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Artwork by Monica Schultz.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Writing Contest for Speculative Fiction! (Heather)

Do you write fantasy? Dystopian? Space Operas? All three? If you write anything on the spec-fic spectrum, take a look at the Mountain Brook Fire's Fire Award contest!

Mountain Brook Fire is the new speculative fiction imprint of Mountain Brook Ink (MBI). MBI is a traditional, royalty paying publishing house that I am proud to call 'home'! My trilogy, The Tethered World Chronicles, is published with MBI and but has officially moved to their new spec-fic baby: Mountain Brook Fire (MBF).

To celebrate their love of speculative fiction and this new publishing imprint, they are hosting a fabulous writing contest for previously unpublished manuscripts!


I can't say enough great things about the hard working team of industry experts at MBI/MBF. Founded by award winning author Miralee Ferrell, this small but mighty publisher has expanded to over 35 authors with multiple awards and movie deals. Miralee and staff help promote each author's books, help to educate authors on how to promote their own books (something authors must do regardless of how fancy-shmancy the publisher is), and provides things like professional covers and content edits.

The grand prize for this contest is a contract, but there are other valuable prizes for finalists. For a full list of prizes and submission guidelines, click this link. Contest is open from February 1st through March 31st.

So . . . get busy polishing up those drafts and send in your manuscripts, people! What are you waiting for? Wouldn't it be cool if one of our readers or authors won? Do you have a story lurking on your computer, waiting for this opportunity?


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13 comments:

  1. LizzieJanuary 15, 2020 at 2:42 PM

    Thanks for the information, Heather! It's always encouraging when considering submitting to a publisher to know that their authors are happy.

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    1. HeatherJanuary 30, 2020 at 6:24 AM

      My pleasure! It's always helpful to hear about opportunities wherever they may pop up, right?! And I truly love my Mountain Brook family.

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  2. Jenelle LeanneJanuary 16, 2020 at 2:31 PM

    Thank you for the info, Heather! I'm considering entering, but the synopsis/query letter thing is more than daunting. Any tips? :)

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    1. Miralee FerrellJanuary 25, 2020 at 7:36 PM

      Janelle, I'm the publisher for this new line...go to our submissions guidelines on our website...www.fire.mountainbrookink.com to see what should be included in your query letter. The synopsis needs to be an overview of your story, no more than 2 pages long, including how it ends. We aren't a reader who is looking to be surprised. We're editors who want to see the entire story line. You can write it so that each paragraph encompasses what happened in 1-2 chapters, by condensing the heart of that chapter to 2-3 sentences. I hope that helps a little.

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    2. Miralee FerrellJanuary 25, 2020 at 7:39 PM

      One more quick note, Jenelle...the guidelines for the proposal could be condensed for the query letter, as you wouldn't be sending the first 3 chapters, and marketing info can be just your social media and newsletter numbers.

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    3. Miralee FerrellJanuary 25, 2020 at 7:50 PM

      Sorry...your concern made me go back and look at the contest rules again. I tweaked slightly to show exactly what should be in a one-page query letter. Ignore that first note about checking out the submissions page and a proposal, as that's much longer than a query. Just go to the contest page again at http://fire.mountainbrookink.com/contest/ to see the added info about a query letter.

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    4. Jenelle LeanneJanuary 28, 2020 at 3:31 PM

      Thank you, Miralee. That is very helpful.

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    5. HeatherJanuary 30, 2020 at 6:22 AM

      Thanks for your interest, Jenelle! And thanks, Miralee, for jumping in to answer questions. I confess, I am not used to having a second blog to check in on, and my mother has been in the hospital so things aren't chugging along very smoothly at the moment!

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  3. Miralee FerrellJanuary 18, 2020 at 2:26 PM

    Thank you for posting about our new line and contest, Heather!!

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  4. Sarah SawyerJanuary 25, 2020 at 5:56 PM

    Thanks for sharing, Heather! My current manuscript is above the word count limit, but it sounds like a great contest...and it's nice to hear about your experience with Mountain Brook. :)

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    1. Miralee FerrellJanuary 25, 2020 at 7:48 PM

      Sarah, I'm the publisher for Mountain Brook Fire. We just updated our contest submissions page to show the guidelines for the word count are just that...guidelines. We won't penalize any entry that's outside the word count parameters. If you were to win and your entry is much longer than we typically take, we'll discuss that with you along with possible options. I hope that helps.

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    2. HeatherJanuary 30, 2020 at 6:23 AM

      You bet! Yeah, those word counts are pesky, aren't they? Always a challenge. You will find the right home for your baby though, I'm sure :)

      Delete

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