The Odds of Winning

The Hollywood Reporter brings news of a literary prize that’s bound to get hopefuls lining up. The Sobol Award will offer $100,000 for the best unreleased, agentless novel. The only requirements are that the book be unpublished and the author unrepresented. Oh, and you need to send $85 along with your application.

But not everything is sunshine with the Sobol. The (ahem) always shy and retiring Miss Snark reported on the award on her blog back in July. “This is a crock of shit,” sniped Snark, referring to the entry fee.

According to The Reporter:

The award was created by Sobol Literary Enterprises, a for-profit venture started by technology entrepreneur Gur Shomron, as “a venue to discover talented, unknown fiction writers and help them get the recognition they deserve. ... For many talented writers, finding a publisher is more difficult than writing their novel,” Shomron said Wednesday in a statement. He added that “not a single writer will face silent rejection,” receiving two or more evaluations from a panel of editors, librarians and others in the book community.

The Hollywood Reporter’s item is here.

Meanwhile, in the world of super-legitimate book awards, William Hill--the people that will give you odds on just about anything--have announced their take on the anticipated Man Booker shortlist. BookTrade.info reports that “William Hill make The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell the 5/1 joint favourites to win the Prize.”

You can see the balance of Hill’s odds here.