The Phoenix Quill: Celebrating the Fire of Creation

The MFR platform is excited to welcome you to our novel writing contest: The Phoenix Quill (TPQ2026).

TPQ2026 is a novel-writing contest that’s perfect for novels that have yet to attract readers’ attention.

There is no fee to participate in this contest!

Contest Duration

From January 5, 2026, to March 30, 2026.

Accepting Entries

From now to March 15, 2026.

Who can participate?

• You must be an MFR Author. Not an MFR author? Apply here.
• The novel must be contracted with the MFR (exclusive or non-exclusive contract).
• The novel must be ongoing, and it didn’t win a prize in any previous MFR contest. No fanfiction, translations, or poetry.
• Limit: two books per author.

About the prizes:

Each prize consists of cash+promotions+bragging rights.

Keys to success:

• high quality of writing,
• daily updates (new chapters),
• a thrilling plotline, and
• believable & likable characters.
• HEA is a bonus!

How to join?

• Your book must be Ongoing when you enter the contest or on January 5th (whichever comes later).
• Add the tag #Contest2026 to your book. You can do this from the MFR Creator’s portal right now! Find the tag in the novel’s settings.

Why join MFR’s contest?

All participating novels will get promotions for the duration of the contest: in the MFR’s app/web, and on our social media.

Our Beta readers are real MFR users, and as part of their voting, they will be checking your work. If they like it, they might become your readers/fans and look at your other books, too. This is an amazing chance to get the attention of real readers for your existing and upcoming works!

In addition to the Beta readers who will directly affect the rankings of books in the contest, your book will be put in front of other users of the MFR app. This contest is about exposure, an amazing chance to grow your MFR fanbase (and beyond)!

Every participating book will receive feedback from our CEs and Beta readers. This is valuable info from seasoned professionals and book lovers that could elevate your storytelling to the next level!

Promotions for the duration of the contest

When a book enters the contest, it will show on the main page of the app. This will be refreshed on Mondays.

For books with 30+ published chapters: the book will be promoted on our socials at a rate of 1-2 times per month.

For books with 50+ published chapters: the book will be added to the queue of the library featured books. This queue will be in rotation for the duration of the contest.

Note: If a novel goes 1+ week without updates during the contest, ongoing/future promotions will be put on hold until the novel resumes steady updates (at least 1 ch/week for two weeks in a row). This condition (obviously) doesn’t apply to novels that are completed before the contest ends.

Prizes

Cash Prizes

• 1st Prize: $300 – one winner
• 2nd Prize: $200 – two winners
• 3rd Prize: $100 – three winners

In addition to the above, each winner will receive promotions:

• On MFR app: Library featured, Weekly featured, and Book of the day at least 1x per month for the next three months.
• Author’s level-up which will increase % of income for all contracted novels
• Video trailer for the book (YouTube format).
• Paid promotion on social media (FB/IG/TikTok).

How do we pick winners?

1: MFR CEs will be reviewing the quality of the books and ranking them.

2: Our honorable judges will be evaluating books and casting votes for their favorites.

3: Our beta readers will be voting.

4: Based on the views, income, and reader’s engagement during the contest – this won’t be the main criteria, but books with no/low readership won’t be eligible for prizes.

Who are our honorable judges?

The top 3 winners of the previous MFR contest:

• S.R. Page (Redsonia)
• Sianida_Cloud
• Sofialexandra Shalom

Note: Three authors who are judges won’t participate in this contest with their books.

To qualify for a prize, your novel must have:

• 120k published words by the end of the contest (March 31, 2026).
• regular updates of a minimum of 1 published chapter per week for the duration of the contest, or until the book is completed.

All winners will get promotions on the MFR app and on MFR’s social media.

One author can enter two books in this contest.

Promotions for all winning novels will start in April 2026.

Cash prizes will be given as part of the regular income for the month when the novel has been completed, not sooner than April 2026.

If the novel that won a prize went more than one week without updates after the contest ended:

• MFR reserves the right to stop the ongoing and future promotions;
• the novel won’t be eligible for the cash prize payment.

Our CEs will be monitoring novels that are participating in the contest and flag entries that have:

• noticeable AI use,
• an overall drop in the quality of writing in the latter chapters.

Warnings will be given to the offending novels/authors, and if the authors don’t edit their work per the CEs’ recommendation, their promotions will be put on hold until the edits are made, and they might be disqualified from the contest.

Don’t miss out on this chance to showcase your writing in this exciting contest.

Start drafting your masterpiece today and aim for the stars!

Questions?

Check our website www.myfavreads.com for information about our platform. There, you can find links to our social media, too.

Feel free to reach out to us directly at info@myfavreads.com.

And here are some Q&A that popped up so far:

Q: I have an ongoing book that was part of the last contest, but it didn’t win a prize. Can it enter the Phoenix Quill contest?

A: Yes.

Q: I plan to start a new book in January, after the holidays. Is that too late for this contest?

A: No.

Q: My book is part of series (and not the first one). Can it enter the contest?

A: Yes.