Daily Mail First Novel Competition

@Zilla1 Never even heard of this, thanks for sharing. Have you entered?

Thinking about it in the same frame of mind as approaching agents, as the judges seem to mostly favour crime writing, do you think this puts you at a disadvantage if you write in another genre?

Not sure if I’ll enter, just wondering.

Hi Spanish,

I'm trying to pick which of my stories I want to send that are eligible.

Hi Cake,

I've seen the same. I think they explicitly excluded science fiction, fantasy and sagas though have seen they seemed to have favoured crime recently. It may be they thought the entries in that genre were strongest/best written or the agents/judges preferred the crime genre which seems perennially to sell well.

I don't write procedurals but will just send which of my stories feels the best fit.

Good luck.

The agent part of the prize puts me off, to be honest. I don’t want an agent who’s ended up with me because I’ve won a prize. I want one who chose me because they love my genre and they love my book.

The £20k wouldn’t be bad though —not that I think I would ever win—

Cake,

I could be wrong but I'd assumed the sequencing is different for this prize. I thought you win the prize because the agent loved your work more than the other entrants (and also thinks it might sell better than the other entrants). I've not reread the competition to see if it is agent-led judging so happy to be wrong though.

I could very well have read it wrong - I’m on day 3 on very little sleep with a poorly DS so by this point my brain is pretty much spaghetti!

Sorry to hear that, Cake. Hope your DS is well soon. My brain is spaghetti too, though my DS isn't poorly and I have no excuse.

@cakerage, "The agent part of the prize puts me off, to be honest. I don’t want an agent who’s ended up with me because I’ve won a prize. I want one who chose me because they love my genre and they love my book."

But that doesn't make sense! It's the agent who's choosing the winner, based on the story they love most!

I hope your son gets better soon.

Thank you both. He has a chronic health condition which is flaring at the moment so ends up in my bed flailing when he hurts too much to sleep, poor sausage

I’ve read the article again and I’m still confused! They make it sound like it will be judged by committee, so I guess I was just imagining that the agent may not necessarily get his first choice? I’m not sure if that’s just bad writing on the DM’s part though, and I’m totally making this all up in my head

I think what happens is that a number of people will read the entries, then Selina Walker from Penguin Random House will decide on who should win. It doesn't really matter what those others think because PRH is contractually obliged to publish the book and obviously they have to have the final say. I think the good thing though is that even if you don't win, your work will be read by an agent and an editor and if you are shortlisted you'll probably get representation.

Does anyone know if there has been a winner announced of the Daily Mail first novel competition? Closing date was in June 2019

Hello,

I was wondering too about that, I don't believe so....I did read that the winner will be announced on the Penguin books website too, but haven't seen anything. They did say October, so possibly it could be anytime soon.

Why would anyone enter a contest through the Fail?? Unless they'd written the sequel to "Mein Kampf"....

@BezalHell. I’m sure the Heil would also be open to a thriller in which catfighting WAGS simultaneously showcased their curves in a tiny bikini apiece while keeping their brunette locks in a simple ponytail accessorised with designer aviators.

Bezal,

I suppose when there are too many competitions and direct avenues to agents and main publishers with money to compensate for the time spent writing then everyone can pick and choose. Having quickly Googled and seen the following about the DM, "Uniquely for a British daily newspaper, it has a majority female readership, with women making up 52–55% of its readers. It had an average daily circulation of 1,222,611 copies in November 2018." then I expect some of their readership buy books beyond those banned in Germany.

Has this been announced?