Catherine, thank you
so much for chatting with me about a fantastic contest for writers! Before we
start, could you give me a little background about Critique My Novel, the
business behind Ink & Insights, and some of your services?
Critique My Novel is a low-cost editing service that got its
start in 2011. I discovered a love for editing and critiquing the work of
others in a critique group while I was writing my own novel in 2009. I dabbled
quite a bit back then, took a few classes, marked up a few books of my friends,
then decided I wanted to try my hand at it on a more professional level.
Critique My Novel was born.
In the beginning, the only service I offered was a Full
Edit/Critique. But as time wore on and I worked on all levels of manuscripts, I
saw a need to split that service up because it wasn’t right for many
manuscripts. So we offer several different services now to fit any level or
draft of manuscript.
Onto the contest
information! What is Ink & Insights? Give us the details! (For example: Is
there an entrance fee? How long does this contest run? Are there different
entrance categories? etc.)
Ink
& Insights is a writing contest geared toward helping independent writers
by focusing on feedback.
We
require the first 10,000 words of your manuscript. Each entry is assigned four
judges who specialize in the genre of the manuscript. They read, score, and
comment on specific aspects of the novel. (Characters, dialogue, style, pace,
tension, scene structure...) This year’s fiction scoresheet is eight pages,
with spots for plenty of feedback. With four judges reading, that’s a minimum
of 32 pages of helpful feedback for EVERY entry!
The
categories are Apprentice for the beginning writers or early drafts, Master for
those novels ready for the market, and Nonfiction. The Master and Nonfiction
categories include an Agent Round for those that place in the top three spots as
determined by judges’ scores.
There is an entry fee, but this isn’t for the contest
itself, it is to pay the judges who pour over the submissions and write
detailed analyses. Most spend over an hour on each. (I personally average four
hours on the ones I work on.)
So anyone who doesn’t want to enter because they’ve heard
that contests shouldn’t have an entry fee can rest easy. They are paying for
the critiques with an added bonus of a competition.
Regular entry goes from April to May and is $40. Late entry
goes through June and is $45.
What types are the
prizes awarded to the winners of Ink & Insights?
The biggest prize we offer that EVERY submission wins is the
invaluable feedback.
There are cash prizes as well as a few other things—free
entries, books, free CMN services. But the most exciting prize is the Agent
Round.
The top three Master and Nonfiction submissions are passed
to the panel of agents who read and comment on each. The agents also determine
the final placement of these top three submissions.
Their invaluable feedback is priceless as it is, because it
is rare to get that far during a novel’s query stage, but if they like your
book, they have the option of asking to see more!
What advice would you
give prospective entrants when prepping to enter?
You may think that formatting guidelines are not important,
but contestants earn bonus points just for following instructions. And when it
comes to the final fight for those top spots, every point matters. Last year,
only a half point separated the third and fourth place winners in one category!
Only the top three go to the agent round.
I’d also suggest not waiting until the last minute. We have
a deadline and once the frenzy hits, judges get frazzled trying to finish.
Early in the contest, while everything is calm and judges have plenty of time
to spend a few hours on your MS, is the optimal time to submit.
Are there particular genres judges are looking for?
Each judge has his or her personal genre tastes and those genres
they have more experience with, but all genres are accepted and there are
readers for everything.
While we’re on that
topic, are there any genres that are not accepted for Ink & Insights?
Nothing is off limits. Most of the judges are writers
themselves and write in a wide variety of genres and topics. As long as we get
a bit of warning about questionable material such as excessive violence,
language, gore, sex, rape, or stories that involve child/animal abuse, I can
find readers who are not turned off by the subjects. I have an extensive list
from each judge about reading preferences (even though not all are listed on
the bios page) as well as the types of stories or ‘situations’ they are not
comfortable with. This way, I can make sure that each novel has the best team
to represent its target audience.
Is there anything
else you would like to add before we wrap up?
I’d really like to make sure it is widely known who came up
with the fantastic title of our contest.
One of my favorite writers, who has landed in the top three
more times than anyone else, came up with this incredibly fitting title that
embodies our entire aim. (Before it was Ink & Insights, the contest had the
drab title of ‘201_ Novel Writing Contest.’) The fabulous Emily Layne! (applause applause.)
(Oh, don't make me blush!)
Thank you for
your time and for doing all the background work to ensure Ink & Insights
2016 shines!
You are most welcome. And thank you for supporting us year
after year. We really have a blast doing this and love reading so many great
new novels.
Interested? I thought so! Here are some links you should check out:
If this interview has sparked your interest, make sure you take me up on my free critique on your first 500 words before you enter.
Good luck!!
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