Last chance! Write a novel and WIN £20,000
HAVE you always dreamed of writing a bestseller? Then the good news is there’s still time to enter our hugely popular Daily Mail First Novel competition, now in its third year. The prize is stunning — a £20,000 advance, publication of your book by Random House and the services of a top literary agent.
To egg you on: our 2016 winner Amy Lloyd’s thriller, The Innocent Wife, was a bestseller, and the film rights have been sold. Our 2017 winner was Lizzy Barber, whose psycho thriller My Name Is Anna will be published in 2019.
With only a week to go before the closing date, you need to get typing — but don’t panic, we just need the first 3,000 words plus a 600-word synopsis of the complete work.
It 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 form (including eBook or self-published). The only categories not allowed are sagas, science fiction and fantasy. Entrants must be 16 or over — there’s no upper age limit! Publisher and judge Selina Walker says she wants stories ‘that pull you into a world that feels more real than the one around you, with characters you care about and a narrative you can’t put down’.
And take heart from bestselling Anthony Horowitz, whose advice is simple: ‘There is one difference between a successful and unsuccessful writer. The unsuccessful writer stops.’
HOW TO ENTER
PLEASE read this carefully, because any entries that do not meet the rules will be discounted. Full terms and conditions, to which you must agree and by which you must be bound, are available online at dailymail.co.uk/firstnovel.
1. Please submit 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 12-point Times New Roman.
2. Post your entry 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 will not be judged. (DO NOT SEND YOUR ENTRY DIRECT TO THE DAILY MAIL.)
3. 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.
4. Entrants may submit only one entry to the competition. No manuscripts will be returned, so keep a copy of your work.
5. 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.
6. Entrants must not be currently represented by a literary agent.
7. All entrants must be in a position to deliver their complete manuscript no later than the end of March 2019 should they win.
8. 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.