Annual Book Contest 2023

Get your book published by Stone Soup! 

Stone Soup is thrilled to announce that we are accepting submissions for our annual book contest.

This year we once again plan to accept two books for publication: one novel or short story collection and one book of poems. We do consider all submissions for potential publication however!

Contest Details

Genre: Fiction (novel, novella, short story collection) or Poetry

Length: For fiction submissions, the minimum length is 20,000 words. For poetry submissions, the minimum length is 48 pages with no more than one poem per page. Novels in verse should be a minimum of 50 pages. There is no maximum word or page limit.

Age Limit: For this contest, we will accept manuscripts written by those age 14 or under.

Deadline: Tuesday, August 15, 2023 11:59 pm (Pacific Time)

Entry fee: $18.00
The submission fee is important to us; we are a nonprofit, and the fee helps us defray the costs of the contest and of producing the two winning books. However, if the submission fee represents a financial hardship to your family, please write to editor@stonesoup.com.

Submissions of multiple manuscripts by the same author are accepted but you must submit each as an individual entry and pay the fee each time.

Results and Prizes: We will select two winning manuscripts—one in fiction and one in poetry—to be published and distributed by Stone Soup in both print and ebook forms, available for sale on Amazon, via our distributors, and advertised along with the rest of our books to libraries and other vendors.

We will also name a handful of finalists.

Publication: We will consider all work submitted as part of the contest for potential publication in the magazine or as standalone volumes.

Previous Submissions: If you submitted to last year's contest and have substantially revised your manuscript in the meantime, you are welcome to resubmit it this year.

If you have questions, please review our FAQ page. If you can't find the answer to your question there, please write to stonesoup@stonesoup.com.

We reserve the right to select no winners in a given year.

Header image by Joanne Cai, 13