Official Rules:
1. On November 9, 2009 (12:01 a.m. Central Standard Time) the contest will kick off by accepting entries via e-mail only at thebookboost@gmail.com. All entries must be received no later than November 30, 2009 (11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time). Any entries received outside of these dates will be deleted.
2. The contest will be conducted in three rounds of judging, but you must have entered this first round to be eligible to move on to subsequent rounds.
3. For round one, entrants must submit the first page of their novel or novella only. The first page must be formatted as follows: Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1.5 line spacing, no additional space between paragraphs, no indent of paragraph, 1 inch margins, header containing manuscript title, genre, and total word count of the novel or novella. No names are to be on the actual first page document. Your real name, pen name, e-mail address and mailing address are to be included in the accompanying e-mail only.
4. Your novel can be in any romance genre (including any sub-genre and time period setting) and the total word count of your complete novel or novella must be a minimum of 8,000 words and a maximum of 100,000 words.
5. Judging will commence on December 1, 2009 and 12 semi-finalists will be chosen to move on to Round Two. Semi-finalists book titles only will be posted on the Book Boost website Special Events Page and the individual semi-finalists will be notified via e-mail no later than December 10, 2009.
6. Second Round Semi-Finalists must then submit the first three chapters (up to 50 pages) of their novel or novella. These entries will be judged by a carefully selected panel of quality published authors. The same document formatting rules will apply to this round.
7. Entrants will have until December 15, 2009 (11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time) to submit their second round entries for review by the Second Round judges. If your entry is not received by this deadline, it will be removed from the Semi-Final rounds.
8. Judging for the Second Round will commence on December 16, 2009 and run until December 23, 2009. The professional author judging panel’s scores will determine the Top 3 Finalists. The winning titles will be posted on the Book Boost website Special Events page and the finalists will be notified no later than December 24, 2009.
9. The Top 3 Finalists will be required to submit their completed manuscript no later than December 31, 2009 (11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time). If your entry is not received by this deadline, it will be removed from the Final rounds.
10. Judging for the Final Round will commence on January 1, 2010 and run until January 10, 2010. The Grand Prize winner will be announced no later than January 11, 2010 on the Book Boost website and other web locations. By entering this contest, the winner grants permission to the Book Boost and Hearts on Fire Books to publicize their win for promotional purposes. Additional documents will be required of the Top 3 Finalists including an author promotional photo and author biography for publicity purposes.
11. All decision of judges is final. The novel or novella must be the entrant’s individual work and they must own all rights to the work product. The novel must not be under contract with any other publisher at the time of original contest entry.
12. Both published and non-published authors may enter the contest. There is no fee for entry.
13. One entry per person. Multiple entries will be destroyed and only the first entry received will be considered an official entry.
14. PRIZES: (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive a publishing contract from Hearts on Fire Books to be released in 2010. The same winner will also receive 1 free year of Author Promotion at the Book Boost website; (2) The First Runner-Up will receive 6 months of free Author Promotion from the Book Boost website for any novel that is already published OR a Free Online Writing Workshop of your choice (up to a $20.00 value); (3) The Third Runner-Up will receive 3 months of free Author Promotion from the Book Boost website for any novel that is already published OR a gift card to the online bookseller of your choice (up to a $10.00 value).
15. Permission is granted by the sponsors of this contest to promote the contest on your website, blog, or other web sites where you have permission to post. A copy of the official contest poster is available by request. Contact the Book Boost at thebookboost@gmail.com for the poster image file or copy from the image located above.
16. Any inquires regarding the contest can be forwarded to thebookboost@gmail.com.
17. Sponsors of this contest reserve the right to alter the rules of this contest as needed should any such rules be deemed problematic. Any changes to the rules will be posted on the website Special Events contest page.