Good advice from @Joseph Asphahani . I find that Josephs are a pretty clever bunch. The contest will be a killer, but the stakes are high. Submit your book to the jaggy cliffs of traditional publishing, the ocean self-publishing, or give your all for a guaranteed publication with a top-tier support group, which is right for you? The contest is a chance of a lifetime, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been part of one.
If you can, get a team together. I had two people working for me. Be aggressive. Unless you are a wild success and can blast all the way to 750 (it has happened before,) it will be a long and challenging path. Hard as it may be, if you consider it against the other publishing options and the benefits of each, it is probably the shortest.
Work hard, but care for yourself, your well-being, take care of your family, and for God sake keep them in the loop! Don’t do this alone if you can help it. Writing can be solitary; pitching doesn’t have to be.
