Announcing a writing contest!
Books & Such Literary 25th Anniversary Contest Winners Announced
The winner of the Books & Such Literary Management 25th Anniversary Contest is Marilyn Nutter’s Mourning Hope for Widows: Reflections on Loss and Life.
As president of Books & Such, Janet Grant was tasked with making the difficult final decision. “When I started to read the proposal and opening pages of Mourning Hope for Widows,” says Grant, “I was prepared to be unimpressed. Another book on widowhood? But as I read the proposal, I noted the apt selection of words, thoughtful presentation of the concept, and angles of approaching the topic that were fresh, something we agents are always looking for.”
Grant continues, “Then I read the beginning pages of the manuscript. Next thing I knew, I was so engaged in the flawless writing, beauty of expression, and ways Marilyn told about her husband’s death, that I was reduced to tears of empathy. This writer knows the power of the right word in the right place.”
Marilyn’s prize is a $250 Visa gift card. Congratulations, Marilyn!
The contest was designed to select one overall winner. “But, as I considered the proposals and sample chapters of the projects each agent chose as her pick, I couldn’t decide between two of them,” Grant says. “After waffling back and forth several times, it occurred to me that I could add a runner-up category. These two projects are both winners, and a cat’s whisker separated them in my mind.”
The runner-up in the 25th Anniversary Contest is Jessica Roach Ferguson with her romantic suspense, A Bad Guy Forever. Of the book, Grant says, “The tension between the hero and heroine is created through snappy dialogue and the guilt, anger, shame they both bear over a tragic moment in their past. The building suspense elements kept me engaged through every page.”
Jessica will receive a $100 Visa gift card. Congratulations, Jessica!
The Books & Such team also reviewed and made comments on each of the proposals submitted by the finalists and those will be returned to the 25 finalists in the coming week.
Thank you all for celebrating our 25th Anniversary with us!
ANNOUNCING the 25th Anniversary Hook Winners!
We had 314 hooks submitted to our writers’ contest, and these 25 are our winners:
Suzanne Anderson, Debbie Ashley, Hilary Bernstein, Peggy Bodde, Susan Brehmer, Kurt Bubna, Karen Bucci, Jolyn Canty, Jessica Ferguson, Katharine Ivey, Erin Kahn, Laura Kestner, Wendy L. Macdonald, Paul McCullough, Erin Mifflin, Vina Bermudez Mogg, Marilyn Nutter, Krysta Peterson, Kathy Phillips, Eva Priest, Cynthia Roemer, Evelyn Sherwood, Jill R Stanton, Carol Van Der Woude, Stacey Weeks
Congratulations to each of you. You’ll be receiving an email with details about sending in your proposal and your prize.
You could win the chance to present your most fantastic idea to our team of literary agents.
By entering, you’ll be joining us in our celebration of Books & Such Literary Management’s 25 years of serving authors.
To commemorate the many bestselling and award-winning titles we’ve represented and the writers we’ve helped over the past quarter century, we want to throw a party—a party that includes you!
So we’re welcoming you to submit to the Grant Prize Contest.
It all begins with a hook.
Hook Us with Your Hook
To enter, submit a hook of 25 words or less for your fiction or a nonfiction project. Use the email link below to submit your piece. Spend some time on this because the agents at Books & Such have seen A LOT of hooks. Stun us. Make us want to know more.
We will announce 25 Hook us with Your Hook winners right here on this page on June 1, 2021. Each winner will receive a $10 Starbucks gift certificate so you can celebrate your hook win with a literary (or non-literary) friend over coffee.
But wait, there’s more. Those 25 winners are semifinalists for the Big Win!
Propose Your Proposal
The 25 semifinalists will then enter their entire book proposal (yes, either for a fiction or nonfiction project based on your hook) by June 15, 2021. Our agents will offer constructive and helpful feedback on all 25 proposals.
Each agent will then nominate her favorite proposal to Janet Grant, the founder of Books & Such, who will pick the Grant Prize Winner.
The Grant Prize Winner Receives …
A $250 Visa gift card and the honor of knowing your work rose to the apex of the pile! (Who knows, maybe even a conversation about representation could ensue.) Your win will be announced through various publishing channels, newsletters, and social media.
Nitty Gritty …
- Nonfiction and fiction authors may enter.
- Only non-agented writers may enter.
- Only one hook entry per person.
- You don’t have to have a proposal in the wings to enter the hook contest, but it would be a great idea to have one so, if you are a semi-finalist, you can receive valuable, professional feedback.
- Hook contest closes May 15, 2021.
- The 25 Hook semi-finalists will be announced June 1, 2021 on this page.
- Those semi-finalists will have until June 15 to submit their proposals to vie for the Grant Prize. Details of how to submit will be supplied when they are informed of their win.
- The Grant Prize winner will be announced on August 15, 2021 on this page, through a press release, and on social media.
Join us in our 25th-anniversary celebration. Write well. Be succinct. Woo us with your words.
How to Enter
Send your hook, in the email itself, NOT AS AN ATTACHMENT to 25thAnniversaryWritingContest@
We look forward to reading that hook of yours!
Remember, the deadline is May 15, 2021.
25th Anniversary Writing Contest Rules
- No entry fee is required. All rights to the hook and/or proposal remain the property of the author.
- By submitting to the contest, the entrant agrees to abide by our specific Books & Such Contest rules and formatting.
- No multi-author collaborations, please, for this contest.
- All entries must be original works by the entrant and in keeping with standards befitting a Christian worldview, including “clean” language and content.
- To be eligible, entries must be works of prose (for a fiction or nonfiction book). No poetry, spoken word, illustrations, greeting cards or other merchandise text for this particular contest.
- The Contest is open only to those who are unagented. (The entrant may be published or unpublished, self-published or traditionally published, but unagented.)
- Entries are limited to works not previously published in any form.
- Each entrant may submit only one entry for each project. Entrants may submit for more than one project, but one hook per project.
- All entries are final. No revisions after the entry has been submitted.
- Entries will be judged by publishing professionals. The decisions of the judges are final and binding.