How much do you consider too much?

doodle

...to enter a short story competition? When it was £3-£4 I would give it a go. Now more and more are £7-£12 and I don't even bother brainstorming an idea for them as I consider it too expensive. Prize pots vary so this has to be weighed against entry cost as well. WM comps are good because at £3 for subscribers I don't find this prohibitive
and I welcome the real practice and reasonably short deadlines to exercise my writing muscles. As far as more expensive entry fees for comps go, am I just a skinflint or is it that I don't believe in my work if I'm not willing to bet a fiver (or more) on it?! And, I wonder if the less expensive to enter comps attract more entries?

Carol

Unless it was a huge high profile competition I'd consider £7-£12 too much.
Lower priced competitions probably attract more entrants, but in the current financial climate many writers are probably being choosy.

Webbo

Don't forget our free ones as well Doodleysquit. To partially answer your last question, despite being free, those ones attract fewer entries than the paid WM ones (although of course they are for a limited pool of entrants, being subscriber-only).
To my mind, if an entry fee is £7+, the prize should match, ie £500+ at the very least. As Carol said, the fee justifies itself more for more prestigious comps.
The Bridport seems to get it right: £8/£7/£6 entry fee for £5000/£5000/£1000 prizes. And a name that really jumps out on your writer's CV.

Liz

[quote=Webbo]And a name that really jumps out on your writer's CV. [/quote]

Great. I'll change mine then, to 'Butterflyeyed Writing-Genius'.

Or do you mean the name of the competition jumps put at you?

dora

I don't think you're being a skinflint as I too find it difficult to enter many competitions at that price. I'm always on the look out for something lower priced than £6 or £7.

As said above, so long as the prize matches the entry fee then that's one way to make a decision as to whether to enter or not. I also think the wordcount they will accept has a bearing on my decision.

This one is £3.00 for one entry or two for £5.00. Every entrant has a chance not only to win for themself, but could also win cash for their favourite UK charity or voluntary group. http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com




[quote=doodleysquit]And, I wonder if the less expensive to enter comps attract more entries? [/quote]

I wouldn't know but has anyone any stats on this?

Mrs Bear

Well, I wouldn't be entering many comps that wanted more than a fiver - not got many fivers to play with.

Phots Moll

I never pay more than £5 - and usually nothing at all.

I look carefully at what I'd get for the money. A decent prize should be offered if there's an entry fee but I'd want more than that. WM competitions offer publication for the winners and a mention for runner ups, some places give critiques for all entries, some comps are raising money for a wortwhile cause. Such things can make the entry fee better value.

If you want free to enter competitions there are some mentioned on my blog every week.

danfango

I tend to look at the prize fund and get suspicious if the organisers need fewer than 50 entries to cover the cost of awarding the prizes - i.e. if it costs a fiver to enter there should be at least £250 up for grabs.

As other writers have said, it's also a question of what you get for your money, and not just if you win. A critique can be helpful, publication for the winning / shortlisted stories has a value too.

Bristol and Bridport are two short story competitions that have the balance about right. Fish Publishing competitions are too expensive by my reckoning, although the top prizes are good.

Lou Treleaven

Also it's good to look at who is organising it. I like the writing competitions run by charities such as the Cat's Protection League (and not just because I came second!). The prize money goes to the charity.

The ones I don't like are part of the increasing trend for small publishers to start charging for submissions by making it into a competition with the prize as publication (I'm talking novels rather than short stories here). You should be able to submit a manuscript without having to pay.

Carol

Many competition seem to no longer be about the best entry winning (and as a result, publicity for the organisation running the competition), but about making money and getting publicity for their brand/organisation ahead of the prize winner.