Daily Mail Competition

The Daily Mail is holding a competition - open to anyone aged 16 or more and who is a resident of the UK or Northern Ireland. The winner will receive a £30,000 advance AND a publishing deal with Transworld. All entries must be original and previously unpublished on any subject or genre and not less than 80,000 but not more than 150,000 words.

More details can be obtained from Daily Mail First Novel Competition, Transworld Publishers, 61-63 Uxbridge Road, London, W5 5SA

Thanks for the info Jenny! Here's a link to the Daily Mail website for anyone who might be interested:

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Resident of the UK or Northern Ireland certainly narrows it down.
Wouldn't it be great if you were to win it?

I'm a member of youwriteon.com and one thing I learned very quickly is that the books with the greatest appeal very much reflect the author's chosen genre. In other words, the stories reflect books that are read by thousands of readers.

The books that do less well are stories written in an individualistic style. The winners of competitions are those who can not only write well and tell a good story but write in a way that will appeal to agents/publishers/readers.

Today, I received this email message from poetry.com:

Quote :

Imagine . . .

"The winner of $20,000, a $10,000 book publishing contract,
and our next Poet of the Year is Shelagh Watkins!"

Dear Shelagh,
There is great news, and I want to be the first person to tell you. You have been nominated for this year's Poet of the Year competition. Choosing this year's nominees was not hard at all. Your talent, dedication to poetry, and membership status make you an obvious choice. We want you to share this momentous occasion with us in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 24-27, 2008 for the 22nd Annual International Society of Poets Convention and Symposium. We are just now putting the finishing touches on what is sure to be the biggest poetry celebration of the decade.

Shelagh, as a VIP member of the International Society of Poets, I want you to know that I am reserving a place for you at this year's event. Our Editorial Advisory Board and judges look forward to hearing you read your very best poem in this year's competition. As a nominee for this year's Poet of the Year award, you will be presented with a newly designed, imported lead crystal trophy honoring your outstanding achievements in poetry. There is an excellent chance that you could be one of the winners sharing $100,000 in cash and prizes that will be announced live on Sunday, July 27, 2008.

"As a nominee for this year's Poet of the Year award, you will be presented with a newly designed, imported lead crystal trophy honoring your outstanding achievements in poetry." For this honor, I have to register at the conference at a snip of $545!

If I want a trophy, I can buy a piece of lead crystal with my name engraved on it for a tenth of that price and tell everyone I received it all the way from America. No one would know the difference.

As it is, I don't need the ego boost, so I won't be spending the money.

The poem I wrote to achieve this magnificent award, was a simple poem with mass appeal: it said exactly what most people think in very few words.

The winner of the Daily Mail Competition will have to do the same -- only s/he will be allowed to say it in not less than 80,000 words!

I think you have to be very confident about the mass appeal of your own work to consider that you will have a chance of winning. Otherwise you are paying the registration fee to help fund the prize. I don't think I would ever have that amount of confidence in my own work.

Hmmm ... it sounds like a bit of a rip off to me!

"If I want a trophy, I can buy a piece of lead crystal with my name engraved on it "

Sheesh, I'll have to check the bank account and see if I can send you some sort of trophy. You are certainly deserving of one!

Zada, making a trophy for yourself just won't do.
If anyone wants a trophy, we can create it. We already have a power of influence right here on this forum.
On a different forum that I was associated with, I organzied a "Certificate of Appreciation" that carried the signatures of participating members of that forum who also contributed to have the certificate produced. It was presented to Dick Stodghill. Dick is the author of: Normandy 1944. He is 83 years old.

Here is what it said:

Certificate of Appreciation

Presented to: Dick Stodghill

For his help and guidance to the many new and experienced writers. His unselfish contribution and devotion to the art and science of writing has made an impact on us all. We value his wisdom and his integrity. He is a soldier in the true sense of the word. He not only risked his life for his country but continues to fight for freedom and justice.

List of Names

I've heard nothing but bad press about poetry.com.

Congratulations on the award, Shelagh.

I have a perfect novel for the competition, shame I'm living in Greece now. lol

Thanks Karina! I should imagine the email was sent out to tens of thousands of would-be poets (which I'm not!) to attract enough delegates to the conference to make a hefty profit. A thousand delegates paying $545 each would raise half a million dollars. Even if the whole event cost half of that to stage, poetry.com would still net quater of a million. Not bad for four days work (plus all the organising, of course, which would take a good deal longer, but still well worth the effort!)

Abe F. March wrote:

Zada, making a trophy for yourself just won't do.
If anyone wants a trophy, we can create it. We already have a power of influence right here on this forum.

Abe,

You and Jenny did something far better than that -- you bought my book, The Power of Persuasion. You couldn't have pleased me more!

~Shelagh

You know they suck people in with some of those contests even when they are really young. My daughter received a "nomination" through her school, and so she excitedly submitted her poem and the $25 entry fee. I think practically every kid who submitted the fee got "published" in the book...which the parents were strongly encouraged to buy so that said child had a copy, each set of grandparents/godparents and special aunties had a copy...at $25 a shot. It's tough to say no, because the kid is ecstatic thinking they are getting published, and as a parent I was too. I think that little project set me back about $150! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Preying on the young is quite a good ploy, as most parents have no desire to disappoint their kids. What a shame.

Zada,
preying on the young has been going on for years. I remember the cereal ads that caused my kids to want them, and they were the least nutritious. You find the same thing when you go shopping. Presentation causes the kids to pester until the parent either smacks the kid, grabs them by the arm and pulls them out of the store, or they buy the item to appease. Mostly, it is the appease factor that wins out.
Then there are the things from school, starting with the school pictures. Then the sale of girl scout cookies, etc., etc. Grandparents are prime targets as well as all the people in the neighborhood.

Years ago, an ad ran that told kids to DEMAND a certain toy. My mother wrote the tv station and in her own delicate way demanded they remove the offensive ads. They did. There are a lot of objectionable ads for kids, but at least they don't come right out and tell the kids to DEMAND their product.

I often wonder at all the infomercials as well. You know they are successful, or the marketers wouldn't use them. But klds are definitely easy marks.

I remember an old episode of Roaseanne where she confessed to using a premium cereal box to fill with generic cereal. At the price of cereals today, and wide array of products offered, one has to wonder who can afford them. I think I will stick to my old standby, oatmeal.

Shucks, Pam, here I go talking food again!!

(I haven't had breakfast yet!)

Zada,
oatmeal is good. More often the simple foods are the most nutritious.

And Shelagh, actions often speak louder than words. It is one thing to congratulate, but to purchase the work of another says much more.

Abe I was going to get upset for you targetting girl scout cookies, but of course you are right. Plus the cookies themselves now are just crap. There is a marketing term that they use for product that is placed at a kids eye level when you are at the till and they are squished into those rigid miserable carts. Of course, I cannot remember what it is, but I know that kind of brainwashing is effective. I can recall coming home one time when my teeny bean was still teeny and thinking my husband was losing his mind, and he was thinking the same thing about me...but actually it was the kids helping us shop when we were looking at something else.

We had a young feller come to the house last week selling chocolate covered almonds, and since he is a neighbour and I am a softy, I bought two boxes. For $3 each there were 10 in each box. Will I never learn? Just like my friend Zada, if I had eaten a substantial breakfast I probably could have stopped at one box, but noooo..