Author Heather McCorkle

Thanks to the tweet of one of the fabulous editors at Simon Pulse, Anica Rissi , I discovered The Gatekeeper Discovery Writers Award . It is a contest for young adult writers with a $500 prize. But that isn't the real prize. Getting read by the fantastic board of judges is! Check out who is on the board: Editors: Barbara Lalicki (SVP and Editorial Director at HarperCollins Childrens) Anne Schwartz (VP & Publisher of Schwartz & Wade Books/ Random House ) Alvina Ling (Executive Editor, Little, Brown ) Karen Lotz (President & Publisher, Candlewick Press ) Selena James (Executive Editor, Dafina Books ) Anica Rissi (Executive Editor · Simon Pulse ) Sarah Shumway (Senior Editor Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins ) Jean Feiwel (Senior VP and Director, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group) Jennifer Klonsky (Editorial Director, Simon Pulse ) Claudia Gabel (Senior Editor at Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins ) Evette Porter (Editor, Kimani Tru / Harl...

There are a lot of great contests for writers out there. There is only one problem, most of them I've found are for short stories. I'm terrible at writing short stories! When I get an idea that is worthy of writing I always end up turning it into a novel. I figure if it's worth writing, it's worth a novel. Oddly enough, I enjoy reading short stories. My brain just isn't wired to write them. Why worry you wonder? Contests are a great way to get your name out there and get a few publishing credits under your pen. If you can or do write short stories you should look into contests as a potential way to start to build your writer's platform. Of course the catch is, for it to help your platform, you have to win or be a finalist. The competition can be pretty tough but the rewards are worth it. Notoriety in the publishing world is hard to come by and contests are a great way to do it. Here are a few good contests that I've heard about (click on the names for th...