The Soon To Be Famous Blog

In this video presentation, you'll discover

• Step-by-step guidance to take your work from first draft all the way to file formatting and cover design
• How to submit your work to the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project, Indie Illinois and Indie Author Project Select
• How to possibly earn royalties based on circulation for books selected for IAP Select

Excuse me, did you say royalties?

The amazing free tool that can lead authors through all these steps is inkie.org.

Anna Behm of RAILS and Lucy Tarabour of the Clarendon Hills Public Library recently introduced the wonders of inkie.org in “How Your Library can be your Local Author’s Best Friend” through the ILA Noon Network webinar series.

Writers and librarians, watch this webinar and check out inkie.org! Please help us spread the word among your fellow wordsmiths too.

Having trouble watching this video here? Use this link to watch video on YouTube directly.

Sponsored by Bibliolabs, creator of BiblioBoard, the Indie Author Project has taken the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project and run with it, sparking the creation of similar state-wide contests in 13 other states as well as one Canadian province. (Kudos to Ontario for being the Canadian pioneer!) Taking the project one step further, the Indie Author Project established an international contest choosing the Indie Author of the Year from the winners of all the state/province contests. For 2020, the winning author is Jacki Castle of Asheville, NC.

Will 2021’s winner be you? Take the first step—go to inkie.org!

We are excited to announce this year’s winners for the 2020 Soon To Be Famous Illinois Author Project. Our librarian judges from across Illinois scored the finalists to select the authors, in two categories (Adult and YA fiction) below.

Adult Fiction Winner: The Color of Trauma, Hollie Smurthwaite

Young Adult Fiction Winner: The Secret Journal, God Stones Book 1, Otto Schafer

Join us for the third installment of our series. Indie authors and Soon to Be Famous Manuscript contest winners, Kate Robards and Hollie Smurthwaite, discuss how the pandemic and conflict in our world today has affected their writing. They’ll discuss what challenges or advantages working from home presents, what effect current events have on what they’re writing, advice they have for other authors and more. We’ll also provide information on some powerful, free tools available to all writers in Illinois.

We are pleased to announce our Finalists for the 2020 Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project contest.

Adult Fiction Finalists

In alphabetical order by author last name.

• War, Spies, and Bobby Sox: Stories About WW2 At Home, Libby Hellmann
• The Color of Trauma, Hollie Smurthwaite
• Children of the Revolution, Joanne Zienty

Young Adult Fiction Semi-finalists

In alphabetical order by author last name.

• ROAN: The Tales of Conor Archer, Vol. 1, Eric Barr
• The Influencers, Kassandra Garrison
• The Secret Journal, Otto Schafer

Congratulations to these six authors listed above. 

This year 52 Illinois authors submitted their works of Adult or Young Adult fiction to be considered for the 2020 Soon To Be Famous Illinois Author Project contest. After carefully reviewing these submissions, we are excited to announce our Semi-Finalists for the 2020 contest.  Congratulations!

Adult Fiction Semi-finalists

In alphabetical order by author last name.

• Seeking Grace In Beulah Land, Lu Clifton
• The Whistle Stop Canteen, Barb Warner Deane
• A Sparrow Alone, Mim Eichmann
• Crossing Over, Daniel Frank
• Kelli's Pine, Jay Grochowski
• War, Spies, and Bobby Sox, Libby Hellmann
• Ruby Island, Anita Rodriguez
• Cause of Death: ???, Kristen Salustro
• The Color of Trauma, Hollie Smurthwaite
• Children of the Revolution, Joanne Zienty

Young Adult Fiction Semi-finalists

In alphabetical order by author last name.

• ROAN: The Tales of Conor Archer, Vol. 1, Eric Barr
• The Influencers, Kassandra Garrison
• Gumshoe and the Mysterious Mushrooms, Laura Hawks
• August Raven, LeAnn L. Morgan
• The Secret Journal, Andrew Schafer

Congratulations to these 15 authors listed above. We thank everyone who took the time to submit their work. And if you didn’t make it to the second round this year, we encourage you to keep writing and editing. And perhaps, try again next year. 

Learn from national award-winning author Ran Walker about speaking your mind through writing. The moderator is Sarah Hawkins, leader of Minnesota's MN Writes MN Reads and interview duties are handled by Denise Raleigh, co-founder of the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project.

Discover what two of Illinois' award-winning authors are experiencing during this pandemic.

Join the library-curated Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project winners, Michael Alan Peck (2015, "The Commons") and Geralyn Hesslau Magrady (2016, "Lines") as they discuss what they have been writing and reading. Also, learn about free tools available to support Illinois writers in the free, insightful webinar.

This is a video replay of our May 22 webinar.

Don't forget, the deadline for this year's Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project contest is fast approaching— May 31, 2020. Submit your indie-published books here.

We're thrilled to announce the 2020 Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Manuscript Contest winner. Meet Kate Robards who won for her unpublished work, The Songbird Baby. In this video, she shares her background and writing process. Be sure to catch her heartwarming reaction when we tell her she won, too.

For more information about our winner, visit her website. Kate's prizes include working with an editor and having a professional cover designed. More details about our Manuscript Contest can be found here. The next round starts November 2020.

Congratulations Kate!

Join our award-winning authors Jean Rabe and Lauren Eckhardt as they discuss their books, writing process, winning the 2019 contest, and so much more. We also named the winner of this year's Manuscript Contest!

This is a video replay of our April 22 webinar.

The Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project is for independent or self-published adult or YA fiction. Submit your book to be evaluated by a panel of librarians and potentially win prizes and opportunities to promote your book and much more. The contest opened Wednesday, April 1 and closes May 31, 2020. Details here.