BIG writing contest

I gave myself permission to slack this week, blog-wise. With all the bloghopping the past 2 weeks, I was ready for a break.


At least from blogging. Been doing lots of other work, such as...


Helping to organize and launch Lyrical Press's 1st ever writing contest! Details are below, and please, feel free to copy, paste, forward... get that word out anyplace romance writers might see.

The First Annual Lyrical Press How Lyrical is Your Romance? Contest opens on Monday, January 16^th. This contest is open to both published and unpublished authors.

Entries must be complete works, ranging in word count between 15,000-100,000 words, any heat level, and fit into one of the following subgenre categories:

• Contemporary romance
• Historical romance
• Paranormal or urban fantasy romance
• Romantic steampunk
• Romantic Suspense

 Prizes:

1^st Place: $200 advance and digital publishing contract (advance payable as $100 upon finalized contract and $100 upon publication).

2^nd Place: $100 advance and digital publishing contract (advance payable as $50 upon finalized contract and $50 upon publication).

3^rd Place: Top-scoring contestant in each genre category will receive an acquiring editor’s critique of synopsis and first 50 pages of manuscript.

Guidelines:

• File type: .rtf, .doc, or .docx only
• 12pt black font (Times New Roman, Cambria, Courier or Georgia preferred)
• Line spacing: 1.5
• Margins: 1" all
• Page-breaks between chapters
• 
  

Please include a title page listing the following information:

• Legal name
• Pen name
• Email address
• Contact phone
• Working title (include series name and details if applicable)
• Word count
• Genre/category
• 
  

Entries will be accepted from January 16, 2012 through February 5, 2012, and must be emailed to contest@lyricalpress.com.  Entries sent to an email other than the aforementioned will be ignored. Please include book title and contest in subject line thusly: Booktitle – How Lyrical Is Your Romance?. Attach full manuscript, and 2-5 page synopsis in .rtf, .doc, or .docx format (Booktitle_MS and Booktitle_SYN as file names--your book title replaces “Booktitle”). After February 5, the contest will close, but we’ll still be accepting submissions as always at our submissions@lyricalpress.com address.

No entry fee required. Judges reserve the right to Decline to Judge any entry if it does not fit our lines, level of writing is not acceptable, or submission guidelines are not followed.

Entries will be judged on the following criteria: Hook, Pacing/Plot, Characterization, Dialogue, Mechanics, and Author Voice.

Winners will be announced on March 12, 2012 via our blog http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com/ and direct emails to winners.