For this round, we’re only considering submissions that haven’t been published elsewhere (or not more than one chapter). We may revisit this policy in the future.
Once the finalists' manuscripts are serialized, what recompense is given to the authors? Will they be paid royalties? Who owns the manuscript after the finalists are named? Will they get a book contract?
The winner (voted on by subscribers) will receive $1,000, and the two finalists $500. The only thing we’re buying with the prize money is the right to serialize the first few chapters from each finalist, and then the entirety of the winner’s novel. All other rights revert to the author (so royalties don’t enter into it). As to a book contract, we’re not a publishing house, but it’s our sincere hope (really the impetus behind this project) that serialization like this will become a resource for agents, editors, and presses to find new talent.
The proposal is entirely serious. We're doing it right now with a fairly well-known author who's published several books traditionally. We're not really taking a book "off anyone's hands." Finalists and winners retain all rights to their own work, save our one-shot right to serialize it. Plenty of novels in the past were serialized before they were published in hardback or paperback. The hope is that this can become a springboard for writers to get their work in front of as many eyes as possible (including agents and editors). Really this is all explained in our first post.
Could we submit more than one manuscript? 😅
Indeed!
Obvious question: I've serialized my novel already on Substack, albeit in draft form. Would you still be interested?
For this round, we’re only considering submissions that haven’t been published elsewhere (or not more than one chapter). We may revisit this policy in the future.
Once the finalists' manuscripts are serialized, what recompense is given to the authors? Will they be paid royalties? Who owns the manuscript after the finalists are named? Will they get a book contract?
The winner (voted on by subscribers) will receive $1,000, and the two finalists $500. The only thing we’re buying with the prize money is the right to serialize the first few chapters from each finalist, and then the entirety of the winner’s novel. All other rights revert to the author (so royalties don’t enter into it). As to a book contract, we’re not a publishing house, but it’s our sincere hope (really the impetus behind this project) that serialization like this will become a resource for agents, editors, and presses to find new talent.
Is a magazine a publishing house? Did Rolling Stone become a publishing house when they serialized Bonfire of the Vanities? This is not a new concept.
The proposal is entirely serious. We're doing it right now with a fairly well-known author who's published several books traditionally. We're not really taking a book "off anyone's hands." Finalists and winners retain all rights to their own work, save our one-shot right to serialize it. Plenty of novels in the past were serialized before they were published in hardback or paperback. The hope is that this can become a springboard for writers to get their work in front of as many eyes as possible (including agents and editors). Really this is all explained in our first post.