Booksie 2022 First Chapter Novel Contest

August 5, 2022 Update - The winners.

After reading through 943 entries, we have our winners. Please extend a hearty round of congratulations to:

Grand Prize Winner: 

• Last Chance at Love by Anjelika Lime

Runners-up:

• coffee by nasrin parvaz
• The Dark That Begins by steve pantazis

We'll be contacting the winners about their prizes. We'll also be tallying up the contest costs to determine how much will be donated to the contest charity, Reading is Fundamental. Thank you to everyone who participated. We hope that even if you did not win, you found the contest to be a fun experience that maybe motivated you to get your work out there and focus on moving it forward.

And remember, Booksie is currently running its 2022 Short Story Competition and the Webb Space Telescope 'What's Out There?" Flash Fiction Contest. Keep writing and promoting your work!

July 24, 2022 Update - We are pleased to list the twenty finalists. We'll be announcing the winners in one week.

The judge, Sol Nasisi, wrote the following:

"I really enjoyed reading through the entries.Your creativity and literary skill is impressive. I was struck by the range of stories being told - some intimate, some in far-away lands, some in far-away worlds. I've always believed that every story is the start of its own world, a new bubble forming in the meta-verse of ideas, and I encourage all of you to continue building those worlds and telling your story whether you have made the list or not.

All of the finalist stories made me want to read on and learn more. In some, it was a question posed but not answered in the first couple of paragraphs. In others, the description of a vibrant and unique setting. In others, the introduction of an interesting character or quandary the character finds themself in.

Thank you for the honor of reading your work."

The finalists are, in no particular order:

• The Grave of the Red by Ryan Gallant
• Only Us (private) by Piper Candela
• Brush With Fame by heather lloyd
• The Truth is A lie by Sally Lotz
• Fredrik's Choice (private) by marcia lee laycock
• Becoming Belle by carolyn callison murray
• Best Interests (private) by Laura Ruth Loomis
• Forbidden Ties- Enemy's Keeper Book 1 by Kyrie Wang
• The AinsWorth Chronicles, Book One: The Joining by Frank Talaber
• who (private) by sunny lockwood
• NOT MY BLOOD_A Stepmother's Story by Rosalie62
• movies and mayhem by lisa shay
• The Dark That Begins by steve pantazis
• That's What She Said (private) by Kelley Swan
• Serial Killer Wanted (private) by Nika Grace
• coffee by nasrin parvaz
• Last Chance at Love by Anjelika Lime
• Ninety-Nine White Horses (A Gilded Age Romance) by J.B. Wadsworth
• Dead Man's Money by K. J. North
• #Luna4Life by B. P. Hogan

July 25, 2022 Update - We'll be announcing the twenty finalists this Friday, July 29. 

June 26, 2022 Update - The judge is continuing to read through every one of the entries. It will be another 2-3 weeks before we'll be able to make an announcement. The judge might have been overly optimistic about the time it would take. Thanks for your patience. 

May 28, 2022 Update - The contest judge is busy reading through all of the entries. At this point, we expect it will be another 3-4 weeks before we're ready to make an announcement. 

It's not even 2022 - yet, but in anticipation, we're launching the 2022 First Chapter Novel Contest. Have a book or a novel idea you've been noodling? Enter your first chapter into the Booksie First Chapter Contest and see how it does. You don't need to have finished the book. You don't even need more than the first chapter. We're looking for a start that will grab our attention, that is original, that is well written, and that makes us want to beg you to see what comes next. And for those we find, we'll provide some awards to inspire you to finish writing the book or, if finished, to help get it published.

You can submit your entire book but only the first chapter will be judged.

Prizes

Grand prize winner

• $500 cash award
• Gold winner badge
• A free week of Promote for any published content of the winner's choice (Promote features the content in front of Booksie’s millions of monthly readers).
• A review of the winning chapter by Sol Nasisi, the publisher of WorldMaker Media.

Two runner-ups 

• $100 cash
• Silver winner badge
• One free week of Promotes for any published content of the winner's choosing (Promote features the content in front of Booksie’s millions of monthly readers).

Entry Fee

Writers may submit as many entries as they like. There is a fee of $5.95 per entry. This covers administrative costs, judging fees, marketing, and prize awards. Any profit derived from the contest fees will be donated to the literacy non-profit Reading is Fundamental. 

Judge

The judge for this competition is Sol Nasisi, the founder of WorldMaker Media, the publisher of  Screaming in the Silence, State of Vengeance, My Own Worst Nightmare, and For the Love of Babies. Sol is also the founder of Booksie.com and the online writing workshop TheNextBigWriter.com. 

About Booksie Contests

Booksie is an online writing platform to help writers tell their stories and promote their written work. It is not a publisher and does not take any ownership of the writing posted to the site. Booksie has run writing contests for the last three years. Our sister site, TheNextBigWriter has run writing contests for the last thirteen years. Click here to view a list of previous Booksie winners.

Please note: When entering the contest, you can choose to make your work public or private. The choice is up to you and will not impact the contest judging. Private work will only be viewed by the judge. Public work will receive exposure on the site.