On March 3rd 2008 Bookhabit.com will kick off an international competition for writers with a US$5000 prize for the winning book. The competition is free to enter and open to unpublished books, of any genre, with a minimum of 50,000 words.

You will gain international exposure for your book, and potentially catch the attention of editors and publishers – and you can also earn money from the sales of your book.

Competition Overview, Rules and Downloads

The author’s copyright for books entered in the Competition is retained by the author.

The competition consists of 3 rounds.

Round 1: 10 weeks with 5 books chosen by users + a Bookhabit wildcard each week
Dates: Competition Week runs from 0:00:00 GMT Monday to 23:59:59 GMT Sunday for 10 consecutive weeks. 1st week is 3-9 March, 10th and final week is 5-11 May 2008.

Each week the 5 most popular books, as rated by readers, will make it through to the Round 2, plus one Bookhabit wildcard book. Popularity is determined by the number of points a book has at the end of the competition week. Points are earned through a combination of first chapter and full book ratings as well as the number of downloads. Only registered users can rate books and ratings are only counted once (per book). The first chapter of each book is available as a free download.

A book can be uploaded at any time during the week and is available to be downloaded and rated until the end of that competition week.

The five weekly winners and Bookhabit wildcard will be posted on Bookhabit.com after the end of each week. 60 books will advance through to Round 2.

Round 2: Top 10 from 60
Dates: 12-25 May 2008

Round 2 will be open for 2 weeks for users to rank their favourite books.

Two chapters will be made available free for reading in this round, and the whole book can still be downloaded.

The 10 top-ranked books at the end of Round 2 will be announced on 26 May 2008 on Bookhabit.com and will advance to Round 3.

Round 3 – One Winner
Date: The winner will be announced on 24 June 2008 on www.Bookhabit.com

The top 10 books from Round 2 will be judged by a panel to determine the winner.

Competition Rules

1. The minimum length for an entry is 50,000 words. Entries must be the original work of the entrant. The entrant must not have previously published the book in any country, whether fiction or non-fiction. (A self-published book is not excluded from this competition, but is not eligible if it has previously sold more than 500 copies.)

2. When an entrant submits a book onto Bookhabit.com or enters it in the Bookhabit.com competition the entrant is agreeing to the Bookhabit.com terms and conditions.

3. At the end of each competition week, books will be moved to the main site of Bookhabit.com The author can remove their book from the site at any time after that should they not wish it to remain available for sale to readers. Any subsequent ratings or downloads will not be a factor in the competition once the book has moved to the main Bookhabit.com site.

4. The author’s copyright is retained by the author.

5. Books on all subjects, and in all genres (categories) of fiction and non-fiction, are eligible.

6. Entries must be written in English, and uploaded to Bookhabit.com in doc, docx or pdf format. (Format is indicated by the file extension of the document e.g. A Microsoft Word document will have an extension of “.doc” or “.docx”)

7. A person is only allowed one username, and a user can vote/rate/download each book only once in each round.

8. A book can be entered in only one competition week. An author can enter multiple books.

9. By submitting an entry the author also agrees to receive emails from Bookhabit.com. Bookhabit.com will not spam any entrants or users. Bookhabit.com will not pass on any personal details without the permission of the user.

10. Bookhabit Online Limited reserves the right to remove any users, books, points, ranking or ratings if it is considers the voting to be outside of the rules or spirit of this competition.

11. The winners of Rounds 1 and 2 are determined by Bookhabit Online Ltd. In Round 3 the judges’ decision is final.

The organiser of this competition is Bookhabit Online Limited, PO Box 11198, Wellington 6142, New Zealand.