A new author can break into publishing simply by entering writing contests. Here is a listing of some current and upcoming contests to enter for women writers.

Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize

• Entrants must be women with American citizenship.
• There is a $25 entry fee.
• The award is - "This annual competition sponsors the publication of a poetry collection by an American woman poet who has yet to publish a full-length book of poems. The winner receives an advance of $1,000.00 and publication of her collection by Persea.

In addition, the winner receives the option of an all-expenses-paid residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center, a renowned artists retreat housed in a fifteenth-century castle in Umbertide, Italy."

For more information see the contest details here. Persea Books

The Good Read Novel Competition

"We are more interested in a good story well told and a point well made than in attempts to sound literary or poetic. Send us your best, simplest work. Make us love or hate your characters, believe or disbelieve your thesis, by your excellent prose composition. Get us involved in the narrative, or interested in the facts, by moving us skillfully from point A to point B"
• There is a $40 entry fee. With this fee, you are given feedback and suggestions about your writing.
• The award is - "One award of $500.00 will be awarded to the fiction book judged best by our judges. Winner will also receive a certificate and notification on the AWW website. Editors may at their discretion award an "Honorable Distinction Prize" to include a certificate and notification on the AWW website."

For more information see the contest details here. Competition Rules

Kore Press

"We seek book-length manuscripts in poetry, memoir, short fiction, fiction and creative nonfiction, written by women,* that reflect the highest standards of literary quality. We are especially interested in work that is genre-bending, innovative, and experimental."
• There is a $40 entry fee.
• The award is - "A prize of $1,000 plus chapbook publication by Kore Press
is given annually for a short story written in English."

For more information see the contest details here. Submission Guidelines

Eludia Award by Hidden River Publishing

"Hidden River Publishing announces the opening of our third Eludia Award, for a first book-length unpublished novel or collection of stories. The prize is open to women writers age 40 and older, who do not yet have a book-length publication of fiction."
• There is a $25 entry fee.
• The award is - "The winning manuscript will be published by our imprint, Sowilo Press, and our author will receive $1000 plus ten copies of the published book."

For more information see the contest details here. Contest Guidelines

Doris Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman

"Carolina Wren Press will choose one unpublished full-length work (novel, short story collection, or memoir) by a woman to receive the 2014 Doris Bakwin Award."
• There is a $20 entry fee.
• The award is - an award of $1,000 and publication.

For more information see the contest details here. Contest Guidelines