Grace Notes Books

This Competition is no longer accepting entries. See Finalists and Winners below.

Grace Notes Books is thrilled to announce the 1st annual Discovering the Undiscovered competition for Collections of Short Stories, essays, or single Novellas. The winning entry will receive publication of their manuscript; and their choice of either a cash prize of $300 or an advance of $150 against royalties plus a standard 15% royalty agreement, and the winning author along with two runners-up will receive free books or products !

Guidelines For Short Story/Essay Collection Submissions

1. Judging will be blind at all levels. Initial judging will be conducted by a network of published writers and editors selected by Grace Notes Books. Finalists will receive feedback from our first round readers as well as more extensive feedback from our final judges.The final judging will be conducted by the Grace Notes editorial staff. The winning entry will receive publication of their manuscript. The winning author will be given the option of choosing a cash prize of $300 (no future royalties will be paid if the author accepts the cash prize) OR  may choose a advance $150 against royalties and future royalties.  Our standard royalty is 15% of the cover price (retail is generally $12.99 for our trade paperbacks). 3 contributor's copies of the book will also be sent to the winning author upon publication. All finalists in this competition will be considered for publication by Grace Notes Books and additional publishing offers may be made at the end of the competition.
2. Manuscripts between 40,000-65,000 words. Entrants may submit a novellas falling within the length restrictions or a collection of short stories, essays, or a mixture of the two. If you are submitting a combination, these should be separated within your manuscript so our judges know which are fiction and which are nonfiction. There is no restriction to how many stories your manuscript should contain as long as it comes in within the word length restrictions.
3. Author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Email your manuscript as an attachment with your Name, Address, Phone Number, Title of Entry, and Paypal Confirmation number in the body of the email. Each entry will be tracked by number. After paying your entry fee, Paypal will redirect you to a page giving specific instructions on how to send your submission.
4. Grace Notes Books seeks works of quality and we do not believe that genre restricts quality. A great writer is a great writer whether they’re writing staunch literary epics or fun science fiction stories. We really enjoy stories that push the boundaries in either direction, stories that have a strong entertainment value and are executed in the finest literary styling.  In other words: Send us anything and everything.We are not interested in pornography for the sake of pornography; graphic elements are acceptable but must be pertinent to the story itself.
5. A non-refundable entry fee of $15 must accompany each manuscript. While we wish this were not required, we are a fledgling publishing company chasing a dream (in the middle of an economic crisis) and an entry fee is a necessary evil. The entry fees accrued will be utilized in the following ways: contributed to prize money and/or book advances for this contest, with a smaller amount being donated to the monthly competitions hosted at notesandgracenotes.com, publishing costs for the winning title, and marketing for the winning book.
6. By entering this competition you are acknowledging that you have read and agree to abide by these rules. However, you are under no obligation to accept the publishing offer should your manuscript be selected as a winner. In the event that the winning author declines the publishing offer, Grace Notes Books will select another of the three winning entries for the publication offer. The winning author will not receive any advance payments but will still be eligible to receive the cash and product prizes they are entitled to.
7. Entries received before the early deadline will receive a copy of their reader's 1st round feedback before June 1, 2010. These entrants may opt to revise their entry and re-submit it for ½ off the usual entry fee. Entries received after the early deadline will not be eligible for resubmission.

Short Fiction/Essay Collection Competition Timeline

Contest Begins November 1, 2009

Early Bird Deadline January 1, 2010

Final Deadline April 1, 2010

Final Deadline Extended to May1st, 2010

Revision Deadline For Early Bird Entrants June 20, 2010

Finalists Announced July 1, 2010

Winner Announced August 1, 2010

Winning Manuscript Published November 15th, 2010

Grace Notes Books would like to thank all those who entered our 1st annual competition for collected short stories and essays. We received so many wonderful submissions that choosing finalists and winners was nearly an impossible task.

Drumroll Please!!

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The Golden Grace Notes for a Collection or Shorter work of Fiction or Creative Nonfiction:

Christopher K. Miller

40 Days in The Desert

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The Silver Grace Note for a Collection or Shorter Work of Fiction or Creative Nonfiction:

Louise Beech

Bedtime Stories

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Honorable Mentions:

Peter Brown, Assorted Characters

Jan Thie, Shards of Christmas Eve (And Other Stories)

M. Robert Fisher, Fairytales and Songs For the Wicked and Tone Def

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Congratulations to all of our finalists, who made judging this contest incredibly difficult.

If I Catch You Reading This
Jeremy Benjamin

The Bird
Christopher K. Miller

The Loneliness From Which Love Springs
Christopher K. Miller

My Summer Job of 1929
Mike Calahan

The Baby Stories
Loreen Niewenhuis

Atlanta
Loreen Niewenhuis

Felicity Indeed
Lisa Clark

Giant Killers
Mark Barkawitz

Her Fourth Decade
Cathy Doheny

Find the Girl
Jan Stinchcomb

Welcome Back to the Museum of the Day Before
Kirsten Anderson

Beneath the Surface
Michelle Wotowiec

Panegyric
Jeffrey Ryan Long

Blink of a Fly
Jan Thie

The Little Mogul That Could
Thomas Sullivan

Luxurious Lobster Nights, Farewell
Lydia Suarez

Home Invasion
Guy Wilkinson

The Long Journey Home From a Forgotten War
Jeffrey Miller

The Family Unit
Laurence Klavan

 

Winning Books Published 11/15/10