Hi, I wondered if anyone knows anything about this competition, whether it is genuine or just a scam? I've been shortlisted from 3000 entries to 250 and have to pay another £10 fee to enter stage 2. They did state this in the competition outlines, but there is no way to trace who they are, and I don't want to be falling for a scam. My novel is listed on their official website, which is promising, but if anyone could give me any more information I would be grateful. Thanks.
Jut one more thought on this: nowhere on the site - and there is a US version too, but it doesn't seem to do anything - does it say who 'We' are: the organisers are completely invisible. There's no physical address either - no way of knowing, therefore, where this competition comes from. It could be based anywhere in the world. 'Contact us' is similarly anonymous.
'See our recent most recent tweets' doesn't inspire.
All prizes will be apparently be paid through paypal, so again, no link to the people behind it.
Very odd.
Questions about this have been raised elsewhere. It smells off to me. You have no way of knowing how many people have been told they've been shortlisted - could be 250, could be many more. You want to progress - you've beaten 2750 other writers already - so the organisers are depending on your hopes and dreams making you eager to spend a further £10.
It says that 25 then go to stage 3, and there is no charge for that. Of those, 3 will be chosen as winners. Note that all judging is done by unpaid volunteer amateurs who want to do it - no qualifications needed, only an email address - and there are up to 9500 of them. None of the judging, therefore, costs the company any money. They give £8,500 in prizes, but they've made 3000 x £12 plus 250 x £10 (if everyone coughs up), which I work out ot be £38,500. Therefore they have a profit of £30k. (It's actually more as they say they've had more than 3000 entrants.)
Looking at their web page, it states: 'It only costs £12 to enter' - which is true, as far as it goes; but then if you get into the chosen 250, you have to pay £10 to go through - so that's £22 so far. They work their prize ratio out, which puts them at the head of the league table that they provide, based on that £12, not on the £22 it actually costs to get to level 2. That alone is disingenuous at best.
It's entirely up to you if you want to go further, but visit the site and read all the information on there and make an informed decision.
Lorraine
Yes, this sounds like a scam. £10 is a small amount, if hundreds and hundreds are paying then this is just easy money for them to make. Why not go back to them and ask for references, find out how many stages there are and what are the following payments.