SPONSOR OF THE WEEK

The NORTH STREET BOOK PRIZE, now in its fifth year from Winning Writers, will award $10,500 in cash prizes to today's best self-published books. Top prize: $3,000. Deadline: June 30. Entry fee: $60 per book. Six categories: Mainstream/Literary Fiction, Genre Fiction, Creative Nonfiction & Memoir, Poetry, Children's Picture Book, and Graphic Narrative (new). Winners receive additional benefits from our co-sponsors, BookBaby  and Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter. Gifts for everyone who enters.  Submit online or by mail.

EMBRACING CHANGE

Easy words to say. The type of words seen on decorative Facebook posts with oceans in the background, like you never thought about dealing with change before.

I recently had a hard day. Not of challenge or obstacles, but of the silent yet keen edge of change. After attending a luncheon featuring an author I'd just learned of, an annual event I'd attended for years, I left deflated and demoralized, and I couldn't put my finger on the reason why. Actually spent the better part of the day pondering what in the world had knocked my internal gyroscope off its center. My very core felt bruised.

Nobody did anything horrendously wrong or broke any social mores to get up at arms about. That literary event had become a staple in my world, but it had developed new leadership, and some of the old guard was gone. The speaker wasn't like the others, a bit formulaic without much inspiration, and the event adjourned with little fanfare, less charm. . . the sense of special gone. It was more about me accepting the fact that nothing remains the same. I'm usually good at embracing change, often excited about the opportunity it presents, but this altered an environment around me that I'd come to rely upon as. . . unchangeable. It was like losing a close friend, with nobody else around to fill that void the way they did. . . knowing the change was permanent. 

Like when we have to learn how to publish differently or lose an editor that's always molded us well. Like when a magazine folds for which we've written dozens of pieces. Like when we change to self-publishing because traditional isn't paying as it used to, only to learn that indie is a whole different animal that might not pay any different. Or when publishers (of any kind) change rules and methods we've come to consider second nature.

So, I did something I haven't done in years. I opened a book of poems. Mary Oliver, to be precise. She was so good at simplifying life and noting what's important. I turned to poetry to calm my mind and to make sense of the change. 

Change happens, and I'm supposed to be a part of it, so I can help it be better, too.






AND A NOTE: I hope to see you in St. Louis! The time is creeping close! I'll be teaching a 50-minute class on Grabbing the Gold Ring, and a Master Class for two hours on Funding Streams for Writers which comes with a free book from me! 





 

SUPER SPONSOR WORTH NOTING

HOPE'S APPEARANCES

 

SUCCESS QUOTE

SUccess Story

Help Hope and a Happy Memorial Day weekend! I have been reading your blog for quite some time now and have won some prestigious contests posted on your site. Yet, this note is not to just thank you for your dedication and combing such wonderful resources for your readers, it is to thank you for pushing writers to write, to submit, and to work at improving their craft, as well as reach for their dreams. As an “older” writer, my dream was to be chosen to attend a writer’s residency, a gift that would provide uninterrupted time and validate. For several years, I applied to various residencies listed on your site as well as other sites. Recently, I was awarded a one-month long (paid) KIRA international residency at Kingsbrae Gardens in St. Andrews on the Bay in Canada. Though I had not found the residency on FundsforWriters, I found your tips and challenges to be encouraging enough to look deeper, write better, and keep trying. This wonderful residency will afford me to immerse myself once more in my work, which was blown away with the  winds of Hurricane Michael. Though we are still in recovery mode, I see an end to repairs and the renewal of my writing. Thank you again for your realistic tips and kicks in the butt!

Ginger Marcinkowski
Panama City Beach, FL

P.S. As I was writing this, I just received word that I won a Nancy Zafris Short Story fellowship at The Porches for five days in July! God bless these wonderful people who so generously support the arts!

- - - 
If FundsforWriters has enabled your writing career in any way, let us know so we can share. Email hope@chopeclark.com 

 

Featured article

Eight Different Types of Content Writing That Can Make You Money  

By Dan Brotzel

Content is the material produced by businesses to market themselves and covers everything from brand videos to in-depth white papers. Many writers in the content world have no special marketing or subject-matter knowledge but have carved a freelance niche writing content for clients. Below are eight common types of content work that you may be able to make money from. 

To access this sort of work, try contacting agencies that work for clients - marketing agencies, content houses, web development agencies, SEO companies, and the like. There is also a wide range of content platforms and job boards that put work the way of freelancers, such as Upwork, ProBlogger, and Contently. 

You can also source content work by approaching businesses directly, and through your personal network. LinkedIn can be very useful here - look for businesses that are a good fit for the content types and subjects you think you could write about and connect with people with titles such as marketing or communications manager. Focus on businesses with over 20 employees, as they are more likely to have a budget to pay for content.   

Product pages  

Businesses often use freelancers when they have a huge number of products and need unique copy for each – DIY products, say, or auto components. Here you'll often have a specific template to follow, plus instructions on brand voice.  

PPC (pay-per-click) ad copy

These are the paid-for ads that appear among your search results when you look for something via a search engine. Many businesses still live or die on their ability to rank highly in search, so will spend a lot of money on a range of PPC ads. The copy has to follow a strict but easy-to-learn template. PPC stands for pay per click – the search engine gets a small fee whenever anyone clicks on an ad.  

Destination guides

Travel companies often use these factual guides for the places around the world they serve. The guides are usually written to a specific template and tone of voice, and will be designed to help the business improve its search rankings.  

Social content

Many businesses use freelancers to help them keep up a supply of fresh tweets, LinkedIn posts, and Facebook posts. You may be repurposing content, highlighting competitions or giveaways, or creating new copy based on news stories that are relevant for the business.

Featured snippets

Featured snippets are those pulled-out sections of content that appear high on a search results page, often in the form of a list or Q&A. Because these look like Google's ideal answer to a query, they attract lots of clicks, and businesses try to (re)write their copy to get it selected as the snippet for a particular search query. There's a whole best practice here, but you'll usually be given guidelines. One tip is to adopt a neutral, Wikipedia-style tone that's not salesy or self-serving.  

Blog content 

Blogs are still a very popular content tactic for businesses. Typically posts will be an expert take on a topic that the business has expertise on, eg an insurance company might look like at the impact of climate change on premiums. You may need to interview an expert, usually by phone or email. Good fresh ideas for posts are frequently in demand too.

ebooks

In content terms, these are usually lively, very visual, in-depth pdf treatments, editorial rather than salesy in flavour, of a particular area that a business wants to show potential customers it knows about. For example, an office massage company might want an ebook called Ten Fun Ways to Motivate Your Staff – one of which will just happen to be massage, of course.   

UX copy

A more specialised – but still learnable – area, UX copy is all the text elements that help a user move through an online process such as opening a bank account or completing a holiday purchase. Here you usually work with wireframes of the planned digital route. The UX copy must be economical and intuitive and will often be tested several times with real users.

BIO - Dan Brotzel (@brotzel_fiction) is director of UK content agency Sticky Content and co-author of a new comic novel, Kitten on a Fatberg (Unbound). As a reader of this newsletter, you can pre-order Kitten on a Fatberg for a 10% discount – quote KITTEN10


 

COmpetitions

IRON HORSE REVIEW PHOTOFINISH
https://www.ironhorsereview.com/photofinish
$5 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 12, 2019. We seek well-crafted and very brief ekphrastic work that pushes beyond the absolute literal details of a photo prompt; we're looking for work that recognizes what's hidden in the world we see. We provide the photo right here every May. Responses should be no longer than 500 words for prose or 15 lines for poetry, and they should be submitted electronically via our Submittable page in June. Winner receives $250. The winner and nine finalists are published in the e-edition, released at midnight on Dec 31, our last horse over the year's finish line.



RATTLE POETRY PRIZE
https://www.rattle.com/prize/about/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 15, 2019. The annual Rattle Poetry Prize offers $10,000 for a single poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $200 each and publication, and be eligible for the $2,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote. Open to writers, worldwide; poems must be written in English (no translations).



LUCILLE CLIFTON POETRY PRIZE
http://backbonepress.org/lucille-clifton-prize/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 15, 2019. Submit up to three unpublished poems. The winner will be awarded $500, set of Clifton poetry collections via BOA Editions along with publication via our website. 



ORCA COVER LETTER CONTEST
https://orcalit.com/2019/05/12/cover-letter-contest/
$5 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2019. We love cover letters. The best of them are like flash fiction, expressing a story of their own, and making us excited to see the submission they introduce. In 300 words or less, introduce yourself, and/or your submission (real or imagined). Make us laugh, make us cry, make us wish there was a story attached for us to read. First place: $200. Second place: $75. Third place: $50.



BELLEVUE LITERARY REVIEW CONTEST
https://bellevueliteraryreview.submittable.com/submit
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 1, 2019. The annual BLR Prizes award outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. Three categories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. First prize is $1,000 (in each genre) and publication in the Spring 2020 issue of BLR. Honorable mention winners will receive $250 and publication in the Spring 2020 issue of BLR. Fiction: The Bellevue Literary Review seeks character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi,  horror).  Our word max is 5,000, though most of our published stories tend to be in the range of 2,000-4,000 words. Creative Nonfiction: We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Maximum 5,000 words. Poetry: Please submit no more than three poems. 



CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOOK AWARD
https://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/publications/book_award.html
Deadline July 1, 2019. The purpose of the award is to recognize and promote exciting new literary works in celebration of California’s heritage. The topic should be broad enough to be of interest to readers throughout the state. Authors with either manuscripts in progress or finished manuscripts are welcome to apply. Manuscripts, when finished, should be at least 40,000 words. While open to other possibilities, preference will be given to manuscripts of fewer than 75,000 words.



AUTUMN HOUSE FICTION PRIZE
https://www.autumnhouse.org/submissions/fiction/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2019. The winner receives publication of a full-length manuscript and $2,500. All finalists will be considered for publication. Fiction submissions should be approximately 200-300 pages. All fiction sub-genres (short stories, short-shorts, novellas, or novels) or any combination of sub-genres are eligible.



SPOKANE PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
http://willowspringsbooks.org/submit/
$27.50 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2019. The winner receives $2,000 plus publication. Open to all United States authors, regardless of publication history. Manuscripts should be no less than 98 pages (with no maximum page count) and include at least three short stories. 

 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

BOEHM MEDIA FELLOWSHIPS
https://ocimpact.com/boehm-media-fellowship/
The Boehm Media Fellowships provide journalists, storytellers, authors, bloggers, writers, editors, filmmakers, and other media experts at the helm of social innovation with a major focus on poverty alleviation the opportunity to participate as Delegates to the Opportunity Collaboration. This fellowship aims to grow networking opportunities for fellows, enrich knowledge and skills, encourage innovation and create social impact through media. The fellowship includes a five-night stay in Ixtapa, Mexico, a $3,200 tuition scholarship, and all meals; financial need is the primary consideration for the fellowship. Deadline in March each year.



HEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS RESIDENCIES
http://www.headlands.org/
Deadline June 7, 2019. The Headlands Center for the Arts campus comprises a cluster of artist-rehabilitated military buildings just north of the Golden Gate Bridge at historic Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands. The center’s artists programs support artists in all disciplines — from visual artists to performers, musicians, writers, and videographers — and provide opportunities for independent and collaborative creative work. Fully sponsored residencies include a monthly stipend of $500, awarded to approximately 50 local, national, and international artists whose work has the potential to impact the cultural landscape at large. Residencies run for four to ten weeks and include roundtrip airfare; 2,000-square-foot studios and five chef-prepared meals a week; access to vehicles as well as a basic woodshop; audio/video equipment; an artists’ library with computer, scanner, and printer; and field trips to Bay Area museums, galleries, and cultural venues. 



MISSISSIPPI MINI-GRANTS
https://arts.ms.gov/grants/grants-for-individuals/minigrants-for-individuals/
MAC’s Artist Minigrant program supports established and emerging professional artists based in Mississippi by providing funds to assist with professional training, promotional efforts, or purchase of supplies. Applicants may apply for up to $500.



SHE WRITES PRESS/SPARKPRESS EQUALITY IN PUBLISHING SCHOLARSHIPS
https://shewritespress.com/equality-in-publishing/
Deadline July 1, 2019. This program is structured like a contest in that each writer will be gifted a publishing package (plus a 500-book print run) to publish on either She Writes Press or SparkPress, which will be determined by the publisher based on genre and writing style. The application process goes beyond a contest, however, in that we ask that writers identify how the financial support of the publishing package would make this endeavor possible when it might otherwise not be. This program will assess writers on the merit of their work and their financial need, though you needn’t have a minimum level of income to submit. We understand there are many working moms, women taking care of loved ones, and writers working multiple jobs or freelancing to make ends meet. The Top Five Entrants (including the two STEP recipients) will receive a written assessment of their submission. One entry per person. Open to the U.S. & Canada (void where prohibited). 



PEN/PHYLLIS NAYLOR WORKING WRITER FELLOWSHIP
https://pen.org/pen-phyllis-naylor-fellowship/
Deadline August 15, 2019. The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship is offered annually to an author of children’s or young adult fiction. It has been developed to help writers whose work is of high literary caliber and is designed to assist a writer at a crucial moment in his or her career to complete a book-length work-in-progress. The author of the winning manuscript, selected blindly by judges unaware of nominees’ names, will receive an award of $5,000. A candidate is a writer of children’s or young adult fiction in financial need. Candidates must have published one or more novels for children or young adults that have been warmly received by literary critics but have not generated sufficient income to support the author.



PEN/JEAN STEIN GRANT FOR LITERARY ORAL HISTORY
https://pen.org/jean-stein-oral-history-grant/
Deadline June 1, 2019. The PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History recognizes a literary work of nonfiction that uses oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. The winner receives a $10,000 grant meant to help maintain or complete his or her ongoing project.



MARYLAND ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
https://www.msac.org/grants/artist-residence-program
The MSAC's Artist in Residence (AiR) program provides grants to Maryland schools that cover half the cost of a teaching artist residency in a particular school. Maryland schools are invited to browse the below Artist in Residence Roster to select an MSAC Artist-in-Residence. The school then applies for a grant from the MSAC that covers half the cost of the residency. The artists on this roster specialize in harnessing the arts as tools for learning and are available to lead hands-on, intensive arts workshops in Maryland schools. Artists who live in Maryland may apply to the Artist in Residence or Visiting Performer Rosters. The artists on this roster specialize in harnessing the arts as tools for learning and are available to lead hands-on, intensive arts workshops in Maryland schools (Artists in Residence) or assemblies with two workshops (Visiting Performers). Artists in Residence may apply in performing arts, playwriting, poetry, and visual arts. Visiting Performers may apply in music, dance, puppetry, and theater. MSAC accepts applications for the rosters every two years.



GREATER PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL ALLIANCE COMMUNITY-BASED ARTS PROJECTS
https://philaculture.org/sites/default/files/2019-20%20PPA%20Project%20Stream%20Guidelines.pdf
Deadline June 20, 2019. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance works to lead, strengthen, and amplify the voices of a cultural community, with the goal of igniting creativity, inspiring people, and encouraging a healthy region. To that end, the alliance is accepting applications to its Project Stream grants program. Through the program, grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded to individual artists, nonprofit organizations, and fiscally-sponsored organizations in support of innovative community-based projects with a public component in the Pennsylvania counties of Buck, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia. The public component can be a performance, exhibition, reading, or other project in any genre.

 

FREELANCE MARKETS

SUBTROPICS
http://subtropics.english.ufl.edu/index.php/submissions/
Subtropics seeks to publish the best literary fiction, essays, and poetry being written today, both by established and emerging authors. We will consider works of fiction of any length, from short shorts to novellas and self-contained novel excerpts. We give the same latitude to essays. For stories and essays, Subtropics pays a flat fee of $1,000 ($500 for a short short) for North American first serial rights. Poets are paid $100 per poem.



THE SUN
https://thesunmagazine.org/submit
We publish nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. We tend to favor personal writing, but we’re also looking for provocative pieces on political and cultural issues. Pays up to $2,000 for nonfiction essays and fiction. Up to $250 for poetry. 



AGNI
https://agnionline.bu.edu/submit
We look for writing that catches experience before the crusts of habit form—poetry and prose that resist ideas about what a certain kind of writing “should do.” We seek out writers who tell their truths in their own words and convince us as we read that we’ve found something no one else could have written. AGNI welcomes manuscripts between September 1st and May 31st. Submissions mailed in June, July, or August will be returned unread, provided sufficient return postage is included. We consider only work written in English or translated into English. We have no word limits, though space is at a premium and length sometimes affects our decisions. We do not publish genre romance, horror, mystery, or science fiction; however, we are open to writing that borrows elements from any of these. We buy first worldwide serial rights and pay $10 per printed (or printed-out) page for accepted prose, and $20 per page for accepted poetry, up to a maximum of $150. 



GRAIN MAGAZINE
http://www.grainmagazine.ca/submissionguidelines
Won't be accepting submissions until September 2019. Published four times per year, Grain Magazine is an internationally acclaimed literary journal that publishes engaging, surprising, eclectic, and challenging writing and art by Canadian and international writers and artists. Accepts up to six pages of poetry, up to 3,500 words of fiction and literary nonfiction. All contributors, regardless of genre, are paid $50 per page to a maximum of $250, plus two copies of the issue in which their work appears. 



THE THREEPENNY REVIEW
http://www.threepennyreview.com/submissions.html
Accepts submissions via mail and the online system. No email. At present The Threepenny Review is paying $400 per story or article, $200 per poem or Table Talk piece. As a rule, critical articles should be about 1,200 to 2,500 words, Table Talk items 1,000 words or less, stories and memoirs 4,000 words or less, and poetry 100 lines or less. 



ONE STORY
https://www.one-story.com/index.php?page=submit
One Story is seeking literary fiction. Because of our format, we can only accept stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words. They can be any style and on any subject as long as they are good. One Story pays $500 and 25 contributor's copies for First Serial North American rights. 



VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW
https://www.vqronline.org/about-vqr/submissions
Poetry: All types and length. Short Fiction: Length is from 2,000–8,000 words. We are generally not interested in genre fiction (such as romance, science fiction, or fantasy). Nonfiction: Length is 3,500–9,000 words. We publish literary, art, and cultural criticism; reportage; historical and political analysis; and travel essays. We publish few author interviews or memoirs. In general, we are looking for nonfiction that looks out on the world, rather than within the self. For poetry, we pay $200 per poem, up to four poems; for a suite of five or more poems, we usually pay $1,000. For short fiction, we generally pay $1,000 and above. For other prose, such as personal essays and literary criticism, we generally pay $1,000 and above, at approximately 25 cents per word, depending on length. Book reviews are generally 2,000-2,400 words and are paid at a flat rate of $500. Online content is generally paid at $100-$200, depending upon genre and length.

 

Publishers/agents

 
STAIRWAY PRESS
http://www.stairwaypress.com/about/
Stairway Press publishes and markets literary books in various genres (including science, science fiction, short stories, political essays, literary thrillers, and adventures). The main thing we focus on is writing quality–we represent the finest writers we can find. . . writers who might otherwise be overlooked in the world of the written word. We offer complete marketing services powered by online media, social media and internet communities, professional editing, and world-class graphic design.



SOHO PRESS
https://sohopress.com/resources/submissions/
Soho Press is not currently accepting unagented, unsolicited submissions for our Crime or YA lists. We are open to unsolicited submissions for our literary list. Please familiarize yourself with the types of books we publish in the literary imprint “Soho Press” before submitting. In general, we are interested in bold voices and original ways of seeing the world.



TOR
https://us.macmillan.com/torforge/about/faq
Send the first three chapters of your book and synopsis, prepared in standard manuscript format on white paper. (If your chapters are really short or really long, or you don’t use chapter breaks, you may send the first 40-60 pages of your book, provided you stay under 10,000 words.) Science fiction and fantasy: Acquisitions Editor, Science Fiction and Fantasy. Fiction of all other types including but not limited to general fiction, historical fiction, horror, mystery, paranormal, suspense/thriller, urban fantasy, and women’s fiction: Acquisitions Editor, Fiction.  Children’s and Young Adult: Acquisitions Editor, Children’s and Young Adult Division Note: We publish books for the chapter book, middle grade, and young adult audiences. We do not publish picture books.



SWOON READS
https://www.swoonreads.com/submit-a-manuscript/
We’re looking for irresistible, unforgettable, original young adult novels that have never been published before. From heroic epics to alien adventures, to all-the-feels romance: if our community and editors fall in love with your book, you could land a publishing deal with Macmillan.


 

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C. Hope Clark
E-mail: hope@fundsforwriters.com
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
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ISSN: 1533-1326

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