Publishing giant Mills & Boon, high-street bookseller WHSmith, online eBook retailer Kobo along with the self-publishing platform Kobo Writing Life have partnered up to offer the Romance Writing Life competition.
The winning novelist will be awarded the grand prize of a publishing contract with Mills & Boon, including both print and digital release. The book will be jointly promoted by Kobo, Mills & Boon and WHSmith.
Second and third prize winners will be awarded the brand new Kobo Glo HD.
Authors will submit a synopsis and first chapter of their romance novel, up to a maximum of 5,500 words, which will be reviewed by a judging panel.
Romance Writing Life was created in the hopes of discovering talented new writers of Romance. The winning title might be an unpublished gem just completed by the author a week before submission, a self-published novel that’s already been enjoying some success digitally or just the first chapter of an new masterpiece. The author who wins the grand prize might be a savvy mid-list author with several self-published books under her belt who’s looking to break into print, or a creative writing student eager to share her writing with the world for the first time. The competition is open to everyone who loves to write romantic stories.
Mills & Boon, WHSmith, Kobo and Kobo Writing Life are all committed to promoting quality authors and books. This collaboration between a brick-and-mortar retailer, a historic book publisher, and a digital bookseller is unprecedented and provides the winning authors with an incredible promotional reach. We’re thrilled to be working together to bring new and talented authors to the forefront, and we can’t wait to begin the judging process.
Some useful dates and details:
Competition launch date – April 14, 2015
Entry deadline – July 31, 2015
Announcement of winners – August 28, 2015
Release date of winning title – Early 2016
To be eligible for this competition, the author must reside in the UK, Canada, or the United States.
Every author must have an active Kobo Writing Life account to enter the competition. You can register for an account here.
The submitted title should be an original, unpublished or self-published, fictional Romance novel, to which the author owns all the rights. We are accepting any and all Romance genres, including but not limited to Historical Romance, New Adult Romance, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance.
Authors are required to submit a synopsis of no longer than 500 words, and the first chapter of the manuscript of no longer than 5,000 words. Though only the first chapter is required, the winner must be prepared to submit a full manuscript of 70,000 words or more to Mills & Boon on or about September 30, 2015.
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Reblogged this on Liz Gavin's Blog and commented:
AWESOME!!
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Sounds like a great competition! Is there a way to enter without providing banking information during the account creation process? I am not comfortable doing so.
All you are required to do is create an account on Kobo Writing Life, Marcy; you’re not required to actually publish a book through our wonderful platform (but if you want to, just check the video in the LEARNING CENTRE to see how easy it is).
The banking information in KWL is ONLY required when you are ready to hit the PUBLISH button. The reason we do that is to ensure we have a way to pay you for any sales of your book(s).
So in answer to your question, you do not need to provide banking information. Just make sure, when entering the contest, to use the email address that you used to sign up for your free KWL account.
That’s great news! Thank you for the quick reply.
Is the competition open to people living in Ireland?
Hi Mary. Residents of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, are eligible. However, those residents of the Republic of Ireland are not.
Stupid!!!
Reblogged this on MishMashCreations and commented:
Any Romance writers out there? This sees like a good opportunity 🙂
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Again Nothing if you live outside these areas, that is typical, Not very impressed with this at all. Nothing for New Zealand or Australia
We do our best to be as global as possible in everything we do, Alexandra, but the laws of particular territories and regions have laws that make it almost impossible to navigate, so trying to include those regions in a contest makes it virtually impossible for us. You might have noticed that about other contests that didn’t originate in Australia or New Zealand. We have the same challenge, regularly with Quebec, a Canadian province that has laws that pretty much guarantee that almost any cross-Canada promotion is not going to happen there.
But do note that we have sponsored contest within New Zealand. See links below for our sponsorship of a fantastic contest in collaboration with the New Zealand Society of Authors.
http://kobowritinglife.com/2013/12/20/kwl-and-nz-society-of-authors-contest-winners/
http://kobowritinglife.com/2014/12/17/new-zealand-society-of-authors-contest-winner-robin-sisley/
Reblogged this on Casia Schreyer – Author and commented:
OMG. I will be entering Rose in the Dark into this competition.
Hi there,
What an exciting competition however I was sad to see I cannot enter as I reside in South Africa. Nevertheless, best of luck to all the writers.
I have started my first Mills & Boon novel (or at least I hope so) and had thought it best suited to your Medical genre until I read above that you have a Paranormal section which is perfect. If nothing else, at least I learnt something from your competitions T & C’s 😉
All the best,
Laura
I’m very sad that the competition is so limited. I live in South Africa. So many doors are closed just because my address is in the wrong country. Good luck to the authors who are allowed to take part.
Are you releasing information about the contract? Or is that to be determined at a later date?
Hi Amanda,
The winner will get the opportunity to sign a regular contract with M&B (both print and digital). Unfortunately, we are not at liberty to divulge the details of the contracts signed between M&B and their authors. That said I’ll report your request to M&B an see whether we can provide any further detail on this specific contract.
Best wishes,
Diego
Hi there 🙂
I have a quick question. Although it says the first chapter is to be submitted, would a short prologue (approx. 1000 words) and the first chapter be acceptable, provided that the synopsis, prologue and first chapter were within the 5,500 word limit?
Dear Brooke,
Please, bear in mind that the synopsis is to be included in your submission. You cannot replace that with the prologue. However, the prologue can be considered as a part of the first chapter and, in your submission, you can include that in the section devoted to the first chapter. The total word limit is 5,500. However, beware that you must respect the maximum word-count allowed for each section (Synopsis: 500 words, First Chapter: 5,000 words).
Good Luck!
The submission guidelines indicate a 1 page synopsis of 500 words. To me, that means the document should be single spaced. Since we have to submit a single document, should it all be single spaced? Are there guidelines as to font size that I missed? Thank you.
Barb
It says in the contest details that’ the winner must be prepared to submit a full manuscript of 70,000 words or more to Mills & Boon on or about September 30, 2015.’ The problem is, the editor guidelines for three of the M&B lines (Romance, Presents and Medical) only ask for 50,000 words and only publish stories around this length—so 70,000 words would be far too long for submission to these 3 lines. Would the editors really want 70,000 word stories for these lines?
Because of the nature of my day job I’d prefer to enter under a pen name and keep my real identity private. Would it be okay to do this if I gave my real name on the entry too? I don’t mind giving it, i just wouldn’t want it published.
The only place your REAL name is required would be on the official signature documents and the contract with the publisher should you be a winner. 🙂 Kobo and our partners fully respect an author’s desire to use a pseudonym and maintain anonymity.
Reblogged this on new2writing and commented:
CALLING ALL ROMANCE AUTHORS!
Romance Writing Competition – Closing Date 14th July. Good luck!
Question, is this contest open to teen romance as well? Or is it strictly for adult romance?
Yes, we’re accepting any and all romance genres – teen romance included 🙂
Can you enter more than one book?
Is the competition deadline 31st July or 13th July? There have been conflicting dates on different websites.
Thanks
Amy
Hi Amy, deadline has been extended to July 31st.
Why is the competition not open to the rest of the world? A while ago your site informed us that the deadline date will be 14 july and nothing was said about where your country must be. Now i am not able to participate.
Hi Isabella, our deadline was extended to July 31st. The countries eligible to enter are listed above – UK, Canada, and the United States.
My synopsis is under 500 words – however, it is one full page plus two short paragraphs so it extends to two pages. Will this disqualify me? Or should the synopsis be single line in order to enter one page only for the synopsis? If so – can I enter again?
Hi Linda, the synopsis should be no longer than 500 words, and the first chapter of the manuscript of no longer than 5,000 words. Hope this helps.
For the paranormal book, can it be young adult? Also, can you submit more than one entry?
Young adult is fine but unfortunately you can only submit one entry.
Will there eventually be a total of all of the submissions reported to Kobo members? Just curious.
I have submitted my entry however I wrote my synopsis in single line format and only included my name and title of work on the first page not on every page of the first chapter. I am worried this will mean my entry is not valid and would appreciate feedback to let me know if this is the case or if I am just over worrying. Oh and I did not put the word count, although it was 500 for the synopsis and 5,000 for the first chapter which I did. I wrote my contact details on the first page though as requested. Will my entry be ok?
Hello,
I ma sorry to hear that.
As per the competition guidelines your entry should be invalid. That said, the final decision is up to the judges. Even if we cannot speak in their behalf, it is possible they validate the entry anyway if they see the reason for doing that.
Good luck,
Diego
Hi Diego,
thanks for getting back to me – I am gutted to be honest – bit like when you send an awful email and want it back but can’t get it….., once its gone its gone…..oh well at least I know and I do however appreciate your feedback instead of sitting around moping and hoping I kind of know now…..
Congrats to the people who have or will be getting the call soon! Can’t wait to see who won.
Are they announcing the winners today?
Hi, due to the high number of entries we’ve had to delay our announcement. We will be announcing the winners on October 1st.
Wow. Sounds like a great response to the competition. Will the winning entries be called before Oct. 1 to let them know? Fingers are crossed!!
Hello, um, aren’t the winners supposed to be announced today? I’m just curious to if they have been announced yet and I can’t find the page, or they just haven’t been announced yet.
Hi, due to the high number of entries we’ve had to delay our announcement. We will be announcing the winners on October 1st.
did they announce the winners somewhere?
Winners will be announced today!
Weren’t the winners supposed to be announced October 1st? I checked the romancewritingcompetition website and there was nothing…
Winners will be announced today!
I seem to have missed the winners announcement?
Winners will be announced today!