An example of one of my tasty little tips: Did you know that advertising or holding your contest on Facebook has to stay within certain Facebook rules or you page could be deleted without warning? Scary, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you have ever considered holding a contest, or have held one and want to share your expertise and experience with the Write Angle gang, we’d love to hear from you. Pop on over!

Here’s a little something I whipped up for that post (mmm cake!):

How about you? Ever held a contest? How did it go? What would you do differently next time?

Never held a contest? What drives you to enter or not enter a contest?

Do you write flash fiction? (Want to try?)

Do you have a black moment that makes you tear up every time you read it in edits?

Do you want to try writing a story of 500 words or less that includes the words “paper, crew, callipygian, angle, and novel?”

Do you want to swing your dead cat at winning a critique from a New York Times Bestselling author? (OMG, yes!!)

Do you want to win free books? (Free books! Best ever.)

If you answered yes to any of those questions, I’ve got two great contests for you:

AKRWA Breakup Contest

**Permission to Forward**

The AKRWA Breakup Contest is open for entries!

Tired of submitting your first pages to contests? Want some feedback on a different section of your manuscript? Then this contest is for you!

We want to see your best black moment or break-up scene. We want to watch your characters face their darkest fear, lose all hope, dig deep, chew the scenery, let it all hang out … Thrill us. Make us cry. Make us long for your characters to find their happy ending.

Go to http://www.akrwa.ala….com/about.html for details on how to enter.

The final judge will be Liz Pelletier at Entangled Publishing.

The first place winner will receive a critique from NYT-bestselling author Cherry Adair.

The entry deadline is May 1. We can’t wait to read your black moment or break-up scene!

From The Write Angle’s Blogiversary Flash Fiction Contest

A Blogiversary Contest!

From the Write Angle is one year old! We can’t believe it has been a year already. To celebrate our birthday month, and to thank you, our loyal fans and readers, we’re having a contest!

• What: Flash fiction, maximum 500 words
• Requirements: You must use each of the following words in your entry: paper, crew, callipygian, angle, novel. Other than that, there’s no specific theme. It’s up to you. Have fun with it!
• Deadline: Entries must be received by midnight (EDT) on Wednesday, April 18th 2012
• Method of entry: email your entry to fromthewriteangle@gmail.com with your flash fiction pasted in the body of the email. Please don’t send any attachments.
• Results: the Write Angle Crew will read and collectively decide on two winners, which will be announced here on the blog on Friday, April 27th.

Important: By entering, you agree to let us publish your flash fiction on this web site if you’re one of the winners.

We would love if you would tweet or otherwise share this post and spread the word about the contest. We’d also love for you to subscribe to our blog. However, these are not requirements for contest entry.

One last thing… PRIZES! Two lucky winners will receive book by Write Angle crew members.

1st Place: 2 Print books

The Sister Queens, by our own Sophie Perinot

Spring Fevers short story anthology edited by our own Matt Sinclair, with stories from FTWA writers Cat Woods, J. Lea Lopez, R.S. Mellette and Mindy McGinnis. (Cover design by our amazing Calista Taylor, and interior design by R.C. Lewis) Currently only available in eBook format, you’ll be one of the first to get your hands on a paperback copy!

2nd Place: 2 eBooks

Devil on a Sparrow’s Wing, by Calista Taylor. This is the second in a series. You can get the first book, Viridis, free here so when you win this prize, you’ll be ready for the sequel!

The Watchtower, by Darke Conteur

Good luck!

So, I guess this is the final deal for my submission. It’s been a $4.95 well spent, I tell ya!

Oh, and I think I forgot to mention that a month or two ago, the publishing pro who rated my first five pages gave me a 5 out of 5!!!! Whoa! How crazy is that? It almost makes me think I might have something here. That inspires me to keep on writing! Has a contest inadvertently inspired you lately?

Ay karumba!

The raters over on WEbook’s Page To Fame contest have knocked my socks off. Seriously. Socks across the room, stuck in a plant.

As some of you may have read, I’ve been doing the Page To Fame thing over on WEbook. I have one submission that has made it to round 3 (submit 50 pages). Currently it has 7 ratings and a 72% elevation rate (that means 72% of the readers gave it a 4 or 5 out of 5 and therefore want it to go to the next level). That in itself makes me feel pretty good! But what really wows me is not only how many of the raters have plucked the very questions/thoughts, etc., I have from my mind about my work, but also wonderful, giving comments like this:

“That said, I truly admire the quality of the writing itself—-IMHO you’re writing at a professional level, which I think is rare here.”

Wow. Just Wow. What an amazing compliment. Truly. This person had issues with the format–something I have struggled with. Do I keep it all letter style or not? I tell you this: Page to Fame rocks. I get to see what readers think and how they react to my work. Maybe I will change the format. Maybe not. We’ll see what they tell me because quite honestly these wonderful readers and raters are rockin’ my socks off and giving me a much needed boost. Thank you anonymous rater–you made my week! Heck, my month!

(And yes, you may have heard through the grapevine that it took my about 2 weeks to suck up enough courage to look at these ratings. Talk about needing to grow a pair!)

In my opinion, these raters’ comments are spot on. And I really appreciate the time they have put in to not only reach the status of a round 3 rater, but how they have given up their time to rate a stranger’s work (50 pages) and provide such helpful feedback (300+ words).

Thank you, raters! You are doing a fab job–very professional and helpful and us WEbookers appreciate you and all your hard work!

May I ask if you have tried speed dating an agent? Because when it comes to Deidre Knight, She’s Just That Into You!

Okay, after Tuesday’s post about not querying agents anywhere you happen across them, you might be scratching your head and wondering what sort of wacky tobacky Jean’s found. (It’s just an eggnog chai latte–I swear! No rum or anything!) Because doesn’t the recommendation to speed date an agent kind of going against that earlier advice?

Yes. And no. Let Ms. Knight (as per her agency blog) explain for me:

Knight Agency president and founder Deidre Knight is on the hunt for a fresh, unique voice to add to her personal client roster. Are you the one she’s looking for? Find out by joining us here on The Knight Agency blog for “Speed Dating with Deidre.” Beginning Tuesday, November 30th, Deidre will whittle down the first 125 entries to one lucky winner.* The contest opens at 8:00am ET right here on the blog, so set your alarms!

Oh, and there’s a special bonus, one randomly drawn winner will receive a first chapter critique from Deidre – drawn from all entries.**

That’s right… she’s looking for a new voice. Is yours what she is looking for? If you think it might be, post your name on the contest blog post on the 30th. In the meantime, check out your manuscript and give it a polish if you think it might need it, and also be sure to check out her submission guidelines (what she’s interested in representing) as well as the rest of the contest rules.
Good luck and may November 30th be your lucky day.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. May your turkey be moist and succulent and your pie heaped with mounds of whipped cream. Mmmmm!