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Volume 14, Issue 42 | october 17, 2014 |
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Message from the Editor
Fall means the state fair in South Carolina. At noon you can enter for free and eat lunch, which has become an annual event for us. Hubby gets the polish dog with all the onions and peppers, but I have to have a corn dog. Lots of mustard. The smells, the sounds, the wondrous assortment of human beings . . . it's such a setting that would make for a great backdrop for any genre.
Editor, FundsforWriters
Newsletter: ISSN: 1533-1326
FFW has proudly been on the Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers list every year since 2001
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Read the Newsletter Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?fundsforwriters
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SPONSOR OF THE WEEK
Free E-course from a freelancer for The New York Times, TIME, CNN, ABC News, Ms., Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and more.
Editor's THOUGHTS
HOW DO YOU MAKE NOISE
I just received a recommendation from Amazon in my email box about the latest mysteries I might want to read. Sixteen books total, and I would have gladly purchased fourteen of them from the blurbs and author names. Then the wind left my sail as I realized that my book wouldn't make that list in a thousand years. Lee Childs, John Grisham, Clive Cussler, Robert B. Parker, Catherine Coulter, Kay Hooper, and so on. With so much splashy competition, how does a reader find my books?
All I can do, all you can do, all anyone can do . . . is work it one day at a time, every single day. Write guest blogs, make appearances, offer giveaways at Goodreads, work your Facebook page, create a newsletter, talk to bookstores and libraries. Yeah, sounds crazy hard, doesn't it? That's because it is. You make noise until someone hears you, and if you are lucky, they like your work well enough to tell others.
Keep in mind those big name authors have agents, PR specialists and marketing directors doing all that work for them. I listened to Lisa Jackson speak recently, and she openly admitted she doesn't have to promote her work. She just writes.
I know, it doesn't make you feel better. I wanted to say, "Seriously? You stood there in front of all of us struggling writers and had to say that?" I saw the guy next to me glance over at me, roll his eyes, and deflate, too.
Then you hear about the indie authors who found their niche online and sold 100,000 books . . . and better yet . . . got to keep 70 percent of the book's sales price. Suddenly you don't care about your name on any Amazon list, you want to be like them.
Listen (I say, as I gently put a finger under your chin and redirect your attention off these wonder-authors and back to me). You are not them. You cannot control luck, fate, or the planetary alignment. All you can do is this:
1) Write 1,000 words a day (or 500 or 2000, whatever your number) as if it were brushing your teeth.
2) Read good writing and study it. Reading bad writing does not make you better.
3) Write before you jump on the Internet.
4) Focus on your main project each day before you touch anything else.
5) Appear somewhere each and every day, online or in person, and talk your profession.
The successful writers do this. And yes, they have kids, church, jobs, and distractions. We are all more alike that we admit. Some of us just keep doing it until it works.
-Hope Clark
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Upcoming Book Signings!
Carolina Slade and Edisto Island Mysteries make great Christmas presents!
November 13 - 5-7 PM - Clock Tower Books, Georgetown, SC
November 15 - 8-2:30 - Crooked Creek Park, Chapin, SC
November 22 - 2-4 PM - Westwood Barnes & Noble, Charleston, SC
December 6 - 2-4 PM -Indigo Barnes & Noble, Hilton Head, SC
December 13 - 2-4 PM - Barnes & Noble, Mt Pleasant, SC
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WORDS OF SUCCESS
Turn your wounds into wisdom.
~ Oprah Winfrey
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MURDER ON EDISTO
A big city detective
A Lowcountry crime
When her husband is murdered by the Russian
mob, Boston detective Callie Jean Morgan suffers a mental break and
relinquishes her badge to return home to South Carolina. She has no idea how to
proceed with her life, but her son deserves to move on with his, so she relocates
them to the family vacation home.
But the day they arrive on Edisto Beach, Callie
finds her childhood mentor and elderly neighbor murdered. Her fragile sanity is
threatened when the murderer taunts her, and the home that was to be her
sanctuary is repeatedly violated. Callie loses her fight to walk away from law
enforcement as she becomes the only person able to pursue the culprit who's turned
the coastal paradise into a paranoid patch of sand where nobody's safe. But what
will it cost her?
Purchase any of Hope's books and receive a one-year subscription to TOTAL FFW free. Send receipt to hope@fundsforwriters.com |
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Success Story
NOTE: Since we had no success story this week, I substituted a comment from a reader. I think you'll find Mridu pretty awesome. ~Hope
---
Wow, pushback for saying people should be online? I'm the POSTER GIRL for writers having website. I lived in India and was approached by editors at US Weekly, Marie Claire (US edition), Cosmopolitan (UK), and several other publications because they were looking for writers and my website came up in search results. I've even been approached by NYC agents offering representation for my novel (the one I haven't yet finished). I think people who don't have websites are not only missing the point, they're losing out on opportunities.
Thanks for another great newsletter, Hope!
Cheers,
Mridu Khullar Relph
Bylines in The New York Times, TIME, CNN, ABC News, and more.
The International Freelancer (http://www.TheInternationalFreelancer.com)
She will happily share 21 of her best query letters with anyone who signs up for her free weekly newsletter.
featured article
Why Writers Celebrate Holidays Early
By Erica Naone
When the radio is playing Christmas music, it's easy to get inspired with ideas for stories related to the winter holidays. The problem is that's far too late to get those stories published in the current year. Because of all the steps required to get from submission to publication, editors and publishers need to receive holiday-themed content months in advance -- which means that, for writers, Christmas comes in July and Valentine's Day comes in September (if not earlier).
Here are five tips to help you beat the calendar and catch the eyes of editors:
1. Check publisher sites for special calls for holiday stories -- but look carefully. Many of these calls are posted separately from regular guidelines. Watch (and search) for terms such as "current calls," "open anthologies," or "special submissions."
2. If you'd like to submit a holiday-themed story to a magazine or website that publishes regularly, check for special holiday guidelines. If they're not provided, it's a good idea to mention the holiday you're aiming for in your cover letter and subject line. This helps identify the time-sensitive element and can also give you a leg up if they search for, say, Christmas stories all at once. Consider the market's typical response time when you send the story -- if they say they reply in 12 weeks but your story arrives in September, they might not see your submission until December.
3. Think beyond the big name holidays. Every year, I see lots of calls for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day, but don't forget to keep an eye out for Veterans Day or the Fourth of July. When winter holiday calls open, remember that might also include Hanukkah, Yule, or New Year's Eve. I once sold several stories to the same holiday market by writing about Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
4. Holiday stories require a writer to balance originality with the tried-and-true. Editors want fresh content, but the stories they publish also have to fit a holiday's recognizable themes or readers won't get what they're looking for. When I'm brainstorming holiday stories, I list emotions and imagery I associate with the holiday, then search for original ways to embrace them. Simply setting a story at a particular time of year won't be enough -- but repeating the plot of It's A Wonderful Life won't work either.
5. If celebrating a holiday gives you an idea for a related story idea or article, that's great! Store your holiday-themed ideas in a file -- but be sure to set a notification in your calendar to remind you to check the file in time to reach editors before they've finalized their holiday content.
You'll find plenty markets by following these suggestions for your genre and holidays of choice.
A hint to start your search:
Flash Fiction Online is an example of a regularly publishing site open to holiday submissions (note the holiday instructions in their guidelines). Open genre. Accepts 500-1000 word stories. Pays $60/story.
http://flashfictiononline.com/main/submission-guidelines/
Bio: Under her fiction-writing pseudonym, Erica Naone has published stories tied to Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, and even Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Find her online at http://ericanaone.wordpress.com.
competitions
SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARDS
http://www.societyofauthors.org/somerset-maugham
NO ENTRY FEE.
Deadline November 30, 2014. £1,000 for foreign travel. Open to British subjects by birth who are normally resident in the UK or Northern Ireland, under the age of 35. For a full-length book (fiction, nonfiction or poetry) first published in the UK in the year preceding entry.
BETTY TRASK PRIZE (UK)
http://www.societyofauthors.org/betty-trask
NO ENTRY FEE.
Deadline November 30, 2014. £20,000, to be used for foreign travel. For a published or unpublished novel written in a traditional or romantic (but not experimental) style, by a Commonwealth citizen under the age of 35.
COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE
http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/enter-2015-prize/
NO ENTRY FEE.
Deadline November 15, 2014. £5,000 for overall winner; £1,000 for each of four regional winners. Author must be citizen of a Commonwealth region (Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and Pacific) but need not be resident in the Commonwealth. Fiction 2,000-5,000 words.
BROOKLYN FILM & ARTS FESTIVAL BROOKLYN NONFICTION PRIZE
http://brooklynfilm.blogspot.com/
NO ENTRY FEE.
Deadline November 15, 2014. $500 prize. Creative nonfiction set in Brooklyn, New York, and
renders the borough's "rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer's actual experiences." 2,500 words maximum.
WASHINGTON WRITERS - POETRY AND FICTION PRIZES
http://www.washingtonwriters.org
$25 ENTRY FEE.
WWPH seeks manuscripts for their annual book competitions, The Jean Feldman Poetry Prize and The Washington Writers' Publishing House Fiction Prize. Writers who live within a 75-mile radius of the US Capitol in DC, MD and VA are eligible. WWPH is a non-profit cooperative press. Winners receive $1,000 and 50 copies of their book. The winners become members of WWPH and should be prepared to participate actively in the work of the press. Poetry manuscripts should be 50-70 pages, single or 1-1/2 spaced; novels or collections of short stories should be no more than 350 pages.
GRANTS
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR THE WINTER POETRY & PROSE GETAWAY
http://wintergetaway.com/registration/writers-conference-scholarships/
Four scholarships are being offered for first-time participants of the 22nd Annual WINTER POETRY & PROSE GETAWAY, January 16-19, 2015 in the Atlantic City area. Recipients may choose from workshops in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, screenwriting and more, including special advanced sessions with Stephen Dunn and Kim Addonizio. In addition, the conference also offers open mics, tutorials, talks, sunrise yoga, dancing at the Getaway Disco and writerly camaraderie. We have two different categories of scholarships available:
The Toni Brown Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by the Getaway faculty and staff, will offer places to two poets or writers age 31 and over. Deadline: Nov. 15, 2014.
The Jan-ai Scholarship will sponsor two poets or writers between the ages of 18 - 30. Deadline: Nov. 30, 2014.
ARTISTAY
http://www.artistay.org/find-your-residency/item/1218.html
Artistay's service is for artists throughout the world and from different cultural backgrounds, who are engaged in a professional process of research and creation and wish to pursue their craft in France at a residency. We work with experienced artists as well as with those seeking to establish a career and other art professionals. If you have a project requiring a residency, we can help you to achieve it.
JOSEPH KAROLYI FOUNDATION
http://karolyi.devpixup.com/index.php?langue=UK
18 rue du Preí aux Clercs, 75007 Paris, France
Tel.: 011-33-1-45-484448
International artists and writers colony with 2-3 positions as resident workers available; positions run for three months.
THE CAMARGO FOUNDATION
http://www.camargofoundation.org/
The Foundation's primary program consists of individual fellowship residencies of one to three months. The Foundation welcomes applications from individuals in the following areas: Scholars working in French and Francophone cultures, including cross-cultural studies that engage the cultures and influences of the Mediterranean region; visual artists, creative writers, film/video/new media directors, playwrights, composers, choreographers, and multidisciplinary artists. The Camargo Foundation welcomes scholars and artists from all countries and nationalities as well as all career levels.
DORA MAAR FELLOWSHIP
http://www.mfah.org/fellowships/doramaarhouse/fellowship/
The Brown Foundation Fellows Program, based at the Dora Maar House in Menerbes, France, provides residencies of one to three months for mid-career professionals in the arts and humanities to concentrate on their fields of expertise.
FREELANCE MARKETS
CHILDRENS WRITER
http://www.childrenswriter.com/guidelines.htm
For beginning to well-established professional writers interested in learning more and keeping up-to-date on writing for children, selling their writing, and the juvenile publishing industry. Features 1,700 to 2,000 words pay $300.
NJ FAMILY
http://www.njfamily.com/NJ-Family/About-Us/Writers-Guidelines/
Articles of 600 to 1,000 words, pays 10 cents/word. Accepts some reprints. Our mission is to help New Jersey parents (of babies through teens) be the best parents they can be; we strive for a good mix of fun and substantive stories.
NEBRASKALAND
http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/nebland/contact/guidelines.asp
Subject matter includes all varieties of outdoor recreation including camping, travel, canoeing, hunting, fishing, Nebraska's state parks and recreation areas, wildlife, natural history, unique personalities, art, culture, history and personal reminiscence. All articles have a strong Nebraska association. The magazine welcomes freelance submissions and pays $.15 per word of edited text. Freelance submissions for photographs are also welcome, and pay the following rates: Front cover, $250; Inside front cover, $150; Back cover, $100; and $125 per individual page.
IN TOUCH MAGAZINE
http://www.intouch.org/magazine/content/topic/718#.VD37XWAtBFo
In Touch magazine strives to inspire, encourage, educate, and change lives by communicating God's Truth, and connect people to God's work through In Touch Ministries. The current rate is 30-35 cents per word for first rights. We do not accept reprints at this time.
A&U MAGAZINE
http://aumag.org/wordpress/contact-us/submissions/
As a national, nonprofit HIV/AIDS magazine, A&U is interested in publishing articles about AIDS-related advocacy, treatment and care, community-based organizations and campaigns, and artists and creative writers responding to the pandemic. We're looking for writers of all serostatuses to help us showcase a wide range of perspectives about living with HIV/AIDS. Accepts features and fiction.
JOBS
FREELANCE COPYWRITER
Location Miami, FL
https://starboardcruise.tms.hrdepartment.com/cgi-bin/a/highlightjob.cgi?jobid=233
The copywriter will be responsible for conceiving, writing, and executing B2C marketing materials. They will participate in brainstorming sessions and work closely with our design team on a range of printed and digital media, including newsletters, invitations, events, catalogs, signage, websites, emails and video. We are looking for someone who will bring a creative angle to all projects and who will be able to transition seamlessly among different brands, products and voices.
NOTE: We post one or two jobs each week so you can get an idea of what's out there. Many of these jobs can occur with other companies in other locales. Be open-minded and start looking in your area.
publishers/agents
BLACK BALLOON PUBLISHING
http://blackballoonpublishing.com/
Black Balloon Publishing is an independent publisher that is a few years old. They have online and print distribution. Their books tend to be well reviewed and many have been blurbed by famous established authors. They publish literary fiction, non-fiction, and memoirs. They try to focus on publishing things that are odd or quirky. It would be appropriate to use the term hipster to describe most of their books.
FELONY AND MAYHEM
http://felonyandmayhem.com/
We publish only mystery fiction. There may come a time when we will publish other genres, but we do not currently have any plans to do so. Additionally, we are not equipped to publish novellas or short stories; our minimum length is about 75,000 words.
WALRUS PUBLISHING
http://www.walruspublishing.com/submissions/
Walrus Publishing is open to general submissions of original, unpublished work. We publish Trade Fiction of any genre with the exception of pornography. We also accept poetry collections (40 pages or more) from an individual or multiple poets.
ANDREWS MCMEEL PUBLISHING
http://andrewsmcmeel.com/our-company/submissions
Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC (AMP), a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, is a leading publisher of cookbooks, gift books, humor books, middle-grade fiction titles, and cartoon collections, publishing as many as 250 new titles annually. AMP is also the premier calendar publisher in the country, annually publishing calendars based on many top-selling properties. We're always looking for new authors and new book ideas.
SPONSORS
Grab Free eBook: How To Sell More Books With Awesome Amazon Descriptions
Hawk'sNest Writers Conference
October 25, 2014
8:30am - 4pm
Black Earth, WI
Cost: $50 (includes catered lunch)
Many interesting subjects plus receive a critique of 10 pages of your manuscript (any genre) plus a 10-minute session with a literary agent for an additional $40.
Further information at: www.hawksnestwriters.com
To register call Kathy at 608-278-8575
Authors: Come join over 90 authors that are featured in our 2nd Annual BookGoodies Network Holiday Gift Guide that will be distributed to over 25,000 readers. Submissions close on October 19th.
Special coupon for $10 off for Funds For Writers subscribers: FFW10
Submitting to the main guide gets you automatically included in the Genre focused guides. Currently there are separate Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's and Romance guides. We will be adding others determined by number of submissions. Come join us!
Click here to visit Book Design Templates.- Instead
of trying to decide what your books should look like, we've made all
the decisions for you. Just follow our friendly instructional guide,
pour in your text and your book will be ready to go. All your styles and
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ALSO - Our cover templates are out!
The template actually comes with 3 different files, one each for
CreateSpace, Lightning Source/Spark, and a generic template for other
printers. We've also packaged the template with 20 fonts to make using
it even easier.
GET WEBSITES THAT ROCK, BOOK COVERS THAT SIZZLE
Shaila
Abdullah has over a decade of experience designing websites for
authors. Being an award-winning author herself, she understands the
industry, and will provide you with a content management website that
reflects your unique style, genre, and personality. Other design
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come across you (thanks C Hope Clark!) and will recommend you to those
who are in the market for a new site." --Lyn Fairchild Hawks, author, http://lynhawks.com/
"When
I first saw Shaila's work, I was struck by the fact that each site she
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personality of the business it represents. Her suggestions, insight, and
artistic talent made the final product much better than what I'd
envisioned on my own." --Jacqueline Adams, writer, http://jacqueline-adams.com
A few client sites:
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 Copyright 2000-2014, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326
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