Deadline: December 15, 2022
Entry fee: $19
About the competition
Thrillers are the books that grab us from the first page, take us through breathless twists and turns, and end in a way we never saw coming. The Institute for Writers first pages writing contest is your chance to submit the first 1,000 words of your thriller novel and keep us on the edge of our seats. Can you have us biting our nails to see what happens next?
Entries for this contest will include a one to two-sentence book summary followed by no more than 1,000 words from the beginning of your book and will be judged by one of our instructors. Work submitted to this contest should be previously unpublished.
Are you up for the challenge?
Competition guidelines
- Your entry can be no longer than 1,000 words.
- Your entry must include a one to two-sentence book summary. (Not included in total word count.)
- Entries must be previously unpublished and not currently under contract with a publisher.
- Target readers are adults.
- Entries must follow manuscript submission guidelines as stated on our Contest Rules page HERE.
- No sexually explicit, pornographic, or gratuitously violent entries will be accepted.
- Entries must be submitted via our online form by midnight Pacific Time on December 15, 2022.
- There is a $19 reading fee per manuscript to enter the contest.
- You will receive a link to the submission form via email after your purchase is completed.
- You may enter more than one manuscript but each entry requires a $19 reading fee.
- Every writer who enters will be invited to the online workshop (it’s free!) where the winning entries are critiqued. (Non-entrants pay $7.)
- Submissions will be judged on clarity, potential in the market, and your ability to match standard manuscript format (double spacing, one-inch margins, no creative use of fonts).
- Enter the competition here.
