Best Opening Sentence Competition January 2021

An opening sentence should be an invitation to your reader to climb into your book and spend time with it.

So to kick off 2021, we’re looking for the best opening sentence to an indie book, whether it’s been published or still a WIP.

We’ve now closed entries for this month’s competition. All that’s left to do is to decide a winner.

From 18th-24th January, you’ll be able to vote for your favourite opening sentence. Our winner will be announced on 25th January.

We’ve whittled down all our entries to a final shortlist, which you can see below.

The winning entrant will win a lifetime’s promo on the Indie Book Store for the relevant book.

Please choose one of the opening sentences below. We’ve stripped them of identifying details so that you judge them based on their own merits.

Voting closes on 24th January.

The Shorlist