Writer’s Triathlon Contest

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Aspiring and seasoned writers must pass three hurdles to get a literary agent, acquisition editor, or reader to read their book or manuscript. We call this the Writer’s Triathlon, or the three hurdles.

  • The first hurdle, catch their eye, is the book title and the headline or log-line, e.g., Jaws : A land lubber sheriff tries to kill a giant shark to protect his family and seaside resort town.
  • The second hurdle, make them curious, is the book jacket blurb  or snippet from the query letter:
    • The peaceful community of Amity island is being terrorized. There is something in the sea that is attacking swimmers. They can no longer enjoy the sea and the sun as they used to, and the spreading fear is affecting the numbers of tourists that are normally attracted to this island. After many attempts the great white shark won’t go away and sheriff Brody, with friends Hooper and Quint decide to go after the shark and kill it.– Written by Sami Al-Taher <staher2000@yahoo.com>
  • The third hurdle,  the irresistible need to read on, is the first 250 words.
    Page 1 of Chapter 1 from Jaws:  The great fish moved silently through the water…

Unless the writer leaps over these three hurdles, it is unlikely that he will succeed in luring the reader, agent, or editor to read on. It doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, nonfiction, a screenplay, or just an idea. See tips on writing the three hurdles here.

Most aspiring and accomplished authors seek validation. Does anybody like my book? Novice writers seek validation from literary agents. That’s a mistake. Agents need to pay the mortgage. They need to sell books to publishers. They don’t have time to comment on someone’s manuscript. Ok, if you’re an existing client, you may get some feedback.

However, there is a saying, “Story trumps all.”  That means if you have a good story, novel or nonfiction, other minor inadequacies are overlooked. Writing critics have lambasted best-selling authors like J.K. Rowling, Robert Ludlum, John Grisham, and others. Yet, they sell tons of books. Why? It must be because story trumps all. The three hurdles should define your story.

Story Validation

Consider this. If you can determine if your book, manuscript, screenplay, or story idea is worthwhile, you can proceed or revise your project to make it better.  Consider the Writer’s Triathlon Contest as a guide to that revision. You tell your story. Reviewers rate and comment on it. You get feedback, validation, and possibly a prize.

The Writer Side

The writer enters the text of three hurdles above for contest entry and web publication. If you’re thinking of writing a story, have written a story, or have a first draft, enter the contest and you’ll get feedback. If you’ve published a story, you can get feedback and post a URL to your book page to sell your book. We recommend you offer a discount to your reviewers. If the reviewer feedback is unfavorable, woe is you; however, you can revise your plan or better describe your story,  and fix the three hurdles. We keep the feedback private. There’s no need to humiliate novice writers. The writer gets the feedback, but it’s not shown to the public. If you get positive feedback, have a party, and hope you win the prize, have your title published, and sell tons of books. If reviewers rate your title as the most likely entry to read, you win a prize. Either a Kindle Fire HDX or $200. However, the most important prize is the feedback. Do they like your story? You get validation at last. You have an opportunity to revise your pitch before you send it to the agents, or before you publish it on Amazon.com. You dramatically increase your chances at success.

The Reviewer Side

The reviewer who provides the most incisive and valuable feedback also wins a Kindle Fire HDX or $200. Each review counts toward winning. The more reviews, the more likely you win the prize. The better the comments, the more likely you win the prize. As a reviewer, you may also get a discount on a book you would like to read. All writers are automatically registered as reviewers. So, writers can win either prize, or both.

The Details

Here’s how it works. The writer enters the text of the three hurdles and his contact information along with a $10 entry fee. At the end of the entry period, no further entries are allowed. Each writer gets, via email, the reviewer’s ratings and comments shortly after the moderator validates them. The entries are awarded points based upon the ratings entered by the reviewers. The title with the highest points per day of exposure wins. If there are multiple titles with the same winning score, a team of professional editors will choose the winner from those with the winning score.

The reviewer(s) with the most reviews are in the reviewer’s winner circle. If there is only one, that reviewer wins the reviewer’s prize. If there are multiple reviewers with the same score, the reviewer with the most meaningful comments, in the opinion of our editors, is awarded the reader’s prize. All writers can also be reviewers. You can also review your own work, although it won’t count in the contest tally. Indeed, we encourage writers to contribute to their colleague’s success by giving incisive, yet kind and honest comments. You may learn something from other writer’s efforts.

Both the winning reviewer and the winning writer each win a Kindle Fire HDX or $200. Each winner will have his score validated against our security procedures. We check for ‘ballot stuffing’, e.g., multiple entries from the same person using an alias, mechanical/computerized robo-entries, etc. We don’t publish, don’t reveal, and don’t comment on our security methods. We quietly disqualify the entry. So, don’t cheat, or try to gain unfair advantage. Play fair. See the Rules, Terms, and Conditions for more information.

Contest 1

 

Entry Phase: May 7 through July 15. Review Phase May 7 through Sept 15. Reviews can be conducted anytime, until Sep 15.

 

Please choose your role for this Contest.

 

Writer—Be a Writer—Win a Prize

Ensure the contest is the Entry Phase and when you’re ready to proceed, click here: Register, pay ten bucks, enter your title, log-line, blurb, and 1st page. .

Reviewer—Be a Reviewer—Win A Prize

 

If you would like to become reviewer for free and eligible for the Reviewer Contest,  Register free and begin reviewing..  

 

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