favorite chapbook conetests? and a question!

[rainbowmoon]

Has anyone entered any? won? which ones are your favorites?

I am going to publish my own chapbooks possibly but would like to see if I could win a contest!

btw what does no poetry prose fiction/nonficition mean? could that be short essays with a common theme? I am confused about what that means so if anyone could clarify that would help me out a ton!


TIA!
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[midnightwriter]

can someone explain the idea behind chapbooks to me?

i like rose metal press.

[rainbowmoon]

A chapbook is a small self published work of poetry. Usually 16-32 pages or so folded in half and stapled with a cover. They can be elaborate and fancy or simple and cheaply made.

Most contests offer a cash prize and also maybe a specific amount of copies for you to share with your friends. (or you could sell them).

[midnightwriter]

Originally Posted by rainbowmoon

A chapbook is a small self published work of poetry. Usually 16-32 pages or so folded in half and stapled with a cover. They can be elaborate and fancy or simple and cheaply made.

Most contests offer a cash prize and also maybe a specific amount of copies for you to share with your friends. (or you could sell them).

i think i kind of get it, but what's the point? who reads them, for example? i hear calls for subs for chapbooks all the time, and some of them come out really nice, and i ordered a couple (but was disappointed with both). not the way they were done, but with the quality of writing in them.

i can imagine chapbooks distributed on street corners and festivals, but if one is not doing this, then how do you get readers? other than your friends?

so this is where i'm coming from, what's the point? i write primarily flash fiction, and there are very few mainstream outlets for flash, and yet there are chapbook contests for flash all the time. i've never entered, but thinking about it. and yet, what's the point? if it is self-published entirely (not through a contest) than it is useless as a credit. if it is via a contest winner, i guess it could potentially be used as a credit.

so i guess for fun? for the joy of it? right?

[rainbowmoon]

For fun and promoting your name. You could use it as a spring board to a manuscript too for a larger collection possibly.

I haven't ever bought a chapbook I didn't like, but maybe I am lucky?

[midnightwriter]

Originally Posted by rainbowmoon

For fun and promoting your name. You could use it as a spring board to a manuscript too for a larger collection possibly.

I haven't ever bought a chapbook I didn't like, but maybe I am lucky?

I think if it is a contest winner, then it will work as promoting your name, but not as a self-published. I have a collection of stories and flash fiction which i subbed a year ago to some agents, and several of them said they liked my writing and asked for a novel, if i had one. they said that collections didn't sell. So right now i have novel submitted to agents (3 requested the full ms), as of several weeks ago. I'm hoping / dreaming that if someone takes the novel, then i might find a home for the collection as well. I think if someone picks up the novel, i might do a chapbook of my flash fiction, and work on more longer stories for a short story collection.

I guess my experience was coloured by buying contest winners, and not liking the writing so much--more specifically, a few pieces were stellar, but the majority was weak.

how do you find out about chapbooks? which do you buy? in person or on-line?