FAQs
May I submit more than one manuscript?
Yes, you may submit as many as you choose. Each requires an entry fee, and they will be judged separately. The judges will not know they are from the same author. However, our advice is that you use your resources to explore several contests rather than entering more than a couple of mss into a single contest.
May I submit to other contests/agents/presses while waiting for the Leapfrog contest results?
Yes. We ask that you let us know when you enter what other contests you have entered with the same manuscript, and inform us if your manuscript receives an award elsewhere. Winning another contest does not disqualify a manuscript from being named for an award by Leapfrog. If you receive a publication contract elsewhere, please let us know as that will disqualify the ms from our first prize.
What if I edit my manuscript after submitting and want to resend?
That is usually fine until the last month of the contest. Just send the new version by email with a short explanation, and we will make sure all judges receive the new version.
What if I am unable to send the entry fee through Submittable?
If you prefer to pay the reading fee by physical check, please contact us by email at leapfrog@leapfrogpress.com so that we can direct you around the fee system.
What if I decide to withdraw my manuscript?
If you withdraw before your manuscript has been through several rounds of judging, we will refund your entry fee.
May I resubmit a manuscript that I submitted to this contest in the past?
We do not encourage that. Even if you feel the ms has been through substantial editing, it is likely to be judged about the same as last time, even by quite different judges. If your ms was named for an award in the past, we cannot name it again. We are happy to take new manuscripts from past contest authors, however.
Do you ever publish more than one winner?
Yes, we have done that several times. This is one of the reasons we have decided to hold two contests this year in both Adult and YA/MG fiction.
My computer went belly up and I have only a hard copy of my manuscript. May I send it by mail?
In an emergency, we will accept a hard copy, but we need to know that it is coming or it will not be processed for the contest. Please email to discuss this with us before putting a hard copy in the postal mail.
Does my manuscript need to be formatted a certain way?
No. We are not at all picky about that. Just make it readable. If it was a self-published book, be sure to eliminate title and copyright pages, and page headers, so there is no identifying information.
What if many of the stories in my collection were previously published in journals?
That is fine, as long as much of the collection as a whole has not already been published as a book. A list of acknowledgments is also fine to include.
How many manuscripts do you usually receive?
It varies between about 400 and 600.
What if I live outside the United States?
The Fiction Prize is a Global Fiction Prize and with our partnership with Can of Worms Press in the UK our winners will now be published throughout the English speaking world. In the past about 10% of our entrants each year came from outside the US. We encourage diversity and are happy to read manuscripts from any and all countries so long as they are in English. Our 2016 winner lives in the UK.
My manuscript has illustrations. Is that OK?
Well.... if they are essential, it's OK. We do not take picture books, children's or otherwise, and we do not publish in color. B&W images that are crucial to the book may be included. Again, please keep the file size reasonable.
Is there a midnight deadline on May 3rd?
We are not concerned about exactly when your manuscript arrives. If we see it when we log in on the morning of May 4, it has made the deadline. Sometimes there are unavoidable delays and submissions arrive after May 3. Please keep to the May 3 deadline unless there is an unavoidable issue.
Any other questions? Please email us at leapfrog@leapfrogpress.com and we will be happy to help. You are doing us a favor by sending us your work to consider, and we'll do what we can to make the process easy.