These questions and answers apply to both the short story and poetry competitions.

How much does it cost to enter the competitions and are there any catches?

What prize do I get if I win the competition?

What happens if I get shortlisted into the top 30 entries in either competition?

How many people usually enter the competitions?

How do I increase my chances of winning?

What does it mean to be in the printed booklets?

Why do I have to pay for a booklet when my work has been printed in it?

Where does the money sold from the booklets go?

How much does it cost to enter the competitions and are there any catches?

The competitions are free and always will be. If we ever include a competition with a charge, this will be in addition to the usual competitions. We do not believe it is fair to pay a fee to enter your work into a competition. This of course means that our prizes are of a lower value, but this also means you can enter the competition without any risk.

The competitions are here to help you write, if you win then great, but if you lose you can simply re-examine your work or start again.

There are no catches, you retain copyright to your work, we only state that the top thirty entries in each competition will be printed in the booklets - more in this below.

What prize do I get if I win the competition?

Where possible we will offer the winner of the story and poetry competitions a prize such as a book or some gift vouchers. However, starting from January, we will be giving each shortlisted entrant a copy of the Secret Attic diary software with a full registration code as a prize for being in the top thirty entries.

What happens if I get shortlisted into the top 30 entries in either competitions?

If you get shortlisted your work will be published in both a printed booklet and an electronic booklet.

How many people usually enter the competitions?

Obviously this differs each month. On average we get between 300 - 500 stories each month and 200 - 400 poems each month.

How do I increase my chances of winning?

Quite simply, try to be different, it helps if you stand out from the crowd.

Punctuation, spelling and punctuation! This sounds obvious but really, check your spelling! Also when filling in the form details please observe the same principles:

john smith from walsall nr Bimingrhma?

or

John Smith from Walsall near Birmingham, UK?

What does it mean to be in the printed booklets?

It simply means for that given month your work is published in the booklets. Everyone who buys a copy of that booklet gets to read your work.

Why do I have to pay for a booklet when my work has been printed in it?

We do not offer free booklets to those whose work is published in the booklets because this is how the site is funded. In order to keep the competitions free, we charge for the booklets. This, at least to us, seems a much fairer deal than charging for the competition whether or not you win it!

Where does the money sold from the booklets go?

We do not make an exceedingly large amounth of money from the booklets, mainly due to printing costs. The money goes straight back into the site, on administration, future printing costs; we do not make a profit.