FundsforWriters - October 31, 2014

Published: Fri, 10/31/14

Volume 14, Issue 44 | october 31, 2014

Message from the Editor

I spoke recently on a radio podcast about how setting can be used as character. But the emcee said I was lucky because I could use the beach in my new release Murder on Edisto. Other settings weren't that dynamic, and it was an easy setting to use as character. Not so, I said. Any setting has potential. I dare any writer to go to a setting, sit still in it with a notebook, and note 100 things about it. Using all the senses, and some deep introspective thought, write down 100 notes about smells, sights, feelings, sounds, tastes, movements, traffic patterns, architectural trends, nature, anything. A dozen is easy. One hundred taxes you, and that's what you need to stretch your mind so that the setting around you, no matter what it is, becomes a character in and of itself. I promise...it works.

Editor, FundsforWriters

Email Hope | Visit Website

Newsletter: ISSN: 1533-1326

FFW has proudly been on the Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers list every year since 2001

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.

WEBSITE - http://www.chopeclark.com

TWITTER - http://twitter.com/hopeclark

FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/chopeclark

ABOUT.ME - http://about.me/hopeclark

GOODREADS - http://www.goodreads.com/hopeclark

PINTEREST - http://www.pinterest.com/chopeclark

SOUNDCLOUD - https://soundcloud.com/hopeclark

iTUNES - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/c.-hope-clark/id885577265

Read the Newsletter Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?fundsforwriters

SPONSOR OF THE WEEK

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 formatting needs are coded into our templates for easy use. Enthusiastically endorsed by Hope!

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.

Editor's THOUGHTS

TWO KINDS OF EDITORS

For those of you who don't know, FundsforWriters purchases the features in each newsletter (i.e., the writing that isn't mine). Usually the payment is $50 for 500-600 words if payment is via PayPal. ($5 less if a writer makes me write a check and mail it.) Few things make me happier as editor of FundsforWriters than receiving a piece in my inbox that is a great unique topic, written without grammatical errors, with an attractive writing voice. What makes me do cartwheels is when someone gets the word count right, send
payment information in the email as requested, and doesn't send an attachment.

While it sounds like it doesn't take much to make me happy, in actuality, half the submissions that come to me do not meet the above criteria. I've turned down pieces just seeing the word count, reading the title, and receiving a piece in an attachment. Some I've sent back the message with suggestions. Many of them want to go back and forth with me on edits because, after all, I'm an editor, right?

The fact is . . . if I have to go back and forth with a writer on how to write a piece they are proposing to me, then I might as well write the piece myself. Taking a lot of time to help a writer rewrite a piece steals from me. I hire pieces to avoid writing them. I'm a fast feature writer, having done it for years. After the second or third email from someone asking me "Is this okay?", I'm done. I don't have the inclination to spend $50 of my money to provide an editorial service.

Wow, what bee's gotten under my bonnet today? None, really. It's just I'm wearing my editor's hat today, and that's the way editors have to think. The more they have to work with a writer on getting basics correct, the less they want to work with that writer. There are just too many other writers out there who get it right, and editors don't have a voluminous supply of time.

So when does an editor edit? When hired to do so. In some cases, the magazine or publisher
(or newsletter like mine) is the hiring party. Therefore, the editor is beholden to the publication to be efficient. When the writer hires the editor to help make their work better, then they can do the back and forth dance. An editor makes sure the writing is right . . . but who pays them dictates how they do it.

-Hope Clark

PLATFORM AND C. HOPE CLARK - Podcast at Giving Voice to Your Story

Hope Clark, author of the Carolina Slade and Edisto Island Mysteries, dazzles us with her latest success of how she's been able to use a beach setting as a character in a big way for her latest mystery, "Murder on Edisto" which has been a super success. Setting is becoming her brand to place fiction in a real place. Locals love it. Setting is just as important as plot and character. How can setting help build your author platform? Tune into this episode of "giving Voice to Your Story" and find out!
http://www.creatingcalmnetwork.com/giving-voice-to-your-story.html

Upcoming Book Signings!

Carolina Slade and Edisto Island Mysteries make great Christmas presents!

November 8 - 9-4 PM - Cut'N'Up Fundsraiser, Chapin, SC

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

WORDS OF SUCCESS

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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?

http://www.chopeclark.com/

Purchase any of Hope's books and receive a one-year subscription to TOTAL FFW free. Send receipt to hope@fundsforwriters.com

Success Story

We are always on the lookout for a success story that came about through a connection with
FundsforWriters. We want to share with other readers that dreams can come true! Send to
hope@fundsforwriters.com

featured article

You, Your Words, Your Brand

By John Kowalski

You write. From your deepest depths, the words flow. Your words paint pictures, weave stories and illuminate the imagination. But the feelings your words evoke need to be communicated to your audience through your marketing and promotional efforts, as well. How will your audience know who you are as a writer if your writing says one thing, but your actions say another? They won't. Your audience simply can't know who you are as a writer with a mismatched brand.

This is where the challenge lies; you're a writer, not a branding or marketing expert. As both a branding and marketing expert, I'm here to share my process with you.

A brand is more than a logo or a name.

A brand is a perception or a feeling that speaks to your audience's emotions. It's what you stand for and what your words represent. Your brand is the foundation of any relationship with your current or future audience. In my work with writers I begin brand discovery by following a few steps:

1. Dive into idea flow, brainstorming (Who you are). What ignites your passion and makes you feel alive? How will others remember you and your work?

2. Envision your work/life.

3. Define your greatest strengths are, aside from your learned traits.

4. List authors you admire and why.

5. Review the previous steps and begin to identify the top three overarching themes.

6. Reflect and revise.

7. Begin to define your platform. Develop a narrative with bullet points that support your top 3 overarching themes

8. Reflect on your results and revise.

9. Define: Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How of the above.

10. Mind map your definition.

11. Validate. Does your mind map give you the AH HA moment? If not, go back and sit with the step that you feel is a bit of a disconnect.

12. Connect the dots. What is your signature? What do you need to connect your platform and your brand with your audience? What actionable steps can you do immediately, and what are more long term?

The above steps may seem simple, but if you truly dedicate the time they deserve, it will prove challenging and fulfilling, hopefully achieving the elusive AH HA moments we all love.Take your time and know the process isn't a race. The time you spend on brand discovery is an investment in you and your future as a writer.

Once your brand has been discovered, it's time to integrate it throughout every touch point with your audience - your website, your social media profiles, your bio, etc. This brand discovery is your foundation for everything as you move forward.

You will use your documented brand as your roadmap - your checks and balances for everything moving forward. If a social media post doesn't support your brand for example, then it's off brand. Consistently supporting your brand through all your communication efforts will, over time, strengthen your brand and begin developing additional recognition with your audience. This is YOUR brand. It cannot be replicated by anyone. It is true to only you. But remember that in order to maximize its potential, it must be nurtured and fed.

Happy branding!

Bio: John Kowalski, author of Train to the Moon and thought leader behind Babacita, helps artists discover, integrate and influence their brand. As an author and former musician himself, he realized the need of artists, writers and musicians for branding expertise and guidance from someone that understands both the artistic side of branding and the foundational aspect of why a brand is important. He is passionate about connecting clients with their brand power to influence growth, expand audiences, and create loyalty amongst their followers. http://babacita.com

competitions

TWO SYLVIAS RUSSELL PRIZE
http://twosylviaspress.com/the-russell-prize.html
NO ENTRY FEE. Supporting the voices of poets of all ages who have not yet published a full-length
collection or a chapbook of poetry. The prize consists of a $500 prize and small medallion. Deadline November 2, 2014.

STACY DORIS POETRY PRIZE
http://www.14hills.net/content/stacy-doris-memorial-poetry-award-0
NO ENTRY FEE. The winning poet will receive $500 and publication in the Spring 2015 issue of Fourteen
Hills. Deadline January 15, 2015. Submit three to ten pages.

JANE LUMLEY PRIZE FOR EMERGING WRITERS
http://www.hermeneuticchaosjournal.com/contest.html
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 30, 2014. The Jane Lumley Prize is awarded annually to a writer who has not published a full length book of poetry or prose. This year is poetry. The winner, selected by our editor, will receive a prize of $300 and will be featured in Issue 6, to be published in January 2015. Publication will also be awarded to the first two semi-finalists. In addition, all the entries will be considered for publication.

LOCKED HORN PRESS
https://lockedhornpress.submittable.com/submit
$10 ENTRY FEE. Theme: America(s). The winner will receive: $250 and two contributor copies, along with
print and online publication. All work will be considered for publication. Deadline March 15, 2014. Please send up to three unpublished poems in a single file.

BAYOU PRIZES FOR FICTION AND POETRY
http://bayoumagazine.org/fiction-poetry-contests/
$20 ENTRY FEE. $1,000, publication and a year subscription for each winner. Submissions must be original, previously unpublished works of fiction, no longer than 7,500 words, or up to three poems. Deadline December 31, 2014.

GRANTS

THE HELEN WURLITZER FOUNDATION OF NEW MEXICO
http://www.wurlitzerfoundation.org/
The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico keeps a low-profile and serves as a haven for painters, poets, sculptors, writers, playwrights, composers, photographers and filmmakers. We are located on 18 acres in the heart of Taos, New Mexico, a 400-year-old multicultural community renowned for its popularity with artists.

THE HORNED DORSET COLONY
http://www.horneddorsetcolony.org
Emerging and professional artists working in the fields of writing,translating, musical composition, visual arts and interdisciplinary arts will be eligible to apply for a four-week residency in the rural town of Leondardsville, located in central New York State. The Horned Dorset Colony offers three sessions in 2015:
June 7 - July 2 (Deadline, Jan 9)
July 5 - July 30 (Deadline, Feb 21)
Aug 2 - Aug 27 (Deadline, Feb 21)

18th STREET ARTS CENTER
http://www.18thstreet.org
18th Street Arts Center's Visiting Artist Residency Program hosts artists from across the United States and from around the world. There are three rotating, live/work artist studios at the center where artists are in residence from one to three months (sometimes longer). This program hosts artists of all disciplines and occasionally invites art curators, writers and musicians. Located 1.5 miles from the ocean in the heart of Santa Monica, a suburb in the Los Angeles Westside area.

360 XOCHI QUETZAL
http://www.deborahkruger.com/1/art-residency.html
Located in central Mexico. National and international visual artists, photographers, writers, playwrights, new media makers and musicians over the age of 23 are welcome to apply. We base our selections on artists who demonstrate artistic accomplishment, submit a well-conceived residency project, indicate that this residency will make a significant impact and provide evidence of the self-reliance required for a residency in the developing world. One of the live/work spaces is earmarked for a writer and one for an
emerging artist.

THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
http://www.thearcticcircle.org
Artist and scientist led, The Arctic Circle is an annual expeditionary residency program. The Arctic Circle brings together international artists of all disciplines, scientists, architects, and educators who collectively explore remote and fascinating destinations aboard a sailing vessel. The Arctic Circle takes place in a mountainous Arctic archipelago just 10 degrees from the North Pole. Our vessel, a traditionally rigged Tall Ship, is equipped with work space, common areas and ample room for privacy and creativity. Deadline
January 15, 2015.

FREELANCE MARKETS

IT'S REALLY 10 MONTHS ANTHOLOGY
http://itsreally10months.com/anthology-submission/
We want to hear YOUR stories of pregnancy as well as labor and delivery. Make us laugh so hard we cry. Make us nod our heads at your totally relatable story. Make us feel like we are right there with you! Deadline January 15, 2015. 1,000 to 2,000 words. Pays $100.

MASSACHUSETTS MAGAZINE
http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/wri/4735037747.html
Freelance writers sought for monthly Massachusetts magazine with expertise and experience in the areas of boating, medicine, beauty, health or food writing (food writers must be available to review local restaurants). Nautical-related human interest stories also considered. Replies must include a 300-500 word writing sample in the body of the text. $100 per accepted piece.

GARDEN & GUN MAGAZINE
http://gardenandgun.com/article/writers-guidelines
Garden & Gun is a dynamic lifestyle magazine that's all about the magic of the New South -- the sporting culture, the food, the music, the art, the literature, the people, and the ideas. It is an enthusiast publication devoted to all things indigenous to the South and the Caribbean, and its main pursuit is a love of the land and a dedication to the sporting life. Front-of-book pieces: 200 to 500 words. Columns: 700 to 1,200 words. Features: 1,500 to 3,000 words.

BACKROADS
http://backroadsusa.com/writersguideline.html
The concept of Backroads is simple. It is a publication created with the idea of giving our readers places of interest to ride to and getting the most enjoyment out of their motorcycles. Although Backroads is geared towards the motorcycling population, it is not by any means limited to just motorcycle riders. Non-motorcyclists enjoy great destinations too. Columns of 500 to 750 words pay $75.

THE WRITER
http://www.writermag.com/the-magazine/submission-guidelines/
The Writer is dedicated to expanding and supporting the work of professional and aspiring writers with a straightforward presentation of industry information, writing instruction and professional and personal motivation. In the pages of our magazine, writers share experiences, expertise, struggles, advice, successes and suggestions.

JOBS

RADIO
Location Seattle, WA
http://www.journalismnext.com/jobdetails.cfm?jid=8819
KUOW is seeking a bright, dynamic and motivated communicator who wants to gain hands-on, resume-building experience in a newsroom. The Producer In Training will help support The Record, KUOW's local daily news magazine. This is a full-time, three-month position. For a omplete job description and application procedures go to: www.uw.edu/jobs, click on "Start your job search" and enter Req. # 114095. Deadline November 26, 2014. Do not apply to KUOW directly.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Location Washington DC
http://www.journalismnext.com/jobdetails.cfm?jid=8818
Help save places that matter! Preservation magazine tells stories that inspire people to protect historic places that represent our nation's diverse cultural experience. This is a great early-career opportunity for someone to join the team of journalists behind our award-winning, full color quarterly magazine and online media. The Editorial Assistant will work with the editors in researching, writing, editing, fact-checking, and proofing stories for the magazine and blog, as well as assisting with office functions.

publishers/agents

LLEWELLYN
http://www.llewellyn.com/about/author_submissions.php
Llewellyn is the oldest and largest publisher specializing in books for body, mind, and spirit. We accept submissions directly from authors (including first-time authors) and from literary agents. Our emphasis is on the practical: how it works, how it is done and self-help material. We accept complete manuscripts and proposals.

DENISE MARCIL AGENCY
http://denisemarcilagency.com/main.html
We specialize in nonfiction books that help people's lives. We are actively seeking self-help and popular reference books, including popular psychology, business/career, health, diet and fitness, and spirituality. We are looking for authors with national platforms such as a significant online following through blogs and social media, regular national seminars, columns, television and radio shows. In fiction, we represent
thrillers, suspense novels, and women's contemporary fiction books that reflect the lives, challenges, loves and family issues facing today's women - from twenty-somethings to retirees. We do not represent science fiction, children's books, or political non-fiction.

DON CONGDON AGENCY
http://doncongdon.com/submissions.shtml
We are currently accepting queries from new and established authors via regular mail and email. A query letter consists of a one-page description or synopsis of your work and your relevant background information. You may also include the first chapter. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Please query only one agent within the Agency at a time. For a listing of specific agent interests, please see our website.

DOUG GRAD LITERARY AGENCY
http://www.dgliterary.com/about.html
Interests: Narrative non-fiction, military, sports, celebrity memoir, thrillers, mysteries, historical fiction, young adult fiction, romance, music, style, business, home improvement, cookbooks, self-help, science and theater, science fiction (PLEASE, no Fantasy!), business, thrillers, mysteries, military, pop science, pop culture, and travel.