Submission Guidelines

We only accept submissions to our two annual contests, open late December through February 28th and July 1st through August 31st. The following are guidelines for the contests.

Enter the Novel Slices contest for a chance to be one of the 5 winners published in the second issue of Novel Slices in May, 2021. Each winner will receive $150, a copy of the winning print issue, and prime literary agent & publisher exposure.

Entry fee: $20 — includes a digital copy of issue #2.

To be judged by Bethany Ball
Bethany Ball was born in Detroit and has lived in Santa Fe, New Jersey, Miami, and Israel. She now lives in New York with her family. She is the author of What to Do About the Solomons (Grove Atlantic), a New York Times Editors' Choice. Her new novel, The Pessimists, is coming out in 2021.

Contest Guidelines:

• All novel genres welcome
• Excerpts should be approximately 4,000 to 6,000 words in length (do not send us your entire manuscript)
• Your name should not appear on the submission
• Excerpts do not have to be from the beginning of a manuscript
• Standard formatting: Title on first page, double-spaced, no hanging indents, 12 point font, numbered pages
• Acceptable file types are PDF or Word documents (.pdf, .docx, .doc, .rtf)
• If needed, an introductory paragraph can be added giving any necessary background information (for excerpts not taken from the beginning)
• Excerpts need not feel complete, stand alone, or read like a short story
• Previously unpublished work only
• Simultaneous submissions accepted as long as you contact us to withdraw your submission if it is accepted elsewhere
• Multiple submissions allowed
• ​Excerpts must be in English but can come from anywhere in the world; translations are allowed if the original has not been previously published
• Novel Slices staff, their families, and their close associates cannot enter​
• We follow the contest code of ethics published by the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses

Photo by Berk Özdemir.

Photo by Pixabay.

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Why enter this contest?

Your chances of winning are higher, because there are five winners. Moreover, we do not expect you to carve your novel excerpt into the format of a short story, and so you are not starting out on uneven footing. In the first issue, we published 3 excerpts that started with Chapter One and two that started in the middle of the book. Last but certainly not least, our publication is marketed directly to literary agents as well as both small and large publishers, in order to give winning entries the greatest possible exposure.

Photo by Martin Vorel.