By Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted

I remember my first conference. As I scanned over the registration page, I noticed the word, “CONTESTS”.

Wow, a contest. The genres were lengthy, listing anything from devotions to fiction, articles, and non-fiction books. My heart raced. Was my work good enough? After a few days of convincing myself to enter, I figured the worst that could happen was I’d find out if my work was worth the effort to continue, so I entered three devotions.

I sat on the edge of my seat and wondering if my name would be called. It wasn’t. Disappointed, I decided to try harder. The next year, I entered three more devotions. Nothing. The third year, I entered an attempt at fiction. Obviously, I was lousy at devotions – or it felt like I was. (For the record, God called me to write devotions a few years later and to help other writers become better devotion writers. Never underestimate God’s timing.)

That year I took a practicum taught by Christian author, Gayle Roper. Only ten conferees were allowed to attend the class because we were critiquing and spending in-depth time working with Gayle. My time came for her critique and all I could do was pray. “A writer longs to find an amazing well-developed voice. I am a bit envious.” She said. Needless to say, I nearly fell off my chair. The funny thing was, I had no idea what voice was. And just a side note, three conferees away from me, in that same class, sat Lynette Eason. If you don’t know Lynette’s work, look her up.

I had entered that same work in the fiction novel contest, and once again, to my surprise, I placed second. Maybe I had a shot at being a writer after all.

I give you that backstory because I think it’s important for new writers to see failure and success. I also think it’s important for you to learn to put conference contest wins in perspective.

As an editor, I frequently get book submissions and the first line on the proposal is, “first place at Bla Bla Christian Writers Conference Fiction Contest.” That’s nice. I remember the thrill of simply placing second – second seems to be my place of choice but that’s a story for another time. When I read the proposal and the chapters, I can see immediately this awarding winning work is not ready for publication. Now, before you fly off the handle. Hear me out.

Conference contests are wonderful. They encourage you to step out and allow others to see your work. They offer you a challenge and push you to do your best work. Every writer should enter conference contests. But if I say a winning work isn’t ready for publication, what is the point of entering a contest?

Don’t misunderstand. A conference contest win is wonderful but conferees must understand how to keep things in perspective.

Conference Contests do the following:

1. Encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and allow others to see your work. You will never know your ability until you allow it to be placed on display.
2. Help prepare you for the reality of publishing. You either win or lose. More lose than win. But that is okay because as writers, we need to learn to maneuver both ends of the spectrum. Learning to be a gracious loser is equally as valuable as being a gracious winner.
3. Winning in a conference setting does not sell your work. Ouch. I know that hurts. But it is the truth. Winning at a conference means you have only competed against those attending that conference. It doesn’t mean anything when it comes to being a publishable piece of work. Though I won second place in the novel genre, my work was nowhere ready to be submitted to a publisher. But at that conference, at that time, it was the second-best piece of work entered in the contest. That was a nice pat on the back and something that spurred me to continue to work to learn the craft.
4. Published works that win large contests such as the Selah, carry some weight. There is a difference when published works compete against one another on a national level. Again, authors need to enter contests, but sales will generate from award-winning books and that means something to a publisher who assumes the financial responsibility of publishing a book.
5. Contests push writers to learn the craft. If you’ve spent any time with me you will hear me say these words over and over. “Before all else – learn the craft of writing.” Another soapbox I preach from is that Christian writers need to stop preaching to the choir and write to a world that needs to know God. Secular readers insist that Christian writers write hoaky or cheesy. They insist we do not know how to write well. Folks, learn the craft. We have to end this misnomer. There are amazing Christian writers out there but when authors insist on painting picture-perfect, rosey characters with storylines that make Christianity seem easy peasy, then we are going to continue to be accused of poor and unrealistic writing. Learn. The. Craft.

Contests are vital in your writing career. Writers should be entering contests at every opportunity whether it is a conference they attend or a published national contest. For unpublished authors, there are contests available that can lead to your first book contract, monetary prizes, or mentoring prizes with well established and published authors.

When you enter a contest, you have taken the first step to become an amazing writer. You will learn how to toughen your skin for the failures and you will bask in the joy of the wins. For those who plan to enter contests, best of luck. Hang in there for the win. Don’t throw up your hands and quit if you don’t succeed. The more you write, the better you get. Before you know it, you’ll be walking away with a win.

Cindy K. Sproles is an author, speaker, and conference teacher. She is the cofounder of ChristianDevotions.us and the executive editor of ChristianDevotions.us and InspireaFire.com. Cindy is the managing editor forStraight Street Books and SonRise Devotionals, both imprints of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She is an award-winning and best-selling author and the director of the Asheville Christian Writers Conference. Visit Cindy at www.cindysproles.com. @cindydevoted