Book Marketing 101: Writing Contests

We want to thank Brenna Lyons for offering This series in support of Small Press Month. Her experience as a senior editor, President of EPICauthors, and a 20 book (in print) published author is invaluable for our authors.

Book Marketing 101

By Brenna Lyons

http://www.brennalyons.com/ http://www.myspace.com/brennalyons

Entering contests-

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe
By Brenna Lyons
It's time to enter the contest. You're filling out the entry form: title, author, release date, category— This should be simple. You know your book intimately. You know what genre/s it lists as at your publisher, Fictionwise or book stores, and on review sites.

It's not so simple. Choosing the right category is paramount. If you choose wrong, you don't final, and you've wasted not only your own time and money but the time and patience of the judge.

If your book is erotic – no matter what other genre lines you cross, most contests will expect it to be entered in the erotic category/ies, if they exist. This isn't something you want to balk. Argue comparative kink all you want, but many judges are uncomfortable with highly sensual content. If they weren't, they wouldn't have added an erotic category to begin with. If your book is more than an ounce past Harlequin Blaze line sensuality, do yourself a favor and enter it in erotic.

If your book lacks one or more of the basic tenants of romance, most especially a "happily ever after" ending, do not enter it in a romance category. A cross-genre with romantic elements category is preferable as are categories like mainstream, chick lit, and women's fiction. A romance is commonly held to be a romance only if it contains the readily identifiable hallmarks of a genre romance book. One notable exception to this that I have found is the Dream Realm award (as of 2003), where a romance is more loosely defined and is not required to have a HEA.

Further, if your book is a cross-genre romance, and romance categories exist, do not enter your books in the straight genre categories. Now, this is a sliding scale type of thing. If your book has romantic ELEMENTS but is heavily weighted toward the genre it crosses with, it may still be able to compete in straight genre, but try to get a feel for the contest before making this decision. Some contests, as I noted with Dream Realm, do not follow the expected norm when defining genre "romance."

Which brings us to the next point... Always read the contest guidelines for each category carefully before deciding which category to enter in. You might be surprised at what you find.

I once entered a contest where I found myself placing my book in the fantasy category. Considering that there was a paranormal romance category and an action/adventure category, fantasy hadn't even been on my list of possibilities – until I read the category descriptions. As with many cross-genre awards where the focus is on the speculative fiction side of the equation, there were preconceived notions about what constitutes the other genre.

In this case, my first choice of paranormal romance was described in the category description as having two main characters, two-dimensional secondary characters and little plot development outside the romance itself. With twenty-six POV characters, all well-defined, and a balanced cross-genre book, I couldn't enter there.

My second choice of action/adventure not only presented the same problems as entering in romance but also a bias that stated that the main characters would not be "substantially changed" by their experiences in the book. Well, I couldn't claim that, either.

When in doubt, it can't hurt to ask the coordinator for clarification on some point in the description. This is especially important when entering RWA contests that specify "published" or "unpublished" categories.

Depending on whether they are using the RWA National idea of "published" authors being only those that are published with a recognized publisher or the more traditional definition of "published," where you enter your books may be radically altered. In some rare cases, the rules for "published" and "unpublished" in the same contest may be so vastly different that an e-published or small press published author may find herself able to enter both sections – or neither. Make certain you know which definition/s they are using before you enter.
Likewise, contests will sometimes state that a cross-genre book may compete in a choice of categories, depending on where the author feels the strength of the book lies. This puts the author on the spot for determining the right fit, but that's your job as author.

Also, keep in mind that not every contest will fit your book, even if the genre covered sounds like a fit at face value. If you want to enter a fantasy contest where time travel is seen as science fiction, no matter how it's accomplished in the book, it is a waste of your resources to enter your magical time travel book.

Always remember that the point isn't just to enter the contest but to attempt to final or win. At the very least, your purpose is to get your work noticed by people you want to buy it or critiqued by people whose input you value. None of those goals are served by entering your books in the wrong categories.



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