- The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing is intended to encourage new, unpublished fiction, and is open to anyone who has not had an adult novel published in any genre, including under a pseudonym. The entrant may, however, have published the following: short stories, scripts for TV and radio, non-fiction and children’s fiction and non-fiction.
- Following a number of requests for clarification about whether self-published writers can enter we have produced new guidance here.
- Each entry may now have any urban setting, not just London as previously, and be any genre and set in any period.
Following a high level of requests for clarification, asking whether authors who have self-published in either e-book or print format are able to enter for the prize, we have reviewed this question. We have agreed that the following conditions describe an author who has been published, and who would therefore not be eligible to enter the Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing:
- The author will have an enforceable commercial contract from a publishing company, which must be properly established as a bona fide business in an appropriate jurisdiction. This contract may relate to print and/or electronic media.
- The author will be entitled to receive royalties, and / or an advance.
- The author will bear no part of the cost of preproduction costs or processes, nor undertake tasks that relate to: editing, copy editing, typesetting or other production costs, cover art or any commercial distribution tasks or costs (excluding book sales at author events such as signings or conferences).
- A good, if obvious, definition of a commercial publishing deal is if someone is doing marketing and distribution for you in which case you are in a commercial arrangement.
