WANT TO GET PUBLISHED? FORGET THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, WRITE SHORT STORIES INSTEAD SAYS MULTI-NY TIMES’ AUTHOR
LOS ANGELES, CA - What does it take to be professionally published in the United States where only 3 of every 10,000 manuscripts submitted see the light of print?
Forget the “great American novel” says multi-New York Times bestselling author Larry Niven. “Write short stories instead, send them out to several editors and enter the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest four times a year. You can complete your stories quickly, submit them, move on to your next story, and have several stories being reviewed by editors at the same time.”
“The chance of a new writer seeing their work published can be very disheartening,” said Joni Labaqui, Director of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest now in its 26th year.
In today’s publishing universe, it simply takes too long for the traditional novel process for new authors. “You spend months on a novel, then send it to editors and wait for months more,” Niven said. “Send out regularly to magazines that accept short stories.”
Niven, who is also a judge of the Writers of the Future Contest, advised new and aspiring writers at the recent annual Los Angeles Science Fiction and Fantasy Society’s yearly convention held in Los Angeles.
Winners of the L. Ron Hubbard contest not only receive cash prizes but are published in the L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future annual anthology (Galaxy Press), the largest-selling anthology series of its kind worldwide.
“No other short fiction contest collection sees the kind of sales of their anthology as our Contest,” said Labaqui. “Exposure for the yearly winners is staggering.”
The Writers of the Future Contest began in 1984 and attracts entries worldwide for the science fiction and fantasy genres. Inspired by multiple New York Times’ best-selling author L. Ron Hubbard, the merit-based Writers of the Future Contest was initiated by him to discover and encourage talented beginning writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Alumni of the Writers of the Future Contest have collectively penned nearly 400 novels and published more than 2500 short stories following their first appearance in the Contest’s anthology (Galaxy Press). Labaqui recommends that prospective writers, visit www.writersofthefuture.com for more information on how to enter the quarterly contest.