The Samuel Richardson Prize For Best Self-Published Literary Novel (or Story Collection)

Contest rules and guidelines

Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century printer. He owned and operated a printing press. Eventually he had the great idea that instead of contracting with authors, he could just write his own books, and that’s exactly what he did. His novels Pamela and Clarissa were the 18th-century equivalent of bestsellers, and they’re also classics that people still read today (or at least I personally have read them). This prize is named in his honor, to commemorate the long history of people self-publishing books that have high literary merit.

This prize has no entrance fee, and there’s no monetary reward. It’s modeled after long-running awards for best self-published science fiction and fantasy novels. These competitions exist purely to shine light on deserving works. The hope is that the finalists and winners will get some additional readers. That’s all. I will create a shiny graphic for you to display on your website or book jacket if you want, and you will be able to tell people you were a Samuel Richardson Prize finalist or winner.

The contest guidelines are as follows:

• The contest is open to self-published novels or story collections that are over 40,000 words in length.

• Only one submission per author.

• No book that has previously been submitted to the fantasy or science fiction self-published novel contests is eligible. Besides that, genre is on the honor system. So long as your book aspires to literary merit, however you conceptualize that, you can submit the book.

• The book must be published and available for purchase by the public at the time of submission.

• The book must be written by you, the submitter.

• The book must be entirely human-written. No words created using generative AI are allowed. If the cover was created using AI, then the book is still eligible.

• The date of publication must have been after January 1, 2019.

• I reserve the right to cap the number of submissions, out of respect for the judges’ time. If I institute a cap, I will make a random selection. Books that are not selected will be free to enter a future competition.

• Small press and micro-press books are not eligible, but if you’re running the press that published the book (or if it’s published by a press that’s essentially a made-up name just so the book doesn’t look self-published), that is fine. If when Amazon, B&N or other vendors sell the book, they send the royalties directly to you, then I would consider that to be self-published. If there’s an intermediary that takes part of the royalties, I would say that is not self-published.

• I, Naomi Kanakia, reserve the right to disqualify submissions for any reason.

• The deadline for submission is July 31. Submissions after that time will not be considered.

• To submit the book, please email an epub file (preferable) or PDF to this email address. There is no need to include your credentials, but a cover letter containing your full name and book’s title would be nice.

• In your submission, please include a link to the page where your book is available for purchase.

• The contest submission email is samuelrichardsonprize@gmail.com.

Timeline for Judging

Contest submissions will close July 31. At that point, I will divide the submissions into equal piles, and I will allocate each pile to a different judge. I personally will endeavor not to include any submissions in my pile if I’ve interacted extensively online with the author. Hopefully other judges will do the same.

Each judge will select one finalist from their pile. They do not have to read every submission in its entirety; but they should read part of all of them and all of some of them. They are welcome to write reviews of any book they’ve completed. Once they’ve made their selection, they will announce it on their newsletter and write a review of their chosen finalist. This phase will likely take at least six months. Once everyone has picked a finalist, we will release the names and titles of all the finalists, and each judge will publish their review of the book they chose.

Each of the judges will read all the finalists, and they will give a score to each book. They will write a review of their highest-scoring book. The book with the highest average numerical rating will be the winner, and each judge will write a review of this book as well. This phase should also take about six months. Once we have a winner, we will announce it, and publish all the reviews.

Judges are also encouraged to review any other books, either from their own pile or from the list of finalists, that they’re moved to write about. Reviews will be honest and will be written in the judge’s typical style. Some of the reviews will likely be mixed or negative, and I hope everyone realizes that any negative reviews are the judge’s honest opinion and that negative reviews are in the service of maintaining the credibility of the project as a whole.

Caveats

I have been a judge on several contests, but I have never run one before. I am hoping that this whole endeavor doesn’t collapse in bitterness and acrimony, but that’s always a possibility. Knowing what human beings are like, judges could very well drop out or be delayed. I reserve the right to make changes on the fly in order to keep things moving.

So this is an experiment. I don’t know what’s out there, but I’m very interested in taking a look. I know it’s not a small thing to subject your work for judgement. The whole reason I self-publish my own fiction on my blog is that I hate being critiqued! I personally hate applying for contests, because I’m always like…who are you to tell me whether my work is good or bad. I totally understand anyone not wanting to subject their work to my judgement.

I’m sure there will be hurt feelings as a result of this process, but my hope is that in the end we’re able to highlight some deserving books that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten much attention. In the sci-fi and fantasy versions of this contest, many of the finalists and winners have received substantial sales bumps and interest from mainstream agents / editors. In general, it’s proven beneficial for the finalists and has caused no harm to the careers of the other entrants, and it’s my hope that this version of the contest will have similar results.

List of Judges:

Phil Christman is the author of “Midwest Futures” (2020), “How to Be Normal: Essays” (2022), and “Why Christians Should Be Leftists” (2025). He teaches first-year English at the University of Michigan.

Kenneth Dillon is a writer from New York. His work has appeared in The Baffler, The Drift, Los Angeles Review of Books, Cleveland Review of Books, Publishers Weekly, VAN, Public Books, Noēma Magazine, America America, New York Review of Architecture, Full Stop, and more. He writes Placeholders, a newsletter on books and politics. His website is www.kennethdillon.org

Naomi Kanakia has books out or forthcoming with HarperTeen, Feminist Press, and Princeton University Press, and her stories have appeared in American Short Fiction, Analog, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and Best Small Fictions, amongst others. These days most of her effort is focused on a literary newsletter called Woman of Letters.

Abra McAndrew reviews new and backlist titles in her personal book column (fine, it's a newsletter), The Booktender. She's the Executive Director of the Tucson Festival of Books.

Ani N is a PhD student working on efficient machine learning systems in the Boston area. When not conspiring with the enemy, he loves books, blogs, and web serials. Ani has a blog (phoropter.substack.com) whose output is inversely proportional to his research output. He can be usually found writing text, reading text, or yapping.

Moo Cat is a high school English teacher in the Midwest. He published a poem in a literary magazine in 2009, but otherwise he's been writing for himself every summer since about 2011 when he started teaching. He's written a literary fiction novel that he might post on his blog at some point if he gets up the courage after this contest, he's edited a sci-fi novel from a friend of his from college, and he'd be happy to give you feedback on your novel (if he likes it). He read a lot of classics so he can recommend them to his students in AP Literature. He writes at Cat Guy.

Adam Fleming Petty is a writer living in Michigan. He is the author of a novella, Followers. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post. Commonweal, Vulture, and many other venues. His newsletter is Very Distant Lands.

Buku Sarkar is a writer and photographer from Calcutta and New York. Her first book Not Quite a Disaster After All (Harper Collins India 2023) will be available in the US (Flowersong Press) this Fall. Her first collection of poetry My Dead Flowers is forthcoming this Fall as well (HC India). Her writing has appeared in various journals and magazines including NYRB. Her first monograph, Photowali Didi, launched at Paris Photo 2023 and her photography has been exhibited at Art Basel Miami amongst various other venues. She teaches creative writing at online programs including the Center for Fiction and is P/T faculty at ICP. She currently lives with her Rhodesian Ridgeback in Paris.

Lillian Wang Selonick is a writer and editor based in the Washington, DC area. She reviews literature and science fiction in her newsletter, The Lillian Review of Books. Her published short fiction can be found at lillianwangselonick.com. Lillian holds a BA in Classical Studies from the University of Chicago.

T. Benjamin White spent 10 years teaching literature to middle and high school students, and he has recently begun sharing what he's learned about these books at The Curriculum. Previously, he wrote and self-published the narrative podcast Captain's Log, which seems to have disappeared into the impermanence of the internet. White has degrees in English Literature and Public Affairs. Originally from Austin, Texas, he now lives in Portland, Oregon.