VOLUME 25, ISSUE 20 | MAY 16, 2025 |
WHEN YOU LOSE A GIG I was negotiating a small appearance for sometime downstream when something kept niggling at me about this one in particular. I have learned to listen to that feeling. The pay was average, and the
expenses were fully covered. I could sell my books and retain 100 percent of proceeds. No bookstore there selling books, but I could find someone to cover that. All the boxes were checked, but something still worried me. I watched the event being planned, some ads going out, but one thing I wasn't seeing was positive activity. It wasn't getting much traction. Nobody was sharing it. Nobody was talking about going. And most of all it
didn't have much of a track record. And I wasn't being kept up to date. There was still time until this event took place, but in fairness to all, I contacted the organizer again. When I questioned more deeply, it turned out the people putting it together fretted that they didn't have the financial means to cover it all. Attendance wasn't coming together like they thought. I would be paid, but not the same day. They could not
predict what was going to happen. If the event had been in my backyard, I would have gone anyway, but it involved a long trip and overnight stays, dog sitters and chicken sitters, rearrangement of other things. The event organizer and I spoke at great length and then parted on good terms. They turned around and grabbed two more speakers, more local than I was, and they were happy. So was I. This day and time, everyone is struggling. Best to have civil, calm, and understanding conversation when doing business. Things happen. The point is to find a way to make both satisfied, and if that isn't possible, then make sure you don't damage your good name and brand when you hold those difficult discussions and possibly part ways. It can be done. Who knows. . . they may grow and succeed and
come back to me for another event, with their ducks in a row and their coffers packed full. And because they were enjoyable to deal with, I just might take them up on their offer.
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Stories are all around us. We hear them. We read them. We tell them. What stories are in you? Have you ever thought about exploring your past, resurrecting childhood memories or bringing your family history to life? Join published author and writing coach Kate Meadows on May 31 for a one-hour webinar, "Telling Our Life Stories." Together, we'll explore the power of story, learn how to preserve and share memories of the past and think critically about why stories matter. We tell stories for many reasons. From this webinar, you'll walk away with the tools and the game plan you need to bring your story to life. DATE: Saturday, May 31, 2025 TIME: 9 a.m. MT (11 a.m. ET) COST: $15 Kate Meadows is a published writer, proven editor and passionate writing
coach with an MFA in Professional Writing. Learn more at www.katemeadows.com. I HAVE THIS STORY. . .
A lot of people, particularly in person, tell me they "have this story" that they want to tell. They ask me how I write, then they ask how to publish. There is a mile in between, and I try to tell them
what that mile consists of. Recently, a new author asked me why they weren't selling books. I looked at the books on Amazon, the website, and their social media. The website was a freebie site that just posted the books for sale. No history. No clear definition of genre anywhere. Three reviews tops. Nothing about the author. I could find no reference to social media in the email or on the website. The book covers looked self-published,
and when I read the free sample, I could spot someone who hadn't studied the craft. When I talk to new writers, I generally say this. -Take classes on writing. Go to a conference if you can.
-Read books on writing.
-Define the genre.
-Join social media groups and read blogs on writing.
-Read lots of books in your specific genre to understand it as well
as good writing.
-Take several of those books and dissect then, marking them up on what is good about prose, dialog, plot, POV, voice, structure, character arc, etc.
-Write the story. Take your time doing so but do so often, often daily. Let what you know percolate and run through you.
-Run the stories through critique groups.
-Hire or barter with at least a couple of good editors.
-When you feel the story is done, enter contests to see how you
fair.
-Once you start placing even honorable mention, or get shortlisted, or get great feedback, then look at how to publish. Not before. Then my personal opinion is to attempt traditional publishing to see what kind of feedback you get from agents and publishers. At least learn all the differences between traditional, hybrid and self-publishing before you consider self-publishing. It is next to impossible to unpublish in one
arena and change to another. It's also difficult to self-publish then get an agent to take you seriously, even with a different book. Choose your publishing manner wisely, after learning to understand them all. If you go straight into self-publishing, remember a lot of excellent readers and writers can spot it if you fall short. Once someone picks up one of your books and
thinks it is not worth it, you are done with them as a customer along with anyone they know who reads. Just like word of mouth works to sell books, it likewise works to kill books, and therefore the author, as well. Regardless how you publish, and there is no one right way to do so, do all the legwork beforehand to better your odds of being successful. So many writers self-publish without understanding the publishing process of all
angles. Know what you are doing. Learn to write well first. Then think about publishing. Not before.
"When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before."
– Clifton Fadiman
<<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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Hear Me Out! Making Peace with AI
By Dan Brotzel
Before I start, a few caveats. First, I really don't know very much about AI. Also, I’m only really talking here about ChatGPT. And I’m only talking about the world of commercial content, not creative writing. I start with all that because pretty much everyone I know who is a creative
type is violently against AI in all its forms. I get all that. But I also work in the very commercial world of marketing for brands and businesses. It’s not a very glamorous place, but it’s where many aspiring writers go for the bread-and-butter work that funds their creative dreams. And over there, nobody has any qualms about using AI tools at all. Let me give you a couple of recent examples: • A client asks me to write an ebook based
on a webinar about IT security they’ve recently delivered. They provide a version of the eBook done by ChatGPT with the expectation I will simply edit that. I listen to the full webinar out of curiosity. The AI version is well structured and covers all the key points. It misses out a few things I now add in, notably anecdotes and examples that help bring a rather dry topic to life. But it has basically done a good initial job. • Another client asks me to
write a series of blog posts to promote their digital marketing agency. As I know this client is very AI-friendly, I put this request to ChatGPT with a brief explanation of context, topics and audience. Back come a dozen ideas, most very relevant. I sort through them, tweak the ones I like and add a few more of my own (though many of the ones I’d have come up are already there). The client loves the ideas and commissions four on the spot. • Again,
out of curiosity, I ask ChatGPT to draft the blog posts for me. The results are frankly incredible. In about 5 seconds, I have four crisply professional, well-informed pieces. I sense-check the content, adding my own thoughts, making some small tweaks for tone and structure. Each post has taken 20-30 minutes to complete rather than 2-3 hours. Now some may deplore the above, but the genie is out of the bottle and brute economics will mean this kind of practice will become
completely standard in the world of commercial content, if it hasn’t already. And the simple fact for someone like me is that, if I don’t take this kind of work, someone else will. Let’s not forget we are talking about content here, not literature. Since the founding of Google, billions and billions of words have been produced simply to target certain keywords in a bid to help businesses improve their search rankings. (I know, I wrote 1000s of them myself.) Typically, a
content person might be asked to write an article on a topic they knew nothing about – ‘migrating your business to the cloud’ or ‘first-time mortgage buyer’s guide’, perhaps. So they’d simply google a handful of other pieces on the same topic, and stitch together their own version. ChatGPT basically does the same thing, only much faster and often smarter. I know many people who use AI in their work all the time. They use it to summarise 40- page business pitches into one-page
overviews or draft job descriptions that would otherwise take hours to produce. Then they add the human layer. Where we are using AI in this way, as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity I don't really have an issue. I can’t afford to.
AI is here to stay and as writers we need to make our peace with that and pick our battles. Lots of AI applications are really souped-up tools that make certain grunty jobs easier for humans.
As a creative type I
am against the theft of ideas and I don't want to see anybody lose out on an opportunity to make money from their creative work. But commercial content is not art, and there is still a role for the writer if we are prepared to embrace it.
BIO - Dan Brotzel’s latest novel is Thank You For The
Days
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CLARISSA DALLOWAY PRIZE FOR SHORT PROSE
https://lespritliteraryreview.submittable.com/submit/323391/2025-short-prose-contest
$10-$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 8,
2025. The 2025 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose will be awarded to the best piece of fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work under 5,000 words. $500 and publication to the Grand Prize winner; $100 and publication to Second Place. All entries receive a digital copy of Issue Six and are considered for publication. CHICKEN HOUSE CHILDREN'S FICTION COMPETITION
https://www.chickenhousebooks.com/submissions/
£20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 1, 2025. We no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts, but we do offer unpublished and unagented writers of children’s fiction the chance to submit their work to the annual Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition. We're looking for original ideas, a fresh voice, a diverse range of entries
and stories that children will love! First prize is a worldwide publishing contract (including film and TV rights) with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000. The winner will also receive a discussion of representation with this year’s agent judge, Gyamfia Osei of Andrew Nurnberg Associates Ltd. The second prize, the Lime Pictures New Storyteller Award, is a publishing contract with a royalty advance of £7,500 plus a discussion of representation with Gyamfia Osei. The prize will be
awarded to a manuscript that shows great potential for film and TV development. To enter, you must have written a completed full-length novel suitable for children/young adults aged somewhere between 7 and 18 years. By full-length we suggest a minimum of 30,000 words and a maximum of 80,000 words. BALTIMORE REVIEW SUMMER CONTESTS
https://baltimorereview.submittable.com/submit
$8 ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 31, 2025. One writer in the flash fiction category will be awarded a $400 prize and published in the summer issue. All entries are considered for publication with payment at our regular rate ($50). Total word limit for this category is 1,000, same as for flash CNF and prose poem. One, two, or three flash fiction works in one Word doc, but no more than
1,000 words for all stories combined. One writer in the flash creative nonfiction category will be awarded a $400 prize and published in the summer issue. All entries are considered for publication with payment at our regular rate ($50). One writer in the prose poem category will be awarded a $400 prize and published in the summer issue. All entries considered for publication with payment at our regular rate ($50). Total word limit for this category is 1,000, same as for flash fiction and flash
CNF. BLR PRIZES
https://blreview.org/blr-prizes/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 1, 2025. The BLR Prizes award outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. Winners are published in the spring issue of Bellevue Literary Review. For each
genre of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, first prize is $1000 and honorable mention is $300. THE RIVER HERON POETRY PRIZE
https://www.riverheronreview.com/the-rhr-poetry-contest
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 31, 2025. The winning poet will receive a $500 award
and 2 runners-up $100 each, a Zoom reading, and publication in a special contest issue released on August 1. The 2 finalists will be awarded a Zoom reading and publication in the contest issue. Poets may submit up to 3 poems, 5 pages maximum. GUY OWEN PRIZE
https://www.southernpoetryreview.com/spr/guy-owen-award
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 30, 2025. $1,000 and publication for an unpublished poem. Submit 3-5 poems per entry (10 pages maximum).
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING HEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
https://www.headlands.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/24_AIR_WebPDF-2.pdf
Deadline June 10, 2025. The Artist in Residence (AIR) program
awards fully sponsored residencies to approximately 50 local, national, and international artists each year. Residencies of four to ten weeks include studio space, chef-prepared meals, housing, travel and living expenses. For writers: Writing (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, graphic narrative) submit up to 20 pages of poetry, 30 pages of prose or one to two full-length plays/scripts. Location Sausalito, CA. PEN
HEIM TRANSLATION FUND
https://pen.org/literary-grants/pen-heim-grants/
Deadline June 1, 2025. Translations of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama, originally written by a single individual. Translations should not have previously appeared in English in print or should have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise
flawed translation. Works should be translations-in-progress, as the grant aims to provide support for completion. There are no restrictions on the nationality or citizenship of the translator, but the works must be translated into English. Projects may have a maximum of two translators but are limited to one original author. PEN BARE LIFE REVIEW GRANTS
https://pen.org/literary-grants/pen-bare-life-review-grant/
Deadline June 1, 2025. The PEN/Bare Life Review Grants support literary works in progress by immigrant and refugee writers. The submitted project must be the work of a single individual, written in or translated into English. In the case of translated works, the grant will be conferred to the original
author. The project must be an unpublished work-in-progress that will not be published prior to April 1, 2026, as the grants are intended to support the completion of a manuscript. The project must be a work of a literary nature: fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry. This grant is available to foreign-born writers based in the U.S., and to writers living abroad who hold refugee/asylum seeker status. JEAN STEIN GRANTS FOR LITERARY
ORAL HISTORY https://pen.org/literary-grants/jean-stein-oral-history-grant/
Deadline June 1, 2025. Two grants of $15,000 will be awarded to recognize literary works of nonfiction that use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. The submitted project must be
the work of a single individual, written in English. It must be an unpublished work-in-progress work of literary nonfiction (scholarly/academic writing is not eligible). Works must not be published prior to April 1, 2026, as the grants are intended to support the completion of a manuscript. OLDER WRITERS GRANT - SPECULATIVE FICTION
https://speculativeliterature.org/grants-3/slf-older-writers-grant/
Deadline May 31, 2025. This grant, as with all SLF grants, is intended to help writers working with speculative literature from all over the world. Speculative literature spans the breadth of fantastic writing, encompassing literature ranging from hard science fiction to epic fantasy,
including ghost stories, horror, folk and fairy tales, slipstream, magical realism, and more. Awarded annually to writers who are at least fifty years of age at the time of application to assist such writers who are just beginning their careers as speculative fiction writers. (We define professional writers as those who qualify for SFWA pro membership; anyone whose made below $1000 from their catalog of published work are considered early in their career and are therefore eligible for the
grant). REACTOR
https://reactormag.com/submissions-guidelines/
We are most interested in pitches for essays, think pieces, list posts, reaction pieces, and reviews in the 1000-2500 word range (although we are also open to longer essays). If possible,
please include two to three writing samples and/or links to your published work on other sites. We do not encourage articles on spec. We are pro-author and pro-fandom, and generally do our best to promote civil and respectful discourse about science fiction, fantasy, and related topics. This includes opinion pieces and reviews—in terms of tone, posts should be grounded in balanced, constructive criticism. Humor is, of course, welcome—mockery and ridicule are not. SCIENCE FRIDAY
https://airtable.com/appZiBYHIItcbt1JZ/shrKltPXEjL9p6o74
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qR0OIQ_W3u0mWMrE6NmG4Q4g1g03NBQ3Wmp30hbVLOk/edit?tab=t.0
Science Friday’s mission is to increase the public’s access to science and scientific information. We are looking for original journalism that is timely and relevant to readers. We also seek out stories that inspire hope and joy as well as those that are useful or provide a service. For pitching purposes, “science” includes technology, medicine, and the environment. Length: 500 -
1,000 words in English / up to 1,200 words in Spanish. Pay: $.80/word at the final word count. BOLTS MAGAZINE
https://boltsmag.org/pitch-us/
Bolts is always seeking to work with freelancers to report on critical voting rights and criminal justice stories across the United States. We encourage
pitches that fit our mission to grow coverage of the local and state politics, elections, policymaking, and organizing that shape these issues—think of county prosecutors and sheriffs, secretaries of state and local election administrators, state legislators, municipal officials, and the activism brewing around them. Most of the stories we publish involve original reporting; the default rate we offer for a story with original reporting is $800. AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL
https://americanbeejournal.com/contact/writers-guidelines/
The American Bee Journal, the oldest English-language beekeeping publication in the world, is a magazine for professional, sideline and hobbyist beekeepers, as well as those with interest in bee-related subjects. Feature articles
typically begin at $150 for up to 1500 words (about two magazine pages more or less, depending on photos/illustrations). Larger articles generally pay about $100/page, though rarely over $500.
BLUE DOT KIDS PRESS
https://www.bluedotkidspress.com/submissions
We welcome agented and unagented submissions from illustrators and writers from all over the world. We are open to both debut and experienced creators. We offer our authors and
illustrators an advance and royalties, extensive publicity, and an active role in the creation of beautiful books they are proud of. We have worldwide distribution and foreign rights representation. We publish books for children ages zero to twelve. We are looking for the following: Middle-grade fiction, as well as nonfiction books, for kids ages eight to twelve
Fiction chapter books, as well as nonfiction books, for kids ages six
to ten
Fiction and narrative nonfiction picture books for kids ages three to eight
Board books for kids ages zero to three BUSHEL & PECK BOOKS
https://bushelandpeckbooks.com/pages/submissions
Bushel & Peck Books is a family-run press that's passionate about creating
extraordinary books for extraordinary kids. We publish a diverse range of children's literature, including board books, picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade books, across both fiction and nonfiction genres. Opens October 1, 2025 for submissions. CICADA BOOKS
https://www.cicadabooks.co.uk/about
Cicada Books is a New York Times Award winning children’s book publisher based in London. We started out making adult art and design books, but now specialise in beautiful, high-end books for kids aged 4-11. We have an eclectic list that includes activity books, picture books and non-fiction. FAMILIUS PRESS
https://familius.com/author-submissions/
Our categories include children’s picture books and board books, parenting, relationships, self-help, family fun, education, cooking, and health and wellness for both adults and young adults. Basically, if your book can help us achieve our mission of helping families be happy, we want to talk to you.
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
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