Shore : noun, verb
- a boundary (as of a country) or an area within a boundary
- a prop for preventing sinking or sagging
- to give support to, brace
About the contest
#ShoreIndie was a contest that ran in 2017 that supported emerging indie authors by providing quality editing services and book marketing resources, creating a Twitter-based learning community for established as well as emerging indie and hybrid authors, and connecting with existing online communities that shared our mission of supporting the development of writing craft as well as the technical and business skills and knowledge needed for a successful indie author career.
From 9am ET June 3rd to 9am ET June 5th 2017, authors of young adult, new adult, and adult novels and novellas who were committed to self-publishing their books submitted their back cover copy (book blurb) and the first five double-spaced pages (approx. 1500 words) of their manuscripts to up to three professional editors for a chance to work with an editor for free for 7 weeks. Then, on July 31st, the ten winning entries from Round 1 went on to the Judging Round, wherein our three judges chose a Grand Prize Winner and a Runner-Up. Those two winner authors received prize packages that contained resources to help them finish producing a high-quality book, market their book effectively, and further their learning about craft and indie authorship.
An integral part of this contest's mission was to provide opportunities for indie and hybrid authors to participate in community and learn more about craft and indie authorship. To that end, the contest also included events like #AskEditor chats, #SIsubs, #AskAuthor chats, and mini-workshops.
Several intersecting factors inspired Sione to create this contest.
- The difficulty she had as an indie author finding community on Twitter that contributed to her learning about indie authorship. There are some great websites that serve this function, but on Twitter, what she saw were indie authors retweeting each other's promo, which she did not find to be an effective marketing strategy.
- The desire to help other emerging indie authors avoid the most common mistakes made when producing and marketing books. In Sione's experience, the #1 obstacle to self-publishing a quality book is the lack of resources (or not understanding the need) for editing, and the #1 obstacle to selling that high-quality self-published book is insufficient understanding of the business side of indie authorship. Sione fell prey to both of these obstacles: she knew the importance of hiring an editor but could not afford it, and she didn't know where to start when it came to getting her book in front of potential readers' eyes.
- Her participation in Pitch to Publication and Revise & Resub as a volunteer editor opened her eyes to how traditional Twitter pitch contests lead to rich conversations about craft and the traditional publishing market, not to mention authors forming friendships and finding critique partners. And the winners of those contests end up one or two steps closer to their publishing goals. She saw the potential for a contest like this - but geared toward indie authors - to address the gaps noted above.
