JournalStone Publishing Announces Its 3rd Annual 2013 Horror Writing Contest

JournalStone Publishing (JSP) President, Christopher C. Payne is pleased to announce the commencement of its third annual Horror Writing Contest. The contest is open to all authors.

Submission Requirements: Submissions must be at least 75,000 words or more in length (no exceptions) and must be sent in a Microsoft Word document in Times New Roman 11-point font, single line spacing to joel@journalstone.com. In the subject line you must put ‘JournalStone’s $2,000 Advance in 2013’. You must include your name, address and e-mall address with the submission. Take credit for your work—please don’t force us to investigate who you are or what entry goes with some cryptic e-mail address. If you use a pen name, please also include your actual name as well (it will be kept confidential if you so request it.)

Submission Deadline:
All submissions must be received no later than 11 p.m. Pacific time April 1, 2013. JournalStone highly recommends you submit your work early.

Editing: Please have your work edited prior to submission.

Genre: Horror only. Nothing else counts in this contest. If you have any questions on content, please send an e-mail to christophercpayne@journalstone.com or joel@journalstone.com

Prizes:
The winner will receive a $2,000 advance against future royalties and have his/her novel published by JournalStone. The #1 winner is also eligible for active membership to the HWA (Horror Writers Association). Have you always wanted to join, but haven’t met the criteria? You can now become an active member with all of its benefits and prestige!

Scared about not winning? Second prize gets a $500 advance and a published novel. Yes, you have to sign a contract first. Third place gets a $200 advance and for the last time—also gets a published novel. Not one of the top three? No worries, you might still be good enough to get your novel published, you will just have to earn your money on the royalties. We only have so much to give out for free.

Costs or Entry Fees?
We pay all the costs associated with publishing your novel. All an author is required to do is submit a freakishly scary book and rock our world. There are no entry fees.

If you are not familiar with the last two year’s winners, please check out That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley which won in 2011—and was a Finalist for the HWA’s Bram Stoker Award® for Best First Novel, and Twice Shy by Patrick Freivald and The Devil of Echo Lake, both of which tied for 1st place in 2012.

Judges:

1. Christopher C. Payne – President of JournalStone. My vote should count more than the others, but it probably won’t.
2. Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick – is an author/blogger from Southwest Colorado. He has self-published four novels, and is in awe of the Indie talents he began to discover last year. Joel also claims to be influenced by classical authors from Edward Lear to Bulwer Lytton.
3. Norman Rubenstein – He is the managing editor of JournalStone and has been around for more years than I can even count. He has an amazing eye for talent, and this will be his first year judging in our contest.
4. Patrick Freivald – Winner of JournalStone’s $2,000 in 2012 contest (Tied for first place) and author of Twice Shy. He is an author, teacher (physics, robotics, and American Sign Language), and beekeeper. He lives in Upstate New York with his beautiful wife, two birds, two dogs, too many cats, and several million stinging insects.
5. Dr. Michael R. Collings – is an emeritus professor of English and Creative Writing at Pepperdine University who retired after nearly three decades there, during which time he taught everything from Beowulf to Stephen King, freshman composition to writing the novel. He is the author of nine novels, half a dozen volumes of poetry, and well over a score of literary and scholarly studies, including works on Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, and Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror as genres.
We are still looking for a few more judges. Interested? Send an e-mail to joel@journalstone.com. Additional judges may be added as we finalize.

Judging Criteria: Plot, Character Development, Setting, Rhythm, Grammar, Structure, Uniqueness, Style, Marketability, Judge’s Objective

Schedule:
The top 10 winners will be announced on June 1, 2013.
The top three finalists will be announced on June 15, 2013.
The overall winner will be announced on June 30, 2013.
Dates are approximate and subject to change.

Email: christophercpayne@journalstone.com
Website: http://journalstone.com