Paying To Enter Writing Contests

How much of this will you spend...

....for a chance at this?

I've been looking at writing contest submission guidelines off and on the past few months. They appear to fall into two groups--those you enter for free and the ones that require a fee to submit. Generally, the contests that ask for money to enter offer bigger prizes. 

It's a no-brainer when you enter a contest that has no fee. You have spent nothing, so you lose nothing. You've taken a chance that your submission will place. But what about those contests that only accept submissions accompanied by whatever they want to charge? I've seen entry fees of $3 up to $750. Yes, I did see that big one just the other day. With that fee, you received feedback. Seems like pretty expensive feedback to me. 

Are you willing to submit to a contest when you have to pay to enter? What about magazines and ezines that charge a reading fee? Will you submit your work to them? Is it worth doing? This post is about contest entry fees but reading fees might be a sub-topic.

I'm a relatively frugal person. Raised by Depression-era parents, I learned to be careful with money. That said, I have paid to enter contests but not very many. I do pay to enter my state authors organization annual contest. The fee is minimal and it is one way I can support the group. I paid $15 to enter a creative nonfiction contest earlier this year. Didn't win, didn't get feedback. Bye-bye $15. 

If you enter contests and do so multiple times in one year, how do you justify the expense? It could depend on whether you won in any of the contests. If you get some return, then you're going to feel it's worth spending the dollars. If you enter a variety of contests repeatedly and win nothing, you're in the hole. 

Each writer has to decide whether to take the chance. It might depend on how much extra cash you have at your disposal. Or on how good you feel about your entry. If you feel you have written something really special, it might be well worth spending those few dollars to enter. 

I would suggest you keep track of what you spend entering contests (or paying reading fees) on an annual basis. At the end of the year, tally your expenses and the outcome. You might 'allow' yourself X dollars for entering contests, just like some people who frequent casinos set a certain dollar amount to gamble.

Personally, I will pay an entry fee for a limited number of contests but I absolutely refuse to pay a reading fee so that I can submit my work to an editor. A reading fee is one of my writing world pet peeves. 

There are plenty of no-fee-to-enter contests. I've seen a couple different newsletters that divide the notice of contests into free-to-enter and the ones that cost. Again, the prize amounts may differ widely. Many contests accrue the prize money through the fees charged to enter. That, I understand. 

Contest entry fees are reasonable but you'll find many that require $20, $30, $35 and more. It wouldn't take more than a few contests to find yourself out a lot of money. Determining which ones are worthwhile to enter is rather tricky, I think. 

How do you feel about paying an entry fee for contest submissions? How about having to send a reading fee to submit your work to an editor? I'd like to get some opinions on this.