“Through the North Street Book Prize, we hope to boost the visibility of excellent writers whose books simply didn’t fit into the big conglomerates’ marketing plans.”
Jendi Reiter
Whenever I see a promising, reputably run contest, I’m happy to alert you to it. And now, there’s a new kid on the block: the first annual North Street Book Prize for self-published books in three categories:
• Mainstream/Literary Fiction
• Genre Fiction
• Creative Nonfiction
Three top winners will each receive $1,500, a credit toward BookBaby’s high-quality publishing services, free advertising in Winning Writers, an online newsletter with thousands of subscribers, and professional marketing advice from Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter.
The goal of the contest is to give self-published authors access to the high-quality resources and audience-building tools that traditionally published books benefit from. Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter, who’ll judge the contest, notes:
“We started this contest for the same reason that you wrote your book: We love a good story. We believe that narrative writing, whether fiction or memoir, has a unique ability to awaken empathy and illuminate complex truths of human nature.
“We’re holding your books to the same standard as the best titles from traditional publishers: polished writing, believability, dramatic tension, a story structure that foregrounds the major plot elements, and characters worth following. The freshness we seek in a story is best described as urgency: a book that convinces us that it had to be written.”
You can submit online or by mail. The entry fee is $50 per book and the deadline is June 30th. Write on!
