The Jane Austen Made Me Do It
Short Story Contest Begins January 01, 2011
In conjunction with the publication of the new anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It, Ballantine Books, Austenprose.com, and The Republic of Pemberley are pleased to announce an online short story contest. Enter for a chance to win the Grand Prize: publication of your entry in the anthology – a collection of original short stories inspired by the life and works of popular English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817). Hosted by the Jane Austen web site The Republic of Pemberley, the contest begins on January 1, 2011. Publication of Jane Austen Made Me Do It is tentatively scheduled for publication by Ballantine in Fall 2011.
Contest Highlights
- Eligibility: Previously unpublished U.S. residents over the age of 18
- Entries must be approximately 5,000 words in length
- Manuscript submission January 1 – February 13, 2011
- Voting for the Top Ten finalists February 14 - 28, 2011
- Top Ten finalists announced on March 1, 2011
- One Grand Prize winner receives $500.00 and a contract for publication in the anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It
- Grand Prize winner announced Fall 2011 in conjunction with the official release by Ballantine Books (Random House, Inc.) of Jane Austen Made Me Do It
The anthology’s editor, Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose.com, is very excited at the prospect of discovering the next star in the burgeoning sub-genre of Jane Austen sequels and inspired books. “Jane Austen has been inspiring writers for close to two hundred years. It seems quite fitting that she should be the witty muse of our anthology and short story contest. Encouraging writing and discovering new talent is in spirit with her true legacy. I am ‘all anticipation’ of what will develop, and am honored to be part of the selection team.”
Visit the official Jane Austen Made Me Do It Short Story Contest web page for official contest rules and eligibility requirements. Best of luck to all entrants.
“[S]uppose as much as you chuse; give a loose to your fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will afford.” Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 60
8 comments:
Wow! This is really interesting and exciting! I'll have to really think about it! :)
Thanks for the shout out Vic. I hope that your readers will be inspired and write a story. I am all anticipation of what will develop.
Cheers, LA
So... only for US residents again?? Presumably no-one else in the world is capable of writing a short story?? Yet again we're excluded (I refer to the Sourcebook free e-book offer last week - but only if you lived in the US):(
Jane V., thanks for your comment. I am truly sorry to disappoint you regarding the US legal residents only eligibility for the short story contest, but like the Sourcebooks situation, it has to do with International laws and restrictions, and not because we do not want other countries besides the US to participate or enjoy the benefits of free books.
Cheers, Laurel Ann
Hi JaneV,
I must chime in as well. First, thank you for visiting! Second, over half of the free books are sent to winners at our own expense. Since this blog has no ads and makes no money for those who contribute to it (all of us are poor working stiffs), the cost of sending prizes out of the country becomes prohibitive for us.
Sometimes a publisher will agree to send a book outside of our continent, but not often (in my experience.)
I do regret not being able to offer our prizes or contests to our readers all over the world.
Laurel Ann/Vic... thank you for your replies. I perfectly understand why you are reluctant to send free books/prizes globally. I was the lucky winner of Lori Smith's novel A walk with Jane Austen on this site a few years ago, and was very grateful to her for mailing it across the pond to me. I have many friends around the world and spend a huge amount on postage sending gifts etc.
My gripe with the likes of Sourcebooks is that they are happy enough for us non US residents to buy their books - so it wouldn't have hurt them to have made the offer globally - after all it was an e-book offer - they didn't have the huge mailing costs. Just think how much positive publicity a global giveaway could have got them.
Jane V., I must speak up for Sourcebooks. Again it is not their choice who can have Ebooks downloaded or not. It is the law. Wherever they sell or can offer the Ebooks for free is dependent on the etailer who is distributing the book. I understand that the Sourcebooks free Ebooks were available for Kindle internationally. If Amazon has a online etail presence in the country where your billing address is registered on the account, then you could also download the books for free. Digital books have different copyright laws for every country to protect the author.
Vic & I are NEVER reluctant to send giveaway items to any of your great readers. But it comes out of our pocket many times, and honestly spending $15.00 to $30.00 to send a book internationally is beyond my means.
Hi Laurel Ann
I'm in the UK - the free e-book offer was NOT available to download onto my kindle whether I tried to access from the UK or .com Amazon site. Believe me, I tried many times...
I did email Sourcebooks to comment on this but so far they haven't bothered to reply. Ah well... until the next time :)
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