TOP SPONSOR 

EDITOR'S THOUGHTS

MY BOOK . . . 
Warning: this piece is opinionated.

Social media is awash with talk about recently published books, books about to be published, and, of course, books being written. But there is a trend, or maybe a habit, or maybe just a not-thought-much-about practice that makes me think twice about buying a book. The trend is for the author to recognize themselves before presenting the book. If I ever do it, I want someone to call me on it. The book should come first.

You lead with your name when it has a strong following. Like very strong. Stephen King can do it. So can Grisham, Roberts, Connelly, Sanderson, Martin, and so on. Their books have proven that the author is golden, reliable, entertaining, and prolific. They wrote many stories before they reached that stage, and those stories deemed them worthy. 

To lead with your name instead of letting the book stand on its own, is to rob the book. For instance (and these are fictitious remarks):

My book, Life Lived Twice, is available at Amazon and my website. 

My book, Life Lived Twice, released today, and is on sale.

My book, Life Lived Twice, is finally out after years of writing. Please go to my website and purchase a copy. 

I have a brand new book cover. Tell me what you think.

My book, my post, my release, my thoughts, my romance, my mystery, my sci-fi. I have, I published, I released. 

The book needs to be what's remembered first. Blurbs, endorsements, cover copy, short synopses, and the cover itself need to speak first. Nothing says you cannot promote the book then say who authored it, just don't promote yourself first, and for sure, avoid those pronouns. Give that book a powerful presentation without diluting it with me, my, and I. It comes across that you are prouder of being seen as an author that you are proud of the craft. 

The only time I want to know about the author is if there's something incredible about them that tells me that their awesomeness is probably embedded in the pages of a well-written book. Or if the author is one I follow, in which case the author's name will pop up anyway. Just don't lead with it. Write as if it's a third-party putting the information out there. 

It's understandable that an author is proud to finally publish or get published. There's an art in presenting the story and making it marketable, but nine times out of ten, it isn't about you first . . . it's about the tale. There's an understated professionalism to broadcasting your book without cheapening the message by shouting "I did it." 

Lead with the book's personality first, not yours.

SUPER SPONSOR 

"Where should I pitch?"

The eternal question. 

Instead of going down Google rabbit holes and wondering why editors make their email addresses so hard to find, join the Pitching Sprint with Amber Petty and have it done for you!

This 5 day event includes 3 days with curated editor pitch call outs, 2 days for questions and tools to make pitching easier, and lots of built-in writing time. Plus, accountability to actually get it done.

Not sure how to pitch magazines, newspapers, and online publications? Get a free mini-course on pitching so you know exactly what to do. So, it's the training you need to get started and the live motivation to keep going. 

All you have to do is show up, write, and hit send. 

Starts February 27th (recording available for all calls). Only $20. Sign up now.

HOPE'S APPEARANCES

 
SUCCESS QUOTE

SUccess Story

Once again, FundsforWriters has given me, in a moment of self doubt, just the encouragement I need to keep writing. My short story, Luca Brasi Sleeps With The Fishes, was just published in Issue 33 of The Breakwater Review, a literary journal run by the University of Massachusetts Boston MFA program. In 2019, my first novel, Angels Unaware, was published by Regal House, a publisher I also found on FundsforWriters. Thanks, Hope!

Lisa DeAngelis
New Hope, PA





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If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to hope@chopeclark.com 





 

Featured article

The Motivation to Run and Write

By Jenna Vandenberg

Writing isn't my only passion. My love of plot lines and acceptance letters is matched by my love of running shoes and finish lines. Luckily they are symbiotic passions. My best ideas come to me while running and when my writing motivation starts to wane, I lean on skills honed from years of marathon training. 

Each day has its own job

While marathon training, each day has its own workout. Sundays: Long runs. Mondays: speed work on a track. Tuesdays are rest days and on Wednesdays I hit the gym. Designing a similar weekly writing schedule keeps me engaged and productive. The daily variety keeps me interested, and the weekly planning approach streamlines my writing life.   

•    After my long run on Sundays I work on my novel. 
•    Track workouts on Mondays are followed by writing queries, pitches, and applications.
•    Rest day Tuesday is for reading and plotting. 
•    Wednesdays feature novel writing and research.
•    Thursdays are for articles and freelance projects. 
•    Wildcard Fridays: Either I focus on work under deadline or my novel. 

Make writing goals look like race goals

Running goals have always motivated me to get out the door, but nebulous writing goals did not always lead me to my writing desk. Once I formed writing goals that looked like running goals, the motivation kicked in. 
 
•    Measurable: Training to run a 1:45 half marathon focuses me to workout more efficiently than I would if my goal was to simply finish. Likewise, a goal to make $1000 a month in freelance income gets me writing with more gusto than a goal to 'query more.' 

•    Set quarterly goals rather than yearly goals: If my next race is 10 months away, I'll spend eight months being too busy to go running. Therefore, I have a race on the calendar every few months. Now I also set quarterly writing goals to minimize procrastination. Plus, I love that zing of hope a shiny new goal provides every quarter. Sarra Cannon's HeartBreathings content is helpful for those setting quarterly goals. 
  
•    Go for the big unknown: I once set a goal to win a small 5K race in my community. This goal relied on a bit of luck. If a random superfast person signed up, I might be doomed. Not knowing who I'd be up against, my only possible plan was to train as hard as I could.  I've seen advice to avoid setting goals like 'get an agent' or 'sell my book to a big five publisher,' because you can't control that outcome. But I'm pushing back. That big goal with its unknowable outcome may motivate you to write better than you'd ever thought possible.  

Schedule

My workouts go onto my calendar each week in specific time slots. Writing sessions do as well. Color coding optional. 

Stay focused on your "why" 

The emotional benefits of writing and running are similar. A runner's high is similar to the endorphin rush of nailing a midpoint plot twist. Completing a race and submitting an article are both satisfying. But the physical benefits of writing are lacking. Writing 1000 words a day does not keep those extra ten pounds at bay as running does. Plus, I can justify taking time from my family to run because it will keep me active and healthy as my kids grow up. Writing offers no cardiovascular benefits. Therefore, I lean into the external benefit of money. Race fees and blister-proof socks cost money that writing provides.   

And so this symbiotic relationship forges on in a tumble of laptops and sports bras as my running self and my writing self head into the great and hopeful unknown of racing and publishing. Unless it's a Tuesday. Because on Tuesdays, we rest.

BIO: Jenna is a Seattle-area writer, runner, mom of two, and high school teacher. She's written for Western Art and Architecture, ParentMap, Seattle's Child, and Cobblestone magazines. She has run races in Inner Mongolia, Mt. Hood, and Disneyworld. Check out her blog, lesson plans, and book recs at www.jennavandenberg.com. 

 

25613841 © Konstantin Kirillov | Dreamstime.com

 

COmpetitions

CHAPTER ONE PRIZE FOR NOVELISTS
https://gutsygreatnovelist.com/chapter-one-prize/

$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 1, 2023 at 5PM ET. The Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize is awarded for an outstanding first chapter of an unpublished novel. First prize $1,000; 2nd $500; and 3rd $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers. Winners will be announced March 31, 2023.


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GRINDSTONE LITERARY NOVEL PRIZE
https://www.grindstoneliterary.com/novel-prize
£16 ENTRY FEE. Super early bird deadline April 1, 2023. The 2023 Novel Prize is open to authors from all countries, provided their submissions are in English. To be eligible to enter, authors must be unrepresented. Authors which have been previously published but are currently unrepresented are eligible to enter. Self-published authors who are unrepresented are eligible to enter. Entrants are asked to submit the first 5,000 words of their manuscript. Manuscripts may be finished or part-finished at the time of submission. All manuscripts must have a finished (or projected finished) length exceeding 70,000 words. All genres are accepted, with the exception of work aimed at children, and erotic fiction. Young Adult books are accepted. Grand Prize: £1,500. Runner Up: £500. Shortlist: 4x £100. All longlisted pieces (along with the winning pieces), will be forwarded directly to our full list of affiliated agents.

WILD ATLANTIC WRITING AWARD
https://www.irelandwritingretreat.com/wawa
10 EURO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2023. Theme: Hope. There will be two separate categories - flash fiction and creative nonfiction. Flash can be sci-fi, crime, romance, horror, humour, thriller, mystery, whatever tickles you and your Muse’s fancy. Limit 500 words. Each winner will receive 500 euro in cash or a voucher worth 1,000 euro redeemable towards any one of our retreats of your choice this year. Creative nonfiction can be in the form of memoir, profile, literary journalism, personal essay, travel (and remember, award-winning travel articles don't have to be about exotic destinations, it could be about your own hometown), food or any creative nonfiction category you prefer. Limit 500 words.

GEIST ANNUAL LITERAL LITERARY POSTCARD STORY CONTEST
https://www.geist.com/contests/postcard-contest/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 3, 2023. Send us a story and a postcard—the relationship can be as strong or as tangential as you like, so long as there is a clear connection between the story and the image. The story can be fiction or non-fiction; maximum length is 500 words. First Prize: $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $150. All winning entries will be published in Geist and on geist.com. Includes a one-year subscription to Geist, Canada's favourite literary magazine. International entrants will receive the digital edition.

MASTERS REVIEW VOLUME XII CONTEST
https://themastersreview.submittable.com/submit/250872/the-masters-review-volume-xii-judged-by-toni-jensen-5-000-awarded
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 2, 2023. The Masters Review opens submissions to produce our anthology, a collection of ten stories and essays written by the best  emerging authors. Our aim is to showcase ten writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. The ten winners are nationally  distributed in a printed book with their stories and essays exposed to top agents, editors, and authors across the country. Limit 7,000 words. Writers must not have published a novel-length work at the time of submission. Ten winners receive $500, publication in our nationally distributed journal, exposure to over 50 literary agencies, contributor’s copy. All writers are part of an exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, writers, and literary institutions across the country.

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Emerald Theatre Company's 6^th Annual 10-minute Play Festival.

This year's theme is The 7 Deadly Sins : PRIDE, ENVY, SLOTH, WRATH, GREED, LUST, GLUTTONY...  Playwrights choose one and get creative!

CONTEST RULES: No more than 10 minutes in length, 10 pages maximum, no more than 3 characters and relates to the theme.

Absurd, Comedic, Dark, Dramatic, Farce, Tragedy...literal or figurative, that is up to you! Work must be original and unproduced. These are black box productions so minimal sets required.

SUBMISSON RULES: Send 2 printed copies. Cover page should only have the plays title and what SIN is represented. On a separate page include playwrights name, address, phone and email. These do not count as one of the 10 pages.

ENTRY FEE: $10 money order/check payable to Emerald Theatre Company
DEADLINE: May 31, 2023

Winners contacted and announced July 1, 2023 and the play festival is September 1-3, 2023

1^st - $100 plus a medal plus stage performance
2^nd $ 50 plus a medal plus stage performance
3^rd a medal plus stage performance

A total of 7 plays will be performed.

For additional information email Hal at hharmon299@aol.com and also check our website at etcmemphistheater.com


 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

FREELANCE MARKETS / JOBS

DODONUT
https://dodonut.com/paid-program/
We always seek talented writers who can contribute their high-quality articles addressed to designers, developers, digital ecologists, and entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses responsibly.
Write about UX/UI design, product design, and digital sustainability topics. We pay $150-300 per article.

PRIDE SOURCE
https://pridesource.com/pitching-a-story/
We are interested in telling stories of survival and perseverance that reflect our tenacious LGBTQ+ community by highlighting stories of intersectionality and the complexity of our identities. Know someone in the LGBTQ+ community who’s doing something important and trailblazing that no one is talking about but should be talking about? That’s a pitch. But we’re also interested in a variety of LGBTQ-focused storytelling: personal essays that dig deep into heavy queer issues (or not-so-heavy ones too!), mainstream news stories with a queer angle (ex. student debt forgiveness), investigative enterprise reporting, and profiles and Q&As with noteworthy people in the LGBTQ+ community. Columns/essays $100-$125; News features, other news/pop culture reporting $100-$250. 

IN THESE TIMES
https://inthesetimes.com/submissions
Submissions will be considered for either the print magazine or for publication on InThe​se​Times​.com. We are particularly interested in submissions that focus on labor. Writers from marginalized communities are especially encouraged to submit. In These Times is a space for stories that expose the influence of corporations over our government and our lives, and that inform and advance movements for social, environmental, gender, economic and racial justice. All pitches will be reviewed through this lens. Multiple departments of different length are open. Rates are $300-500. 

THE HOME FORUM: THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
https://www.csmonitor.com/About/Contributor-guidelines/Contributor-Guidelines-The-Home-Forum
The Home Forum is searching for upbeat personal essays of from 600 to 800 words. These are first-person, nonfiction explorations of how you responded to a place, a person, a situation, an event, or happenings in everyday life. Tell a story with a point; share a funny true tale. Describe a self-discovery. The humor should be gentle. We accept essays on a wide variety of subjects and encourage timely, newsy topics. However, we don't deal with the topics of death, aging, medicine, or disease. We do not publish work that presents people in helpless or hopeless states. We pay $250 for an essay, upon publication.

SMART MOUTH
http://www.smartmouthpodcast.com/home/2023/2/4/new-smart-mouth-newsletter-pitch-guidelines
Considers histories of restaurant chains and food items, consumer-facing farm issues, eating guides to various cities, school lunches. A mix of history, progressive food politics, and just fun frothy stuff. Think Texas Monthly, Civil Eats, Bitter Southerner, Sarah Taber, Soleil Ho. Absolutely no "wellness" stories. Smart Mouth pays about $1/word. 

THE PAPER GOWN
https://www.zocdoc.com/blog/about/
At The Paper Gown, we explore every step of the patient experience — getting sick and getting well, preventing disease and living with it. We never pretend that insurance policies are simple or that all patients have equal access to healthcare. And above all else, we strive to help patients feel informed, empowered and understood, one story at a time. Currently seeks personal essays on women's health. Pitch to Amanda Svachula at amanda.svachula@zocdoc.com. Pays 50 cents/word. 

BEST COLLEGES
https://boards.greenhouse.io/rvedufreelancenetwork/jobs/3483117
Craft original content covering a variety of financial topics relevant to higher education, including blog posts and resource guides related to planning and saving for college, paying for college and college budgeting, applying for financial aid, types of financial aid, loan refinancing and consolidation, etc. Additional opportunities to cover general higher education topics (degrees, career planning, student life, etc.) if desired. Compensation starts at $100 for every 500 words.
 

Publishers/agents

HOLLAND PARK PRESS
https://hollandparkpress.co.uk/about-us/submissions/
We accept literary fiction in the form of a novel, novella, memoir or collection of short stories. We also welcome poetry collections. We accept manuscripts written in English or Dutch irrespective of where the author is located which can be anywhere in the world.

JACKLEG PRESS
https://jacklegpress.org/info
JLP anticipates accepting queries again in Spring 2023. JLP is primarily focused on poetry and short story collections. We also consider select literary novels and creative nonfiction. We do not publish chapbooks or novellas. We publish between 6-11 titles a year. 

WORD WEST
https://www.wordwest.co/books
We like literary work that’s surprising, resonant, sad, funny, surreal—things that make us look at the world in a new way. We don’t necessarily have any genre restrictions. We’re probably not the best place for fantasy or sci-fi, but give us vision and great writing and we’re willing to go anywhere. We have a soft spot for the weirdo, offbeat stuff that traditional publishers won’t even touch.

TRAIL TO TABLE PRESS
https://trailtotable.net/submissions.html
Trail to Table seeks to publish literary works that transform our thinking about how we engage with the earth and each other as thoughtful, generous stewards in our actions and interactions, whether on the trail, as consumers and makers, or around the table through genuine connection and respect for life. Reading period is the month of March. 

CIRCLING RIVERS
https://circlingrivers.com/about/
We publish poetry and nonfiction on literary topics. We’re drawn to the author, known or unknown, whose work offers insight and depth, beautiful writing, and the wondrous absorption of reading. Circling Rivers does not publish fiction. For nonfiction, we consider only works about literature.

APRIL GLOAMING
https://aprilgloaming.com/about/
April Gloaming Publishing is a nonprofit independent press based in Nashville, TN that aims to capture and better understand the Southern soul, Southern writing, and the Southern holler. We seek the formless and sublime, the chaotic and the devastating. April Gloaming celebrates the genre-benders, those rare works that bring the old and the new together into something entirely transcendent. 

 

FUNDSFORWRITERS CONTACT INFO

FINE PRINT

Please forward the newsletter in its entirety. To reprint any editorials, contact hope@fundsforwriters.com for permission. Please do not assume that acknowledgements listed in your publication is considered a valid right to publish.

C. Hope Clark
E-mail: hope@fundsforwriters.com
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
http://www.fundsforwriters.com

Copyright 2000-2023, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326

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