Contests

[Carlene]

Hi All,

If this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it or let me know and I will.

Okay, a friend of mine is in charge of the contest for her RWA group. It's for unpublished writers, BUT - several woman have written and asked if they could enter because they self-published a book! I said probably not if it has an ISBN number, but I'm not sure. What's your take?

Carlene
www.crdater.com (http://www.crdater.com)

[veinglory]

To my mind contests are closed to published writers to give the rest a chance--as a self-published writer has not shown their ability to hurdle the slush pile I would class them with the totally unpublished and let them enter.

[victoriastrauss]

I disagree. If a book has an ISBN number and is for sale to the public, it's published, whether the publisher is you, iUniverse, or Random House. You can't have it both ways.

- Victoria

[Ken Schneider]

I agree with Victoria.

You've written and printed/published.

[veinglory]

Is that because the self-published person writes as well as the published person--or am I misinterpreting the reason for the rule--which IMHO is more important than the literal wording of it...?

[Cathy C]

Since this is for an RWA chapter, Carlene, your friend should go with existing RWA rules for the Golden Heart, the unpublished contest put on by the national organization. They have a VERY specific definition for "published".



The Golden Heart contest is open to writers who have not accepted a publishing offer from an RWA-recognized publisher for any novel by the contest entry deadline, or have at any time entered a novella in the RITA contest, including the current contest year. An RWA-recognized publisher is defined as a royalty-paying publishing house that (1) does not offer subsidy or vanity contracts to RWA members, (2) has been releasing books on a regular basis via national distribution for a minimum of one year, and (3) has sold a minimum of 1,500 hardcover or trade paperback copies or 5,000 copies in any other format, including print on demand, of a single Romantic Fiction book or novella or collection of novellas in book form.



Using these guidelines, self-published books, electronic house publications and small press offerings which don't fit the guideline, regardless of whether it has an ISBN or is available for sale, is indeed considered "unpublished." While it doesn't feel "right", it is the guideline that the national chapter follows, and they sort of expect the local chapters to do the same.

Hope that helps! :)