Alright- the entries are in and the judges are hard at work determining the Top Ten finalists. These ten manuscripts will not only be judged by literary agent Danielle Chiotti but also submitted to Flatmancrooked for publishing consideration!

Final winners will be announced by March 15th but we want to say a huge THANK YOU to the thousands of writers who have submitted their fantastic manuscripts. You’ve really made this competition special and we can’t wait to see which novels rise to the top. Everyone who has submitted is already a winner in our book.

We’ll keep you updated!

WordHustler’s Literary Storm Novel Contest- FINAL DEADLINE EXTENDED!

WordHustler is taking our writing contests to a whole new level with the debut of our Literary Storm Novel Contest (ENTER HERE). Submit the first 50 pages of your novel and you could win BIG! The details:

Official Judge: Literary Agent Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary

Grand Prize: A Complete Manuscript Critique by Joyce Sweeney, who has helped 27 people get published! (Psst: this prize is worth over $500!) as well as publication consideration from brilliant indie press Flatmancrooked!

Second and Third Prizes: Barnes and Noble Gift Certificates

NEW BONUS PRIZE:  The Top Ten Entries will ALL be considered for publishing by Flatmancrooked!

FINAL Deadline: February 26th, 2010

Entry Fee: $15 ($10 if submitted BEFORE January 27th, 2010)

What to Submit: The first 50 pages of your finished novel, along with a cover letter. Manuscript critiques are also available for an additional fee of $25 ($20 if submitted BEFORE Jan. 27th, 2010). All genres of novels are accepted, including Middle Grade and Young Adult.

Go to the WordHustler Literary Storm Contest listing RIGHT HERE to enter or hit the button below to sign in (or sign up) and enter!

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by James Kaelan

When Opium 8 came out earlier this year, I was both excited and jealous. With a very simple technology-graduating layers of black ink, printed over white text, that degrades when exposed to UV radiation-the cover of the Infinity Issue promises to reveal a story over the course of 1,000 years, with one new word appearing every century. Opium got a lot of press out of that, and rightfully. The concept was very advanced, but the execution was simple. The cover might seem like a gimmick, but that’s a delimiting perspective. Books need to get people excited.

Flatmancrooked Publishing, which I co-own with Elijah Jenkins and Deena Drewis, and which is releasing my debut book, We’re Getting On, has a project in the works that aims to redefine how books get promoted in the 21st Century. For most publishers, an author tour is a loss leader. The cost to send a writer from city to city (airfare, hotels, handlers, rental cars) outweighs the monetary gains accrued from book sales during the tour.

Accordingly, most publishers have dispensed with tours-or they make the author foot the bill. But Flatmancrooked believes engaging directly with an audience is a major key to the success of a title. Therefore, the more people we can reach, the better. How, though, can a small company afford to send an author on a trip across the country? It’s simple: Make the tour as exciting as the book itself.

[Read more →]

WordHustler’s Literary Storm Novel Contest- CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED!

WordHustler is taking our writing contests to a whole new level with the debut of our Literary Storm Novel Contest (ENTER HERE). Submit the first 50 pages of your novel and you could win BIG! The details:

Official Judge: Literary Agent Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary

Grand Prize: A Complete Manuscript Critique by Joyce Sweeney, who has helped 27 people get published! (Psst: this prize is worth over $500!) as well as publication consideration from brilliant indie press Flatmancrooked!

Second and Third Prizes: Barnes and Noble Gift Certificates

NEW BONUS PRIZE:  The Top Ten Entries will ALL be considered for publishing by Flatmancrooked!

NEW Deadline: January 25th, 2010

Entry Fee: $10

What to Submit: The first 50 pages of your finished novel, along with a cover letter. Manuscript critiques are also available for an additional fee of $20. All genres of novels are accepted, including Middle Grade and Young Adult.

Go to the WordHustler Literary Storm Contest listing RIGHT HERE to enter or hit the button below to sign in (or sign up) and enter!

[Read more →]

Hustlers! You may already know that we are giving away a FREE manuscript critique and a slew of Barnes and Noble gift certificates in our first annual Literary Storm Novel Contest.

You may also know that esteemed literary agent Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary is our judge.

But we have yet ANOTHER exciting announcement: the TOP TEN entries will be considered for PUBLICATION from brilliant indie press FLATMANCROOKED!

That’s right- you can win a manuscript critique, the opinion of a fantastic literary agent, and possible publication!!!

So what are you waiting for? Find out more HERE and enter the contest HERE!

LITERARY FAME AWAITS!

WordHustler is taking our writing contests to a whole new level with the debut of our Literary Storm Novel Contest (ENTER HERE). Submit the first 50 pages of your novel and you could win BIG! The details:

Official Judge: Literary Agent Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary

Grand Prize: A Complete Manuscript Critique by Joyce Sweeney, who has helped 27 people get published! (Psst: this prize is worth over $500!) as well as publication consideration from brilliant indie press Flatmancrooked!

Second and Third Prizes: Barnes and Noble Gift Certificates

NEW BONUS PRIZE:  The Top Ten Entries will ALL be considered for publishing by Flatmancrooked!

Deadline: January 25th, 2010

Entry Fee: $10

What to Submit: The first 50 pages of your finished novel, along with a cover letter. Manuscript critiques are also available for an additional fee of $20. All genres of novels are accepted, including Middle Grade and Young Adult.

Go to the WordHustler Literary Storm Contest listing RIGHT HERE to enter or hit the button below to sign in (or sign up) and enter!

About Our Prizes: 

From the Upstart Crow Literary website: We believe good books matter far too much to be taken lightly, and that the careers of those books’ creators are a very serious business. That quality of long-term nurturing and author advocacy is something all of us here aim for: We work with our clients to polish their manuscripts, hone their voices, and find the best match of editor and publishing house. And then we look to what comes after that first or third or sixth book: Our authors are our partners, talents we intend to work with over long, illustrious careers.

From the Flatmancrooked site: Flatmancrooked is a semi-traditional small press that prides itself on producing beautiful books and reimagining the way those books are marketed. We tout books as art objects, and feel that first runs should be precious, limited editions. Selling massive numbers of copies of a soft-cover isn’t the future of 21st Century publishing. But printing a few hundred, gorgeous, collectible copies, and giving away a digital version free, is.

From Joyce Sweeney’s site: Fifteen years ago I started teaching writing classes and found my true calling. Even more than writing itself, I love helping and mentoring writers. I moved from five week classes to an ongoing workshop in Fort Lauderdale, where I could work with writers for as long as it took - sometimes years - to get that first book into print.

My one workshop expanded to two, and I started working with manuscripts from writers all over the country, critiquing, advising, sometimes just pulling out the old pep talk. I’m now so proud to say that 27 of the people I’ve worked with have become published authors.

Finalists and Winners will be announced by February 15th, 2010 and their names posted on WordHustlerInk. See below for Official Rules and Regulations. Good Luck, Hustlers!

*Please Note: The Top Ten finalists will be determined by the WH team and then judged by Danielle Chiotti. We are looking for compelling writing that is original, daring, and worthy of being published. The WH team consists of 10 writers with a combined experience of over 80 years in the industry.

[Read more →]