About the contest

New Year, New Genre Writing Contest

2021 is rapidly approaching and what better time for Inkitt to challenge authors to take part in our New Year, New Genre Writing Contest! ✨
Begin writing a story of a genre that you have never tried before and win some fantastic prizes!

Is your writing style hopelessly romantic? Start a new dark and mysterious novel! Are you a fantasy fanatic? Try your hand at action or adventure!

Open to submissions of all genres and celebrating WIPs, this contest is for authors that can start a new book and reach 20,000 words before the contest deadline of January 31st.

What are you waiting for? Start the year as you mean to go on and form a writing habit that sticks. A brand new year and a brand new genre awaits!

• A $500 cash prize!
• One-on-one writing coaching worth $500 📝
• Professional self marketing audit of your social media to help you advance your career 🚀
• A Writersblog Author Spotlight💡
• An Inkitt exclusive book badge!

Not only that, but contest winners will see their work featured on “Best of Inkitt Contests” reading list in front of our 3 million active readers to see!

How it Works

• Create an Inkitt account
• Make a start on a new story
• Enter the contest by clicking Submit Your Novel
• Reach the word count of 20,000 words before 31st January
• We then analyze the reader engagement on the books that reach 20,000 words to determine a winner
• Winners will be chosen and announced on this page up to 3 months after the contest closes.

All genres except fanfiction and poetry will be accepted to this contest.

The deadline to enter is January 31st 2021

Your book must be an original work, written in English and a minimum of 20,000 words to be considered for a winning place. Both ongoing and completed works can be considered as a winners.

Winners are determined by overall reader engagement as judged by Inkitt and not based on ‘likes’ alone.

Submission Deadline

11:59pm PST on January 31st

What you win

You can WIN up to $850 in cash prizes, exclusive book badges, self-marketing advice, professional one-on-one writing coaching worth $500 AND an author spotlight interview!

1st place: $500 cash prize, a winner’s badge for your book, one on one writing coaching worth $500, a feature on Best of Inkitt Contests reading list, an exclusive Inkitt Writersblog Author Spotlight and self-marketing advice by Inkitt’s in-house team!

2nd place: $250, an exclusive 2nd place book badge and a feature on Best of Inkitt Contests reading list!

3rd place: $100, and an exclusive 3rd place book badge a feature on Best of Inkitt Contests reading list!!


Judged by our algorithm, the author with the most reader engagement will be chosen as the winner at the end of the contest.

So, make sure to get plenty of readers, likes, comments and shares on your book, as this increases your chances of winning!

Contest Terms

• The contest closes on January 31st, 2021
• Winners are chosen based on their reader engagement. This is a combination of reads on your book, likes and reviews.
• Winning authors cannot enter the contest more than once with the same story
• We collect data on your submission from the day you enter the contest.
• All genres will be accepted.
• Poetry and fanfiction will not be considered for the winning places
• You may submit multiple entries
• The minimum word count per submission is 10,000 words and must reach 20,000 by the time of contest close to be in with the chance of winning.
• Novels must be in English
• You must own the rights to the novel
• Previously or currently self-published books are accepted
• You retain all rights to your stories while posted on Inkitt
• Inkitt reserve the right to announce winners within 3 months of the end of each contest

Don't fancy trying out a new genre and have an existing story you'd like to enter in to a contest? Check out Inkitt's Monthly Writing Contest for more incredible prizes.