At Suvudu, we’re aware that getting your work into the hands of a professional editor can be a major hurdle in the road to publication. Many New York publishers do not accept submissions except from literary agents. That’s why we’re making available this limited opportunity to put your best manuscript of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or paranormal romance into consideration by the Del Rey/Spectra staff.
Del Rey/Spectra through Suvudu will be accepting submissions from now through March 18, 2011, of previously unpublished manuscripts of no more than 150,000 words. Over the next few months, they will be judged on the basis of originality, creativity, and writing style. The top submission will receive a full edit of the submitted work by Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Publishing, and the story will be considered for publication. Three runners-up will receive a set of Del Rey/Spectra titles selected by Suvudu.
When you’re ready to submit, click here to fill out the entry form. Once you’ve done so, you’ll receive an e-mail from Suvudu. Send your submission in response to the e-mail to enter the contest. Click here for official contest rules.
The winners will be announced on May 18, 2011.
Contest is from January 18, 2011 to March 18, 2011 (EST), and open only to legal residents of the United States, excluding Puerto Rico, who are age 18 and over as of January 18, 2011. Void wherever prohibited or restricted by law. Sponsor: Suvudu.com, a website of Random House, Inc.
If you’d do this for erotica or Native American stories I have a few but that’s all I write
Dangit, I don’t know if my work’d be ready. I have what is basically a set of four books, but I don’t know if it’d be ready in time. I don’t even know if I’ll be done writing the prequel in time for this. I may just have to go with what I have finished and hope for the best.
I’m not sure if my space station/major war/extra galactic invasion will be finished by then. *sigh*
Does it have to be the full book yet? I’m not sure I can finish in time, but I can try. My best work has been taking quite awhile and I also have it planned for a few books afterward as a series. This series has been planned for years and I can honestly say it is my best work with many plot twists and turns that will leave the reader guessing. Also, if I cannot make it by the deadline, is it at all possible to somehow submit it for possible publication through your publishing company? I have been shopping around for companies to review it for publication and if you would like to take a look at it I will send it to you. Thank you for your time, and if possible answer to my questions.
-Alexandria McCaskey
Do self-published ebooks count as “previously published?”
Why bother? Why not just publish it yourself and cut these middlemen out? With the use of the internet, you could publish, promote, and sell digital copies for yourself…. And if you have to have physical copies, there are companies who would be glad to press out a few, though they do charge. The main reason they won’t take your submissions at the major publishers, is because their business is designed to keep a close circle. They don’t want just anyone to have their books on the bestseller lists, they want themselves and their friends. Do yourself a favor and publish your work on your own…. It will feel better, because you will have complete creative control, and it’s much simpler than you would ever believe. Stop feeding these hypocrite leeches on American ingenuity, and show the world what you are made of!!!
I wrote a book and have hundreds of stories. My first book “TRUTH,LIFE,FACT and death”Copyright ©12/2010PeterRheuby there are 12 parts I will give the first six parts away.
prbookplublishing@yahoo.com
This offer may be delayed by circumstance. Send me the email address you wish the HTML
format of the book sent and when I figure out how to send it.
I will
Well, I am working on something, and if I can get it done, which working day and night to do so, I would love to have this opportunity. thank ya’ll for the chance.
CT Jaynes is right. Publish your books yourselves. It’s easy and you will be better off. Publishing companies try to rip writers off these days by taking their e-rights away and by taking the lion’s share of the royalties. In the long run, you are better off self-publishing and getting your work out to the readers faster.
I have a great one…I just have to talk to her about it. Although I doubt that she’d go for it, but I’ll ask anyway.
Does this entry accept poetry and if not, does anyone kno a publisher for poetry?
When they say Science Fiction? Can that include Police Science?
What I have is kind of a futuristic Mission:Impossible meets The Untouchables (with a little Batman on the side…) Spaghetti western action adventure…
I don’t even know if I’ll stand a chance next to most professionals..but…I suppose I could try?
I would be interested, sounds like something I would like to try out. Check out my booktrailer for my book and see if I make the cut….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLfwUIu_Au4
Where is my email?? I’ve had my manuscript for three years—-I’m ready!!!
Thanks for your interest in the contest! We’re nearing the deadline, so get those manuscripts in! And in answer to your questions:
Alexandria: We do require completed manuscripts. That step is a major requirement for any author, no matter how many books they’ve published!
Geoffrey: Self-published does count as “previously published,” sorry.
Aerron: This contest is specifically for novels.
DJB: Science fiction means that the plot must involve some element that is based on science but does not have to currently exist. If your book is set in the future, that probably means it qualifies.
Good luck!
Too bad
My manuscript is nearly 500,000 words long. Perhaps next time.
My novel is nearly done for the first book but is already longer than 150,000, I guess I’ll have to wait on it a little longer.
By the way check out my online novel blog I’m writing and follow it a piece at a time, Enjoy.
http://www.onlinenovelblog.blogspot.com
My site didn’t pop up so there it is
I don’t know how to write, but I can read. Is this a problem?
HOW OFTEN DOES THIS OPPORTUNITY OFFERED?
ah. bummer. Well, maybe next year. or, y’know, before.
good luck, folks. I “broke in” with contact like this. Pretty awesome way to go.
I sent in an entry, but I’m not sure if it was received. Can someone let me know?
Can I resubmit my manuscript after I have edited it. I submitted it a month ago but since then I have edited it. Can I resubmit?
~Melissa
I am a complete novice but I have a manuscript that is around 100,000 there are scf/fi elements although it is predominantly a romance, just not sure about the safety of such a submission and copyright etc, I also have a blog where I have been recording my journey
http://welshjensblog.blogspot.com if you care to join me .
My question is what it the judging criteria? Are you looking for books that need a lot of editing? or books that need very little editing? Are you looking for writers that need a lot of help? or need very little help? And the scary part, if I win, is which criteria was used?
Is this a yearly contest? My book is not even close to ready.
It grieves me to say that my submission bears a tragic resemblance to what’s happening in Japan. I’d like to dedicate it to the Japanese people.
Based on the contest rules, this is open to anyone, so long as the work submitted is not currently contracted, nor has been previously published. Is that correct?
@CT Jaynes, @Seaton:
Sure, I could go self-publishing. Then I would have to be, not just an author, but a marketter, a PR person, and all the rest.
All I want to do is write. I am happy to outsource all of the other tasks to Del Rey and my agent. Just let me know where the book signings are. That is why most major authors go this route, even in the days of electronic media. The overhead of getting from finished mss to ‘book in reader’s hand’ is time that is not available for writing.
And isn’t that why we’re in this game anyway? To write?
Bill
I thought I’d share a funny story. I made a submission earlier, but I was hammered ass drunk. I forgot I even entered the contest. I have no idea if the file sent was the right one either. It wasn’t until I checked my email that I realized that I had entered. I was preoccupied with, well, beer, one of the greatest substances known to man.
Well, hopefully I sent the correct file. Good Luck to everybody else in the running. I’m sure that it would be a big break for anyone involved. F— Publish America. Roll Tide!
Kangaroo,
T
I was dumb and forgot to put my genere and I remembered right as I clicked send. I can’t believe i am soooooo dumb. How are they going to Know what catagory to place you in if they don’t know your genere? I hope that don’t ding me to baddly for that or disqualify my dumb butt
and for the record Blossom Of Drago is a fantasy/adventure *sigh* I really wish I wasn’t so dumb at least you were drunk Taylor. I have no excuse.
Rebecca,
I did the SAME thing. Don’t feel bad. Maybe we DQ’d ourselves, maybe not. But at least you know you weren’t the only one to make silly mistakes. It’s what writers do!
Rebecca,
Actually, I take it back. I don’t see anywhere in the How To Enter section of the Official Rules that we must specify the genre within the manuscript heading. Although it might have been smart to do so, we were not breaking any of the submission guidelines. Hope this helps!
Hey, sadly enough I live in puerto rico and the offer is void here though discovering it the fifteenth of march didn’t help much, whelp I have a few books in the making mostly about psychosis plagued killers or a paranormal killing spree performed by a /suicided ex lover also have a lucifer type book I’m trying to write turning the character back into an angel eventually but basically about a seraphim cast out and into the abyss summoned to earth by a cult of demonic followers who tried to use him to better their lives, they all died in one night o.o eh anyone who would like a finished story add david harshey on facebook and when I get around to finishing it or the other works you can read it, I don’t care to publish it to be honest I am just content to have people enjoy my work and even if they don’t I had a fun time writing it at least
if u did a crime thing id b perfect . . . ~_^
I typed for almost a day straight getting my submission ready. I just want someone to read it and give me some honest feed back really…
I have a now-14 year old daughter who is writing fairly impressive sci-fi. She was raised on Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Brin, Clarke. Will there ever be an opportunity for young writers to submit, perhaps in a category of Young Adult fiction? Thanks.
Hmm… Puerto Ricans excluded? So that means natives who live in Puerto Rico aren’t considered residents, yet those native from the other territories like Guam, US Virgin Island, Northern Mariana Island, Palau, and Marshall Islands (among other territories) are considered legal residents. I must admit, I’m rather disappointed that as a Puerto Rican and a US citizen I can’t participate of this opportunity. *sighs*
If submissions were accepted from Jan 19th to March 18th, and the winners are announced on March 18th, then how will a submissions made on March 17th be seriously considered?
So sorry that I only found out about this contest yesterday. I have a lot of great material, but getting it in order in 2 days is impossible. Any chance of a later entry deadline?
I will be seventeen in a week, why do you have to be eighteen to qualify. I have good ideas and I have been writing for a while, what would it hurt if I submitted my work? Is there a maturity rule or a prejudice that I am unaware of? Since when are people of voting age any smarter or better writers than someone a year or two younger than them. I know plenty of people in my school, specifically a girl named Rachael in my book club, who would probably kick this contest’s butt. I hope the rules change and people take this comment seriously.
@Carl, the winner is announced May 18th, not March 18th.
@Desiree and @poetjustice, The reason for 18 and over is legal: below 18, you cannot enter into contracts with Spectre/Del Rey by yourself. And the rules are pretty strict about the author being in sole possesion of the rights. So, in my humble opinion, that is the sole reason for the age limitation.
What time tomorrow do you require the submissions by? Is it by midnight? And would that be local time or a specific time zone?
I’d be interested to know what this means:
\By participating and accepting a prize the winners grant to Sponsor and those acting pursuant to the authority of Sponsor, the right to print, publish, broadcast, and use, worldwide in any media now known or hereafter developed the winner’s name and biographical information for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation or review.\
Without additional compensation? Seriously? So, if I win the contest, you might publish my novel and you don’t have to give me additional compensation? That seems a bit iffy.
@ John,
No, it doesn’t give them the right to publish your book without compensating you.
It means that they can use your name and bio for advertising purposes without compensating you for the ads.
So, even if they do not choose to publish your book after winning the contest, they can still post that you won the contest and not have to pay you for posting that.
@ John
No, that’s not what it means. What that means is that if you win the contest, they can publish your name and bio for advertising purposes and not have to compensate you for the ads.
In other words, if they produce a TV commercial about this contest, and in that commercial mention that you were the winner (regardless of whether or not they chose to publish your book) then they don’t have to pay you for that commercial.