Is it ever worth it to pay an entry fee for a contest?

[Feo Takahari]

The idea strikes me as gambling, but I've seen other writers here promote contests with entry fees. When is it not worth the price, and when might it be worth trying?

 

[CupofJoe]

My first reaction would be to say no.
"Pay-to-play" contests have a bad reputation in many fields.
That isn't to say that there may be feedback to be had and connections to be made that make the fee worth it...

 

[Philip Overby]

I see Writer's Digest offers tons of contests. The entry fees aren't too crazy, but I get why they do it. It's so only serious people will apply. However, any old random contest, I'd be hesitant to pay a fee. Writer's Digest can give a lot of exposure and their prizes are pretty hefty in some cases ($2,500 for Grand Prize in one I saw).

So I'd say think about it and decide if you think your writing is good enough first, then if the contest is good enough second.

 

[Devor]

Basically what Phil said, an entry fee is only worth it if the company is genuinely large and successful enough to make the opportunity worth it. In some cases, maybe if it's small enough to be insignificant - I think I remember people debating a $3 web-processing fee, but that might have been for regular submissions instead of a contest.

I think a more important element to look at is what happens to your story if you lose the contest. Can you still shop it around afterwards?

 

[CupofJoe]

I think a more important element to look at is what happens to your story if you lose the contest. Can you still shop it around afterwards?

Good point... do you hand over ownership as a condition of entry? I have seen in the music "biz" that rights to the tracks submitted become the property of the organisers - whether or not they use them...

 

[Asterisk]

Like Phil said, writing competitions from large companies might be worth it. I did try it one time, but I usually shy away from them.

 

[Addison]

Last year I entered the Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition. I entered several pieces of work and paid the entry fee for each one. It was a leap of faith for me, a moment of growth as I sent my writing to complete strangers. So in that sense, it was worth it. But as I never heard anything back after the e-mail confirming my stories were sent and received, that was a bad spot. I didn't know if it was read or, if it was read, if the person was actually reading it or skimming it half-awake after reading thousands of other submissions.

That contest was big. It's one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, writing contest in the country. So after that I've been keeping my eyes open for smaller competitions. Fee or not. In this world nothing is free.

 

[Stevenmlong]

I think it can be a good exercise to enter contests, but it's very dicey to pay. I think a lot of it depends on what you're trying to accomplish by winning, i.e. whether you're going for a specific prize, or credibility, and so forth.

I've never entered a contents, myself. No, wait - I did enter one when I went to the San Francisco Writer's Conference a few years ago. That had a fee, too - I justified it by telling myself that there was a limited number of participants. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have bothered.

I have a friend who just published her first novel, and she's gone back and forth about this. My advice to her was that since what she wanted was the credibility that would come from a win, her time (given the small chance of winning) would probably be better spent in plain old marketing, especially if there was a fee involved.

 

[Xitra_Blud]

I don't do it, but if you feel confident enough, I suppose there is nothing wrong with it. I'd read all the regulations and everything first, though, and learn more about the host before I jump in. Just to be safe.