Write a novel and you could WIN £20,000!
LAST month, the Daily Mail launched our search for a first-time novelist with an outstanding prize of a £20,000 advance fee, the services of a top literary agent and guaranteed publication by Penguin Random House UK.
And, even if you haven’t yet started typing, there’s still time to send in your entry. We don’t need the finished novel, just the first 3,000 words plus a 600-word synopsis of the complete work: beginning, middle and end.
Your entry can be a contemporary story about families or relationships, a thriller or an historical adventure, as long as it is aimed at adults (not children) and has not been previously published in any format (including eBook or self-published).
The only categories not allowed are sagas, science fiction and fantasy.
Entrants must be 16 or over — but there’s no upper age limit!
Be sure to grab the judges’ attention from your first line and develop characters the reader can believe in and care about.
The full terms and conditions to which you must sign up are available online.
HOW TO ENTER
PLEASE read carefully, because any entries that do not meet the rules will be discounted. Full terms and conditions, to which you must agree and be bound by, are available online at: www.dailymail.co.uk/firstnovel
Please submit your entry consisting of the first 3,000 words of your novel in the English language and a synopsis of the rest of the plot in no more than 600 words. All entries to be printed on A4 paper with double spacing in font size 12 point, Times New Roman.
Entries are to be posted to: Daily Mail First Novel Competition, c/o Penguin Random House Group, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA to arrive by 17.30 GMT on Friday, July 13, 2018. Entries received after this date will not be judged. (DO NOT SEND YOUR ENTRY DIRECT TO THE DAILY MAIL.)
All entries must include a cover sheet with your full name and contact details (including home and email address). You must also confirm that you have read the full list of terms and conditions available online.
Entrants may submit only one entry to the competition. No manuscripts will be returned, so keep a copy of your work.
All entries must be original, previously unpublished works of fiction. Entrants must not have previously published a novel — this includes novels that have been self-published or are available only as eBooks.
Entrants must not be currently represented by a literary agent.
All entrants must be in a position to deliver their complete manuscript no later than the end of March 2019 should they win.
The competition, which is free to enter, is open to anyone aged 16 or over who is a resident of the UK or Republic of Ireland, except for employees (and their families) of the Penguin Random House UK group, Associated Newspapers Ltd and any other company associated with the competition.