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Babel Fish Translation
 

ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITIONS  IN ALL GENRES

No Entry or Reading Fees
 

Call for Manuscripts
Each year, RockWay Press holds annual creative writing contests, in all genres, for authors without agent representation or for authors who are not attempting to "pitch" their books to RockWay.

No previous publication history is necessary to enter any of the contests, and you may have published books or chapbooks before. Previous publication of any parts of your manuscripts in national periodicals or literary journals is helpful but is not a prerequisite.

Unpublished, up-represented (by agents), self-published, or self-publish-print-on-demand POD writers are especially encouraged to enter the contests. Self-published authors & self-published Print-on-Demand  (POD) authors may  send copies of their finished book in lieu of an unbound manuscript, but bear in mind that no entries will be returned, not even those sent in book format. All entries to the contest are destroyed afterward to protect the entrants from plagiarism.

You need not include query letters with your entries, but you must address it to the appropriate editor, e.g., Graphic Novels, Poetry, or Novel; or Short Story, etc.

Manuscripts for the Annual Writing Contests are accepted throughout the year, but they are held for reading until after the 31 December deadline.

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Contest categories
Except for Scholarly books written for other Scholars and Children's COLOR Picture books,

all genres of writing are considered for the contests. Simply note on the outside of your manuscript which genre, e.g., poetry, short stories, novella, memoir, novel, creative non-fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, you are entering.

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Category Winners
 RockWay Press expects that each category in the contest will have several Prizes since we do not expect different genres to "compete" with each other. In the Novel, Novella, or Short Story contests, for example, there is simply no way to determine that a prize-winning Romance is better than, say, a prize-winning Western, Mystery, Noir, Jewish fiction, Christian fiction, Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, or Fantasy.

Traditionally end-rhymed & metered poetry will not compete with free-verse; Christian works will not be compared to Buddhist works will not be compared to Jewish works will not be compared to Islamic works; satire will not be ranked against philosophical works; experimental literature will not be judged with traditional literature.

Therefore, there would be Prizes awarded for each of those categories (and for any other which are not necessarily listed here). The same holds true for other categories as well.

In Creative Non-Fiction, for instance, a True-Crime entry will not be judged or evaluated against a Humorous entry — only against other True-Crime entries. That means there will, no doubt, be True-Crime Prizes, Humor Prizes, Creative Non-Fiction First Prizes (fitting into no particular classification). Just as Memoir entries, which are, in fact, creative non-fiction, are only evaluated against other memoirs, so it is with each type of writing within each individual category.

In the future, True-Crime or Humor may be listed in separate categories, but at the present, rather than restrict entrants because they are unsure whether their manuscripts should go into category "A" or category "B", which are both falling under the larger grouping of Creative Non-Fiction, we have one general category and the editorial staff separates the entries into their more specific groups.

 In short, RockWay Press expects to award multiple prizes each larger, more general categories "Poetry," "Short Stories," "Creative Non-Fiction," "Novels," etc.

Finalists
All finalists — in each sub-category — will also be considered for publication by RockWay Press.

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Winning Authors
 The books of winning authors will be published by RockWay Press. By entering this contest, you are giving RockWay Press permission to publish your book, should it be chosen as one of the winners, according to the terms of RWP's contract. All authors at RockWay Press receive the same contract. Please review the contract before entering the contest.

RWP Book Contract

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Production of Winning Manuscripts
The winning manuscripts will be edited, copy-edited, & production-designed by our experienced, award-winning staff, then printed as  perfect-bound (straight spine) Trade paperback books with a full-color, no-roll, laminated covers, published by RockWay. For more information on the physical manufacture of the books, see Book Production.

Print Run
Each print run is expected to be 1,000 (one thousand copies).

Distribution of winning manuscripts
Books will be wholesaled & distributed to bookstores in the United States, Canada, & the United Kingdom by Ingram and by Baker & Taylor. Books will be available nationally & internationally online through Amazon.com, and Barnes & Noble.com, Borders.com, and (soon) at the Bookstore on RockWayPress.com, etc.

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Copyrights
The copyright will be registered in the author's name, and all subsidiary rights (i.e., book club, foreign rights, film, stage, etc.) remain with the author. For additional copyright information, including registration with the Library of Congress & ISBN's, see Copyright Information.

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RockWay's Out-of-Print and Remainder Policy
Books will be reprinted as often as necessary.
Books will never go out-of-print or be remaindered.

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Manuscript Entry Requirements

All entries should be at least 75 typed pages (Poetry manuscripts may be single-spaced, one poem to a page, one-side only). Include author BIO, table of contents (if applicable), title pages, & all previous publication credits with the manuscript. Submit your entry in unbound hard-copy printed on one side of the page only (self-published and POD authors may send a copy of the finished book in lieu of an unbound manuscript but bear in mind that no manuscripts, self-published, or self-published-POD books will be returned) to the appropriate editor and contest at RockWay Press' Postal Address.

No contest entries will be returned.

At the conclusion of the contest, all hard copies (including self-published and self-published-print-on-demand [POD] books) and CD-ROMs will be shredded and appropriately discarded.   

Your work will not be seen by anyone except the editors at RockWay, so your private contact  information and the creative presentation of your ideas will not be distributed in any way, shape, manner, or form.  RockWay protects all its contestants from plagiarism in this way.

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Style & Subject Matter
Any style & subject matter (except pornography) is acceptable, but we're seeking writing that is intriguing & memorable, with exciting & unique ways of seeing the world, by serious writers who have mastered their craft. 

Comedy, humor, satire, and parody — some of the most difficult writing to do consistently well — is considered work by "serious" writers. "Serious writers" are those are dedicated to their craft and to constantly improving it, writers who are disciplined and can meet manuscript deadlines, writers who are willing to make the complex and demanding transition from "writer" to "author" (there's even more work to do after a book is accepted for publication), writers who are serious about being professionals, writers whom we'll be proud to have representing RockWay Press. So, please, if you're a serious writer and you're funny, send us a manuscript. We love to laugh, too.

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Page limits
All submitted manuscripts should be at least 75 pages since this is the minimum number needed to print a perfect-bound (squared, flat spine) book for publication. There is no maximum page limit, though we do distinguish in our catalogue which pieces of long fiction we call "novellas" and "novels" based on finished page count .

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Entry Deadline
The annual deadline for the writing competitions is 31 December, and entries must be clearly postmarked by that date.

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Entry / Reading Fees
There is no Entry/Reading fee for any manuscript submitted to the contest.

An author may submit as many entries as he wishes, in as many different genres as he wishes, but each manuscript must be sent individually, in its own envelope/box, for distribution to the judges/readers.

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include bio with complete manuscript
Include a brief, one-paragraph BIO with the hard-copy of your manuscript. If you have been previously published, you may include your list of publications. Please note that previous publication is not necessary in order to enter RockWay's contest, and the publication list & BIO are not shown to the manuscript readers.

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contents of submission package
Your submission package should include all of the following:

  •  one hard-copy of your entire manuscript

  •  a page with your name, address, phone (and email address, if applicable)

  •  a brief bio, including a list of previous publications if applicable

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Submission Address
(Category) [e.g., Graphic Novel Competition, Poetry Competition, Novel Competition, etc.]
RockWay Press
#01 Back Road, Studio Z
Madrid, New Mexico 87010-9727
USA

No Fed Ex, UPS, or other mail services which require signatures, please.

No electronic (e-mail) submissions except by special permission and pre-authorization for writers not residing in the USA.

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"No Suitable Entries" Policy
RockWay Press reserves the right to withhold a prize in its annual writing competitions if no manuscripts are deemed worthy of winning. RockWay wishes to maintain the integrity of its reputation and of the work it publishes by not being forced to accept the "best" of the worst work.

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Multiple Contest Submissions to RockWay Press
Contestants may enter as many manuscripts into as many categories of RockWay's contests as they wish, but each manuscript must be submitted individually for delivery to the judges/readers.

Multiple Submissions — to RockWay, to Agents or other author representatives, publishing houses, or to other contests
It is acceptable for entrants to enter their manuscripts to RockWay Press' contest(s) as well as to other contests, to agents, and to other publishers.

If your manuscript is chosen for publication in another contest, however, we require you to notify us immediately -- in writing — so that we may withdraw your manuscript from our competition.

If your manuscript is chosen for representation by an agent or by another type of author's representative (such as an attorney), we require you to notify us immediately -- in writing. The manuscript will be withdrawn from the competition so that your agent may sell it.

If you already have agent representation, you may enter the contest so long as you realize that, should your manuscript be chosen as a winner to be published by RockWay Press, no contract negotiations will be made —  with or without an agent or other author's representative — since it is one of RockWay's founding principles that all authors, no matter their reputations or publication histories, are treated equally.

Therefore, all authors at RockWay Press receive exactly the same publishing contract. If you wish to give your agent or representative his contracted portion of your royalties for any RockWay Press book, that is to be decided between you and your representative. There is a place in the contract for the author to provide RockWay with his representative's address and tax identification information. When that section of the contract is filled in, all monies due to the author will be sent to his duly appointed representative. For more information, you may review a copy of our book contract.

 RWP Book Contract

If your manuscript is chosen for publication by another publishing house,  we require you to notify us immediately -- in writing so that we may withdraw your manuscript from our competition.

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Publication date of Winning Entries
RockWay expects to publish the winning entries within 12-36 months after acceptance.  All finalists will also be considered for publication.

Announcement of Winners
The names of the winners and their book titles will be posted on the website by 1 April of the following calendar year; thus, winners of the 2004 contests were posted on the site in late spring 2005; winners of the 2005 contests were posted in late spring 2006, etc.

Please do not send SASEs or call our offices for the list of winners. Check the website after 1 April of the following calendar year.

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Additional Questions or Concerns?
Additional questions about any of the writing competitions?

Send us an E-mail or give us a call, toll-free in the USA (all 50 states) at 1-866-473-9011, or, outside the US, at 505-473-9011.

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Web-site Updated: Tuesday 28 August 2007