Thousand Oaks, California—April 17, 2006. Popular podcast The Writing Show is looking for the best first chapter of an unpublished novel. That’s all a writer has to do—just submit the first chapter. Set up the story and hook us! Check out our Web site for further information or read below. The address to submit to is: contest@writingshow.com

Prizes

There will be three prizes: a first prize of $150 and two second prizes of $50 each. Each winning entry will be featured on our Web site, read by an excellent voice actor, and made available as an audio file.

What we’re looking for

Entries will be judged on the following five criteria:

1. Concept. Is it a compelling read with a great hook?
2. Style. Is the writing smooth and flowing?
3. Dialog. Is the dialog natural and does it move the story along?
4. Character. Are the characters interesting?
5. Mechanics. Are grammar and punctuation correct?

We’re not necessarily looking for great literature or fancy writing. We just want an absorbing story that grabs us quickly. The point is to write tightly and economically. A spare style isn’t required, but every word should count.

Specifications

· Entries are limited to 3000 words.
· Any fiction genre is okay.
· Entries must be written in the English language, although a few foreign phrases are fine if necessary in context.
· G, PG, and R ratings are okay.
· The chapter must be your original work and must be unpublished.
· Entrant must hold all rights to the material.
· Relatives of the judges may not enter the contest.
· One entry per person.

Deadline

Entries are due on the first anniversary of The Writing Show, July 6, 2006.

Announcement of Winners

We will announce the winners on Labor Day 2006, the first Monday in September.

Judges

Judges include:

· Book publicist Karen Villanueva.
· Author Harriet Smart.
· Guest host Mick Halpin, whose interviews were posted on January 30th and March 27th of this year.
· John Bryans, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher at Information Today Books and Plexus Books.
· Georganna Hancock, who writes the fabulous blog Writer’s Edge.
· National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) founder Chris Baty.
· Author Paula Paul.
· Author Micah Dubinko.
· Alan Chaney, co-founder of The Writing Show.

The judges will not see the names of the entrants. Their decisions will be final.

How to Submit

The contest will be conducted entirely electronically. To enter, either:

Send a link to a PDF or HTML version of the work

Or

Send an email attachment of a txt, doc, rtf, or pdf file.

The address to submit to is: contest@writingshow.com

All submissions must include the following in the email. No identifying information should be included in the chapter itself.

· Name.
· Phone number. If outside the U.S. and Canada, include country code.
· Email address.
· Snail mail address.
· Title of the work.
· Word count.
· A log line—a one-sentence description of the work. Use it to hook us!
· The following text: “I am the author of this work and hold all rights to it. If I win, I grant The Writing Show permission to display the work on its Web site or sites and to have an audio recording of the work made and distributed.”

We will be updating contest information on our Web site over the next few months.

About Podcasts

Podcasts are audio shows you can listen to on your iPod, standalone MP3 player, or computer. To listen on your computer, you need software like Windows Media player, iTunes, Winamp, etc. You do not need to own or have access to an iPod to listen, but you can use one if you want to. For more information, see How to Listen to Our Podcasts.

About The Writing Show

The Writing Show offers information and inspiration for writers of all kinds in an interview format. Each week host Paula B. presents a new show designed to shed light on some aspect of writing, writers, publishing, and other topics of interest to people who write. Recent podcasts have highlighted publicity and marketing for authors, scientists as screenwriters, and Irish authors. Guests have included Wikipedia leader Jimmy Wales, popular self-help author Susan Jeffers, and pro blogger Nick Wilson of Performancing.com. The show has been airing from Thousand Oaks, California since July of 2005.

The RSS feed for the show is located at http://www.writingshow.com/Feeds/feed.mrss.xml.

###