Writers Unbound

Dear Writers Unbound, I noticed you stopped writing about Writing Contests. Do you not recommend them anymore?

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Allena,

We have a writer’s contest we  thought your readers might be interested in here at ________________. The entry fee is XX and the winners will receive their work published in our anthology.

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Writers Unbound,

I recently entered a bunch of writing contests and got absolutely no response. I’m wondering if I should throw in the towel on this whole “writing” thing. If I can’t even win a $50 contest, how will I ever get anyone to publish my book? Are these contests a good indicator of a writer’s quality?

Hi everyone. Actually, I took over this blog in October, so any mention of writing contests since then was from the writer before me.

But, do I recommend contests? I sometimes do. I simply don’t write about them as much because I lack time to enter them myself! As with any writing endeavor, you’ve got to carefully consider what you spend your time on. Do some background work on any contests that you are thinking of entering, check out their past winners, and make sure that your time is worth it.

For example, the contest above that I’ve been asked to advertise to you, dear readers, seems a bit scammy to me. Past “winners” were lacking in core quality and the “prize” isn’t really all that.

However, don’t misread me. There are contests that I’ve been interested in and would endorse. Some of the big name contests, often run by Universities or well known publishers will be able to pull out some really talented writers from the pack. On the other hand, losing these contestsdoesn’t necessarily mean that you’re completely out of the game. You have to remember that there’s a certain amount of subjectivity in each one. 

I’ll be sure to pass on any good contests/links in the future.