Hopeful writers make the first 'gift' at $25 per entry.

Is that correct Penelope?

I would never pay money to submit my writing to anyone (aside from postage stamps, IRC, etc). I prefer they pay me.

'Please include $25 adminstration fee...'
Note that initial submissions are selected by a panel of industry representatives; email votes obtain one finalist,and 'five experts' (in what? reading? academese?)
determine the other five successful participants...

Like Stephen, I dont enter things that require payment.

While there'll doubtless be a slew of publicity, this is not the good way to promote an NZ Book Month. Think: promotion of libraries: new cheap editions of oop NZ stories (Gaelyn Gordon's young adult work comes to mind); info about past classics (everything from 'Tutira' to 'Coal Flat'), and a retirement fund for mature writers...ur, just joking about the last one!

They have a lot of bogus anthologies and books in the States, where people pay, essentially to be included. I made this mistake when I was 13 and submitted some poems to a contest. They wrote back that YES! I had won publication, I just had to include my $25 for the book. That was a scam. Whether this is or not depends on who is actually running it besides the Oxfam CEO... More information would definitely be of help here.

In response to Louise's last point re who is running NZ Book Month: It has been initiated by Booksellers NZ, the umbrella group for the book trade. We are in the process of establishing a charitable trust to run NZ Book Month which will be governed by trustees from across the sector including authors, retailers, and publishers. We want to build the Month into an annual campaign that all book lovers can be part of.

Having now looked at it properly -- because I wondered what their dollar-for-word rate was -- I see it is actually a competition with a $5,000 prize, so the $25 is an entry fee. I was under the mistaken impression it was merely an anthology print and that you had to pay to submit to it.

Hmmm ... $25 on an entry, or a couple of Lotto tickets and a cheap red?

Speaking of competitions: does anyone know if the Katherine Mansfield competition on again this year? That has no entry fee and the prize is $10,000.

I spy a problem with this competition.

To quote their website:

"Then, on 22 May, members of the public will be given the opportunity to read the shortlisted works on-line at www.nzbookmonth.org.nz and to cast votes for their favourite entries."

So, if your story is shortlisted, and you DON'T WIN, your story is thoroughly screwed as far as submitting it to most magazines or anthologies or another competitions ... because it's ALREADY been published (on the nzbookmonth.org.nz website).

25 stories will be shortlisted.
Only 6 will win.
19 stories will be leftovers.

Tis a dilemma.

Let me reaassure you: The Gift Book Award is not a scam. The $25 admin fee is just that. It is designed to cover the not-insubstantial costs of running a competition like this.

NZ Book Month is a wholly non-profit venture initiated by BookSellers NZ, the umbrella body for the book trade. Apart from the six winning authors who will each take home a $5000 prize and have their work showcased in 50,000 copies of The Gift Book, no-one will make any money from this. The printing is donated, production is by Whitireira Polytech and retailers will be selling it with no margin.

The bigger picture is that NZ Book Month's sole aim is to grow the readership of NZ Books. If we succeed it will mean better incomes for authors and a more viable publishing industry.

Hmmm. Following Phil Twyford's remarks, it seems very obvious that actually it is mainly writers who are subsidising - let's say, the publicity?
$25 is not just a sandwich - it's over 2 hours minimum average wage.
How come the BNZ-Katherine Mansfield can absorb the administration costs e Phil?I.e - is a large factor of expense the setting of up another charitable trust? From which extremely little money actually spools out to the arts practitioners? Readers show appreciation by their wallets - take a look at the latest NZ Booksellers best-sellers list and be moved - perhaps - to rethink the schtick the Month campaign is being run on/by-

Phil, is the competition open to new writers, and novices, or is it only people with a track record of published works who will get a look in? What I mean to say is, will the final printed book only really be made up of established writers?
Claire G.

Hi Clair, Are you suggesting that only ‘proven’ writers should be eligible? That you’d like to see more perks for the ‘established few’, with the exclusion of new writers because…they offer competition? I mean, if you’re going to shell out a whole $25, you shouldn’t have to compete with every Tom, Dick and Harry - should you?

Hi Steve, no, I mean I'm a writer who has no publishing credits to my name, and if I submit a short story, do I have a chance? Any chance? Even if my story is really brilliant ... or is it just "names" who will get short-listed and win. Names as in writers who have already published a book or two and have some sort of track record. Know what I mean? I mean will it be judged on each story's merits or will it be prejudged on account of who's writing it?
CG

Claire - we dont know who will be doing the choosing/selection - 'a panel of publishers and representatives' will sort out a shortlist of 25, and then '5 experts' will determine 5 successful entries, after email voting determines a sixth'popular top choice'.
And, we have no idea of what criteria these anonymous people will be using to base their selections on. Sounds like a woo-woo job to me-or a very industry-self-serving/ insider job -

Claire, the competition is open to all New Zealand writers - established, emerging or unpublished.

At the risk of sounding naive, I think youse fullas need to take a small step back here and look at this. First I truly believe this is a bona fide attempt at giving the NZ book industry a shake-up and bringing our writers to national attention. Yes, booksellers are behind it, and yes, by helping you, the writers, they will be helping themselves, but is that sooooo bad? I kinda like win-win situations myself. Second, if you don't want to pay the $25 entry fee, don't enter - most competitions with as big a prize pool as this have some kind of entry fee. Sure, it's two hours minimum wage, but it's also two packets of fags. And third, re judging, in view of the fact that the entire book industry is behind this, I reckon they'll probably be able to get a few people who have a fair idea what they're doing. Anyone who takes on this subjective, frustrating, stressful and mostly thankless job has my full respect. And surely that's what this is all about - respect by the book industry for the writers they're trying to promote. Can they get a little back?

Kathy, that is one strange - and yes, naive - comment.
'The Gift Book' is a bizarre way for booksellers et al to show 'respect' for writers: the best way booksellers could show respect to writers (and publishers, for the main part, too) would be to LOWER their own percentage (40% plus) and give some back to the people who actually drive the industry. Most writers receive less than 10% of the title price. In many instances, waaaay less.

Another point: actually, most major writing competitions in ANZ DONT have entry fees (BNZ-KM, Sunday Star-Times for exemplars)

This whole thing is supposed to be about the celebration of the NZ Book, right?
I'll point out several other things that are very wrong with 'The Gift Book':

1: most buyer-readers here actually read NON-FICTION. Non-fiction isnt included in TGB.
2:Poetry is excluded. There is a small but dedicated & erudite readership for ANZ poetry, which still keeps some small presses going.
3:There is a considerable market for kids' books. And - where are they in the TGB schema?
4: This tacky wee competition - funded by writers as far as I can see- appears to also TOTALLY IGNORE writing in Maori...this is a -still small but - growing component of ANZ literature.

Sorry Kathy - I'll cut slack when it is needful or advisable. This aint the case here.

Hey, where else is there a livewire forum for this kind of stuff?

Thanks, Kathy & Chris! kia ora tatou!

Tena koe Islander -- regarding the criteria for the Gift Book, it is clear the competition will accept fiction, non-fiction, essays and poetry.

Thanks Mary Mck - and, Yeah right-