Failbetter.com's Novella Writing Contest

Failbetter.com is holding a tenth anniversary novella writing contest. An excerpt:

The novella is an unduly neglected form. Death in Venice, Heart of Darkness, Miss Lonelyhearts—would any of these find its way into print today, if it came from any but a well-known author? For traditional publishers, the fixed costs of making a book are too great an obstacle—to justify this outlay, a book has to sell for a price higher than most buyers are willing to pay, for a text that may come in at “only,” say, fifty pages. As to journals, even One Story won’t take anything longer than 8,000 words.

So what of the new Billy Budd or Seize the Day? Will it sit forever, unread but by one, on its author’s hard drive, or in his Moleskine?

No! We’ve opined before about epublishing’s unique ability to give new life—bring new readers, in loads—to fiction in all its forms. Now we’d like to do our bit to revivify this great, if lately unloved form.

The prize is US$500.00. The deadline is May 15, 2010. Stories should be 8,000 words and up. Click here for more details.

As seen via Asia Writes.