One of the many things Reedsy does for authors is offer weekly writing contests. These are often short stories based on a writing prompt given on Fridays of each week. However, it’ll cost you $5 to compete with other authors. So, is it worth the entry fee?
It’s important to note that you can simply write short stories each week based on the writing prompts without entering the contest. These are saved on your Reedsy Creative Writing Prompts Profile that can be read by all.
But if you’re looking at the $250 prize, you’ll need the $5 entry fee to be registered to qualify.
Benefits of the Weekly Writing Contests at Reedsy?
While the cash prize might be enough to get you motivated to write, there are several benefits I’d like to point out. It’s not always about the money, and sometimes the experience is worth the time investing in your talent.
Not to mention what it could do for you in the long run from a marketing perspective.
So, why should you consider entering the weekly writing contests with Reedsy?
Practice, Practice, Practice
Writing is a skill, and like any other skill, you have to practice if you want to maintain a high level of proficiency. That’s perhaps the foremost reason to join any writing prompt or contest you come across.
Take a look at your favorite sports players. These people don’t just sit around on their laurels pulling in that fat contract in professional sports. Most of them continuously work on their talents and skills during the off-season while improving their prowess on the field or court.
While you might not be planning to try out as a quarterback for the Denver Broncos, continuous practice does something similar for writers and authors.
In fact, practicing is one of the cornerstones of why I built this particular blog in the first place. I wanted to share my experiences as a freelance writer while practicing everything I continuously learned.
Shareable Profile URL for Marketing
When you start your journey with Reedsy, you have a writing prompt profile that you can share anywhere that accepts links. This link brings visitors to your profile where they can read your published short stories, see any accolades achieved during the contests, and follow the account.
I’m a proponent of getting your name in as many locations on the Internet as possible. The more people recognize your name as an author, the better. The weekly writing contests from Reedsy are just another branch of the tree that is marketing.
Getting my name in as many places as possible is one of the things that helped me take over the top several pages of a Google search. I am all over the Internet and am very easily found. Considering I had to battle against a doctor and a lawyer under the same name, I view it as quite an accomplishment.
Regardless, this link can be attached to anything from an email signature to a button on your blog. You can also share it on social media to get some of your writing followers to join you at Reedsy.
Sharing Widget for the Blog
If you don’t know how to make a button for your blog, you can also use the share widget from Reedsy. You can either copy the code and place it in an HTML block for your site, or you can download the image directly and link it to your profile page.
Why does it matter? Because some free blogging systems don’t give you access to HTML. Plus, calling data from a third-party website could slow the performance of your page.
It’s always better to host images yourself regardless of the platform you’re using. That way, your website isn’t waiting on data from another website before it loads resources. And Google will tag you for the wait time.
You can add this widget to any site or platform that allows linked images. This includes your blog or perhaps your Substack newsletter.
Being Part of a Relatively Large Writing Community
Being part of a writing community has all kinds of personal and professional benefits. I often get authors from social media who sign up for the live interviews, I’ve met some great people, and I’ve been introduced to a lot of things I wouldn’t have thought to Google.
The bottom line is that writing communities have been greatly influential in my career over the past couple of years.
Although everyone is competing for the prize money, they aren’t truly your competition. That’s because writing a good story is subjective, and we all have a unique audience. It’s possible to get excited for the success of others without feeling left behind.
Anyway, the writing contests at Reedsy are followed by a large number of authors. It’s never a bad idea to interact and meet a few while crafting your stories. You never know who you’ll meet or who will influence parts of your career.
Potential to Win Cash Prizes
The obvious benefit of entering the Reedsy weekly writing contests is because of the cash prize. Who wouldn’t want an extra $250 in their PayPal account at the end of the week? Win a couple of them in a row, and it could do wonders for boosting your self-confidence.
If you win, Reedsy will send you the prize money via PayPal. Coincidentally, this is also how Reedsy pays out for affiliate links from their masterclass program. And as I’ve had payments from Reedsy, I can say that it’s legit.
The way the contest works is that you can submit one story for each of the five writing prompts. You can submit a story for each prompt, but they need to be different. So, you could write five individual stories, one for each prompt.
However, you don’t have to write all five. You can simply pick one of the prompts that you want to explore.
The hardest part is deciding whether your story is worth the $5 entry fee. And if you submit five different stories for the writing prompts, it’ll run you $25 in total.
Added to the Prompted Literary Magazine
Once you win one of the weekly writing contests, you’ll also have a chance to be featured in the Prompted literary magazine produced by Reedsy. This is a free eBook that features 12 prize-winning stories from the writing prompts themselves.
The digital version is free for all, but you can also purchase a printed copy for $4.99. Considering it’s loaded with the best of the best from the writing contests, it’s a good price for the quality.
I know that if I was featured in Prompted, I’d probably buy several paperback versions and give them to friends and family.
Something else to consider is the fact that your name is in that book, which can then be added to your resume as a publication. For some, the prospect of being featured in the magazine is enough to warrant the $5 entry fee for the contest.
Runner-Ups May Get $25 in Marketplace Credit
Even if you don’t win the weekly writing contests, you might still be eligible for a $25 marketplace credit. The Reedsy marketplace is where the company makes the majority of its money – offering services for publishing books.
The marketplace has everything from professional editors to public relations management. Virtually any part of self-publishing a book is represented in Reedsy. Although it may cost several thousand dollars depending on what you need, there are a lot of talented folks available.
In the future, I plan on using some of the services myself just so I can get more content for the blog and YouTube channel. But if someone can ultimately help me sell more copies of my books, all the better.
In any case, the $25 credit can add up if you make weekly submissions and are good enough to rank high amongst the crowd.
Points on the Leaderboard
As an author for the weekly writing contests, there is a point-based system as an added layer of competition. These are called, “karma points.” The leaderboard shows those who have generated the most points overall.
You get Karma Points by:
- Getting likes on stories and comments you post (1 point)
- If one of your stories is approved (10 points)
- If you win one of the contests (100 points)
This means the Karma Points are focusing on community building. After all, you can rack up quite a few if you’re active and can generate enough likes from your comments or the stories you post.
The best part is that you don’t necessarily have to win a contest in order to hit the top 10 of the leaderboard. As long as you’re active and can craft decent stories, you can accrue a decent number of points.
Anyway, I like the leaderboard idea as it is a way to award active authors who are in it for more than just the money. It’s kind of like rewarding the community for being social.
The Judges of the Weekly Writing Contests
The number of judges for the weekly writing contests is quite extensive on Reedsy. It’s unclear how many judges are reading through the manuscripts, but there are quite a few, to be sure.
Once the judges create a shortlist of candidates, Reedsy then reads through the top stories to determine a weekly winner.
What I like about the sheer volume of judges is that you’ll have a greater scope of genre-specific readers. That means you’re less likely to be judged by someone who doesn’t enjoy the genre you enjoy.
As I’ve said before, writing a good book is subjective. If you write a sci-fi novel and are judged by someone who hates sci-fi, you’re not going to do well in their eyes. Having a long list of judges reduces the odds of coming across one that is less likely to enjoy your story.
I’m assuming these judges are picking stories themselves to read and rank. But I wouldn’t know how any of that works, and it’s not overly descriptive in Reedsy’s FAQ section.
Nonetheless, there is a massive list of potential judges for each contest.
Can Anyone Become a Judge?
If you’d like to become a judge for the Reedsy Weekly Writing Contests, you can apply using the Google form. Essentially, they ask you the basics of why you want to be a judge and if you can provide up to three writing samples.
I would apply myself, but I have quite a bit on my plate already. It might be something that piques my interest in the future, but for now, I am more focused on publishing my next few books.
Plus, I plan on taking college courses soon, which will tap even more of my time. I’m working to get my master’s degree, after all.
In any case, the application is free. If you enjoy reading and would like to participate in finding the next Stephen King or JRR Tolkien, there’s no harm in applying. It might be something you could add to your writing resume.
Do I Participate in the Weekly Writing Contests?
I have been on the fence about participating in the writing contests since they were first announced. After all, it’s only 1,000 to 3,000-word short stories, and I can probably crank one of those out during a writing sprint.
My issue is not having enough time. Between managing all of the blogs, YouTube channels, clients, and trying to finish my own books, I just don’t have a lot of time available for more side projects.
However, I would love to start earning some Karma Points and throwing my hat in the ring with some of my stories.
One of my ideas was to incorporate it into the writing sprints I host on YouTube. Perhaps we can make it a community effort where we all join the sprint, write our stories, and share them on the community tab for others to enjoy.
I love getting viewers to engage with this kind of stuff, and I think it would be quite fun to get as many people involved as possible.
So far, I’ve greatly enjoyed everything Reedsy has put out there. The masterclass for How to Write a Novel was brilliant, I’ve made a few bucks on affiliate sales, I absolutely enjoy the Reedsy Studio app, and think the Plot Generator is top-notch.
I guess I’m a bit of a fanboy. Still, I want to try the writing contests to experience them first-hand. Every piece of armor has a weakness. It’s my job to find it.
How Often Do You Submit Your Writing to Contests?
I don’t enter a lot of contests, to be honest. It’s not because I think my stories are terrible or anything. Again, it mostly comes down to a lack of time.
I have so much going on right now that I would find it difficult to carve out another two or three hours for a short story every week. With that being said, it may be fun and potentially lead to some pretty cool experiences.
The Weekly Writing Contests from Reedsy may be one of those platforms that you’ll see my name frequent more often in the future.
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