VOLUME 25, ISSUE 26 | june 27, 2025 |
BOOK REVIEWS How do you get book reviews? First, you ask. If someone reads your book and mentions it, ask for a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Most don't know of anyplace else to review. Don't try to educate them.
Don't rant. Don't push the point. Secondly, have plenty of review copies to give out. That is an investment for sure, but those first reviews, before you become a household name, take said investment. Have one at the ready. If you run into someone who reads, offer, then subtly ask if they enjoyed it to leave a review and pass it on to someone else to do the same. But
there's a little more thought to obtaining book reviews than that. You don't throw the books out harem-scarem, and you don't put pressure on people. And you do NOT broadcast on social media how everyone needs to support indie authors with reviews. That screams desperate. It isn't about you the author. It's about the story. You are providing a good story. If the person reads it and likes it, then they will pass the word. When you
sound more like an author hunting reviews and sales than an author who loves spinning tales, then you ruin the magic. When you are louder about sales, publishing, and numbers, you push away readers. So learn the subtleties of obtaining book reviews. Once they love you, and like your stories, they will automatically review your work. But when you push, when you judge, when you fuss on social media about how difficult the profession is,
you lose. |
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Own your story. Keep every word and every reward. WRITING LETTERS
The way we see life, and write about life, changes via phases as we age. Then you reach an age where you just aren't thought about anymore. But all of
us, at any age, can address said phase via words. Whether about someone, about ourselves, or just creatively, we can leave a mark of how it makes us feel. Online stuff disappears in an instant, quickly forgotten. Handwritten letters, however, hang around. Handwritten letters are still a thing with me. When I send one, I attempt to write the words just so. When I receive one,
my heart warms at the vision of someone taking the time to put ink on real paper. I saw this letter from Virginia Woolf to a lady friend and thought I'd share how much a personal note can matter. I hope it makes you take the time to pen one or two here and there. Emails and texts are shallow. Letters are just about forever. "I can’t say how I admire you, and with what
affection Leonard and I discussed you walking on the bank of a river last night when the green was so green that an old curé on a bench looked for some reason bright purple. Do you like being discussed? I do. And it’s rare at our age. Yet how do we exist, save on the lips of our friends? So last night, between 6 and 7 you were absolutely incandescent." Virginia Woolf
Letter to Molly MacCarthy
—The Letters of Virginia Woolf,
Vol.6
A Request from Hope: Writers everywhere, please consider taking this survey : How Much Do Writers Earn? Results will appear in Writer's Digest
later this year. Thanks so much for helping writers manage what to charge to earn a living. (Feel free to share.) https://s.surveyplanet.com/685b3d39e93316a6f9a4cd72 -Sept 9, 2025 - Chapin Library, Chapin, SC - 1PM
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise.
Whatever you are, be a good one.”
Abraham Lincoln
<<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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Three Pieces of Research to Do Before Querying a Publication
By Rachel Carrington Recently, I was excited to pass the initial phase of freelance writing for a well-known entertainment site. It wasn't until it required me to submit a completed sample piece, with quite an extensive amount of work, that I was given the compensation rates. I was shocked to discover this site paid less than three
pennies per word. Had I bothered to take my own advice and do research, I would have known way in advance not to waste my time. Because of this learning experience, I now perform research three different ways before I query a publication. All of the options might not be available for every publication, but even hitting one out of the three is beneficial and could save a lot of time and disappointment. First, look up the publication
on Who Pays Writers. Here, writers submit the name of publications they’ve worked with, and not only how much they were paid, but when payment was made. It’s great to see a publication that offers good pay for an article, but it’s just as important to know if a writer is still awaiting payment several months after publication. I ran
into this when I wrote an article for Marketlist in 2021. I did not receive payment for it until 2024! Not every publication is kept up to date through the years, but you can see the year of the information on the right hand side of the page like this one for Cosmopolitan in 2024. Even seeing what a site paid one or two years ago can be helpful, because
if it’s paying $0.02 per word in 2023, it’s probably not going to be paying $0.10 per word in 2025. Second, reach out to previous (and current) writers from the site. I actually did this, but I focused mainly on asking what it was like to write for the site. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too concerned about the pay as the site I was interested in was a large site, and I made an assumption that the pay would be commiserate with both its size and my experience. That
was my first mistake. And I only contacted one writer, which was my second mistake. Just as we cast a wide net when querying, we should do the same when asking for help from our fellow writers. I would have no problem telling a writer how much I’d gotten paid for a piece I’d written, and most likely, neither would the writer I query.
Third, check online review sites like Indeed.com and Glassdoor. Though some of these will be listed from an
employee’s perspective, you can also find information from freelance authors who chime in like these from Valnet, Inc., which owns Screen Rant and Collider and a few more sites. The most recent review was from February 20, 2025 from a staff writer, who gave one of the sites a 3 because of low pay.
You might also want to check in
with the Reddit forum for freelance writers. With 165,000 members, it has freelance writers from all over the world. At the top of the page, you can search by publication, site, or topic. Though some posts are outdated, it will still give you a jumping off point when it comes to the publication’s pay rate and response time. There’s no
guarantee that any information you glean from the internet or with direct communication from a current (or former) writer is going to tell you everything you need to know about a site before you decide to query. However, it’s better to have some information before making that first contact than none at all.
BIO - As well as being a published author of fiction, Rachel Carrington is am also an entertainment journalist and nonfiction writer and has written for the New York
Times, Startrek.com, The Writer, and many others. She's on the web at www.rachelcarrington.com and on Instagram and Twitter/X @rcarrington2004.
114022608 © apichon pechnun | Dreamstime.com
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$20 ENTRY FEE. Submissions open June 16 – July 16, 2025 (5PM ET). The Gutsy Great Novelist Page One Prize is awarded for an outstanding first page of an unpublished novel. First prize is $1,000; 2nd is $500; 3rd is $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre
for adult or YA readers. BOOKSIE POETRY CONTEST
https://www.booksie.com/contest/booksie-2025-poetry-contest-36
$6.95 ENTRY FEE. Deadline October 17, 2025. The poetry can be of any type, length, or
content, but it must be your own. The poetry can be serious or whimsical, fact or fiction, but it should strike a chord that makes us sit up and take notice. Grand prize winner (Booksie Gold Poet Laureate) - $1,000, gold badge. promotion across Booksie in the contest winner sections of the site. Two runners-up (Booksie Silver Poet Laureates) - $100, silver winner badge, promotion across Booksie in the contest winner sections of the site. HARBOR REVIEW WASHBURN PRIZE
https://smallharborpublishing.submittable.com/submit
$10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 1, 2025. The prize is awarded once a year to a woman or non-binary writer for a micro chapbook. Micro chapbooks should be exactly 10 poems long. The winner will receive $200 and publication of their micro
chapbook online at Harbor Review. All rights revert to the author after publication. BLACK VOICES IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE WRITING CONTEST
https://go.teachercreatedmaterials.com/free-spirit/black-voices-childrens-literature-writing-contest
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 22, 2025. Sponsored by Free Spirit Publishing (an imprint of Teacher Created Materials) and Strive Publishing. Black writers residing in the United States can submit unpublished children's stories for ages 0–4 or 4–8 featuring authentic, realistic Black characters and culture. Three prizes: $1000, $500, $250. All entries are
considered for publication. UTAH ORIGINAL WRITING COMPETITION
https://www.slcc.edu/cwc/utah-original-writing-competition.aspx
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2025. Open to Utah writers.
First prize (Categories A-D): $1500 Second prize
(Categories A-D): $750 Category A: Novel. Fiction for adults; minimum length: 50,000 words. Category B: Creative Nonfiction Book. Creative nonfiction, including personal essay collections, memoir, narrative nonfiction, biographies, autobiographies, and histories; minimum length: 50,000 words. First prize for Category B includes first option for publication by the University
of Utah Press. Category C: Book-length Collection of Poetry. Minimum length: 50 pages. This category alternates each year with Book-length Collection of Short Stories. Category D: Children's Book. Fiction or nonfiction (general or biography), appealing to readers ages 6 through 11. This category includes chapter books and middle-grade books, but not picture books or
beginning-reader books. Compilations of stories will be accepted; maximum/minimum length: none. This category alternates each year with Young Adult Book. Categories E-G
For categories E-G, no part of the collection can be published in any form, except on the web, or have been accepted for publication at the time of entry. First prize (Categories E-G): $450 Second prize
(Categories E-G): $250. Category E: Poetry. A short collection of up to 10 poems for adults; maximum length: 1,000 lines (total). Category F: Short Story. Fiction for adults; maximum length: 7,500 words. Category G: Creative Nonfiction Essay. Creative nonfiction for adults, including personal essay and memoir;
maximum length: 7,500 words.
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING CENTRUM RESIDENCIES
https://centrum.submittable.com/
Deadline June 30, 2025. Self-Directed, Emerging Artist (PNW-based only), and In the Making residencies. There is one application for all three
programs so please select the residencies you’d like to be considered for in the application. Our residency program is aimed at providing artists, writers, and creatives in all disciplines permission to relax, to focus, and/or re-invent their practice as needed. Location Port Townsend, Washington. There are costs affiliated with the residencies, but there are also scholarships/stipends available. PORCHES WRITING RETREAT
https://www.porcheswritingretreat.com/open-doors-poetry-fellowship
https://www.porcheswritingretreat.com/contact
Deadline July 1, 2025. First time, new visitors with
one published collection are invited to apply. One week residencies at Porches. Location Norwood, VA. NEW JERSEY FELLOWSHIPS IN THE ARTS
https://www.midatlanticarts.org/opportunity/new-jersey-state-arts-fellowships/
Deadline July 16,
2025. Must be a resident and practicing artist of one of the categories listed. Literary category this year is prose. Grant range in the past has been $3,000-$31,000. KYOTO RETREAT
http://www.kyotoretreat.com
The Kyoto Retreat is a new program created by Japan-based, independent curator Dexter
Wimberly. The Kyoto Retreat offers artists, curators, and writers, based anywhere in the world, an opportunity to spend four weeks in Kyoto, Japan, for research, exploration, and inspiration. Individuals selected for the retreat will receive a roundtrip flight, a private bedroom, and $800 USD to supplement meals and local transportation. The Kyoto Retreat selects artists, curators, and writers at all career stages, working in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media,
installation, fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, interdisciplinary, and social practice. Individuals must be over 21 years old to apply. The inaugural Kyoto Retreat will take place from October 16–November 13, 2025.
SOLARPUNK
https://solarpunkmagazine.com/submissions/
Deadline July 1-14, 2025. Solarpunk Magazine is a bimonthly online publication of radically hopeful and optimistic science fiction and fantasy. Fiction: 1500-7500 words ($.08
per word, $100 minimum). Poetry: One poem of up to three pages ($40 per poem). Nonfiction: 1000-2000 words ($75 per essay or article). Payments are made via PayPal. ORIONS BELT https://www.orions-belt.net/
Deadline August 31, 2025. Stories should be submitted to
orionsbelt.submissions@gmail.com. All stories must be under 1200 words (not including the title and byline). All stories must contain significant speculative elements. This does not mean all sci-fi stories must have lasers and rockets. It just means a non-speculative story doesn’t become speculative if you include a single line clarifying the story takes place on Mars. HAVEN SPEC
https://www.havenspec.com/submit/
Deadline August 1-31, 2025. Haven Spec Magazine is currently open to fiction and poetry submissions. Pay: 8¢ per word for original fiction. Word limit: 6000 words. Language: English. Opn to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra. NEW SCIENTIST
https://www.newscientist.com/
New Scientist is a weekly science and technology magazine that publishes news, features, and commentary on topics ranging from space and physics to health, environment, and artificial intelligence. Send your big-swing feature ideas about science's emerging
research, disruptive discoveries or high-impact applications to Jacklyn Kwan, Features Editor, in.kwan@newscientist.com . New Scientist pays 51p+ per word. BEZZY
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rvohcontentfreelance/jobs/4301176005
https://www.bezzy.com/
Bezzy is a free online platform bringing new meaning to the word “community” for people with chronic conditions where everyone feels seen, valued, and understood, everyone’s story matters, shared vulnerability is the name of the game. We are looking for freelance writers with
experience and/or expertise in the chronic condition space or a strong background in general health writing for a consumer audience. If you are interested in becoming a freelancer writer for Bezzy, please submit your resume/CV and 3 samples of relevant writing or a link to your online portfolio, highlighting any certification or personal experience with health content. Compensation: starting at $150 USD/article. THE MEDIA CO-OP
https://mediacoop.ca/contributors2021
We publish articles that are between 600 and 1500 words in length. We pay from $100 to $250, with the higher end of that range reserved for articles that involve more research and more reporting. We are based in Canada, so we are interested in stories that are about or have some connection to the Canadian context. The
pieces we publish often focus on things like Indigenous land and water defence; climate justice; housing, homelessness, and tenant rights; struggles related to policing, state violence, and white supremacy; labour struggles and worker organizing; resisting the far right; grassroots work that is feminist, trans, queer, and/or anti-racist; disability struggles; community organizing; impacts of the Canadian state and Canadian corporations in other countries; and lots more.
BITTER LEMON PRESS
https://www.bitterlemonpress.com/
Bitter Lemon bring you high quality, award-winning contemporary crime fiction and eclectic non-fiction books. These are gripping crime books that expose the darker side of foreign places. From mystery
novels to thrillers, they explore what lies just beneath the surface of the bustling life of countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Turkey, France and Italy. From Argentina to Australia, these crime fiction books are for your travels - whether real or imaginary. Wilmington Square Books are a collection of non-fiction books about culture and society, chosen for their originality, their quality and their contribution to knowledge and debate. BRASH BOOKS
https://www.brash-books.com/about/
We publish the best crime novels in existence — thrillers, whodunits, cozies, psychological suspense, espionage, and police procedurals. We do NOT publish true crime, biographies, science fiction, military fiction, horror, fantasy/paranormal/supernatural, romance, novellas, or short story collections.
Please send a ONE PAGE (at most) summary of the book and THE FIRST TWENTY FIVE PAGES as a Microsoft Word document to brashbooks@gmail.com. The summary can be in the body of your email, but not your opening chapters. If we like the sample, we’ll request the entire manuscript. Do not send us the entire manuscript unless we ask for it. Do not send us your self-published books. We are not interested in repackaging and republishing books that are already in print. CROOKED LANE PRESS
https://crookedlanebooks.com/contact-2-2/
Crooked Lane Books was founded in 2014 to publish the highest quality crime fiction titles in both print and electronic editions. In 2020 we introduced a second line—Alcove Press—to publish upmarket book club fiction that explores family, friendship,
and community. We are distributed to the trade through Penguin Random House Publisher Services. DOWN THE SHORE PUBLISHING
http://www.down-the-shore.com/
The Shore is an independent publisher specializing in beach and coastal subjects, New Jersey, and the Jersey Shore. Established in 1984, we publish
regional history, literary anthologies, pictorial books, historical videos, notecards, and acclaimed Jersey Shore calendars. DUNDURN PRESS
https://www.dundurn.com/about
We seek to amplify and elevate exceptional Canadian voices, particularly those that have not yet been discovered or have been
previously underrepresented in trade publishing. We publish across numerous genres, from literary and genre fiction, to true crime, memoir and biography, sport, history and public policy.
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 2000-2025, 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
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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
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