TOP SPONSOR 

EDITOR'S THOUGHTS

WHERE DO YOU FIND FREELANCE WORK?

You've decided to be a writer, or decided to add freelancing to your writing skills. After all, selling those books is hard work and a long-term wait in terms of return on investment. Sprinkling freelancing amidst your creative short stories, novels, and poetry can help fund your passion. Yes, it's work, but it's also quicker income.

Let's start with putting on our common sense hat. Where can you find this freelance work?

1) Talk to everyone you know - your peers.
2) Speak to local businesses you know.
3) Join the local chamber of commerce to get to know those businesses you don't.
4) Join job boards. (I especially recommend the paid versions of LinkedIn and Write Jobs PLUS.)
5) Publications themselves. (Print, online, and blogs - many potential clients are on all three.)
6) Social media. (Facebook groups like Female Freelance Writers or Freelance Content Writers, Content Editor, Proofreader, & Digital Marketers)
7) Belong to a writing agency. (Reedsy.com is an example.)
8) Ask for referrals from those who know you as a writer.
9) Through your own professional website (with careful SEO optimization infused in it).
10) Professional organizations (indexers, copywriters, editors, etc. have organizations).

Don't have clips? Create samples on your own commercial website and guest blog elsewhere with links back to your site. You can also pitch a great idea that wows them to the point they don't seek a sample (been there!). Pitch using your expertise elsewhere (your degree, previous job, professional title, award-winning hobby, etc.). Start writing on Medium.com. 

I've been researching this arena intensely for going on three months now while on assignment, and trust me, the work is out there, people. Makes me almost wish I didn't like writing novels so much. 
 

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Our team of professional freelancers created a guide to teach you the ins and outs of managing your freelance business. Our free mini course on Freelance Management will help you analyze your finances, reach new clients, plan for growth, and more. 

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HOPE'S APPEARANCES

 SUCCESS QUOTE

SUccess Story

Hello C. Hope,

My name is S. Erin Batiste and I wanted to reach out to you and thank you for the submission call (and entry fee waiver to make it right) that you shared for the Oprelle Poetry Masters Contest back in May. Single poem contests are always challenging, but I actually went ahead and entered the title poem from my chapbook, "Glory to All Fleeting Things" and wanted to share that I was recently named Third Place Poetry Master and will receive a $500 prize, an engraved crystal trophy, and a special larger portfolio of poems published in the Poetry Masters Anthology. Without your transparency and dedication to your subscribers, as a Black poet who is recently unemployed, I likely would not have been able to enter, and so I would like to express my gratitude to you for your generosity and doing the good work!

https://oprelle.com/pages/masters-poetry-contest-winners

All the glory to you, wishing you a restful weekend,
Bless,
S. Erin Batiste
www.sbatistewrites.com

NOTE FROM HOPE: The FundsforWriters family had several entries in that contest, and another, Joan Leotta, won Honorable Mention. 

 - - - 
If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to [email protected] 
 

Featured article

Insights From Judging a Short Story Contest

By Annette Gendler

I just wrapped up serving as one of the judges in the Hemingway Shorts contest sponsored by the Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, and I thought I’d share some of the insights I came away with:

Don’t start your story with a weather report unless the weather is the main topic. 

This is my number one pet peeve from judging this contest. About 80% of the stories submitted began with a weather report, and about 95% of them had nothing to do with the weather. Beginning with the weather is not the way to distinguish your work from a pile of submissions. Weather reports are boring, so even if the weather is the topic, get on with it.

Have your protagonist appear in your first paragraph. 

Readers relate to people, not things. Ditto the weather issue. If I couldn’t figure out who this story is about by the first paragraph, chances are I didn’t read on.

Too many actors spoil the story. 

A short story is, after all, short! Too many characters diffuse the action and tension, plus your reader gets easily confused if there are a lot of names to follow. It’s another way to lose the reader’s attention, and a contest judge has to pay attention to a lot of stories. If yours makes this hard, it’s not going to happen.

Mind your grammar, word choice, and spelling. 

Errors in any of these resulted in prompt rejection. By definition, a writing contest is looking for the best writing in a given genre, and the best writing does not contain errors. While spelling errors weren’t prevalent, I was astounded by the number of entries that had obvious language issues, such as using “attendance” when “attending” should have been used. Have someone else read your work before you submit, as those are the kind of errors the writer will easily miss.

Keep to the word limit. 

Entries above the word limit were immediately deleted. While I didn’t come across many of these, there were still some.

Submit early. 

Judges have to begin reading submissions before the deadline because of the sheer volume. A lot of submissions do come in right before the deadline, but a judge will also simply get tired from reading the flood and might have already settled, in his or her heart, on the top choices.

Stay away from imitating a famous writer’s work. 

Because this was a “Hemingway” contest, we received a bunch of submissions that either featured Hemingway himself, or used one of his stories as a template, or mentioned his work. We didn’t like any of these; they came across as gimmicky and forced.

Avoid war stories. 

We had too many of those and, because of the third point, most of those didn’t work. This prevalence of war stories might again have been due to the “Hemingway” name, so one lesson here, to distinguish your work from the pile, might be to consider what clichés travel with the contest you’re submitting to and how you can counteract that.

A female point-of-view or a younger person’s point-of-view are rare, and well written stories with those POVs are even more rare. 

Again, the folks submitting to a short story contest with the “Hemingway” name attached to it might have been a preselect group, so take this with a grain of salt, but still, if your stories feature these POVs, you might be in the minority. This doesn’t mean you have to be a woman to write from this POV. In fact, the winning entry featured a female protagonist but turned out to be written by a man.

Rejection is easy. 

There weren’t that many stories I read to the end. If a story piqued my interest in the first paragraph, I kept on reading and, if it had my attention by the third or fourth, it at least ended up in the “maybe” pile.

Coming up with a winner wasn’t hard. We judges were surprised that we instantly agreed on the most outstanding story. It had the most unique point-of-view, expertly executed. Choosing the ten finalists that would be published in the first Hemingway Shorts anthology along with the winner was harder. Presenting a variety of voices and topics became the decisive factor in making our selection, and we did have to let some good stories go.

Judging a writing contest takes less time than you think. 

When I agreed, as a former writer-in-residence at the Hemingway Birthplace Home, to judge this contest, I expected it to be a huge time commitment. It wasn’t. As outlined in points two through five, I ended up not having to read all of the submissions that came my way. My job was, after all, to weed out.

I hope some of my insights here are helpful if you’re considering submitting to a writing contest. Going by my experience, if your work is polished, adheres to the guidelines, has a beginning, a middle and an end as well as a narrative thread that pulls through, chances are you will make the first cut.

BIO: Annette Gendler is the author of Jumping Over Shadows, the true story of a German-Jewish love that overcame the legacy of the Holocaust, as well as the guide How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History. She has been teaching memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago since 2006. Visit her at annettegendler.com.






 

COmpetitions

THE WRITER SUMMER FLASH CONTEST
https://www.writermag.com/contests/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 21, 2021. Grand prize $1,000 and publication in the magazine. Word count 1,000 or less. Second place receives $500 and publication on the website. Third place receives $250 and publication. 



RESOURCE CENTER FOR WOMEN & MINISTRY IN THE SOUTH ESSAY CONTEST
https://rcwms.submittable.com/submit
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2021. Essays should focus on the theme of identity and belonging. Oppressive systems and structures seek to prevent us from living into the complexities of our identities and lived experiences. How do you know when you are showing up as your full self and experiencing true belonging? All women, including trans women, 18 years of age or older, may submit up to two nonfiction essays, 1,200 words or less. Prizes are $300 for first place, $200 second, and $100 third. The winning essay will be published in the RCWMS newsletter, South of the Garden, in September or December 2021.



HEALTHY RICH WRITING CONTEST
https://www.healthyrich.co/writing-contest
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 15, 2021. Submit your essay on the theme of “Work and Womanhood” to share your stories, experience and perspective. Length 500–2,000 words. Open to all trans and cis women writers 18+, regardless of previous experience or publication. One first-place, one second-place and up to ten finalists will be published. All winners get a mentor session and lifetime membership in our community of contributors. First place $250, publication, mentor session, community membership. Second place $75, publication, mentor session, community membership. Finalists publication, mentor session, community membership. All entrants get a free one-year subscription ($70 value) to Field Notes, an exclusive newsletter series of stories, tips and resources to be a happy and healthy freelancer.



JACK GRAPES POETRY PRIZE
https://www.culturaldaily.com/jack-grapes-poetry-prize-2021/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2021. You may submit ONE, previously unpublished poem. If the poem has appeared in any book, magazine or edited website, including Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, then it is published. Three winners will receive $500 each, plus publication. Nine finalists will receive $100 each, plus publication. Winners and finalists will be announced in mid-October.
 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

NEVADA ARTS COUNCIL AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN GRANT
https://www.nvartscouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/FY22-GUIDELINES-ARP-GRANT-IND-FINAL.pdf
Deadlines run continuously through June 30, 2022. Can apply now. The Nevada Arts Council will award ARP funds to individual artists throughout Nevada to support the production and presentation of artistic projects across all disciplines and help artists rebuild after the impacts of COVID-19. Examples of eligible projects include art exhibitions, performances, readings, concerts, the creation of art, and portfolio creation. Virtual/online projects are also eligible. Primary portion of the project must occur within one of the two six-month grant cycles. Each grantee will receive $1,000 towards their project paid through an initial $500 artist fee/stipend, then a second $500 artist fee/stipend upon satisfactory proof of project completion provided in the Final Report. 



NEVADA ARTS LEARNING PROJECT GRANT
https://www.nvartscouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/FY22-GUIDELINES-ALP-GRANT-FINAL-V2.pdf
The Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Arts Learning Project Grant (ALP) is a grant designed to support arts learning activities, teaching artists residencies, and teacher/teaching artists training. These arts learning activities provide unique opportunities for students and people of all ages to work with practicing artists. Funds must be used for conducting lessons/workshops (in-person or online/virtual) and/or educational performances at schools or community facilities. Funds may be used to support the execution of one activity/project or a series of related activities. Pays $3,500 (1:1 in-kind and/or cash match required). 



NEVADA ARTIST FELLOWSHIP GRANT
https://www.nvartscouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/FY22-ARTIST-AND-FOLK-ARTS-FELLOWSHIP-GUIDELINES.pdf
Deadline September 15, 2021. Grantees may request 90 percent of the award right away. To receive the remaining ten percent of the award, grantees must complete a public outreach activity in Nevada that is relevant to their artistic discipline no later than May 15, 2022. Grant amount is $5,000. 



FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL
https://floridahumanities.org/funding-opportunities/community-project-grants/
Deadline July 21, 2021. The Florida Humanities Council is accepting applications from Florida nonprofits that plan and implement public humanities projects related to Florida or of interest to communities in the state. At their core, the grants will help strengthen vibrant communities and cultures, promote civic engagement and community dialogue, and provide communities with opportunities to reflect on the future of the Sunshine State. To that end, mini-grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded in support of humanities-rich projects that are bold, innovative, and potentially transformative for local communities. Projects supported by the program will include, but are not limited to, community conversations, digital and audio humanities projects, interactive websites that function as public humanities programs, museum exhibitions with related programming, oral history projects, outdoor heritage signage, panel discussions, or talk-backs following theatrical productions, and public lectures and panel discussions.



CRAIGARDAN RESIDENCY
http://www.craigardan.org/writers-residency/
Craigardan now stewards 320 acres of field and forest, with a small-scale farm to provide food and hands-on experience for the community. Set within a working, educational farm, we provide creative residencies that span diverse artistic and knowledge disciplines in order to foster curiosity, inquiry, and collaboration. The Writer's Residency is a year-round opportunity for writers to fully immerse themselves in an exquisite retreat environment conducive to working with no distraction. We invite applications from emerging and accomplished writers of all genres who would benefit from a focused amount of un-guided time to create a new work, complete a project, conduct research, or simply find inspiration amid the beauty of the Adirondack Mountains. Only one writer is accepted at a time. Writers live in a shared house. Housemates may include other writers, researchers, visual artists, culinary artists, or agriculturalists. The (highly subsidized) residency fee is $250 per week or $1,000 per month ($33/day). Location Elizabethtown, NY. 



CRAIGARDAN CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIP
http://www.craigardan.org/writers-residency/
Craigardan now stewards 320 acres of field and forest, with a small-scale farm to provide food and hands-on experience for the community. Set within a working, educational farm, we provide creative residencies that span diverse artistic and knowledge disciplines in order to foster curiosity, inquiry, and collaboration. The Creative Writing Fellowship is awarded to only two artists each year - one Summer and one Winter residency. Interested writers may submit an application by March 1 for a Summer session (between June 1 and October 1) or August 1 for a Winter session (between November 1 and May 1). The Creative Writing Fellowship fully covers all residency fees for a residency of up to one month in length.  We welcome applications from writers at any stage of their career. Location Elizabethtown, NY. 



LEEWAY FOUNDATION
https://www.leeway.org/grants/art_and_change_grants/
Deadline August 1, 2021. The foundation is accepting applications for its Art and Change Grant program, which will award grants of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists in the greater Philadelphia area in support of art for social change projects. Creating social change must be integral to the ideas, beliefs, and goals woven throughout the applicants’ art and process of creating and sharing art.



GRANUM FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP PRIZE
https://www.granumfoundation.org/granum-fellows
Deadline August 3, 2021. The Granum Foundation Fellowship Prize will be awarded annually to help US-based writers complete substantive literary works—such as poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, memoirs, and translations—or to help launch these works. Funding can be used to provide a writer with the tools, time, and freedom to help ensure their success. For example, resources may be used to cover fees for a writing residency, mentorship, editing services, or a book tour. They also may be used for necessities such as rent or writing equipment. Prize: $5,000 awarded annually. Up to three finalists may be awarded $500. (Thanks www.erikadreifus.com)

 

FREELANCE MARKETS / JOBS

LEGAL CONTENT WRITER NEEDED
Legal content writer needed for law office blog for two posts a month. At least 450 words per post required, and topics will be provided. Must have legal experience as a writer and/or paralegal. Payment is a set rate of $90 per post. This is a remote job, and no contract is required. All content will be edited, and blog writer must agree to participate in editing if required. Payment will be made via Paypal upon finalization of edits. Please send letter of interest and sample of a previous blog post to [email protected]   



CHICKEN SOUP: KINDNESS
http://www.chickensoup.com
Deadline August 31, 2021. We are looking for true stories about acts of kindness that have happened to you or that you have witnessed firsthand. Stories can be serious or funny or both but they should definitely inspire our readers to look for ways in which they can perform their own kind acts. Pays $200 for 1,200 words in a first person voice. Also gives ten copies of the book.



CHICKEN SOUP: HUMOROUS STORIES
http://www.chickensoup.com
Deadline August 31, 2021. We are looking for stories about something that happened to you in your life — in your relationship with a partner or spouse, a parent or child, a family member or friend, at work or at home — that made you and the people around you laugh out loud. Pays $200 for 1,200 words in a first person voice. Also gives ten copies of the book.



STAINED PAGE NEWS
https://www.stainedpagenews.com/
Stained Page News is where I share news, recipes, exciting upcoming books, details on new releases, my personal recommendations, and random cookbook-related content that I think is funny. I also feature deeper dives into obscure sub-genres, long-forgotten titles, and interviews with some of the brightest minds in the cookbook world. SPN has been featured in the New York Times and on NPR, and was named one of the 80 best single-operator newsletters on the internet by Inside Hook. If you want to geek out about cookbooks, you have come to the right place. Prefer 800 words, but definitely under 1,400 words. Pays $200-$300 per piece. The pitch must be about cookbooks. Email [email protected] with "SPN PITCH: <subject>" as the subject line.



CATAPULT
https://catapult.submittable.com/submit
At Catapult, we believe there’s a better—or at least less lonely—way to write. Here you’ll find writing resources, advice, job and fellowship opportunities, prompts and craft talk, and more. Catapult also publishes award-winning fiction and nonfiction of the highest literary caliber under imprints Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull Press. We also offer writing classes taught by acclaimed emerging and established writers, and publish an award-winning daily online magazine of narrative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. We currently (until July 16, 2021) welcome short stories and translated fiction. We pay for all pieces that we publish, a minimum of $200. We publish pieces that are anywhere from 500 to 4,000 words long. We are particularly interested in flash fiction (about 1,000 words or less). 



MILLION GARDENS MOVEMENT
https://milliongardensmovement.org/
The Million Gardens Movement is a community of gardeners who want to inspire a happier, healthier world by educating people about a better diet, through funding and educating millions of new gardeners to grow their own food. We're looking for how-tos, personal essays, and tips and tricks on food gardening for our blog. We especially want party-themed and children/teen related food gardening articles for the rest of the summer with quick turnaround. We do take international pitches, but they should be informative to gardeners in the US and Canada. Email [email protected] 



GOOD BEER HUNTING
https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/style-guide
We use beer as a platform to explore everything else we’re—broadly and deeply—interested in, from economics to politics, internet memes to food, urban design to civil rights. None of these topics are off limits at GBH. Good Beer Hunting’s voice is more relaxed than a newspaper, but more buttoned-up than most blogs. Google Docs is our preferred word processor for any story that’s more than a few hundred words. Please set your “share” settings to “Anyone who has the link can edit.” Features are $700. Mini-features pay $325. A podcast episode pays $250, and blog posts are $100. Other opportunities available on the site. 

 

Publishers/agents

ABINGDON PRESS
https://umpublishing.submittable.com/submit
Abingdon Press, the main publishing imprint of The United Methodist Publishing House, provides resources to meet the needs of all those who seek God. Publishing areas include non-fiction books for individuals, groups, church leaders, seminary and college classrooms, curriculum for teaching at all age levels, and music. If you are interested in publishing with Abingdon Press, first submit a proposal that tells us about your work. A proposal includes a short summary of your content and a chapter outline as well as a description of the audience for your work and the purpose of the writing, your own bio and your personal platform (how you would reach your audience). You may also send one to two sample chapters, but we suggest that, for a quicker response, you wait to send the full manuscript until you receive a response to your proposal.



AM INK PUBLISHING
https://aminkpublishing.com/about-us
Since 2010, AM Ink has been publishing quality Biographies, Children’s Books, Novels and Short Story Collections. We've published more than 60 titles, including bestsellers, as well as sold television rights, seen movies made from our book and our titles on hundreds of media outlets worldwide. All this has been done independently from our small business in Western Massachusetts. Our horror imprint, Dark Ink, has released everything from celebrity biographies like Kane Hodder and Tom Savini to novels and short story collections. Our elite line of horror-themed books has gardened press around the world, turned into movies and sold translations rights. Our unique line of Spooky themed kid’s books includes fun picture books for children and young adult novels!



PARK & FINE - UK
https://parkfine.com/who-we-are/
Park & Fine Literary and Media is led by Theresa Park and Celeste Fine, who bring decades of experience representing some of the book and film industry’s most beloved and visionary fiction and nonfiction authors. The team works across all genres and categories, from picture books and children’s up through adult fiction and nonfiction. To learn more about each agent and the projects they represent, click through to their profile.

 

OLSWANGER LITERARY
https://www.olswanger.com/index.php
Anna Olswanger has been a literary agent since 2005. She started her career at Liza Dawson Associates in Manhattan, and in 2014 launched her own literary agency, Olswanger Literary LLC, where she represents a wide variety of genres, but is currently focused on illustrated books (picture books and graphic novels). She is a member of the AAR, Association of Authors' Representatives. Anna has sold to major publishers, including Bloomsbury, Chronicle, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster.



JARED JOHNSON, LITERARY AGENCY
https://www.jaredhjohnson.com/submissions
I'm a literary associate with Olswanger Literary. I mostly represent sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and thriller, but I am currently working on some historical fiction. In addition to fiction, I am also looking for trade nonfiction, especially books on cultural and academic topics.



WERNICK & PRATT AGENCY
https://wernickpratt.com/agents/
Wernick & Pratt is a full-service literary agency focused exclusively on the children’s book industry. The agency represents established and emerging authors and illustrators whose work ranges from fiction to nonfiction, from very young picture books and novelty books, through early reader, middle grade, and young adult.



SOFT SKULL PRESS
https://catapult.submittable.com/submit
Deadline July 20, 2021. Soft Skull Press is accepting unagented submissions of complete manuscripts. We are primarily seeking and strongly encouraging submissions from BIPOC writers and underrepresented voices of any race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class, and physical or mental ability. This three-week period is in addition to our year-round acceptance of agented submissions. We publish work of adult literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid projects, including works in translation. 

 

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E-mail: [email protected]
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
http://www.fundsforwriters.com

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ISSN: 1533-1326

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