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Editor’s THOUGHTS

THE BIGGEST ERROR OF A NEW WRITER

Here lately I've received a rash of emails asking me how to become a freelance writer and make money. Well, actually, they ask how they can write and get paid by me, and then they ask me to mentor them so that their writing is good enough. 

So, let's look at this for a moment . . . I'm supposed to take on someone who is not a commercial writer, teach them how to write such that it IS marketable, then pay them $50 for 500 words that fit FundsforWriters. 

Some submitters become quite disgruntled when I refuse them. Some pitch me anyway, then when I reject (always with reasons to help them learn), they get angry that I am not giving a new writer a chance by educating them how to write it better. 

Note to writers everywhere: It is not an editor's job to teach you how to write. When you pitch, you are professing to already know the craft. It should be only a matter of the writer's pitch fitting the need of the publication.

The best ways to learn how to write for a publication:

1) Read all the freelance chapters in a Writers Market.
2) Read enough of the publication you're pitching to understand their style.
3) Read the guidelines and study the editorial calendar (if available).
4) Ensure your writing is polished enough so that the editor wants to read more.
5) Know the Chicago Manual of Style.

Second note to writers: Editors are not there to edit your work for you. They are there to edit for the publication, to find the best topics for their readers and then edit the stories to fit the space. 

Take the time to learn how to write well. Then take the time to learn how to pitch smart. Do not use editors for your trial and error learning process. Find beta readers and critique groups to test drive your work. 

You cannot undo a first impression, and yes, many editors remember. An idea that doesn't quite fit is one thing....not knowing how to write is quite another. 

Freelance writing resources for the new freelance writer:

http://www.therenegadewriter.com/
http://www.makealivingwriting.com/ 
http://www.writersmarket.com/


 

WE HAVE 2 NEWSLETTERS - THE FREEBIE and THE PAID SUBSCRIPTION . . . 

Remember that FundsforWriters, this newsletter, is free. Send it to whomever you like and share it liberally. But if you are serious about writing income resources, and your time is limited, consider subscribing to TOTAL FundsforWriters. It comes out biweekly, with 70 contests, markets, grants, retreats, publishers, freelance gigs, magazines and more, It's huge, but it saves you a lot of time searching. It's $18.75 for a year, or 26 issues. To subscribe, simply go towww.paypal.me/chopeclark/18.75 . It will be sent to the email you used unless you specify otherwise.

NOTE TO THE WISE: Send a receipt for one of Hope's books and receive TOTAL for free.    
(**and feel free to steal this graphic for your own site!)






Take a look at our Resources page at the FundsforWriters website. Hope has read each and every one of these books, and most are still dog-eared and highlighted on her book shelf and come highly recommended. 





 

Upcoming Book Signings and Classes! (All times in Eastern.)    May 24 - Darlington Library, SC - Getting Published - 6:30 PM   May 26 - Anderson County Library, SC - Getting Published - 6:30 PM   Jun 7 - McCaskill Book Club - St Andrews Ctr, Cola, SC - 9:30 AM   Jun 14 - Hanahan Mystery Book Club, Hanahan, SC Library, 4PM   June 21 - Skype - Rinehart Book Club, Florida   Jun 23-25 - Midwest Writers Center Conference - Davenport, IA   July 8-11 - Writers Retreat, Bellwood, NE   July 13-20 - Las Vegas, NV (Open to appearances)   Aug 1 - Batesburg Library Mystery Club, Batesburg, SC -6PM   Aug 18-21 -Killer Nashville Conference, Franklin, TN   Sept 18 - Columbia County Library, Evans, GA - 2:30 PM   Sept 25 - Columbia County Library, Evans, GA - 2:30 PM   Oct 2 - Columbia County Library, Evans, GA - 2:30 PM   Oct 9 - Columbia County Library, Evans, GA - 2:30 PM   Oct 28-Nov 4 - Edisto Beach, SC - booksigning

	THE EDISTO ISLAND MYSTERY SERIES http://www.chopeclark.com/ "A sparkling Edisto Island setting, a flawed heroine, a riveting mystery, and the hint of a paranormal twist makes EDISTO JINX the book for your beach bag. Author C. Hope Clark brings to life the uniqueness that is Edisto, peppering the island with endearing and strong-minded characters that linger in your mind long after the last page is turned." --Karen White, New York Times Bestselling Author, www.karen-white.com On MURDER ON EDISTO - “A taut, high-tension page-turner—in a unique and fascinating setting. An absolute winner!” –Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity winning author Purchase any of Hope's books and receive a one-year subscription to TOTAL FFW free. Send receipt to hope@fundsforwriters.com For an autographed version, click here.

Success Story

Hi Hope,
 
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all you share through FundsforWriters. Your listing for Chanticleer Book Reviews was the spark that started ongoing paying work for them with an exceptional editor. I'm already on my third assignment, looking forward to more work, and extremely happy to have made this connection.
 
Thanks,
Angie Mangino
www.AngieMangino.com​​​​​​​
 

featured article

FundsforWriters to the Rescue

By Shirley Raye Redmond
 
I have been writing in my spare time for more than 40 years. My file cabinets are crammed full of research notes, ideas for future articles, and manuscripts in various stages of completion. Fortunately, I have sold many magazine and newspaper articles, as well as two dozen children’s books, but I still have quite a collection of rejected picture book and early reader manuscripts. I also have the letters stating why they were rejected in the first place.

When I wrote about Cathy Williams, the only female buffalo soldier in U.S. history, multiple editors told me she was “too obscure” to be the subject of a nonfiction picture book. I protested, pointing out that teachers and librarians are always looking for new stories for Black History Month, Women’s History Month and even Veterans Day. But no, they still weren’t interested. Cathy, they insisted, was just not marketable.

Editors also rejected my fictional children’s story, “Oh-So-Clever,” a tale inspired by the legend of a Ryukyuan prince named Sashiki, who is said to have united the island of Okinawa without bloodshed in the year 1429, using fine arts rather than martial ones. Again, I received multiple rejection letters, even though children’s book editors are always clamoring for more cultural diversity in manuscript submissions. 

When I wrote a nonfiction reader for youngsters in first through third grades about Admiral Peary returning from Greenland with the largest meteorite “in captivity,” editors deemed the subject too obscure as well — even though that particular 34-ton space rock remains on display in the Hall of Meteorites at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Thousands of school children take field trips there each year. From a marketing aspect, it would seem like a perfect book to sell in the museum gift shop there and at other museums with meteorites on display. 

Undaunted, I retrieved these rejected manuscripts from the file cabinet and looked at them again. I decided to think outside the picture book box and transform my manuscripts into articles instead. Reasoning that if children’s book editors considered my proposed topics too obscure, then children’s magazine editors might be equally shortsighted. Instead, I decided to use my extensive research notes to transform the original manuscripts into articles suitable for adult publications, which pay more generously than children’s magazines anyway.

The market listings posted on the FundsforWriters website proved to be quite inspirational. 

To my delight, the editor at Rural Missouri, (http://ruralmissouri.coop/submissions.php) the state where Cathy Williams was born and raised, promptly bought my article, “The Buffalo Soldier’s Secret.” It appears in the November 2014 issue.

The Elks Magazine (https://www.elks.org/elksmag/WritersGuidelines.pdf) bought first North American serial rights to the Robert Peary meteorite article, as well as the one about the amazing globetrotting photographers, Osa and Martin Johnson — another topic I had hoped to pursue for a children’s book. This article appears in the May 2015 issue. 

“Oh-So-Clever” sold to the Center for Education Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas — a market mentioned in one of the weekly Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators electronic newsletters (https://cete.submittable.com/submit) that I receive each week. The center administers a variety of standardized tests and continues to accept submissions for poetry, informational and narrative texts suitable for students in grades 3-12.

I have been successful in recycling this first batch of manuscripts and will retrieve another handful from the file drawer with the intention of giving them a makeover as well. I simply need to shift mental gears and think imaginatively outside the box — and review the market listing at FundsforWriters again.

BIO-
Shirley Raye Redmond writes in Los Alamos, New Mexico and is a former columnist for the Santa Fe New Mexican. Visit her website at www.shirleyrayeredmond.com

 

COmpetitions

UNDER THE GUM TREE CONTEST
http://www.underthegumtree.com/contest
$20 ENTRY FEE.
The theme of this contest is (un)seen/(un)heard. For this contest, we are particularly interested in true stories, articulated in any form (straight-ahead narrative, lyric, modular, etc.), that invite us as readers and people into a space, experience, examination, or contemplation that brings us closer to our raw, complex, and varied humanity/ies, and challenges us to deeper authenticity with ourselves and fuller empathy toward others. Deadline June 30, 2016. Limit 5,000 words. One winner will receive a modest $300 (and more, if submission fees permit!), publication in our January 2017 issue, and a one-year subscription to keep or gift.



THE PAZ PRIZE FOR POETRY
http://thecenteratmdc.org/site/programs/paz_prize_intro.html
NO ENTRY FEE.
The award recognizes a previously unpublished poetry book written in Spanish by a poet residing in the U.S. The winning book will be published in a bilingual edition by Akashic Press, and its author will receive a $2,000 cash prize. Deadline June 15, 2016. Length of approximately 48 pages. 



SOUTHERN WRITERS MAGAZINE SHORT STORY CONTEST
http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/shorts.html
$15 ENTRY FEE.
First place $250, publication, year's subscription to Southern Writers. Second place $100, publication, year's subscription. Third place $50, publication and year's subscription. Ten runners up - publication and subscription. Manuscript word count 1,500 words maximum.



I MUST BE OFF CONTEST
http://www.imustbeoff.com/p/blog-page.html
NO ENTRY FEE.
It's that time of year again: time to type up those travel articles, travel anecdotes and travel reflections. If it's about travel, we want to read it. We want to read about that place that changed you.We want to read about the experiences you can't wait to share with other travelers. Maximum 1,200 words. Deadline July 31, 2016. Up to three photos may be submitted with your entry. Photos not necessary to win. The top essays will be published at I Must Be Off! (Authors retain copyright.) Second place prize: $50. First place prize: $200. Readers' Choice Award ($50) based on unique hits and comments tallied on September 30, 2016.
 

GRANTS

BINDERCON SCHOLARSHIPS
http://nyc.bindercon.com/apply-scholarship/
The Out of the Binders Scholarship Program is designed to increase diversity by offering free admission to up to 25 promising writers who might not otherwise be able to attend due to financial hardship. Diversity includes but is not limited to: age; racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds; sexual orientation; gender identity; marital and parental status; disability. The scholarships include free attendance to all the events on Saturday, October 29, and Sunday, October 30, networking opportunities to meet agents and editors, and a ticket to the VIP party, but do not include airfare and/or accommodations, or food. (Some meals may be provided as part of the conference programming.) Additionally, we are thrilled to offer stipends to select applicants: parents who require financial assistance with childcare and out of town attendees in need of travel assistance. Please indicate if you would like to be considered for any of these stipends. Deadline May 31, 2016. 



MEXICO RESIDENCIES
http://azarts.gov/arts-op/self-directed-instructional-artist-writers-residencies-mexico/
http://www.arquetopia.org
Arquetopia is an international award-winning, Mexican official nonprofit foundation run entirely by artists. Has many opportunities for those in the arts, to include writers, with deadline of May 29, 2016. 



AUSTRALIAN INDIVIDUAL ARTIST GRANTS
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/funding/new-grants-model/arts-projects-for-individuals-and-groups/
Deadlines June 7 and October 4, 2016. If you are applying as an individual or group, you must be a practicing artist or arts worker and an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident. Applications for funding to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander panel must come from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals or groups.



THE CAMBRIDGE WRITERS' WORKSHOP SCHOLARSHIPS
https://cww.submittable.com/submit/58767
https://cww.submittable.com/submit/52214
For student writers, diversity fellows, and writers who are parents. Join the CWW 2016 Summer in Barcelona and South of France Writing Retreat (July 18-26, 2016) and Summer in Granada, Spain Writing Retreat (July 28-August 5, 2016). Limited scholarships of $500-$1,500 are available for each program. Scholarships are available for student writers (for undergraduate or graduate students in literary fields), diversity fellows (for writers of color and writers from marginalized communities), and for writers who are parents. Deadline June 10, 2016. 

 

FREELANCE MARKETS

WELL FAMILY - THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/category/family/?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/contact/directory.html
A new blog for news about parenting, child health and relationships, with advice also from experts to help every family live well. Pays $100. 



THE TABLET
http://www.tabletmag.com/about
Tablet is a daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture. Tablet welcomes submissions from freelance writers. Please submit a full pitch — including a detailed description of what you’d like to write, a brief biography, links to previously published stories, and, if necessary, a short writing sample — to the appropriate section editor. Do not submit a completed piece. 



UPWORTHY
http://www.upworthy.com/pitch-us
Upworthy reaches a massive audience with meaningful stories every day, and we're looking for original stories that support our mission of creating a better world. Pays up to $200 for 500-word pieces.



TWOPLUSTWO MAGAZINE
http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/contribute.php
The Two Plus Two Internet Magazine accepts articles on any topic related to poker or gambling. Articles should be about 1,000-2,000 words. If accepted, we will pay a fee of $200 (per article) by the end of the month after the article appears on www.twoplustwo.com. 
 

JOBS

publishers/agents

MIDNIGHT INK
https://www.midnightinkbooks.com/
Midnight Ink is a fresh new voice in mystery fiction committed to publishing suspenseful tales of all types: hard-boiled thrillers, cozies, historical mysteries, amateur sleuth novels, and more. Agents may submit manuscripts at any time. Authors without agents may only submit if the manuscript was requested after a face-to-face pitch made during a conference. 



CROOKED LANE BOOKS
http://www.crookedlanebooks.com/
A crime fiction imprint that publishes today’s most gripping mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. From high-concept thrillers and white-knuckled suspense to traditional mysteries and literary crime, our titles consistently deliver driving plots, engaging characters, and stunning twists from the most talented authors on the scene.



THE POISONED PENCIL
http://thepoisonedpencil.com/author-submissions/
The Poisoned Pencil publishes young adult mystery in trade paperback and ebook editions. We have full distribution to the trade through IPS. Our advance is $1,000.



MERCER UNIVERSITY PRESS
http://www.mupress.org/Assets/ClientPages/Submission-Guidelines.aspx
Mercer University Press seeks to publish scholarly works of excellence in
the following fields:
(1) Religious Studies, particularly Biblical Studies;
(2) Philosophy
(3) Southern Culture, particularly History of the South
(4) Fiction/Literary



HEROES & HEARTBREAKERS
http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/page/submissions
HeroesandHeartbreakers.com welcomes submissions of original romance stories in all subgenres (erotica, contemporary, paranormal/urban fantasy, women’s fiction/chick lit, historical, romantic suspense, etc). We are not interested in “true confessions” or other non-fiction material. We are looking for short stories (15k-30k words) as well as novellas (30k-50k words) and category-length works (up to 60k). Novellas and category-length romances would most likely be considered for publication as serials.

 

SPONSORS

ell the Truth, But Tell it Slant

A Writing Retreat Like No Other

Two spots remain for Elephant Rock's Fourth Annual Summer Solstice Retreat, June 12-17! This retreat is truly like no other. You will not workshop. You will not critique. You will not, for just one week, tear the work down. Instead, you will tap into your own fierce, original voice using some of the most innovative, unconventional writing exercises and techniques you will ever encounter. You will fall into open mode, allowing yourself to immerse in the beauty of language, the metaphor in all of life, and the absolute necessity of humor and play as a portal to the profound. All of this creative energy will be deepened by yoga, meditation, chanting, and an intensely supportive and inspiring community of fellow writers. Held on a beautiful secluded island at historic Stout's Lodge at the height of summer, our retreat is nestled in the trees amid lapping waves and birdsong. Be prepared to surprise yourself, and to laugh, a lot. And be ready to leave with seeds for many projects to come. As one writer said last year, "I am still searching for words ... because what happened at Stout's was so huge." That's the heart of the Elephant Rock Summer Solstice Retreat. All levels and genres welcome. Tuition includes 5 nights' lodging and all vegetarian meals, daily writing, yoga, & meditation, kayaks and outdoor activities, evening readings, bonfires, and music, Solstice Eve celebration, and more. Don't wait. This retreat is nearly full and always sells out.

 For all retreat details, visit Elephant Rock Retreats at: http://elephantrockretreats.com/upcoming-retreats/

Contact: Jeannine Ouellette – elephantrockretreats@gmail.com or call 612-801-2566





 

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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
http://www.fundsforwriters.com

Copyright 2000-2016, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326

**Note that FundsforWriters.com places paid advertising in this newsletter, ALL ads being 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. But the mailing list is not sold to third parties. You will not receive this newsletter without your permission. It's physically impossible since recipients must opt-in, giving us permission to send the newsletter. If at any time you no longer with to receive the newsletter, click the UNSUBSCRIBE link at the bottom of each newsletter. We want you to enjoy this newsletter at your pleasure, not be forced to read anything you do not wish to receive. The website is not advertised using unsolicited messages by Aweber, affiliates or other third parties. Direct any complaints, suggestions, and accolades to Hope Clark at hope@fundsforwriters.com. We are an anti-spam site.