(Publishing My Debut Novel Twice.)

It was an exciting day when my debut memoir was released on December 3, 2024. I had no idea how the world would receive my story. All I knew was that, as of the release date, it was out in the world—and there was no taking it back. This was daunting at first, but eventually, I fully embraced every word and was thrilled to talk about my story. Letting go of the fear of judgment was absolutely liberating. I had released the truth and owned it.

George Addair quoted, “Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” Now I understand that once I overcame the fear of what others might think, the opposite of fear emerged: I began receiving positive feedback and kudos. Some readers even wanted to know when my next story was coming out! While I didn’t expect such enthusiastic responses, of course, there were a few mixed reviews. But I reminded myself—even New York Times bestsellers don’t receive perfect scores.

My publisher, She Writes Press, a hybrid independent publisher, advised authors to apply for book awards. As a new author, I followed their guidance and submitted to a shortlist of awards. I didn’t know much about the process, only that I dreamed my book might one day wear one of those shiny stickers I’d seen on the covers of books I had purchased and admired.

She Writes Press is considered an independent publisher, unlike the Big Five publishing houses. In the indie world, validation doesn’t come with a major publishing contract—it often arrives in the form of a seal, a certificate, or an email that reads, “Congratulations, you’re a finalist.” For independent authors navigating a crowded and often confusing publishing landscape, book awards offer something far more valuable than bragging rights: They offer credibility, visibility, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Why Book Awards Matter More Than Ever

Traditional publishers benefit from brand recognition as a shorthand for quality. Independent authors don’t have that luxury. Readers, media, bookstores, and libraries may hesitate to take a chance on a book without that traditional vetting. A respected book award can serve as a proxy—an external validation that says, “This is worth your time.”

One month after release, I received an email congratulating me on winning the Gold Book Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association for my memoir. The message read, “Once in a decade, a memoir arrives that changes not just how we read, but how we see. The Housekeeper’s Secret is such a book.” I was so excited I could barely breathe. The email included comments from multiple judges that touched me deeply. At that moment, I didn’t know the difference between one award and the next—but I knew winning Gold was something good.

Winning helped my story in several ways:

• Stand out in a saturated market
• Gain credibility with bookstores and libraries
• Attract media attention
• Bolster marketing and social media efforts
• Feel reenergized about my work

But as many authors soon discover, not all awards are created equal—and some of the most important truths about the award world are the ones authors learn too late.

Click to continue.

What Authors Don’t Know (But Should)

1. Book awards are a business. Nearly all independent book awards are pay-to-play. Submission fees can range from $75 to $150 or more per category. This doesn’t make them illegitimate, but authors should be strategic. Does the award offer marketing support, media exposure, or distribution benefits?
2. Winning doesn’t guarantee sales. Some awards offer little more than a badge. Others, like the IPPYs or Foreword INDIES, can open doors—but it’s still up to the author to leverage the recognition.
3. Timing matters. Many awards require books to be published within the past 12 to 18 months. Missing this window may render your book ineligible.
4. Genre categories vary. Some lump memoirs with biography; others have niche categories. Research past winners to improve your odds.
5. Judging criteria can be opaque. Few competitions offer feedback. Was it the cover? The pacing? The politics? You may never know.
6. You still need a great book. Award-winning indie books are typically professionally edited, well-designed, and compelling.

Since that first win, The Housekeeper’s Secret has now been out for six months, and I’m grateful it has received:

• Gold Winner of the Best Memoir 2025, IBPA (Benjamin Franklin Award)
• Silver Winner of the Best Memoir 2025, IPPY Award
• Gold Award, Nonfiction Book Awards
• Best Memoir of 2024, Firebird Awards
• Finalist, Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award
• Honorable Mention, Eric Hoffer Grand Prize Finalist

My point is this: Authors never truly know how their story will be received. There are many variables, and in some ways, it’s a gamble. But one thing is certain—you gain nothing if you don’t apply.

Once I let go of the fear of judgment, the story began to take on its own agency. It moved through the world like ripples across a lake. It was read, reviewed, judged, embraced, and even challenged. That is the power of releasing a story.

So, Which Awards Matter?

Top-Tier Independent Book Awards

1. IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards
   • Judged by librarians, bookstore owners, and professionals
   • Considered the gold standard in indie publishing
2. Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards
   • Run by Foreword Reviews
   • Prestigious, especially in trade and library markets
3. Next Generation Indie Book Awards
   • Offers cash prizes and a NYC gala
   • Sometimes called the “Sundance of indie publishing”
4. IPPY Awards
   • One of the longest-running indie book awards
   • Over 100 categories, which helps accessibility

Mid-Tier Awards

5. Reader Views Literary Awards
   • Strong for blog coverage and reader credibility

6. Readers’ Favorite Awards
   • Accessible, widely marketed
   • Offers editorial reviews
7. Eric Hoffer Awards
   • Honors literary merit, often respected in academic circles
8. National Indie Excellence Awards
   • Offers wide category selection
   • Helpful for author branding

Niche & Notable Mentions

• Chanticleer International Book Awards
• American Book Fest’s International Book Awards
• Feathered Quill Book Awards
• IndieReader Discovery Awards
• Book Excellence Awards

Remember, even top awards won’t move the needle unless they’re actively leveraged through media, social proof, and author appearances. Multiple wins across respected competitions can exponentially build trust and reader interest.

Click to continue.

The Real Prize

Book awards are not a shortcut to fame. They are a way to honor the journey, affirm the hard work, and offer a moment of validation. For indie authors like myself, they are a meaningful pause in the marathon of publishing—a moment to breathe, reflect, and believe.

For those considering a second book, multiple awards may also spark interest from traditional publishers. For me, yes, I’m writing again. But I keep my focus on the story, not the stickers. This path is about the art, first and foremost.

In a world where everyone can publish, it’s the authors who keep showing up, striving, and refining their voice who rise above the noise. Book awards help sustain that momentum. I encourage every indie author to apply, because until your story is judged by others, you won’t truly know how far it can go.

To all the authors navigating this journey: May your story find its readers, and may you find your well-earned moment to shine.

Check out Sandra Schnakenburg’s The Housekeeping Secret here:

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)

The post What I Didn’t Know About Book Awards for Independent Authors appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Irene Te always knew she wanted to self-publish her YA romance novel, This Place Is Magic. “I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want to query this project,” she says. “I never even attempted it. It wasn’t a story that fit neatly into any boxes, and if it was difficult for me to position and pitch, I felt it would be difficult for an agent, too. And since there were so many elements I wasn’t OK with negotiating, I chose to self-publish. I saw it as the best way to stay true to the story I wanted to tell.”

Her instincts proved right, earning her the top prize in WD’s 32^nd Annual Self-Published Book Awards, but this also dispels the notion that self-publishing is merely a backup plan for authors if traditional publishing isn’t working out. The benefits of self-publishing—writing the story the way she wanted to, going against traditional romance tropes—far outweighed those of traditional publishing for Te to begin with; and now, the validation of winning Grand Prize is something she hopes teaches others the legitimacy of self-published books.

WD spoke with Te about why she entered the competition, the inspiration behind This Place Is Magic, and more.

[IMAGE]

[WD uses affiliate links]

Congratulations on winning Grand Prize! What made you decide to enter our competition?

Thank you! I chose to enter this competition because I consider Writer’s Digest to be a reputable and reliable source of support for anyone who writes. I felt that winning—even an honorable mention—from a WD competition would be a great thing for me as a writer; I also felt that it would help me continue to dispel the misconception that self-published books are not worthy of critical acclaim on the same level as books that are traditionally published. I don’t think I’m the only self-published author who feels like no matter how much effort, care, and craft I put into my work, it’s still dismissed as lesser quality because I didn’t choose the traditional route to publication. It was nice to receive validation that I’d chosen the right path for my book. Winning an award from a respected industry publication like Writer’s Digest could help my book reach more readers.

Tell us about This Place Is Magic. How did the idea come to you?

The fictional K-pop group in this book has been around since 2017, starting out as a list of characters in a Google doc. Pretty much all my projects take a long time to simmer. Case in point, I didn’t return to the idea of writing about K-pop until early 2023, when I saw an Instagram post featuring an idol on an evening walk. He had his back turned to the camera, just strolling through some neighborhood in California. Initially, I was drawn to the aesthetic: the dark blue of the sky, the streetlamps, the billowing white shirt. It felt hopeful and carefree, but also kind of sad. Someone so famous would have a hard time taking a walk anywhere without being recognized or interrupted. Even the casual nature of this picture was, at heart, a kind of performance. It seemed exhausting.

I kept scrolling after that, but there was something about the image that just stayed with me. I started looking at all the other posts by idols in my feed and totally overthinking each one. I thought about how crazy it would be for someone to find a random K-pop idol wandering down the street outside their house. Why was he even there? What if he’d gotten lost? And then, the question that led me to my protagonist: What if he wanted to be lost? What if this character was running away?

Something I think you capture really well is the banter between characters. Charming, charismatic dialogue is critically important to a successful rom-com. How did you go about creating the unique voices for each of the characters?

In my experience, a character’s unique voice is directly tied to who they are as a person. I spend a lot of time thinking about where a character comes from, whether they’d be wordy in their responses or very brief and to the point, and if they have any phrases that they use a lot. Then I come up with “rules” for how each character uses language.

The fun part of banter and conversation between characters, for me, is watching the interplay of all these different “rules” in action. Some characters never interrupt. Others do nothing but interrupt. Some characters never curse and one character curses constantly. When you get them all interacting together, I think the dialogue has no choice but to be lively.

Were there any surprises in the writing process of This Place Is Magic?

The biggest surprise was how easily the story fell into place. It was the rare project that seemed to be writing itself. Although he’s the quietest and most undemanding protagonist I’ve ever written so far, Eunjae really had a story he wanted to tell me.

If you could share one piece of advice to other writers considering self-publishing, what would it be?

I think the best thing you can do for yourself as a writer is to cultivate a willingness to learn. Remain open to the idea that there’s always more learning you can do. This means studying craft, but also taking feedback and figuring out your unique process. Take the time to improve your skills. To me, learning is an investment in yourself. 

Enter the 33rd Self-Published Book Awards now!

The post Interview with Irene Te: WD’s 32nd Annual Self-Published Book Awards Winner appeared first on Writer's Digest.

[See the complete winner’s list]

Choosing Week

by Ruth Scharff-Hansen

The black sheath dress that the Council picked out for me makes a crunching noise as I walk down the corridor to my first trial. It is too plain to give any hints as to what I might have to endure this Choosing Week.

I just graduated from what many would consider the best university in the world. A city full of dreaming spires, crumbling sandstone, and statues of problematic men who funded our ornate institution by trading drugs and weapons and people. It was austere. But the benefit of a serious education is that my path now seems clear enough. The professors I worked under are well-respected, and I am sure that the Council will take their recommendation whole-heartedly when making my Choice this week.

The elders say that Choosing Week is a relatively recent practice. Back when our country used to be prefaced with the word ‘United’, all young adults had the illusion of free will. But that illusion crumbled along with the economy. Suddenly, masses of fresh graduates all vying for the same jobs found themselves crushed under the weight of student debt, with no way to pay it off. Meanwhile, necessary positions that weren’t considered as desirable remained unfilled. The government, which evolved over time into the Council, decided that talent needed to be redistributed. They took this distribution into their own hands.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is still some remnant of autonomy in the Choice. When you’re 5 years old, you share your future hopes with the Council, and this childhood nonsense is regarded as the first guiding point in their decision. And again when you finish school, whenever that may be, you work with your teachers to recommend a second option. This is generally the more realistic and thought-out possibility. Rarely, the Council will select a profession completely outside of these two paths: I know of a medical student who became a model! But most of the time, especially when you went to a university like mine, the Council avoids ruffling any feathers. They make sure artists get to make art, musicians get to make music, and bankers get to make money, and that’s that.

I’m going to be a lawyer. Adults have told me this since I was little. Apparently I have “a way with words” that should be put towards “something useful.” I’ve been groomed in this vision for years: from internships at law firms to heading up the debate club. It’s an easy slam-dunk for the Council. On the second day of Choosing Week, I will show them what a day in my life as a lawyer will look like. They will observe before coming to a decision this Friday.

Before I get to prove myself, though, I must make it through the first day. Today is a day to “live my childhood fantasies.” Like many of my peers, I do not remember what I told the Council a decade and a half ago. A distant dream picks at me—one full of tall stories and old books—but the feeling I get in my gut is dangerous, and so I suppress it. Now I dread to think what waits for me behind the heavy brass doors at the end of this hallway. It could be a herd of giraffes if I said I wanted to be a zookeeper. It could be mounds of unmolded clay if I had wanted to be a sculptor. Or perhaps I wanted to be a unicorn. What would that even look like?

I take a deep breath. Part of me wants to throw this day away, but I know the punishment for not taking the process seriously is imprisonment. And another part of me—a quiet part—wonders what I hoped for before I was taught the right way to hope.

The metal doors creak in their hinges as I walk through the threshold. The room is completely bare, save for a microphone and a selection of instruments in the middle of the padded floor. Immediately, I decide to leave the guitar and piano alone. I can’t play. Opposite me is a massive mirror: double-sided glass. They’re watching.

“Emily Hudgens.” A voice rings through the room, and my heart beats out of my chest. I assume a Council member is speaking to me from behind the mirror. Should I say hello back? Would that be inappropriate? It’s unnerving hearing such booming words when I can only see my own trembling reflection. I shift from foot to foot, fidgeting, as I wait for my instructions. “Rockstar.”

My stomach turns. Rockstar? I’m about as tone-deaf and talentless as they come! Why on Earth would I have wanted to be a rockstar? I briefly recall a late-night television show I fixated on when I was little, but still, this is a ridiculous task. I can do nothing but gape and force myself to remember that, as always, quiet obedience is my only realistic option.

“Sing.”

Shaking, I step towards the mic. But not for the first time, I’m angered that I need to go through this charade. There is a career out there for me that everyone knows I will excel at. Why should I bother with what might have once made me happy? Why pretend that we get to contribute to this choice, when even my goals were born from pressure? What should I sing, what should I sing? I lean down and echo the song I’ve performed in assembly every morning since kindergarten. The national anthem.

It comes out flat and harsh.

“Sing something original, Emily,” the voice behind the glass chastises. There’s a little laughter in it, and my face burns bright red at the embarrassment of my obvious failure.

“Original?” I repeat dumbly.

“Make your own song.”

I chew on my lip for a moment. I’ve never been very musically inclined, but you may remember that I allegedly have a way with words. The syllables catch in my throat, and when I choke them out, they’re tuneless, falling short of the chirpy melody I’m going for. But hey, at least they rhyme.

“I wonder what would happen
If I was just a teenage girl
If I let go of my worries
But held on to the world.”

I pause, hoping they’ll tell me it’s enough. But I’m only met with awkward silence, and so I scramble to craft another line. I’m getting agitated now, and perhaps a little too bold with my semantic selections. The words are starting to sound less and less like a rock song and more and more like slam poetry.

“If I let myself rant
About those who did me wrong
And didn’t feel an inch of guilt
About not singing this song.”

It’s a risky choice, but several voices chortle at the end of this verse.

“I wonder who I’d be
If I let myself slip
Into the world of adolescence
Where no one’s got a grip!”

They laugh out loud when I take a sardonic bow.

“Thank you,” I say.

Suddenly, I am very grateful that the single-sided glass prevents me from seeing the faces of my audience, for I can hear their pens scratching furiously against paper on the other side of this divide. I try not to wonder what it is they’re writing. When I write, when it’s quiet, and no one is watching, I only ever scribble so intensely when I am seized with inspiration. What did I do that would warrant that?

After an excruciatingly long pause, I clear my throat. “Um, am I excused?”

“Yes, Emily.” The voice says. “Be ready for your second trial this Wednesday.”

I want to tell him that I was born ready, but not only would it be blasphemous to speak to the Council that way, it isn’t true. I was made ready. I dip into a shallow curtsy—a peculiar thing to do, given that our country hasn’t had a monarchy in decades—and back out of the room in a hurried half-run.

When I get home, I tell my family how I bombed. They laugh and pat me on the back. My older brother, who made it through his childhood hurdle of marine biology before becoming an engineer last year, actually cries because he doubles over so hard.

“At least I didn’t kill a fish during my trial!” I quip back.

“It was an accident!” He protests.

I am assured that all will be okay, because I will be a lawyer anyway. I’m stuffed full of casserole and words of encouragement before I am sent to bed, feeling slightly annoyed. I’m not sure why: They mean well. It’s hours before the Council-mandated curfew, and a few of my friends are going out to celebrate the start of Choosing Week, but I don’t have it in me. I was defiant today. The Council may reward my boldness, but they may punish it too. 

When I take the same walk down the same corridor on Wednesday, wearing the same outfit in a gray color, I don’t have the same butterflies in my stomach. In fact, I don’t really feel much at all. I make my way through the motions: the room is set up like a mock trial, and I craft a watertight skeleton submission that I slip through the letterbox on the side of the room for the Council’s review. I then deliver a short speech, and though I am standing by the same microphone in the same room with the same audience, I am a different Emily Hudgens today.

No one laughs or applauds. I am dismissed, knowing I have done a cookie-cutter job.

The end of Choosing Week doesn’t conclude in a flourish like you might expect: Our country doesn’t have the resources. There’s no ceremony, no elaborate tradition, no rousing speech. There’s a thin, white envelope that comes in the mail on Friday, stamped with the official ink of the Council and addressed to one Emily Hudgens, 212 Primley Road. I know from my brother’s experience last year that I will be told to immediately report to my new position. After all, the whole point of this process is that the Council needs workers, as soon as possible.

The paper feels damp in my hands, like it has passed through many fingertips in order to get to my family home and deliver my fate. My brother leans over to open the letter himself—he says I am doing it too slowly—but my parents swat him away, though I can tell they are just as eager. They watch with baited breath as I read through the message.

It’s only four lines long.

It states my name.

It thanks me for my (forced) participation.

It states the address of my new workplace.

And it announces my position.

My parents don’t have time to ask questions, too stunned by what I have read aloud, before I hop in the car to drive to my new everyday spot. My hands shake on the wheel. As the glass doors of my office revolve, I think of the medical student who became a model. I wonder if she felt as alive as I do now.

“Hey!” One of my colleagues calls out as I make my way across the floor. “There’s the new girl who can rhyme!”

I tip my head at him with a broad grin. A way with words. The girl next to me chatters about how they heard all about my little show on Monday, and I can’t help but feel that the Council has rewarded me, after all. I remember how I hoped before I was taught the right way to hope.

There’s nothing on my desk but a fountain pen, a stack of empty pages that I itch to fill with dreams, and a name card that admits what I have been too scared to admit all along.

“Emily Hudgens,” the sign reads. “Writer.”

Get recognized for your writing. Find out more about the Writer’s Digest family of writing competitions.

The post Writer’s Digest 93rd Annual Competition Children’s/Young Adult Fiction First Place Winner: “Choosing Week” appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Grand Prize

Matt Strempel, “Botched” (humor). Read the story here.

Memoir/Personal Essay

1. “Cupcakes and Eternity” by Kristin Eck
2. “Asia (1969)” by Jennifer Rose
3. “Like Mother, Like Daughter” by Kira Schiavone
4. “Seeking the Third” by Alison Luterman
5. “No Such Thing as Just One M&M” by Katrina Peacock
6. “Harvest” by Catherine L. Hensley
7. “To Write or Not to Write: The Case for Both” by Alan George Maki
8. “Night Rounds” by Joseph Marr
9. “First Shift” by E.R.J. McKay
10. “Who yo people” by Pam Sam

Honorable Mentions

• “A Final Prayer” by Carol Larson
• “A Poetry Lesson Named Craig” by Clint Martin
• “A Weapon of Junipers and Jays” by NV Mann
• “Aging, Angst and Anxiety” by Stephanie Baker
• “All Summer in a Day at the Ballpark” by Barbara Tylla
• “An Unspoken Apology” by Leslie Absher
• “And the walls came tumbling down” by Katrina Brown
• “Avoiding the Danger of Relative Privation When Lives and Art Are Lost: A change in the way society values art can address the growing popularity of putting art in the crosshairs to make a point.” by Ron Leshnower
• “Bitten by the Mosquito: A College Student’s Essay on Her Severe Intrusive-Thought OCD” by Hannah Lavoie
• “Come on Down” by Mary Warwick
• “Different Hands and Knees” by Penny Dahl
• “Door to Door” by Joella Aragon
• “Fantasy” by Skylar Colby
• “Fluent in Distance” by Laura O’Gorman Schwartz
• “Gotta Have It” by K. Patrick O’Neill
• “Grass Bradford” by Fillmore Same
• “Holding a Glass Up to the Light” by Rosanne Gordon
• “I was a little girl once.” by Devin Overend
• “Jocko’s Gone” by Steve Powell
• “Learning to Trust Again” by Linda Summerford
• “Mandy” by Amy Claire Massingale
• “Northern Lights” by Mo Conlan
• “Polar Plunge” by Jennifer Jones
• “Poop Happens” by Stephanie Kilpatrick
• “Powers of Poseidon” by Katherine Larryn
• “Raymona” by Allison Cross
• “Shattered” by Lillian Martin
• “Stays Mainly in the Plain” by Joe Blair
• “Teabiskitwala Cafe’” by Wanderwoman
• “The Club No One Wants to Join” by Rebecca Bartlett
• “The Fear of Going Missing” by Matthew Haynes
• “The Forever Medicine” by MJ Robertson
• “The Melting Watch” by Bliss Goldstein
• “The Wolf” by KT Ryan
• “There is an Ocean” by susan westlund
• “Threads of Life” by Diane M. How
• “Three Pieces of Pie” by Carole Vasta Folley
• “Unexpected Ending” by Brian Watson
• “Uninvited” by Brandon Williams
• “What They Brought” by Maryann Grau
• “Why I Hate Tuesdays” by Vivian Finck
• “Working … Like a Dog” by Sheryl Bass

Inspirational/Spiritual

1. “Mystical Messages” by Grace Ryan
2. “Family Matters” by Michelle Layer Rahal
3. “Flutter” by Shelby Poulin
4. “Fertile Emptiness” Marielena Zuniga
5. “Guzen or Gift?” by KK
6. “Finn” by Kristen Swanson
7. “A note from the friend every person should have” by Tiffany Chartier
8. “Taffy” by Karen Tinsley
9. “Breath as a Blessing” by Angela Waldron
10. “The Husband, the Hound, and the Good Shepherd” by Allia Zobel Nolan

Honorable Mentions

• “A Conversation with a Stranger” by Alex Lee
• “A Mirror Moment: God, Make Me Stronger Than the Alcohol Proof” by Sincerely Syreeta
• “A Personal Reflection on a Solar Eclipse” by Dan Zavoianu
• “A True Story” by Jean Lennon
• “A True Testimony” by Robyn Gaffney
• “Acceptance” by Kerith Mickelson
• “An Epiphany of Angels” by Preetamdas Kirtana
• “Anticipating Forsythia” by Maureen Miller
• “Bird Days: Living with Chronic Illness” by Kristina Fluitt
• “Conversations on Fire” by Jennifer G. Townsend
• “Cradlesong” by Maureen Miller
• “Cries from a Cold Bathroom Floor” by Rhett Wilson
• “Eulogy for Beth Martin” by Rona Trachtenberg
• “Field Notes from the Forest Floor: Foraging as Spiritual Practice” by Daniel Cooperrider
• “God, Roses, and Jiffy Lube” by Rhett Wilson
• “Growing Old” by Q. L. Berger
• “I’ve Always Been a Pirate” by Kendra Boersen
• “My Friendship Bracelet” by Jorge Brana
• “Star Sapphire” by Dianne Beard
• “Stay for the Cookies” by Kris Winters
• “Superheroes Among Us” by Karen Taylor
• “Tangled Up in Grief” by Sarah Brown
• “The Bluebirds” by Robin Rogel
• “The Day of Dance” by Annika Connor
• “The Everythingness of Interbeing” by Jenny Zenner
• “The Faithfulness of God: the MRI” by Kathy Benedetto
• “The Greening of My Soul” by Mo Conlan
• “The Handoff” by Tim Campbell
• “The Sheep and the Goats” by Chief John West
• “The Tree Who Saw the Sky” by Karen Townsend
• “The View From the Window” by Beth Olson
• “Vision” by JM Fletcher
• “What They Brought” by Maryann Grau
• “Windsong” by Rachael M. Colby
• “Woody” by Peggie S. Tucker

Children’s/Young Adult Fiction

1. “Choosing Week” by Ruth Scharff-Hansen
2. “The Art of Motivation” by Henry Weese
3. “Untitled Picture Book” by Paige Cohen
4. “The Field Trip to the End of the World” by Sydney Weber
5. “Mommies Always Come Back” by Sherry Sallows
6. “The Canon of Katrina Quinn” by Anne Hanovich
7. “SNORKELING WITH SHARKS” by Symantha Sanda
8. “Marta Blossoms” by Rochelle Stretton
9. “Beware of Monsters” by JL Auguste
10. “All Shapes Belong” by Theresa Rice 

Honorable Mentions

• “A Torch Made of Darkness” by Darya Black
• “Bedtime Crew” by Jenna Stehler
• “Bedtime Hullabaloo” by Sharon White
• “Betwixt the Stars and Seas” by Jennyfer Gilgan
• “Blood Raven” by Becky Franklyn
• “Castaway Carl” by Carolyn Irving
• “Colorful Feelings” by T.N. Wehr
• “Girls in Polka-Dot Dresses Change the World. A Peace Corps Stories Series Story (Cameroon)” by Leonia
• “Growing Up” by Liberty McArtor
• “How to Attract a Hummingbird” by Symantha Sanda
• “How to Ride a Tiger” by Nicole King
• “I’m Telling Your Mother on You!” by Kathleen Jacobs
• “Love, Little Liberty” by Kathleen Jacobs
• “Lovely Nothing” by Krista Harrington
• “Mrs. Patrick’s Attic” by Jessica Dunnagan
• “Nat and the Not-Recital” by Tracie Renee
• “Not Ready Yet” by Michelle Nott
• “Our House Illuminated” by Kate Spires
• “Passages” by Peter Hausman
• “Peace and Carrots” by Angela De Groot
• “Reenie Brings the Rain” by Angela De Groot
• “Stealthy, Wealthy & Lies” by Elaine Hrivnak
• “Sweet Sixteen” by Meg Oolders
• “The Bench” by Larissa Hockett
• “The Boogeyman Ballad” by Kimberly Dana
• “The Cosmic Adventures of Galaxy McManus” by Christa Martin
• “The Elm of Elmwick Manor” by Breanne Palmerini
• “The Gift” by Michael Harley
• “The Late Migration” by Blake Byington
• “The Magical Tree” by Robin Currie
• “The Stones” by DM Reynolds
• “The Wednesday Lesson: A Short Story in Free Verse” by Tracie Renee
• “Use This Book as Wings” by Allan Peterkin
• “Walk A Mile: Steps in Time” by Robin Korb
• “Winter in the Boreal Forest” by Virginia Talbert Hickey

Genre Short Story

1. “Good Reason” by Jillian Grant Shoichet
2. “Border Crossing” by Brian Huber
3. “The Potomac Smelled Like Guts” by Laura Garden
4. “A Parting Gift” by Susan Goodwin
5. “The Apex” by Jennifer Slee
6. “The Last Super” by Andrea Sumner
7. “Ink” by Erich Noack
8. “Child in Time” by Keby Boyer
9. “A Song of Love and Longing” by Leslie Wibberley
10. “FisherMan” by Megan Ham

Honorable Mentions

• “A Bedtime Story” by Erica Balfour
• “A Purr-fect Love” by C.K. Shard
• “A Recipe for Change” by Charly
• “Brilliant Cut” by Tanya Menoni
• “Ceremony for the Sea” by Katie McLean Hoar
• “Coin Boy” by Kayla Sue Pugh
• “Dark Wings” by B. R. Knight
• “Deathbreaker” by Gracie Eland
• “Default 666” by Sharon Wagner
• “Dilemma on Mars” by Fred Shackelford
• “Eden” by Michael Stanley
• “Enough” by Murphy Maurice
• “A House Without Flowers” by J.A.Clarke
• “In the Back of the Truck” by Covington Dunn
• “Mercy” by Jennifer Della’Zanna
• “Mrs. Kornelie’s Cup-de-sac” by Lynda Vaughan
• “Old Forgotten Friends” by Philip Rosenblatt
• “Prize Horse” by Christina Lyon
• “Puckish Delight” by Charles Green
• “Rain” by Danny Imwold
• “Robot Baptism” by W. Steve Wilson
• “Rougarou” by Robin Lee Lovelace
• “Rule Number One” by Cat Sides
• “Shavasana” by Tree Martin
• “She Suffered” by LJ Denham
• “Spiderwebs and Ants” by Casey Nyvall
• “Stepping Forward” by Shirley Qin
• “The Angel’s Workweek” by Amy Suto
• “The Draft” by Erin M. Chavis
• “The Ice Cream Man” by James Logsdon
• “The Lady” by Kayla Mesker
• “The Magus and the Rabbit” by Mariel Masque
• “The Running Game” by Jennifer Slee
• “The Temporary Pastor” by Barbara Barker
• “The Third Men” by Jennifer Slee
• “The Toreador of the Tunnels” by Sheila Sharpe
• “The Vessel” by Thomas Bergamini
• “World of Harms” by B.C. Bond
• “Wrath of Venus” by Joey Krzeminski
• “Yellowstone: A Mystery” by A.L.Padden

Mainstream/Literary Short Story

1. “Offline Friend” by Angie St. John
2. “Do Or Dash” by Patricia Ljutic
3. “Wingman From Hell” by Peter Morris
4. “Mother’s Milk” by Steven Sax
5. “Donovan’s Calling” by Stacey Marinuzzi
6. “The Wheat and the Tares” by Austin Lovelace
7. “Persuasions” by Jill Martin
8. “Arctic Peonies” by Birgit Lennertz Sarrimanolis
9. “The Wreck of the Triumph” by Baird Harper
10. “Snapshots: A Triptych” by Ernest Wiggins

Honorable Mentions

• “81 Bowery” by Holly Lau
• “A Handful of Smoke” by Greg Jones
• “And Only I Remain” by Michael Pearson
• “Blackbird” by David M. Herman
• “Bucket List” by Kelly Beachell
• “Burying Chago” by Morgan Smith
• “Child In Time” by Keby Boyer
• “Cripple Creek” by Stephany Zoo
• “Eat Your Heart Out” by Jennifer Slee
• “Festival” by Ronan Ryan
• “Fishing” by Karl Luntta
• “Gigi, September 1, 1985–August 15, 1988” by J. Milanes
• “Grandmother’s Blueberry Basket” by Katelyn T. Nelsen
• “Her Watch” by Nicole Senyi
• “Holy Ghost” by Kate Fitzgerald
• “House-Haven-Home” by Kem Joy Ukwu
• “How She Happens” by Frances Drayus
• “Lemongrass” by Nicole Chea
• “Lost and Found” by Patricia McMahon
• “Luck” by Megan Baxter
• “Mermaids” by Laura Souza
• “Of Course You Will Go to Grad School” by Beilin Ye
• “On Fire, a Halo for Eternity” by Michael Pearson
• “Only You” by Sonny Fillmore
• “Over” by Dan DeNoon
• “Phoenix” by Heather Foster
• “Polka-Dots” by Angela Kirby
• “Pushin’ Through” by Barb Miller
• “San Jose Ways” by Kate Fitzgerald
• “Sanctuary” by Patricia Ljutic
• “Seams” by Florence Ashley
• “She Believed in Numbers” by Martha Williams
• “Shiloh” by M. K. Brackett
• “Sins of Authenticity” by Bret Wengeler
• “Squeak” by Konner Mel
• “Sweat” by Marta Woodward
• “The Body in the Valley” by Anyelly Herrera
• “The Circus” by Katie Harms
• “The Clocks That Worked” by Edward Carthew
• “The Fragrance of Bitter Oranges” by Charles Frode
• “The Math of Universe” by Christine Panas
• “The Planet of Love” by David Gurman
• “The Pomegranate Lady” by Lucy Fielding
• “The Sultan of Flip” by Dana Fitz Gale
• “The Sweet House” by Eaton Hamilton
• “The Things They Carried: Women’s Edition” by Lori Crispo
• “The Wages of Sin Are Low” by Ken Elliott
• “This Is All Your Fault” by Tanya Menoni
• “Til Valhalla” by Eric Swanson
• “Well” by Gail Bradburn

Humor

1. “Imperfect Endings” by Judith Carlough
2. “Thursday Night Flights” by Jeanne Favini
3. “One-Star Reviews” by Jake West
4. “Ari and Dean (Harry and Dino)” by Nicholas Gaitanakais
5. “Breaking Burque—The Eyebrows” by Sneaks Montoya
6. “Blacksmith and Maiden, a Little Fairy Tale” by Carl Imboden
7. “The Answer Is …” by Don Michalowski
8. “Perfect Crimes” by Chuck Collins
9. “It’s Complicated” by Pauline Hepler
10. “Worms With Those Fries?” by Terry Sachko

Honorable Mentions

• “Playing Doctor” by Amy Mills
• “A Moving Experience” by Alicia “Panama” Canal
• “An RV Wife” by Karna Bodman
• “Big Break” by Aaron Hawkins
• “Braving Anniversary Trip #2” by Davene Coutts
• “Brotherhood versus Motherhood” by Patricia Stettler
• “Chainsaws Are Loud” by ER Castaneda
• “Copier Schmopier” by Julie Prince
• “Countrified” by Amber Dawnne
• “Emperor of Etiquette” by Michael Oakes
• “I, Marlon James, or The Case of Marlon James and the Unidentified Body” by A. Rafael Johnson
• “In A Pickle” by Gretchen Ayoub
• “Ina Johansson vs. The Scotcheroo Bandit” by Kate Swenson
• “King of the Cowboys” by Rick Niece
• “Not quite child proof” by Lucianne Poole
• “NYC Driving Directions” by Cynthia M. Balagtas
• “Please Rate Your Self-Driving Dogsled Activity in Finnish Lapland” by Wendy Diliberti
• “Sex, Blood, and Sugar” by Lars Chinburg
• “Spring Break 1977” by Mary Pat Burke
• “Their Stupidity Was Criminal” by Michael A. Fuoco
• “Three Swipe Rights Gone Wrong” by Lori Mulligan
• “Tired in the U.S.A.” by Molly Devane
• “Water, Water Everywhere … and Lots of Drops to Drink” by ER Castaneda
• “Wedding Whiplash: How I Lost a Friend and Regained My Sanity” by Cheryl Free
• “What’s In a Bowl and Basket” by Tresslyn Brown
• “What’s So Funny About Tennis” by Paul Fein
• “Who is going to move the body?” by Mary Finnen
• “Wild Goose Chase” by Andrea Poniers
• “Wonder in the Small Things” by Alex Lee

Rhyming Poetry

1. “Inexorable” by Sarah Costin
2. “Torus” by Linda Drattell
3. “The Liberace Terza Rima” by Holly Eva Allen
4. “Enigmatic” by Felicia De Chabris
5. “Foot-Notes” by Landon Porter
6. “The Backyard of the Universe” by Michael Olson
7. “17. Anonymous” by Jess X. Moor
8. “Transform” by Kathy O’Grady Bose
9. “While We Slept” by Landon Porter
10. “You’re Not in Kansas, Either” by Robert Daseler

Honorable Mentions

• “Baldwin Beach” by Konner Mel
• “Blackburn’s Devils” by Jack Bannon
• “Cabin Poignant” by Erik S. Nites
• “Cobwebs” by Christin Haws
• “Convalescent Summer” by Konner Mel
• “Dawn Moonset, Sunset Crater” by Konner Mel
• “Departure’s Eve” by Patrick Walker
• “Edinburgh Twilight” by Konner Mel
• “Far From (Religious)” by Ato Dankwa
• “For Blaise Pascal, in Regard to Public Transport” by Patrick Walker
• “Fractured Sonnet on the Survivors of Catastrophic Loss” by Clif Mason
• “Fruit Fly Genocide” by Patrick Walker
• “Grand Canyon Dawn” by Konner Mel
• “Hourglass” by Gloria Herdt
• “Kxai-Kxai Dawn” by Konner Mel
• “Little Old Men Who Live in the Desert” by Ockert Greeff
• “Loose Change” by Konner Mel
• “Missiles” by Jacob Schapiro
• “Nigel No Mates” by Steve McDonald
• “Night Passage” by Francis Flavin
• “Oaks and Such” by Robert Allen Nelson
• “Okaloosa” by Mikayla Holland
• “One Lightning Bug” by Anna Lena Phillips Bell
• “Outlaws” by Robin Johnson-Drogo
• “Passing” by Louise Kantro
• “Point—Counterpoint” by James Cook
• “Prelude to Cinematography” by Joshua Burton
• “Roses” by Kimberly Shaw
• “Smile” by King Shawn Da Dawnn
• “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” by Kache’ Attyana Mumford
• “Tanaga Cycle: Class of ’99” by AJ Layague
• “The Borrowed Anthology” by Anna Amatuzio
• “The Color Blue” by MJ Craft
• “The Seduction” by Kathy Humenik
• “The Selfish Sacrifice” by Areej Khan
• “The Terse Calligraphy of Sunset Clouds” by Patrick Walker
• “Theophany” by James Cook
• “three tall blondes” by Michael Miller
• “Uncle Bob” by Patrick Walker
• “Weasel in Winter in the Summer Cottage” by Sally Cobau 

Non-Rhyming Poetry

1. “His Name Was Yitzhak” by Redd Ryder
2. “Minotaur in Love” by Redd Ryder
3. “Broken Pantoum” by Jessika O’Sullivan
4. “Slave Ship, Alabama” by Redd Ryder
5. “I am Trying to Ask the Dead Their Names” by Zachariah Claypole White
6. “Condemned” by Dennis Rhodes
7. “Nineteen Kinds of Moss” by Sonya Schneider
8. “Dissociation” by Kim Kavanagh
9. “The Squirrel Made His Way” by Alicia Cook
10. “Adding Flavor” by Paul Tifford Jr.

Honorable Mentions

• “1974” by Kimberly Shaw
• “A Red Hawk” by Enid Valdez
• “Amid the Luminous Grit” by Jeffery Allen Tobin
• “An Early Autumn Walk” by Elizabeth Elder
• “Before the Exorcism” by Mari Farrand
• “Cocoon” by Christy Wise
• “Demeter’s Drought” by Marion M. Walsh
• “Distant Recurrence” by Mickie Kennedy
• “Dogma” by Mary Paulson
• “elegy for two at the river thames” by Dean Gessie
• “Falling Watermelon” by Neal Wong
• “Finding My Boyfriend in Bed, 1993” by Mickie Kennedy
• “Full Self Driving” by Candice M. Kelsey
• “Guarding the Coop” by Mickie Kennedy
• “I Am of Big Woods” by Barbara Messick
• “I Saw You Crying” by Rick Kearns
• “In Between The Sheets” by Tanya Bartlett
• “In Safed” by Yael Ezry
• “Known For” by Dennis Todd
• “Lake Monster” by Andrew Beerworth
• “Lineage” by Marena Fleites Lear
• “Modesto’s Knitting Circle” by Redd Ryder
• “Muse” by Katherine Atwell Herbert
• “My body: a host for parasitic morality” by Julia Mauro
• “Myrmecology” by Alexandra Ozols
• “Need” by Mary Paulson
• “Nothing but Black” by Jane R. Snyder
• “Ode to a Letter of Recommendation” by Janice Zerfas
• “Ode to My Autism” by Melody Miller
• “Ode to the Clothesline of Trevi” by Suellen Wedmore
• “Omakase” by Afton Kolbe
• “play cousins” by Nicole Adabunu
• “Prostate Hierophany” by Mickie Kennedy
• “Restless in Arenal” by David DeGusta
• “Rosemary” by Leah Applebee Lojo
• “Sophomore Year” by Rebecca Buller
• “Tether” by Alison Luterman
• “The Beaches of Normandie” by kari martindale
• “The Boy Who Could Not Give Up” by Ockert Greeff
• “The Good Driver” by Joseph Kuhn Carey
• “The Neighborhood” by Kristen Wilson
• “The Post Office” by Rebecca Buller
• “The Vanishing” by Laurie Paternoster
• “The Visitation” by Kathleen Rugel
• “Uncle Ronny on the Local News” by Mickie Kennedy
• “Wait” by Veronica Schorr
• “Wall of Clocks” by Kathleen McCoy
• “What a Summer Was” by RG Thielen
• “What the Strength Card Said” by Alison Luterman
• “you when i find you” by David DeGusta

Nonfiction Essay or Article

1. “Rational Drug Design: Gertrude Elion and Her Medicines that Changed the World” by Leonardo Chung
2. “Candy Girl” by Matt Cheek
3. “There are No Patients. There are Only Dancers” by Ember Reichgott Junge
4. “The Holy Righteous Queen Tamar: Christian King of Medieval Georgia” by Angela Waldron
5. “Anatolian Sikke” by Angela Waldron
6. “Rosie the Riveter” by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds
7. “Meiringen, 1891” by Niki Fakhoori
8. “What’s in a Gnome?” by Justin Marlowe
9. “In the Footsteps of Valentino” by Cindy Gentry
10. “Watermelon and Buttercups: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” by Veronica Brown

Honorable Mentions

• “I Don’t Know What ‘Like This’ Is” by Ember Reichgott Junge
• “You’ll Never Walk Again” by Ember Reichgott Junge
• “A Bay Like No Other” by Doug Alderson
• “A Survivor’s Tale: Along Quebec Explorers’ Route” by David Lee Drotar
• “Armed and Dangerous” by Kathy Bradshaw
• “Channeling Her Inner Strength” by Kathy Bradshaw
• “Dementia: Meet Them Where They Are” by Ember Reichgott Junge
• “Donald Trump and the X-Bet” by Timothy Dixon
• “Duende in the Desert” by Elaine Howley
• “Expanding the Community” by Elaine Howley
• “Gravy Veins” by Ginger Sinsabaugh
• “Harmony and Union Come Home” by D. A. Dorwart
• “If Looks Could Kill: The Power of the Evil Eye” by Angela Waldron
• “Losing Luggage and Finding Hope” by Heide Brandes
• “Maud Without an E” by Naomi Horne
• “Mighty Mitochondria” by Elaine Howley
• “No Dance Partner? No Problem!” by Ember Reichgott Junge
• “Of Katydids and Mongolian Climes” by Elaine Howley
• “Primitive threat response” by Vivien Huang
• “Ryan Dusick Finds It No Longer Harder to Breathe” by Sheryl Aronson
• “Spy fiction is back in vogue. But did you know there are two basic types?” by Joan M. Kop
• “The ADHD Diagnostic Criteria Sucks at Capturing Females and People of Color” by Vivien Huang
• “The Civil Rights Connection Between the U.S.A. and Northern Ireland” by Forest Issac Jones
• “The Cold Way Women are Finding Relief” by Elaine Howley
• “The DSM may be wrong about anxiety disorders” by Vivien Huang
• “The Greatest Therapy of All” by Ember Reichgott Junge
• “The Missing Link: The Critical Connections Between Technique and Tactics in Tennis” by Paul Fein
• “The Mouse and I” by Troy W. Green
• “Let Us Entertain You” by Paul Fein

The post Announcing the Winners of the 93rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Writer’s Digest Annual Conference offers everything you need to advance your writing career creatively and professionally. Gain invaluable tips to improve your craft, explore publishing options and learn how to establish a sustainable career—all while being inspired by successful authors and your fellow attendees. It’s all brought to you by Writer’s Digest, the experts at nurturing and developing writers at every stage of their career for over 100 years. But hurry! The conference is October 17-20!

Click here to register today!

Enter the Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards!

Calling all poets! We’re on the lookout for poems of all styles–rhyming, free verse, haiku, and more–for the 19th Annual Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards! This is the only Writer’s Digest competition exclusively for poets. Enter any poem 32 lines or fewer for your chance to win $1,000 in cash.

Click here for more.

Last Chance to Register! Mastering Flashbacks: Weaving the Past Seamlessly into Your Story’s Present

As a career book editor with decades of experience working on thousands of manuscripts, Tiffany Yates Martin will show you what makes a flashback essential, and how good ones can add meaning and impact to the main story. You’ll learn the difference between flashback and other types of backstory, and how to assess whether and when flashbacks serve your story best to more richly develop your characters and their arcs, heighten stakes, and deepen readers’ experience of your story.

Click to continue.

If you want more online education, see the full list of WDU courses here.

Watch More Than 400 Expert Writing Tutorials!

With a growing catalog of instructional writing videos available instantly, we have writing instruction on everything from improving your craft to getting published and finding an audience. New videos are added every month!

Click to continue.

The post Time’s Running Out: Register for the Annual Conference Today! appeared first on Writer's Digest.

What do you like most about writing in the short short form?

Short shorts can be so challenging to write. Sometimes I feel as though I’m creating a word puzzle; like I’m trying to touch all the bases with very few toes. I started writing shorts when my daughter was small and my life so overscheduled that larger writing projects were difficult to manage. I enjoy reading (and dissecting) short shorts, too. Taking a well-written story down to its elements is like figuring out how a magic trick is performed.

Where did the inspiration for “Fountain of Ruth” come from?

When I’m in the car alone, I like to drive in silence. Too much noise makes it hard for ideas to be heard. So, I was enjoying one of my silent drives when the first several sentences simply dropped into my head. It wasn’t just a vague idea for a story, but the actual start of it. I dictated those full sentences into my phone and kept driving. By the time I arrived home a few hours later, all the pieces were there. I just had to put them together—and then edit for months. I had more fun writing Fountain of Ruth than anything else. There was something a bit surreal about the process.

What did your drafting and revision processes look like for “Fountain of Ruth”?

Although writing the story itself didn’t take long, the editing and rewriting took much longer. Once the draft was together, I sent it to my writing group, my daughter, and a few writer friends. Their suggestions greatly strengthened the story. I went through every sentence repeatedly, to the point where I nearly had it memorized. I also read it out loud several times to catch repetitious words and other stumbles.

What interested you in entering WD’s Short Short Competition?

The WD competitions are so well-known and respected that winning or placing enables a writer to feel validated, which I badly needed at the time. Although I’ve been writing for years and even won first place in two previous WD competitions (short genre fiction in 2012 and 2008), I had stepped away from short fiction for several years and feared I had lost my chops.

But I had a lot more at stake with this contest than just the entry fee. I had made a dumb deal with myself.

Even though writing has always been my first love, life got between us over and over again. For many years, I worked a day job, a night job, and freelanced, all while also raising my daughter. Now that she’s grown, my husband and I moved into a 125-year-old warehouse we are trying to rehab ourselves, while still working our day jobs. It had become so hard to make time to write that I began to wonder if perhaps it was time to put writing dreams aside and focus only on our building project.

Over the winter, when it was too cold for much construction, I wrote several new short stories. I submitted those stories to six different contests and told myself even a 10^th level honorable mention would keep me in the writing game, but nothing at all would be my sign it was time to close my laptop.

When the rejections began to arrive, one after another, I found myself wishing I had sent out more stories or chosen less significant contests—or believed in myself enough to not need validation to continue doing something I love so much.

By February, I had been rejected by every contest but one. The biggest of all I had entered.

So, thank you, Writer’s Digest, for keeping me in the game.

What advice do you have for other writers out there?

Don’t make stupid deals with yourself.

See the list of winners here!

The post Karin Patton: 2024 Short Short Story Award Winner appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Out of many great entries, WD editors selected the following 25 winners:

1. “The Fountain of Ruth” by Karin Patton

2. “Cotton” by Jasmine Griffin

3. “Sixteen, Summer” by Shannon Bowring

4. “Epilogue: The Story After the Story” by Jim Hunstein

5. “Unscratched” by NVMann

6. “Midrise” by Michele Ruby

7. “The Personality Writer” by Jenno Kane

8. “Ghosts of Winter” by Ronald McGuire

9. “Beyond the Fence” by Noreen Kilbride

10. “We Could Never Afford a Headstone” by Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal

11. “The Smell of Old Books” by David Osgood

12. “Twister” by Gary V Powell

13. “Last Writes” by William County

14. “Last Call” by Kate Adams

15. “Road To Nowhere” by Jennifer Braunfels

16. “A Crown of Azaleas” by Ramona Richards

17. “Hope Never Stops-at-All” by Tiffany Link

18. “The Last Migration” by Robyn Dabney

19. “The Thought of Remembering” by D’Spencer Luyao

20. “The Empress in the Front Yard” by Kristofer Schleicher

21. “A Numbers Game” by John Foley

22. “Dear” by Marilyn Hope

23. “Last Words of Ordinary Things: The Wristwatch” by L.C. Davis

24. “The Okie Dokie” by Rachel Childers

25. “Why Do They Call It Toilet Water?” by Amy DeFlavis 

The post Announcing the Winners of the 24th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition appeared first on Writer's Digest.

[WD uses affiliate links.]

Grand Prize

The Cruel Dark by Bea Northwick, NorthwickBooks.com

Contemporary Fiction

First Place

Secret of the Hindu Kush by Anthony Stone, AnthonyStone-Author.com

Honorable Mentions

Jaguar Spirit by Zoe Hauser, ZoeHauser.com

Pheidippides Didn’t Die by Autumn Konopka, AutumnKonopka.com

The Playgroup by Jami Worthington

The Way It’s Supposed to Be by April Garner, AprilGarner.com

Fantasy

First Place

Children of Cain by S. L. Myers

Honorable Mentions

Find Them by Julia Ash, JuliaAshBooks.wordpress.com

The Kimoni Legacy: Initiation by Omari Richards, Omari-Richards.com

The Sword and Shield by Emma Khoury, EmmaKhoury.com

Mystery/Thriller

First Place

The Girl with the Face of the Moon by Ellis Amdur, EdgeworkBooks.com

Honorable Mentions

Cobra Pose by Susan Rogers and John Roosen, SusanERogers.com

Final Belongings by Sarah Beauchemin, SarahBeaucheminWriter.com

The Sinful by G. W. Allison, GWAllison.com

The Starlet Letter by Julie Mathison, JulieMathison.com

Narrative Nonfiction

First Place

Crew of Three: How Bold Dreams and Detailed Plans Launched Our Family’s Sailing Adventure by Kimberly Ward, KimberlyJWardwriter.com

Honorable Mentions

Barbwire, Brothels and Bombs in the Night: Surviving Vietnam by Connard Hogan, ConnardHogan.com

CLOSE TO HOME: Sexual Abusers and Serial Killers, Memoir and Murder by Janine O’Neill, JanineONeill.com

In Death’s Shadow by David Branham, DavidMBranham.com

You Matter More Than You Think by Phil Williams, PhilWBooks.com

Prescriptive/Informative Nonfiction

First Place

Paint, Sweat, and Tears: 150 Days on the Appalachian Trail by Carolyn Matthews-Daut, CarolynDaut.com

Honorable Mentions

Into the Fire: The Life, Love, and Revelation of Dragon Parenting by Deborah Ackerman

Living All In: How to Show Up for the Life You Want by Chris Janssen, ChrisJanssenCoaching.com

Reflections: On Time, Culture, and Spirits in America by Dennis McCarty

Visual Impact: Quick, Easy Tools for Thinking in Pictures by Wendi Pillars, SketchMoreThinkMore.com/author

Romance

First Place

Everything in Between by Emma Wilde, EmilyKnowles-Artist.com

Honorable Mention

The Little Tea Room on River Road by Susan Lute, SusanLute.com

Science Fiction

First Place

Cloudthinker by Andrew McGlinchey, Cloudthinker.xyz./

Honorable Mentions

Ash and Sun by Jonny Thompson, JonnyOnThePage.com

THE INSTITUTE Stolen Case Files by T.S. Galindo

Young Adult

First Place

Into the Black by Brian Work, BrianWork.com

Honorable Mentions

Social Vampire by James Schannep, JamesSchannep.com

The Valley of Stars by Yona Katz, YonaKatz.com

The post Announcing the 11th Annual Self-Published E-book Awards Winners appeared first on Writer's Digest.

But there is an art to writing these attention-getting pieces, and many writers don’t know how to write short. By opening a window into your past, creating a narrative arc, starting strong and ending stronger, and setting up scenes, you can take your smallest moments and make them into big publishing success. This live webinar will show you how, and guide you on how to craft your own. So bring an idea with you, and let’s get you writing.

Estelle Erasmus, a publishing veteran is the author of the award-winning book Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published (now a course at NYU), and the host of the popular Freelance Writing Direct Podcast. She teaches personal essay writing for Writer’s Digest, is the judge for the Personal Essay Contest, and has guided thousands of students on to publishing success, including with micro memoir.

Click to continue.

If you want more online education, see the full list of WDU courses here.

Listen to “Writer’s Digest Presents” Now!

The newest episode of the “Writer’s Digest Presents” podcast is now available! Editor-in-chief Amy Jones and content editor Michael Woodson sit down for a chat with author Waubgeshig Rice about the speculative quality of unanswered questions, and more!

Advanced Novel Writing

Push yourself beyond your comfort zone and take your writing to new heights with this novel writing course, designed specifically for novelists who are looking for detailed feedback on their work. When you take this online course, you won’t have weekly reading assignments or lectures. Instead, you’ll get to focus solely on completing your novel.

Click to continue.

Enter the Self-Published Book Awards!

Whether you’re a professional writer, a part-time freelancer or a self-starting student, here’s your chance to enter the premier self-published competition exclusively for self-published books. Writer’s Digest hosts the 32nd annual self-published competition—the Annual Self-Published Book Awards. This self-published competition spotlights today’s self-published works and honors self-published authors. DEADLINE: May 1, 2024.

Click to continue.

The post Making Your Mark with Micro Memoir appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Spend the day learning techniques for honing your craft from seven different published authors*, then (if you choose) pitch your novel via query letter to a literary agent specifically looking for material in the romance genre. The agent will provide you with a personalized critique of your query – and maybe ask to see more.

Click to continue.

If you want more online education, see the full list of WDU courses here.

Enter the Self-Published Book Awards

Whether you’re a professional writer, a part-time freelancer or a self-starting student, here’s your chance to enter the premier self-published competition exclusively for self-published books. Writer’s Digest hosts the 32nd annual self-published competition—the Annual Self-Published Book Awards. This self-published competition spotlights today’s self-published works and honors self-published authors.

DEADLINE: April 1, 2024

Click to continue.

Writer’s Digest Tutorials

With a growing catalog of instructional writing videos available instantly, we have writing instruction on everything from improving your craft to getting published and finding an audience. New videos are added every month!

Click to continue.

The post How to Write Romance From the Experts appeared first on Writer's Digest.