VOLUME 25, ISSUE 40 | OCTOBER 10, 2025 |
AROUND THE CORNER I heard a soul song created by AI today that made my chin drop, because it was that good. The time when AI will create music, literature, and visual art is just around the corner. All the more need for you
to develop yourself as a brand. If your readers want to read human work versus AI, if they are going to avow to only support a human being, you to be quite evident online as flesh and blood. You need to not only prove you live and breathe but that you might be an interesting human at that. The days of just writing and not being seen are about gone. Get a website.
Establish a social media presence. And write. Be proof that you are not a machine. As much as we can whine about this situation, it is there regardless. Put yourself up there and show readers that your stories were genuine and from your human core. |
Sign up for a free consultation call! I listen to your writerly woes (believe me, I get it!), then steer you toward success with strategies tailored to
you. You'll leave each session with a new perspective, a clear action plan — and the confidence to actually follow through. With 15+ years of freelancing for top consumer and trade publications (NYT, WSJ, BBC, WIRED, AFAR, Fast Company) and major brands, I now coach freelance writers who just need a little guidance to land their dream clients. What you'll get in our 60-min coaching sessions: - Personalized pitch feedback + ideas on who to pitch
- Step-by-step strategies to find and land better clients
- Accountability, motivation, confidence building (to ask for better rates and pitch that top pub!)
- Access to my insider tips and secret resources
Curious? Let's chat! Learn more and sign up for a FREE 20-min consultation call. Got questions? Write me: workwithme@suchirudra.com And don't forget to follow me on Instagram @nomadicwriterlife for juicy freelancing tips!
WHICH DO YOU PREFER TO READ ONLINE?
Let me be clearer. When you sit down at your computer, to read about your favorite writer or catch up on literary news, which media do you prefer to read? 1) Facebook
2) Instagram
3) Substack
4) Website/blog
5) Email newsletter Over the years, now decades since people began incorporating electronics into their routines, email newsletters were used to communicate news. Then came blogs and social media. Social media exploded. But along with social media came emotional chaos. Email newsletters have
survived all of this screen evolution. Let's look at the pros and cons of choosing to communicate to your fan base via email newsletter. Algorithms stop a lot of people from seeing you. They choose what a reader sees. If a reader happens to show an interest in purses and fashion, and you write mystery, you get booted down the list as to what is in a reader's feed. They may want to read you, but out of sight does mean out of mind.
Purses consume them. They forget to read you. An email newsletter is a commitment, but readers appreciate a newsletter more than social media. They are in a sea of people on social media. An email feels more personal. Also, social media can block you, discipline you, and delete you. You own your email list. Substack might be more personal, and you might own your own list, but in the way Substack
thrusts other Substack owners upon you with strong suggestions you read this person or that, the reader loses a bit of that personal feel with you, the author. Finally, you can say, sell, and promote what you like. It's solely up to the reader to decide to keep you or delete you. Nobody else. Emails have lasted through all the changes of online media. Consider them in your
marketing and evolvement. You can find ideas on how to create and maintain one at Fractured Atlas below. They are a very reputable entity, often times representing grants for writers. https://blog.fracturedatlas.org/an-artists-guide-to-mailing-lists
Go from a blank page to flowing ideas with Brainstorming Bingo: Spooky Edition! You'll get 24 prompts and twists on brainstorming tips. For fiction writers of all kinds. Each bingo you get is another idea on your list. Sign up now! -Oct 11, 2025 - Signing The Edisto Island Bookstore, Edisto, SC - 10AM-NOON -Oct 13, 2025 - Edisto Art Guild, Edisto Island, SC - 7-8:30 PM -Oct 14, 2025 - Moncks Corner Book Club, First Presbyterian Church, Moncks Corner, SC - 3-6 PM -Nov 22, 2025 -
Christmas Market - 8AM-2PM - ICRC Rec Ctr, Chapin, SC
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise. “When you walk up to opportunity’s door, don’t knock on it… kick that b*tch in, smile and introduce yourself.” —Dwayne Johnson
<<If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to hope@chopeclark.com >> Getting Started on Substack
By Dan Brotzel
Many writers and authors, both aspiring and established, are turning to Substack as a way to grow audiences, showcase work and build a new hustle. Substack blends the
intimacy you get from a blog with the professionalism of an email newsletter, with the possible bonus of paid subscriptions. But is it for you?
Certainly, there are many examples of writers with successful Substacks. Elle Griffin, who writes about how the creator economy need to find new ways to monetise fiction, published her first novel Obscurity on Substack while earning through paid subscriptions. Historian Heather Cox Richardson has built a big following through her regular Letters from an American. Other writers whose Substacks I enjoy include Tom Cox, Toby Litt, Becky Tuch’s Lit Mag News and The Subtext.
In essence, Substack is a
platform you can use to send newsletters directly to your subscribers’ inboxes. It’s like a cross between an email newsletter and a blog – you write posts, publish them online, and get them emailed to signed-up readers automatically. You promote your Substack all the usual ways – from social media to your email signature. With permission, you can also import email addresses from platforms like Mailchimp. And the platform has lots of built in ways to encourage cross-promotion.
‘We don’t need social media to grow our newsletters. We can grow on Substack,’ says expert Wes Pearce. ‘In fact, 30-40% of new subscribers come from Notes (Substack’s internal social feed) & Recommendations
(a feature allowing writers to promote other Substacks). Scroll through and find someone new to connect with and swap recommendations. This is the best way to sustainably grow our Substacks for the long-term.’
Substack handles email list management, hosting and monetization tools. It’s free to use unless you opt to charge for your newsletter, for which Substack will take 10% of your earnings.
The free newsletter option gives readers
access to all your content and is good for audience-building. With the paid version, subscribers pay a monthly or annual fee (you choose the price) to access premium content. Many take a middle path, making some content available free and premium or in-depth posts behind a paywall. You can start free and switch to paid later too.
Substack is easy to use – you don’t need any web design or technical skills. You’re in direct contact with an email list you own,
and you don’t need third-party tools to start earning. And it’s not either/or – you could use it alongside your other tactics and see what works.
On the con side, visual artists, podcasters, or multimedia storytellers may find it limiting. And to get the most from it, you need to keep up a constant stream of content. This works for some – if you’re regularly writing things for another channel you could mirror of extend them on Substack – but for others may be
too onerous.
I found getting set up on Substack quite labour-intensive (I’m still only dipping my toes) and I know I’ll need a regular publishing schedule (weekly or biweekly is common), plus time to engage with responses. Fatigue can certainly set in. As novelist Tim Lott recently wrote: ‘I’m not sure I can afford any longer to spend all this time trying drum up subscribers when I could be
working on a novel – even a novel that might never be published. A writer who isn’t writing is nothing at all, and it feels that way to me now.’ He’s still keeping up his Writing Boot Camp, for now at least.
Reader fatigue can be an issue too, which we hear less about. There are loads of people on Substack who interest me, but how many do I really have time to read regularly in my inbox? Publishing guru Jane Friedmann also sounds a note of caution. While applauding Substack’s benefits, she argues that its constant encouragement to charge for newsletter content can distract aspiring writers from their writing goals and from the greater power of a simple, free email newsletter.
Because lots of famous people – from Patti Smith to Lena Dunham to Marianne Williamson – use it, it can seem like Substack only suits people with big profiles. But many lesser-known writers say they have built followings from scratch by choosing their niche and working hard at promotion. Certainly the platform is designed to build rewards over time, and to help you scale your approach, however small you start, as Substack’s own Resource Center explains. But it doesn’t come without effort, and each of us has to decide where that balance best lies.
WRITER - Dan Brotzel’s latest novel is Thank You For The Days (Bloodhound Books). He also writes widely on Medium.
MICHAEL CURTIS SHORT STORY BOOK PRIZE
https://www.hubcity.org/cmc-short-story-prize
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 31, 2025. Open to emerging writers in thirteen Southern states. Submitters
must currently reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia or West Virginia, and must have no more than one previously published book. $5,000 and book publication for a debut book of short fiction. The manuscript must be between 140 and 220 pages (double spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman or similar typeface) and include no fewer than six stories. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in
anthologies may be included. No story should be over 15,000 words in length. There is no minimum story word count. FFF COMPETITION THIRY
https://freeflashfiction.com/current-competition/
£4.40 ENTRY FEE. Deadline October 23, 2025. Submit a flash fiction piece of
between 100 and 300 words, on any theme. One winner will receive £165 and publication. Two highly commended will receive £77 and publication. Three shortlisted will receive £66 and publication. WALKING IN THE DARK POETRY AND FLASH COMPETITION
https://write.walklistencreate.org/wr_instance/write-about-walking-in-the-dark/
€10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline October 20, 2025. We invite you to write a flash fiction story or poem of 250 words or under on the theme of “In the Dark”. We will publish an anthology of shortlisted submissions in an illustrated chapbook, as well as on this website and as an audio locative podcast. Prizes for the two winners will include a €125 cash prize (the more entry fees we
receive the higher the cash prize will become) and artwork created by Alban Low in each category, and a copy of our limited illustrated edition WALKING In the Dark chapbook. GALLEY BEGGAR PRESS SHORT STORY PRIZE
https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/short-story-prize-tc
£11 ENTRY
FEE. Deadline November 8, 2025. An annual short story competition for both published and unpublished writers, writing original fiction in English, and from anywhere in the world. The award offers prize to the winner of £2500. Shortlisted writers each receive a cash prize of £200. Longlisted writers receive £50 in book vouchers, plus a 4-book subscription to Galley Beggar Press. Entries must not exceed 6,000 words. GREGORY O'DONOGHUE INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION
https://munsterlit.ie/odonoghue-competition/
€7 ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 30, 2025. The competition is open to original, unpublished and unbroadcast poems in the English language of 40 lines or fewer. The poem can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any
nationality, living anywhere in the world. First Prize €2,000, featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival (with four-night hotel stay and full board), featured on the Southword Poetry Podcast, publication in Southword. Second Prize €500, publication in Southword. Third prize €250, publication in Southword. Ten Runners-Up €50 and publication in Southword.
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING ECONOMIC HARDSHIP REPORTING PROJECT
https://economichardship.org/pitch-portal
Rolling deadline. We give grants to independent journalists reporting on issues related to poverty, economic class, workers’ rights, and
income disparity in the U.S., and co-publish their work in partnership with major media outlets. Many of our contributors are journalists struggling to financially sustain themselves in the increasingly low-paying media industry. We encourage people from underrepresented backgrounds to apply. EDWARD ALBEE FOUNDATION GRANTS
https://www.albeefoundation.org/guidelines--submitting.html
Deadline October 13, 2025. Location Montauk, NY. Domestic residents are provided with a $2500 stipend; Foreign residents are reimbursed for verified expenses up to $2500. The environment is simple and communal. TORONTO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY CERC MIGRATION AND BRIDGING DIVIDES JOURNALISM FELLOWSHIP
https://ijnet.org/en/opportunity/residency-journalists-engage-migration-and-integration-research-canada
Deadline November 1, 2025. Pays CAD 5,000 stipend (including travel), office space, mentorship, networking. A one-month residency for experienced journalists to engage with
migration and integration research at TMU in Toronto. Journalists specializing in migration, politics, global/social issues. Open to U.S. and Canada applicants. NYFA FISCAL SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM
https://www.nyfa.org/fiscal-sponsorship/
Deadline October 15, 2025. The program
enables individual artists, arts groups/collectives, and emerging arts organizations leading arts-focused projects to receive some of the benefits of having their own 501(c)(3), including applying for grants restricted to 501(c)(3)s and offering donors a tax deduction. It is open to all artists with an employer identification number (EIN) or social security number (SSN). Artists who live in the U.S. but work overseas are welcome to apply. BANFF SPRING WRITERS RESIDENCY
https://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/literary-arts/spring-writers-residency
Deadline October 15, 2025. Banff Centre’s Spring Writers Residency provides participants with the time and space for creative exploration away from the constraints of everyday life. Writers
will be able to delve deep into their creative project, meet with a community of artistic peers, and take advantage of workshops and mentorship opportunities. This two-week self-directed residency provides writers with individual accommodation and a small private studio for them to focus, reconnect, and re-energize their writing practice. Domestic and international applications are welcome. Standard scholarship: covers 100% of tuition fees, and 50% of meals and accommodation costs. Canadian
Indigenous scholarship: covers 100% of tuition fees, meals, and accommodation costs.
NEW NARATIF
https://newnaratif.com/pitches/
If you are a writer, journalist, researcher, scholar, or activist passionate about various issues in Southeast Asia, you might be interested in writing for New Naratif. We are looking for feature or explanatory
articles of 1500-2000 words long, which have to be original and have never been published in any other publication before. Payment $150-$200. GRASSROOTS THINKING
https://www.grassrootsthinking.com/submissions
Grassroots Thinking is an independent publication focused on the stories
that matter to the Black working class. We explain the news, politics, and culture through reportage, analysis, commentary, interviews, and essays with an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist lens. Pay is based on an estimated $.10/word starting at $75 per story. YELLOW SCENE MAGAZINE
https://yellowscene.com/jobs
Yellow Scene Magazine distributes 35,000 magazines throughout Boulder County and the North Metro area. We cover arts, entertainment, news, politics, social issues, education, healthcare, science, oil & gas, elections, food and drink, cannabis, and whatever else we think is worthy to talk about. Also seeking beat reporters for the Boulder area. Also seeking cuisine writers. MEDSCAPE
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/how-pitch-stories-medscape-guide-journalists-2025a1000d00
Publication is interested in stories that explore the human side of working in medicine — including topics like mental health, side gigs, relationships, parenting, fitness, and personal
finance. The focus is on shared experiences and challenges that resonate across the medical field. Rate $1 per word for reported features (typically around 1,500 words), and up to $1,500 for video interviews or content. Pitch Sarah Yahr Tucker, Medical Lifestyle Editor at stucker@webmd.net. Other general pitches can be made at submissions@medscape.net TALES OF HORROR
https://ashtonspot.com/talesofhorror/
Interested in literary stories of the weird, chilling and horrific. Payment is six cents/word for fiction and a flat rate of $40 per poem. Fiction limited to 5,000 words.
AURORA METRO
https://www.aurorametro.com/contact-us/submissions/
We publish adult fiction, YA fiction, drama, and non-fiction biography, wellbeing, travel, history and books about the arts and popular culture. We don’t publish children’s
books for ages 10 and under. We don’t publish poetry. We occasionally publish short stories in a themed anthology. Location UK. SARTORIS LITERARY
https://sartorisliterary.com/book-publishing-submissions/
We are especially interested in books that the majors consider too
regional, too controversial, or too “small” for publication. Journalists and authors who have previously published books will be given priority in the selection process, but we are open to first-time authors. Non-fiction: we are interested in biographies and memoirs, self-help guides, music history, American history, Canadian history, photography, and business titles. Fiction: mysteries, thrillers, romance, coming of age, and literary. We currently are not considering new works of fiction at
this time from writers who have not previously been published by commercial publishers. SOLARIS NOVA
https://rebellionpublishing.com/solaris-nova/submissions/
Your novel must be science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Your novel must be at least 60,000 words but no longer than
90,000 words. Your novel must be an original work of fiction, written wholly by you without the assistance of AI technology. FILTER PRESS
https://www.filterpressbooks.com/about#japEMz
Filter Press focuses on Colorado history, aimed at both the fiction and non-fiction market. Most of
our books are for educational or museum sales. CANELO
https://www.canelo.co/submissions/
What we're looking for in Genres:
Saga: historical novels about families facing adversity, generational series and women finding love. Action: military thrillers, spy and espionage, conspiracy thrillers.
Adventure: historical adventure, mythical retellings, historical fantasy. Romance: romance, romantic comedy, exotic locations. Commercial women's fiction: issues led narratives, moral dilemmas. Crime and psychological thrillers: cosy crime, police procedural, amateur sleuth, murder mystery, hardboiled. CREATURE
https://creaturehorror.com/submit
Creature accepts both agented and unsolicited submissions of feminist horror, dark speculative fiction, women-driven thrillers, spooky fantastical fiction, literary fiction, or genre-defying prose. We are looking for novels and novellas between 20,000 and 90,000 words. We are open to nonfiction projects if the work is a strong fit with Creature’s mission. We are not looking for short story collections or anthologies at this
time.
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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