PUBLISHERS OFFER £l000 PRIZE

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 190, 10 May 1934, Page 11

PUBLISHERS OFFER £l000 PRIZE

“Life Story” Competition

SEARCH FOR BEST SELLER

.Believing that somewhere or other there is an "unknown man” with a life story that can be made a bestselling book, a well-known English publishing house has announced a novel competition. The firm is offering £lOO6 for the best autobiography submitted before the last day of the present year. The firm is Hodder and Stoughton, London. In the guide for intending competitors which reached Wellington in yesterday’s mail it is laid down that the autobiographies must each be “the story of one’s life written by himself,” and that every competitor must be prepared to satisfy the publishers as to the authenticity of his or her story. The stories must be between 75,000 and 150,000 words in length, and imaginary names and places may be used provided this is clearly stated. The winning story may be published under a pseudonym if the author so desires. The manuscripts must be typed in double space. Here are some of the hints for competitors as supplied by the publishers: “Remember that the book which you want to write must be a book which others will want to read. It must therefore hold the reader’s interest from start to finish. Autobiography demands particular attention to style and form; but, if you have never written befpre, do not forget that a simple and sincerely natural style can be very attractive. “There must be some reason for writing the book other than the hope of winning a thousand pounds, otherwise there will be no reason for the public to read it, and therefore no reason for it to be published. “Very few people have had such interesting lives that the account merely of what they had done is sufficient to make an interesting book. It is their, thoughts, their fears, and hopes, as keys to their actions, that may be expected to hold the human interest. Therefore a purely spiritual autobiography will be regarded by the publishers as equally eligible with, say, the story of a life full of adventure and action. The life stories of men and women are, of course, alike eligible for the competition. t‘You need not begin with your birth, or childhood, or even your youth. You can begin and end your story where you like. You can tell it as the story of a lifetime or of a few days. But your story must have unity. It must have a logical beginning and a logical end. It must make a book complete in itself. “It will be clear from the foregoing notes * that reminiscences loosely thought out and put together are very unlikely to be considered for the prize.”