Judging is based on quality of writing and originality of idea. We suggest you take the time to read our advice on editing before submission.

In order to pay for this site and for our readers' time, we charge a small entry fee per submission. Doing so helps to ensure a certain level of sincerity and quality of submitted entries.

Entry fees, payable via PayPal, are as follows:

• $10 per flash fiction entry;
• $10 per short story entry;
• $10 per first chapter entry.

The author of the winning entry in each category will be eligible to receive a $25 Amazon.com gift card. Both the winner and first runner-up each month will be automatically entered into our annual contest, the winner of which will be eligible to receive a further $225 Amazon.com gift card (a total of $250).

Entries are accepted by electronic means only. You may submit Word documents (.doc or .docx), Text Documents (.txt), or Rich Text Format Documents (.rtf). PDF documents (.pdf) are permitted, but are not preferred.

Entries must be in English. A small number of words or short phrases in other languages is permitted.

Your name, valid email address, and entry fee must accompany each entry. Please remember to include your name, name of your work, and your email address in the text of your uploaded work to ensure that your submission is linked to your payment.

There are no refunds of entry fees for submitted works, no disputes are considered regarding awards granted, and all decisions of our reviewers are final.

AWARDS

In addition to listing the winners' names on our site, winning entries will be awarded the following:

• Monthly Winners (Round 1) receive a $25 honorarium, generally in the form of an electronic gift card.
• Yearly Winners (Round 2) receive a further $225 award, generally in the form of an electronic gift card.
• All winning entries are hosted on our site for up to a year at the author's discretion (copyright always remains with the author).
• Monthly winners and runners-up in each category (Round 1) are automatically entered into that category's yearly competition (Round 2).
• Entries of monthly winners and runners-up receive reader comments upon request. Winning entries may be updated by authors in light of our readers' comments before we publish the entries on our site.
• WritersType will forward inquiries from publishing professionals to winning authors (with author permission).