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The third Writers Camp has begun! From November 1st, 2018 to January 13th, 2019, you have the chance to compete to become one of the three Writers Camp finalists. Two finalists will receive $500 plus a Tapas Premium publishing offer, and one will receive $1,000 plus a Tapas Premium publishing offer. Plus, in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, we’ll also be offering a special something to each and every one of you that achieves the lofty goal of 50,000 words in one month!

What is Writers Camp?

Tapas Writers Camp is a community event and competition that will take place from 12:00 AM PST November 1st, 2018 to 11:59 PM PST January 13th, 2019. To participate, publish your new story on Tapas with the tag nov18writerscamp and submit it to the Tapas editorial team (we have an online form for you to use, linked in the rules below).

Once Writers Camp begins, we’ll build a collection of all the entries. Be sure to check them all out and vote for your favorites by subscribing to them. (Yes, you can vote for more than one! Subscribe to all the Writers Camp novels you love.)

This Writers Camp is extra special because we’re partnering with your favorite novel writing challenge: NaNoWriMo! To celebrate and reward the efforts of all the daring writers who will embark on their quests to achieve the fabled 50,000 words in one month, we’re also giving 500 coins to everyone who completes the challenge. Read on to find out more!

What kinds of stories can I submit?

For this Tapas Writers Camp, we are open to receiving all kinds of novel submissions. There are no limits with regards to genre or writing style, so long as you submit prose and follow the other rules listed below.

We do ask that your submissions conform to our Terms of Service and our Content and Community Guidelines. It’s also a good idea to check out our recommendations regarding story and format, and the collection of stories submitted to previous Writers Camp. But aside from all that, feel free to submit whatever kind of story you want to write!

Can I submit more than one story?

Since we run multiple Writers Camps throughout the year, we’re asking writers for just one story per Camp. We are excited to read all that you have to offer, but we also want to be able to give everyone a fair shot, so save any other stories you have for the next Writers Camp or for non-contest submissions.

Can Premium creators participate in Writers Camp?

For this Writers Camp, we’re happy to open submissions to creators who have Premium series on Tapas! While Writers Camp is running, we will still be open to regular submissions from Premium creators or anyone who does not want to participate in Writers Camp. Send us a query at submissions@tapasmedia.co.  

UPDATE 11/5/18:After receiving feedback from both community writers and Premium creators, we’ve had some discussions and reached a decision to update the rules. Although Premium creators are welcome to join this round of Writers Camp, they will not be eligible for either of the two Community Prizes (which are determined based on subscriber count).We made this choice because we wanted to give a fair chance to all of the writers in this contest. Current Premium authors may already have an established readership, which can affect their series’ number of subscribers during Writers Camp. Although we appreciate everyone’s hard work, we want to give an equal opportunity to undiscovered writers and encourage readers to find new favorites.That being said, Premium creators are still eligible for the Editors’ Choice prize! We’re reading all of the entries we receive, and we’re excited to consider every single one of them.  

What are the rules for participating in the contest?

1. The story you submit for the contest must be your own work.

2. The story you submit must not have been published previously on Tapas or elsewhere, either as a novel or a comic. In other words, your story should be an entirely new work, previously unpublished in any form or medium.

3. You must publish your story on Tapas within the submission period of 12:00 AM PST on November 1st, 2018 and 11:59 PM PST on January 13th, 2019.

4. Your novel must have at least 15 episodes that are at least 500 words each by the end of the submission period. Please ensure that your novel meets the minimum length requirement at the time of your submission. You do not have to submit a complete story by January 13th, 2019, but it’s important to keep in mind that if you submit and win, you will need to finish the story at some point! Your novel also does not have to be 50,000 words to be eligible, but in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, there will be a small bonus for those who reach this lofty goal! Read more below.

5. You must be 18 or older by 11:59 PM PST on January 13th, 2019 to submit.

6. You must submit your story via our online form here.

How do I redeem the NaNoWriMo completion bonus?

In order to be eligible for the 500 coins NaNoWriMo completion bonus, you must submit your story of over 50,000 words via our online form by 11:59 PM PST on November 30th, 2018.

If I get the completion bonus, can I still submit my story for one of the three finalists’ prizes?

Absolutely! You’re totally eligible to receive one of the finalists’ prizes as well as the completion bonus.

In fact, you might have noticed that the submissions period for this Writers Camp is significantly longer than it has been for the previous two Writers Camps. This is because we want to encourage you to do your best to get to that 50,000 words in November, but we also understand that you’ll probably want some time to edit and revise your novel before submitting it to Writers Camp.

How will the finalists be chosen?

There will be three finalists.

Two finalists will be selected based on their story’s subscriber count. The two stories that meet our minimum episode requirement and have the first and second highest number of subscribers will win these prize slots and each receive $500 plus a Tapas Premium publishing deal. Disclaimer: Quality is important for all submissions. Tapas reserves the right to select another winner in the event that the story with the highest number of subscribers is not qualified for any of the reasons listed above and/or does not meet our editorial standards. If a story that is not of the kind of quality that Tapas is interested in publishing is the top winner in this category, we will move on to the next most subscribed series.

The one other finalist will be chosen by the Tapas editorial team. This story may be of any length, as long as it meets our minimum episode requirement. The finalist will be offered a Tapas publishing deal and will also receive $1,000 in prize money. Having a high subscriber count is great, but we will be reading submissions and searching for high-quality, entertaining stories that may have been overlooked by readers.

If a story that qualifies for a subscriber count prize is also chosen as the editors’ pick, that story will receive the editorial prize and the story with the next highest subscriber count will win a subscriber prize.

We will announce the finalists here in the Newsfeed in February 2019!

Questions?

Send them to writingcontest@tapasmedia.co

We’re so excited to start reading your stories!