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Win Writing Contests – Seven Top Formulae to Win Quickly
Ever wished for a new method to win writing contests – effortlessly? Take a look at these simple-to-apply ideas to succeed in competitions. Try them in your own creative way and shape them to your current needs. All will work admirably to win contests – and more profitably than anyone might ever suppose.
To win story contests consistently, you have to regard your writing pasttime as your profession. In other words, regard competitions like a job that you commit to each work day, every week. One competition win will not pay your bills but several prizes every week accumulate a healthy sum.
True, it’s not easy to turn a hobby into a business. Yet to turn a pasttime into cash takes a ruthless, professional attitude. The good news is, the task is very pleasurable.
Your first step is to devize a record plan. Documents soon go out of date – better to apply a database system. But such programs take a long while to learn. A simpler plan is to use the Table utility in Word for such a simple application. Be sure to scrutinize the ‘body copy’ of every contest. It would be unfortunate to have an entry rejected over some trivial error regarding format or genre.
Research each competition which looks promising. Carry out a web search. Add the contest details plus deadline into your list and arrange all those due dates in date order so you don’t miss the most important.
Search for the most credible contests on the Net. Frequently these are contests offering good prizes but fair charges. Avoid events which offer very big awards yet a high charge to enter. Your stories might be superb yet your prospects of success are remote.
Protect yourself from interruptions! It’s not your pasttime now. It’s your part-time profession. Allow a specific time to complete and submit each story. Keep on track and avoid the temptation to put your projects aside for a few weeks. It is tough to return to a cold notepad.
Set priorities for the competitions you will explore. Select highly particular phrases in the search box. For example, “story contests UK 2012″. The long tail keywords will secure the most useful discoveries.
Schedule your target competitions to gain the most profitable payback. Be careful of frivolous events which offer no money but merely some trivial coverage in a local newspaper.
Record carefully the cash you expend on every competition plus the time you put in across the year. What payback are you banking in awards? If it’s not impressive, maybe you need to sharpen up your entries or choose your contests with greater care.
Determine to maintain a full note of all you spend in your competition programme. Entry fees, stamps, print cartridges, possibly even computer expenses. You can often reclaim part of it as business expenses. Evaluate the payback on your money and time invested constantly.
To stay motivated, dream of what you’ll do with the winnings. Once you’ve mastered the system, you will be able to fund many extra small luxuries. With more experience, you will get big prizes virtually each week. This is a win-win contest scheme.
How will you enjoy your prize money? Plan a few vacations, restaurant meals, nice things for the home. Imagine the ways you might enjoy the cash awards. You are then sure to remain motivated – and you will see your creative juices flowing.
Only undertake these practical ideas and in no time at all you will gain major cash prizes. They’re simple to carry out and each idea is very profitable to do!
About the Author
Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing, is founder of the
writing contest ideas
centre Writers’ Village. A university lecturer in short story writing, he is a veteran contest judge. Enjoy a wealth of clever strategies to win more writing contests in his big manual How to Win Writing Contests for Profit. Acquire it free now at:
http://www.writers-village.org/ideas