International Competition for Novel Extracts

Founded in 2011, The Masters Review is an American online and print publication that celebrates new and emerging writers. They are open for submissions throughout the year and run competitions at three monthly intervals.

The important stuff

Excerpts must be under 6,000 words but they don’t want you to cut and ruin it. We allow for some wiggle room; don’t force your revisions into 6,000 words. We’d rather read a couple hundred extra words than a cramped conclusion!

Submitted work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites.

All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use Times New Roman or Garamond 12. (Don’t leave the formatting to the moment just before you press send.)

The deadline is 11:59pm PST on Sunday, October 27, 2024. (Lie to yourself and pretend it is 24 hours earlier.)

Who Can Enter

MR are at pains to stress that the contest is for emerging writers only. But that’s not a blanket ban on ALL published authors. They say: “We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.”

International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English. They add:
Some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed. I had no idea what that meant but thanks to Google and the Oregon State university I do now.

Code-switching means that people will switch back and forth between different languages or dialects depending upon their situation. While code-switching allows people to adjust their language use in different contexts, it still promotes the idea that one “code” is more appropriate than another. Code-switching looks at language as an either-or scenario. It limits the type of language used in specific situations.
Code-meshing considers all dialectal choices as inherently equal and doesn’t assume one is more “standard.”… Instead, it promotes the idea that language is complex and that its variations can coexist, in all forms, in any context. And in practice, code-meshing can result in extremely powerful and engaging speech and writing. We see it from creative and academic writers like James Kelman, Vershawn Ashanti Young, and Gloria Anzaldùa, but also in less formal writing and speaking.

Getting the Bones Down

Selecting an extract that not only makes sense without a synopsis but also sings loudly enough to attract the judge’s attention would be a challenge for most of us. To see what a good standalone extract looks like check out the New Voices section of the MR website. I really really want to read the entirety of A Portrait of the Lobotomist as a Young Man by S. B. Kleinman. I hope s/he has a publishing deal.

The Cost

The entry fee is $20. Writers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are invited to submit for free until the organisers reach fifty submissions in this category. The competition opened on August 28th so there’s a good chance there’s still space.

And remember you can submit for publication anytime without paying a reading fee.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

The winning excerpt will be awarded $3,000; online publication; and an hour-long consultation with Marin Takikawa, a literary agent with The Friedrich Agency. 
Second- and third-place excerpts will be awarded online publication and $300 and $200 respectively, in addition to written feedback from Marin Takikawa.

The Rules, The Rules!

I haven’t included all the rules and terms & conditions. Read them HERE and follow them.

Good luck