VOLUME 24, ISSUE 53 | December 27, 2024 |
WHEN IT'S
DIFFICULT TO WRITE
I have an active mind. I probably don't look like it on the outside, but inside my brain is like a whirling dervish of ideas, opinions, and feelings. At night, if I'm not careful, it whirls out of control. That means I have to get out of bed. Partly not to bother hubby, and partly to get it under control. Usually that means writing. We've all been there, especially during holidays, maybe after arguments with loved ones, maybe after disappointments you don't know how to cope with. It's when you can't sleep and definitely cannot think straight. It's usually worse at night because all you have is yourself staring you in the face. The rest of the world is asleep. So I sit at
the computer. I read emails. I look for pithy sayings on Instagram. Then if my brain is still rolling at ninety miles per hour, I open the chapter I'm working on. Either that or I open a chapter that is particularly emotional. Then I give myself permission to write hard and from the heart. First, it gets me out of my own head. Second, it puts emotional depth into my work that might not have found itself there in daylight. Third, I add to my word count. It's a win-win situation. Nothing puts good writing on paper than writing when you totally do not feel like it. You tap feelings that are laid raw already. And little beats writing
in the middle of the night, when nobody feels alive to question anything you're doing. It's as if you are writing in secret, and reaching that magic that evades you in the light of day. |
SUBJECT LINES AND TITLES
The title of a book is equivalent to the subject line of an email. Both give us expectations as to what to expect. What the email will address and what the book will
cover. Subject lines and titles are used by the potential customer to cull through what's available. Emails get deleted and books overlooked when the title falls short on providing great expectation. We have to be careful that we don't spend forever writing, editing, and sharpening our words only to
toss a title in an after thought. And we don't want to get accustomed to using AI to find the one we don't want to take the time to create. I tend to create a title before writing, to keep me focused on the mission at hand. Then at the end, I review my work and decide if I hit the mark well enough or if I have to retitle the piece. But to start off, it's an anchor to keep me between the
rails. With all the books in the stores, with all the emails we receive, readers cannot afford to read them all. They don't want to waste time on lesser quality reading, either. Titles and subject lines are the hook and bait to reel readers in. They are also how to reel in an agent and a publisher, a bookstore manager and a book club organizer. Think pithy. Think theme. Think what rolls off a tongue between two people having coffee and discussing what they've been reading. Look at the best-selling books. Look at the emails that made you open them. Study the words selected, the tense used, the nouns and the verbs. Take serious time with your titles. To be creative right off the bat does wonders in increasing your odds of being picked up or opened up, much less being the catalyst of
being read.
-January 9, 2025 - Newberry Fine Arts Club, Newberry, SC - 10AM Eastern -March 22, 2025 - Writer's Digest Mystery/Thriller Writing Virtual Conference - "Person, Place, or Crime: Where to Start Your Mystery" - 1PM Eastern -April 23, 2025 - Artist 5 Show, Newberry Opera House, Newberry, SC - 6 PM Eastern -May 3, 2025 - Pelion Library Book Club, 206 Pine St, Pelion, SC, Saturday, 1-2PM Eastern -May 17, 2025 - Speaking of Writing Expo, New Bern, NC - 8-4:30PM Eastern
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise.
“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”
– Molière
Dear Hope, Over eight or ten years now, I've considered entering Black Orchid Novella Award, some years actually entering, other years failing to come up with an idea or
failing to finish one satisfactorily. I'm thrilled to report my story, "Double Take" was awarded the 2024 Black Orchid at the Wolfe Pack's annual banquet in Manhattan on December 7. Perseverance pays. "Double Take" will appear in the July/August edition of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. With great appreciation for what you do, T. M. Bradshaw
tmbradshawbooks.com
<<If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to hope@chopeclark.com >>
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The Untapped Markets of Coffee Shops and Bookstores
By Alex J. Coyne Coffee shops and bookstores are valuable promotional avenues for authors. When you’re looking for a speaking platform, book release venue, or practical branch to sell your work, the untapped market of coffee shops and bookstores are almost endless.
Here’s how to network with places where bookworms can be found. Stores (As a Venue) As a guitarist, I used to arrange performances with club managers -- and it’s the same process when you’re approaching a coffee shop or bookstore. You might even combine music and book sales. Venues like being potential ideas to draw traffic or attention, and the best way is to call (or
email) and ask to be put in touch with the person in charge. Stores can be reserved (“booked”) like any other venue, either for a percentage of profits or a flat-rate. All you have to do is ask, and the right venue will agree. When a venue has other sales products, like coffee and pastries, they may let you sign at the promise of more business coming in the door. C. Hope Clark signs at
The Coffee Shelf, a small bookstore/coffee shop in her hometown of Chapin, SC. On signing day, she keeps all profits but the coffee shop has twice the business in terms of coffee, tea, and pastries. On non-signing days, the store sells her books like any other, as part of their inventory they have purchased. Hope and the store owner cross-promote, aiding each other’s mission. Agree on terms before settling on a final deal, like door fees
and whose problem marketing is (assume it’s your responsibility). And if you become great acquaintances with the business owner, you’ll be asked back with each release. Just remember to give them your business when you need books, coffee, and such. Be a good customer to them, and they are more inclined to reciprocate. Who Are You and Why? Editors pay for ideas because
they get a practical return when readers like what is published. Venues allocate their space according to what they expect to receive in return. Explain what you are seeking and what the store will receive in return, in one sentence, and you are more likely to land agreeable answers. Start with who you are (“I’m an author with these credits,”), and what you’re offering (“I’d like to host a book release at your store, in exchange for a
percentage of sales.”) I performed at Crossroads and Boston Rock Lounge as a blues author, and yes, it was as easy as asking. Venues don’t come to you and won’t know you exist without you creating an exceptional introduction. Think of it like you do when pitching your book. Selling Your Work Imagine public
appearances as performances or events, and book sales as an added opportunity to buy something (and meet the author). Step one and step two can be combined into an event, like seeing Metallica perform and getting to buy their merchandise after. However, you can also focus on sales alone, and approach stores who would carry copies of your book for an agreed percentage. If you notice a
store isn’t carrying your title, approach them. Most chain and smaller-owned stores are happy for the connection, especially if you can explain how you fill a niche. NB Publishers’ horror collection (Skrik op die lyf) experienced a sales spike between 2022 and 2024 despite its publication about a decade ago. Publication of its ebook edition spread its reach to international bookstores, and authors including myself revived interest in the
book by offering some of our time — including readings, store appearances, and mentions of our stories in the book. Revive interest in old books, or approach stores with new ones. If you’re a published author, you possess a powerful talking/selling point. Connections Over Coffee Coffee shops and bookstores are
neutral, safe spaces to arrange meetings with potential clients and publishers. When someone needs to have a meeting or sign a contract, even though I work mostly from home, I’d rather meet them at the Mugg & Bean than at my place! Hope frequently uses The Coffee Shelf for similar purposes. It’s not just about hosting events at stores, but also about attending them — publishers, literary agents, and fellow writers are guaranteed to be
at a book release or authors’ appearance. Bite the bullet and go to store events. You’ll meet people matched with your local industry: that’s a foot in the door, and invaluable contacts for any author. Coffee shops and bookstores are high-traffic highways for authors and publishers. Get your name into more events, and your neon sign shines brighter for any passers-by. About the
Author: Alex J. Coyne is a journalist, author, and proofreader. He has written for a variety of publications and websites, with a radar calibrated for gothic, gonzo, and the weird. Sometimes, he co-writes with others.
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LUMNISA SHORT STORY COMPETITION
https://limnisa.com/competition-2025
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 2, 2025. Submit your short story for a chance to win a week-long writing
retreat by the sea in Greece. Word count 500-1500 words. Theme: August Blue. Open to anyone (18 or older) worldwide. ETHOS LITERACY SHORT SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://www.ethosliteracy.org/6thcontest
$10 ENTRY FEE.
Deadline March 1, 2025. The challenge: write a story using 100 words. Write on one of these topics: envy, eyeglasses, nightmares, turtles. Open to all ages. Writers who reside outside the U.S. can participate. Best of Contest: $200. Four Best of Topic: $100 each. Best Youth Story: $100. OXFORD/42 NEW WRITING PRIZE
https://www.42mp.com/page/oxford-42-new-writing-prize
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 30, 2025. The Oxford/42 New Writing Prize is open to anyone aged 18 or over living, working or studying in the UK at the closing date for submissions. The winner will receive £1500 along with professional representation by 42. To enter the competition, you need to
submit a synopsis (up to 300 words) and an elevator pitch of no more than two sentences for a work of fiction, along with one of the following (in Word format): Novel – the first 10,000 to 15,000 words; Stage or radio play – a complete script of between 30 and 90 pages; Screenplays – a script of between 30 and 60 pages for episode one of a TV show or a complete feature-length film script of 90 pages. CATERPILLAR POETRY PRIZE
https://www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=9398&page=27
€15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2025. First prize €1,000 plus a week at Circle of Misse in France. Second prize €500. Third prize €250. An annual prize
for unpublished poems written by adults for children aged 7–11. There is no line limit. WISCONSIN SIJO COMPETITION
https://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/wisijo/index.php
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline January
20, 2025. This competition is only open to residents of Wisconsin. Those temporarily residing out of state (e.g., military members or college students) are allowed to participate. Adult division: Grand Prize ($400), two Runners-Up ($200 each). Senior division: Grand Prize ($300), two Runners-Up ($150 each). Junior division: Grand Prize ($200), two Runners-Up ($100 each). One sijo per contestant is permitted. GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING SOUTHERN PRIZE AND STATE FELLOWSHIPS FOR THE LITERARY ARTS
https://www.southarts.org/grants-opportunities/southern-prize-and-state-fellowships-literary-arts
Deadline January 15, 2025. The genre for the 2025 cycle is Poetry. The State Fellowship for Literary Arts is awarded to artists whose work reflects the best of the literary arts in the South. A national panel will select one awardee per state, for a group of nine State Fellows based on artistic excellence that reflects the diversity of artistic expression of the region, each of whom will receive a $5,000 award. The nine awarded State Fellows will compete
for the Southern Prize for Literary Arts. Each of the nine state fellowship recipients will be required to attend the awards ceremony. The $25,000 Southern Prize will be awarded to the literary artist whose work demonstrates the highest artistic excellence, and a finalist will be awarded a $10,000 Prize. Additionally, both Southern Prize awardees will receive a two-week residency at The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. AMERIND MUSEUM ARTIST IN RESIDENCIES
https://azarts.gov/arts-op/artist-in-residence-amerind-museum/
https://www.amerind.org/
No deadline. Review of applications is ongoing. The Amerind Museum, Dragoon, AZ, seeks Artist in Residence applications from emerging Native American artists (visual, performing & literary artists welcomed). The selected artists must be in residence at the Amerind Museum for one month at a time. The selected artist(s) will receive housing, workspace, and a $3,000/month stipend. The artist will be asked to give a public talk about their work and/or
hold some open studio hours. While in residence, the artist is welcome to sell their work directly to the public. To apply please go to our website to download application. Email all responses, documents, and other files to ekaldahl@amerind.org. NEW JERSEY HERITAGE FELLOWSHIPS
https://nj.gov/state/njsca/assets/pdf/fy26-heritage-fellowship-rules-and-instructions-english.pdf
Deadline January 9, 2025. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts will award up to ten (10) New Jersey Heritage Fellowships to exemplary folk and traditional artists. These Fellowships, which come with an
award of $20,000 each, recognize lifetime achievement, artistic excellence, and contributions to our state's living traditional arts heritage. KRESGE ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS AND GILDA AWARDS
https://kresgeartsindetroit.org/wp-content/uploads/KAF25_Guidelines.pdf
Deadline January 16, 2025. The foundation invites applications for the 2025 Kresge Artist Fellowship program, which supports artists in the Michigan counties of Macomb, Oakland, or Wayne. In this application cycle, Kresge Arts in Detroit will award 15 fellowships and 10 Gilda Awards in the literary arts and visual arts categories, divided
between the two categories based on the relative number of applications received in each category. Kresge Artist Fellowships provide no-strings-attached awards of $50,000, which include career support opportunities and a short film highlighting the artist’s work. Artists applying for a fellowship can also choose to be considered for one of the 10 available Gilda Awards, which are $5,000 unrestricted prizes for emerging artists living and working in the tri-county area. TRILLIUM ARTS WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA HEAR ARTIST GRANTS
https://www.trilliumartsnc.org/hear
Deadline January 3, 2025. HEAR grants are Helene Emergency Artist Residencies. This regional residency is open to arts professionals
18 years or older in Western North Carolina counties impacted by Hurricane Helene, including Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey. A $700 relief stipend. Private accommodations for up to seven consecutive nights during the months of February or March 2025 in a one-bedroom, ground floor suite.
Applicants must have been substantially impacted by Hurricane Helene. Artists at any stage of their careers are invited to apply. There is no application fee. HEAR awardees will be notified by January 21, 2025.
CHICKEN SOUP - STORIES ABOUT PETS
http://www.chickensoup.com
Deadline March 31, 2025. We are excited to be collecting stories for a new book that will include pets of all
kinds. Of course we want stories about your dogs and cats, but we are expanding to include stories about all kinds of pets. From backyard to barnyard; from couch to coop; from aquatic to aerial; from indoor to outdoor; from fins to fur to feathers — we want to hear about all your pets. Pays $250 for up to 1,200 words written in first person, along with ten copies of the book that contains the story. LIT FOX POETRY SERIES
https://litfoxbooks.com/contact/
The Lit Fox Poetry Series is a new publication featuring one exceptional poem per quarter. Payment is $150, and the selected poem will be our top featured poem for three months. Please send 1-5 poems to Litfoxbooks@gmail.com with a brief bio and the subject line as “Lit Fox Poetry Series.” RATTLE
https://rattle.submittable.com/submit
Rattle publishes unsolicited poetry, translations, and book reviews. General submissions are open year-round, always welcomed, and always free. Contributors to the print magazine receive $200 and a complimentary one-year subscription. Poems for "Online" categories receive $100. THE COSMIC BACKGROUND
https://www.thecosmicbackground.com/guidelines
We define Flash Fiction as anything under 1000 words and pay $0.10 a word. We currently pay a flat rate of $100 per poem, and love poetry that aligns with our tastes in fiction. Weird, chilling, upsetting, thoughtful. THE GLOBE
AND MAIL
https://www.theglobeandmail.com
The Globe and Mail’s Saturday Opinion section, which regularly publishes some of the leading writers in the world, is always looking for pitches: Anything from 700-word columns to 7,000-word reported essays. Pitch Mark Ledley at mmedley@globeandmail.com. Rates are generally $300-$400 for a 750-word op-ed. More for longer pieces.
LITFOX BOOKS
https://litfoxbooks.com/contact/
We are interested in receiving submissions of full-length manuscripts in the following nonfiction categories: Books on the craft of poetry, Books about
writing, Essay collections, Flash nonfiction collections, Memoirs. FERAL HOUSE
https://feralhouse.com/about-us/
Publishes innovative, unexpected and thought-provoking nonfiction — inspiring films and cultural trends; exposing
crime, malfeasance and stupidity; and celebrating artists and thinkers overlooked by popular media. Feral House and sister press Process Media are Headquartered in Port Townsend, WA. Does not publish fiction, poetry, plays or short stories. See webpage for more detailed topics they prefer, like history, music, biography, memoir, mysticism, food, and more. IG PUBLISHING
https://www.igpub.com/about-ig/
Ig Publishing is a New York-based award-winning independent press dedicated to publishing original literary fiction and political and cultural nonfiction. VERSO
https://www.versobooks.com/pages/submission-guidelines
The majority of our list is non-fiction, and we do not consider unsolicited fiction submissions. Please limit your proposal to fifteen pages. Verso Books is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world, publishing one hundred books a year.
Please forward the newsletter in its entirety. To reprint any editorials, contact hope@fundsforwriters.com for permission. Do not assume that acknowledgements listed in your publication is considered a valid right to publish out of ours.
C. Hope Clark
E-mail: hope@fundsforwriters.com
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
http://www.fundsforwriters.com Copyright 2000-2024, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326 Our subscriber list is NOT made available to others. Use information listed at your own risk. FundsforWriters gives no warranty to completeness, accuracy, or fitness of the markets, contests, and grants although research is done to the best of our ability. FundsforWriters finds open submission calls, contests, and markets from a wide variety of sources, including Erika Dreifus' Practicing Writer newsletter, Erica Verrillo's blog, Authors Publish, Poets & Writers, Duotrope,
Winning Writers, Write Jobs Plus, LinkedIn Jobs, Emily Stoddard, and other newsletters and online sites. Many announcements are submitted directly to FundsforWriters. All must be paying opportunities. Contests must pay a minimum of $200 first place. Submit potential listings to hope@chopeclark.com **Note that FundsforWriters.com places paid advertising in this newsletter. ALL ads are related to writers and the business of writing, screened by FundsforWriters to make sure the information is suitable for writers and their endeavors to improve their careers. While the mailing list is not sold to third parties, other parties do advertise in the newsletter, to include
the occasional solo ad. You will not receive this newsletter without your permission. It's physically impossible since recipients must opt-in, giving us permission to send the newsletter. If at any time you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, click the UNSUBSCRIBE link at the bottom of each newsletter. We want you to enjoy this newsletter at your pleasure, not be forced to read anything you do not wish to receive. Direct any complaints, suggestions, and accolades to Hope Clark at hope@fundsforwriters.com. We are an anti-spam site. | |
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