The 2020 Lost the Plot Work in Progress Prize is now CLOSED for entries! Thank you to everyone who entered. If you need us, we’ll be reading in order to announce the winners on September 30th!

Got a work in progress that needs… work?

Been hiding your writing from well-meaning but overly opinionated friends? Maybe you just need to dust off that manuscript you’ve been ‘editing’ for years and get a fresh pair of eyes on it?

We want to see what you’ve been writing!

Stop worrying about perfection and start focusing on feedback by entering the Lost the Plot Work in Progress Prize for a chance to win a consultation with an agent and a publisher and feedback on your manuscript.

How it works

Email the synopsis and first three chapters of a novel you’ve been working on to submissions@agorabooks.co and sign up to the Lost the Plot Newsletter between June 1st and June 30th, 2020. The subject line of your email must reference the Lost the Plot Competition to be considered.

When you submit, you’ll be invited to join our Lost the Plot writers group on Facebook — a support community for writers sponsored by the Agora Books team.

The competition will be judged by a panel consisting of Agora Books publisher Sam Brace, author Laura Pearson, Peters Fraser + Dunlop literary agent Lisette Verhagen, book blogger Amanda Chatterton, and Writing Magazine editor Jonathan Telfer. The winner and runners up will be announced on September 30th.

The winner will receive a consultation with an Agora Books editor and a PFD agent, feedback on the manuscript, and a writers’ survival kit gift.

Two runners up will receive feedback on their manuscripts and a writers’ survival kit, and two honourable mentions will be sent our writers’ survival kit to keep them moving during the writing process.

Take the next step to getting your work published.

Apply for the Lost the Plot Work in Progress Prize.

Terms & Conditions apply. Must be 18 or older and living in the UK to win.