Worldwide Writers Contest Starts Careers of Six New York Times Best-Selling Authors

L. Ron Hubbard Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contests Continue to Help Emerging Talents Break Into Publishing

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire/ — The annual L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest and anthology series, now in its 25th year, may be producing more successful, best-selling authors in speculative fiction than any similar publishing vehicle for new and aspiring writers, it was announced today in Hollywood.

At least six of the 300 winning writers have made the New York Times (NYT) best-seller’s list alone — the most recent being previous Writers of the Future winner Patrick Rothfuss with his novel, Name of the Wind, according to Joni Labaqui, the Director of the contest, from Author Services, Inc. L. Ron Hubbard’s literary agency.

Rothfuss joins other past contest winners with NYT best-seller status who include Dave Wolverton (Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leah), Nancy Farmer (The Ear, the Eye and the Arm), Jo Beverley (A Lady’s Secret), Sean Williams (Star Wars: Force Unleashed), and Karen Joy Fowler (The Jane Austen Book Club).

“Each of these amazing writers got their first big publishing break after being chosen by our blue ribbon panel of writers and appearing in the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers and Illustrators of the Future anthology,” Labaqui said. “No other contest is providing such a successful vehicle for future writers anywhere with so much fanfare.”

Other recent contest winners whose names now grace bookstore shelves worldwide include Steven Savile (Slaine series, Black Flame), Jay Lake (Mainspring, Tor), Scott Nicholson (They Hunger, Pinnacle) and Nnedi Okorafor (Zahrah the Windseeker, Houghton Mifflin), and Ken Scholes (Lamentation, Tor), to name just a few.

Sponsored by Author Services, Inc., the literary agency that represents all of Hubbard’s works, the annual Writers of the Future contest draws entrants from around the globe and is free to enter. Winners receive cash awards, qualify for a $5,000 grand prize, receive airfare to and accommodations at the contest venue, participate in a week-long professional writing workshop, and are professionally-published (often for the first time) in the annual anthology.

The Writers of the Future Contest has been honored with “The Publishers Weekly Outstanding Achievement Award” and the “Library Journal Award of Excellence” for continued work in discovering, fostering and nurturing careers of aspiring writers.

“L. Ron Hubbard had a real passion for helping new writers long before creating this contest in 1983 and continuing its funding through his estate,” Labaqui said. “He wrote several how-to articles in the 1930s and 40s and even sponsored an earlier writing contest in 1940 during an Alaska expedition.”

For more information on the Contest, contact Joni Labaqui at 323/466-3310 or email at contests@authorservicesinc.com. Web: www.writersofthefuture.com Blog: http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com.

SOURCE Author Services, Inc.