to easily share and promote their writing to the world. Writing posted on the site is indexed by search engines and can be viewed by readers without a registration.

You may enter the competition from either site.

Can I submit a non-fiction book to the competition?

Yes. You may submit non-fiction as long as it is a compelling read.

Why aren't writers under 18 allowed to enter?

Allowing minors (under 18) to enter creates a whole set of regulatory problems and hurdles which the company does not have the resources to tackle at the moment. We regret having to do this but we can't fight the law. We do hope to have a competition for under 18 writers in the future as the site expand.

I'm from a country that isn't eligible to enter the competition. Why are some countries excluded?

This has to do with international competition law. Each country in the world has different regulations regarding competitions and we do not have the resources to research all of them at the moment. For example, the Province of Quebec requires that all competition material be duplicated in French, something we don't have the money or expertise to do. We picked the largest English speaking countries and researched those to ensure we were in compliance. We apologize if your country is not on the list and will do our best to add you in the future. Until then, we hope you will use the rest of the features on Booksie.com or TheNextBigWriter.com.

If you have additional questions, please post them in our Strongest Start Competition Forum hosted on TheNextBigWriter.com.