It’s often impossible, even for the best authors, to get a manuscript published. To help one author achieve the seemingly unattainable, the book division of The Write Place will soon launch a contest that will grant a deserving author’s dream of book publication.

The Write Place recently vied with 28 other small businesses in Story, Marshall, Tama, Poweshiek, Jasper, Marion and Mahaska Counties for the chance to win $5,000 to sponsor their contest. Though they took third place in the online voting in the Dream Big Grow Here competition, they did not ultimately win the prize.

“We’re dreaming big anyway!” said Hannah Crawford, book division coordinator. “We were so grateful to our loyal online voters for their support, and also to Dream Big Grow Here for inspiring us to come up with this contest. When we didn’t win the grant, we realized we were already energized and organized, so why not hold the contest on our own? We’re excited to see what we receive for submissions—we know there are many deserving manuscripts out there.”

The winning title will be published as a paperback and e-book, and there will be incentives for the other finalists as well. In order to extend this opportunity to as many authors as possible, The Write Place 2012 Book Contest will include all genres and be open to authors from around the country. A $25 submission fee will help offset some of the contest’s costs.

The contest will launch October 10, and the last submissions will be accepted January 10. More details will be available soon on The Write Place Web site, www.thewriteplace.biz. Interested authors are encouraged to contact The Write Place to be placed on their author email list. Call 641-628-8398.

The book division of The Write Place is dedicated to helping authors self-publish their books. Created in 2007, it recently reached the milestone of 25 books published.