Writing Competition: Novel Slices

Our Fall Contest is now open through October 31! The following are the guidelines.

Five equal, first-place winners will each receive $1,000 ($5,000 total) and publication in the latest issue. Winners will be announced by December 31, 2023.

Entry fee: $12 — includes a digital copy of the contest issue.

Judge Juliette Wade never outgrew the habit of asking "why" about everything. This path led her to study foreign languages and to complete degrees in both anthropology and linguistics. Combining these with a fascination for worldbuilding and psychology, she creates multifaceted speculative fiction that holds a mirror to our own society. Check out the Broken Trust trilogy: Mazes of Power, Transgressions of Power, and Inheritors of Power.

Contest Guidelines:

• All novel genres welcome except for Children's and Middle Grade

• Excerpts should be approximately 4,000 to 6,000 words in length (do not send us your entire manuscript)

• We recommend you buy a copy of the current issue for a sense of the types of excerpts published (although this will obviously change with different judges)

• Your name should not appear on the submission

• Excerpts do not have to be from the beginning of a manuscript

• Standard formatting: Title on first page, double-spaced, 12 point font

• Acceptable file types are PDF or Word documents (.pdf, .docx, .doc, .rtf)

• If needed, an introductory paragraph can be added giving any necessary background information (for excerpts not taken from the beginning)

• Excerpts need not feel complete, stand alone, or read like a short story

• Previously unpublished work only

• Simultaneous submissions accepted as long as you contact us to withdraw your submission if it is accepted elsewhere

• Multiple submissions allowed; each excerpt must be submitted with a separate entry fee

• ​Excerpts must be in English but can come from anywhere in the world; translations are allowed if the original has not been previously published

• All rights revert to the author on publication

• Novel Slices staff, their families, and associates cannot enter​

• We follow the contest code of ethics published by the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses

Why enter this contest?

First of all, your chances of winning are much higher, because there are five winners. Moreover, we do not expect you to carve your novel excerpt into the format of a short story, and so you are not starting out on uneven footing. Last but certainly not least, our publication is marketed directly to literary agents as well as both small and large publishers, in order to give winning entries the greatest possible exposure. 

Enter here.