VOLUME 23, ISSUE 35 | september 8, 2023 In a recent discussion online, I saw a
writer complain about how much she hated writing. Some days she didn't want to sit at the keyboard, didn't want to type a word. It was hard, she said, and not as fun as she thought. Well, dang, woman, quit. Give it up. Why are you doing something you don't like to do? Nobody is going to love you being the martyr, trust me. Readers
only want a good story. They love authors who love writing and who love cranking out those good stories. They don't want to read or hear complaints or whining about the difficulty of it all. Love it or leave it. There are a
zillion other hobbies, jobs, or joys you could be doing instead. Why do that to yourself? Why do that to your readers? Because if you don't love what you are doing, it comes across in your words. Yes, it does. (READ
THIS NEWSLETTER ONLINE) C. Hope Clark
Editor, FundsforWriters
Email Hope | Visit Website | Sign up for Newsletter
Newsletter: ISSN:
1533-1326
FFW has proudly been on the Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers list every year since 2000
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. FundsforWriters finds open submission calls, contests, and markets from a wide variety of sources, including Erika Dreifus' Practicing Writer newsletter, Erica
Verrillo's blog, Authors Publish, Poets & Writers, Duotrope, Winning Writers, Write Jobs Plus, LinkedIn Jobs, Emily Stoddard, and other newsletters and online sites. Many announcements are submitted directly to FundsforWriters from active contests,
journals, magazines, publishers, residencies, and grant providers. All must be paying opportunities. Contests must pay a minimum of $200 first place. Submit potential listings to [email protected]
TWITTER - http://twitter.com/hopeclark
AUTHOR SITE - http://www.chopeclark.com
FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/chopeclark
GOODREADS - http://www.goodreads.com/hopeclark
BOOKBUB - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/c-hope-clark Read the FFW Archive YOU HAD ME AT ROOM SERVICE! APPLY FOR FUN, UNCONVENTIONAL WRITER’S RESIDENCY What writer wouldn’t want to attend the wildly popular Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop and spend two additional all-expenses-paid weeks at a hotel to write? Free room service. A housekeeping staff. An omelette bar. A TV remote of your own. The sun rising over the Great Miami
River (aka, the Dayton Riviera). And, most importantly, a “Do Not Disturb” sign. Applications for A Hotel
Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program will be accepted Sept. 5-Oct. 5. Improvisor Dion Flynn, best known as Barack Obama (and other characters) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and comedy writer Monica Piper, longtime head writer and producer
for Rugrats, will choose the two grand prize winners. Preference will be given to emerging humor writers. The package is worth approximately $5,000, but the experience is priceless. Cash prizes for finalists and honorable mentions. Read the announcement and FAQs. Then apply here for what Forbes says “may be the best writer’s residency in the country.” Deadline: Oct. 5 Fee: $25
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An author friend of mine, Caleb Wygal, has sold 25,000 copies of his Myrtle Beach Mystery Series in two and a half years. Find him on Facebook as well as his site.
That man works so hard. A week hardly passes that he doesn't make an appearance at a fair, a library, a bookstore, or some community function. One book at a time he takes his steps.
Bless him, he says he follows my Edisto Beach example, by starting local and saturating a geographic area rather than aiming for nationwide. As I've always preached, better to sell 5000 copies locally than nationally. It's easier to become a household name. The reach becomes bigger quicker. Not only that but it's easier to make appearances and reach your readership in person. Greg Estevez is another friend and the self-published author of three books on Edisto history.
1) Edisto Island, The
African-American Journey
2) Edisto: The Migration to Florida
3) A Pictorial Memoir of The Hutchinsons from Edisto Island, SC He is also founder of the Facebook group, The Gullah Geechee History & Culture on Edisto Island, S.C. which proclaims a respectable 4300 members, more than his personal page. He has embraced his culture, using the books to aid his efforts at supporting Edisto Island's history. He measures his success by his cultural outreach. He has done a lot in helping put the Gullah Geechee culture on the map for Edisto. He wants his local knowledge to spread as far and wide as he can. My friend Victorine Lieske is highly regarded in the indie publishing community, as in nationally. She writes clean romantic cozies and has a strong fanbase that purchases every book she throws out, and she writes many. While her profile talks about her being a graphic designor of
covers, I happen to know she has written dozens of books, and her income is in the six-figures. She is one hard-working woman, and she constantly seeks way to reach out and earn a living, whether it's cover designing, conference speaking, class teaching, or writing. https://www.facebook.com/vicki.lieske Each of these authors has a goal, and no two authors have the same goal. Mine is a softer goal . . . to write mysteries until I cannot. To keep producing FundsforWriters until I cannot. It's not a dollar figure nor a means to fame.
Writing happens to be a lifestyle I enjoy, not a fame to pursue. So, what is success? It's finding the sweet spot of your life. It might be measured in dollars, in numbers, in civic support, or simply how you spend your days. You and only you can determine if what you are doing is considered a success. Which means only you can set your goals and only you can change
your life to meet them. |
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- September 14, 2023 - Chapin Library, 129 Columbia, Ave, Chapin, SC - 1-3 PM - open to the public - speaking on my journey and the origins of my books
- October 2, 2023 - Night Harbor Book Club, Night Harbor S/D Rec Center, Chapin, SC - 7-9 PM (Hope will be moderating this night - book is One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood)
- October 5, 2023 - Richland County Cooper Library, 5317 N. Trenholm Rd, Columbia, SC - 6:30-9 PM - open to the public
- October 26,
2023 - Podcast - Everyone Has a Story: True Tales from Everyday Life - guest C. Hope Clark
- December 9, 2023 -
Triangle Sisters in Crime Zoom - Gary W. Clark, Sr talks about crime solving and Hope's books - 1:30-2:30 PM
- June 1-8, 2024 - The Gutsy Great Novelist Retreat, Bar Harbor, Maine - writer-in-residence
Email: [email protected] to schedule events, online or otherwise. There's starting to be life out there! Writing for me is a kind of compulsion, so I don’t think anyone could have made me do it, or prevented me from doing it. ~J.K.
Rowling
If you have a success story you believe was prompted
by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to [email protected]
The Accidental Columnist - How to Land a Regular Newspaper Gig |
By John Atwell The stability of a consistent paycheck eludes many freelance writers, but scribbling out a regular column in a local rag can help address this shortcoming and
provide a fulfilling sense of community connectedness. It is also more attainable than you think. (Look at the amount of your local daily's content that is purchased from without.) A well-crafted cold pitch may work, but consider my unintentional path; it is repeatable. It began with a need to scratch an itch, lodged deep in my being by a former career in
intelligence, to apply solid data, sound reasoning, and honed prose in public discussions of current events in a forum with standards exceeding those found in social media platforms. So, I regularly submitted to the editor of my local paper short letters tackling everything from agricultural initiative debates to public works decisions, from war in Ukraine to Polynesian cultural norms. They were all published, save one. With a dozen or so letters in print, on a lark, I proposed contributing regularly for pay. I leveraged my demonstrated quality of writing and analysis, and my decades of experience with the CIA, to pitch a column on national security matters. The response was quick: "We've never done something like this. Let's talk." (Before you get discouraged, a unique background or speciality is not required. Another regular columnist for our
paper uses her cachet as a born-and-bred local to craft commentary on community trends. Maybe your huckleberry is gardening or food or cars. Irrespective of any expertise you bring to the table, an understanding of, and ability to feed, your local audience is key.) Details were fleshed out in a follow-up phone call. "What will your sources be?" "Can I send you some
bonafides to verify my background?" "We need an authoritative, but casual voice that can appeal to the farmer, the high-school drop out, and the college professor." "I can work with tight deadlines and would welcome assignments." We settled on a monthly format of 700 words, $75 per piece, to be published in the commentary section. I was asked to submit a few trial
pieces that would be my first published installments, if they passed muster. I created a byline, established an email address for write-ins, knocked out three pieces and submitted them. "We will run your first piece this Tuesday, a good day for launching new regular content." (Fast forward one year. All of my recent contributions have run on Sundays, the highest circulation day.) "What's it like?" Well, I choose my own subjects, but have also written to suggestion. Edits are few and far between and, frustratingly, have sometimes introduced errors. I've developed a small following, and readers correspond with me. I've started looking for speaking opportunities, and schemes for syndication tickle the back of my mind. Then there's that regular, albeit small, paycheck... As I come to a close, please do not confuse my success story with an advocacy for regular pro bono, foot-in-the-door scrivener work to get published; I stand with many of you in being against that, in general. For the opportunity to enjoy a long-term regular paycheck doing what we love, mayhaps an exception is called for in this particular pursuit. For me, when pitch time came, I already had a track record of sorts with the paper. Absent that, I
cannot say how my tale would have unfolded. So, know that regular gigs in local papers are fair game for any freelance writer. Demonstrate an understanding of the your community, provide some samples (previously published works, freshly crafted exemplars, letters to the editor, other), and wind up your pitch. May your writing be joyful and your paychecks regular. Adieu. Bio: John Atwell is the editor of Weekly Intelligence Notes, the online news magazine of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, and the author of The Island Intelligencer, a monthly column on national security issues in the Hawaii Tribune Herald. His writing on media literacy, homeschooling, homesteading, teaching personal finance to children, and
health and diet have been published in various magazines. In his early freelance writer days, he also dabbled in copy mill work. John, a federal retiree, lives with his wife of 28 years in a jungle-ensconced off-grid yurt on the slopes of an active remote-Pacific-island volcano, where he tends free-range chickens and turkeys, tropical fruit trees, and some gardens with the help of three feral-pig-chasing hounds and two feline muroid hunters. You can connect with John at [email protected].
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Free Workshop: Write Your Pitch in 30 Minutes. Go from "I don't know what to write" to "I just sent an idea to my favorite
publication." Last time, students got published in HuffPo, Insider, Vox, Eater, NYMag, and more. And it's free! Sign up now. AMERICAN LITERARY REVIEW AWARDS
https://americanliteraryreview.com/contest/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline October 1, 2023. Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in the Spring online issue of the American Literary Review will be given for a poem, a short story, and an essay. One work of fiction per entry, limit 8,000 words per work. One work of creative fiction, limit 4,000 words per
work.
Entry fee covers up to three poems (i.e. one to three poems). MILTON KESSLER MEMORIAL PRIZE FOR POETRY
https://harpurpalate.binghamton.edu/submit/
$19 ENTRY FEE. Opens September 15, 2023. Deadline November 15, 2023. First prize $500 and publication in the winter/spring issue. Poems in any style, form, or genre are welcome, provided they are no more than five pages long and previously unpublished. GOLDILOCKS ZONE: $500 FOR AUTHORS/ARTISTS
https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit/269320/goldilocks-zone-2023-500-for-fiction-cnf-poetry-art-graphic-novel
$12.50 entry fee. Deadline September 30, 2023. The Goldilocks Zone appears wherever conditions make a planet habitable. Sunspot
Lit is looking for the single short story, novel or novella excerpt, artwork, graphic novel, or poem that combines excellence in craft with reader or audience appeal, and thus falls into the Goldilocks Zone. Literary and genre works accepted. Prize $500 and publication for the winner; publication for runners-up and finalists. RATTLE CHAPBOOK PRIZE
https://www.rattle.com/chapbooks/guidelines/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 15, 2024. Manuscripts may be 15 – 30 pages of poems (not including front- or back-matter), with any reasonable fonts or font sizes (12 pt, etc.). Don’t worry about the formatting.
Open to writers, worldwide; poems must be written primarily in English. Three winners, judged by the editors of Rattle in an anonymized review, will receive $5,000 and 500 author copies of their chapbook, which will also be distributed to all of Rattle’s 7,000+ subscribers along with a future issue of the magazine. At least one of the winners will be a poet who has never published a full-length collection of poetry (48 pages or more) prior to 2024. F(r)ICTION CONTEST
https://frictioncontests.submittable.com/submit
$10- ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 3, 2023. Categories: Short Story, Flash Fiction, and Poetry. Short stories: 1,001 – 7,500 words. Flash fiction:
up to 1,000 words per piece. Poetry: up the three pages per poem. Writers over the age of thirteen are welcome to submit. We accept work, written in English, from anywhere in the world. By submitting your entry, you are attesting that your work was not created, in whole or in part, with an AI generator or similar. Poetry - first prize receives $300 and will be considered for publication in F(r)iction. Flash fiction - first prize receives $300 and will be considered for publication in F(r)iction.
Short story - first prize receives $1,000 and will be considered for publication in F(r)iction. TROUBADOR INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE
http://www.coffeehousepoetry.org/prizes
ENTRY FEE £6/€7/$8.
Deadline December 10, 2023. First prize £2,000. Second prize £1,000. Third prize £500. Plus 20 commendeds. Poems may be submitted from any country, may be on any theme, and must be in English, must each be no longer than 45 lines, must show title and poem only, must not show poet’s name, must be the original work of the entrant (no translations) and must not have been previously published. SMOKELONG GRAND MICRO COMPETITION
https://www.smokelong.com/the-smokelong-grand-micro-competition-2023/
$13 ENTRY FEE (1-2 micros). Deadline November 10, 2023. SmokeLong’s Grand Micro Competition (The Mikey) is a biennial competition
that celebrates and compensates the best micro fiction and nonfiction online. The grand prize winner of The Mikey is automatically nominated for The Best Small Fictions and any other prize we deem appropriate. In addition, we will also pay the grand prize winner $1500. Second place: $500. Third place $300. Finalists: $100. All finalists and placers will be published in the winter ’23 issue of SmokeLong Quarterly. Word Count: 400 words or fewer for each micro. Fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid
narratives are considered. BATH FLASH FICTION AWARDS
https://www.bathflashfictionaward.com/enter/
£9 ENTRY FEE. Deadline October 8, 2023. Prizes: £1000 first, £300
second, £100 third, two £30 commended. Fifty authors offered anthology print publication, with all published authors shipped a free print copy. Entry is open to everyone; locally, nationally and internationally, 16 or older. Maximum length is 300 words. VII INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://www.fundacioncesaregidoserrano.com/en/contest
Deadline September 30, 2023. The César Egido Serrano Foundation periodically calls for an International Short Story Contest that is part of the activities that the Foundation carries out to achieve its objective, which is none other than that the word is the tool against all violence and
harmony between different cultures, religions and ideologies. This contest is the best endowed by word in the world with a first prize of $20,000 and three second prizes of $2,000 each. In the last edition, 43,185 authors from 172 countries participated in the contest. Writers from anywhere in the world may participate, over 14 years old. Limit 100 words. GALLEY
BEGGAR PRESS SHORT STORY PRIZE
https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize
£10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 30, 2023. First prize £2500. Shortlisted authors will each be awarded a cash prize of £200. Longlisted authors will receive £50 of bookshop vouchers, plus a four-book subscription to Galley Beggar Press. This
year, we are happy to say that we were able to offer 200 free entries. These are offered on a first come, first serve basis. Submissions must be no longer than 6,000 words. GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING MASSACHUSETTS GRANTS FOR CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS
https://massculturalcouncil.org/artists-art/grants-for-creative-individuals/
Mass Cultural Council is finalizing a new program to equitably support creative expression with $5,000 grants to individuals throughout the Commonwealth. In FY24, we expect to award $1.8 million to artists, culture bearers, and creative individuals in all artistic/creative disciplines through this new program. Opens in October. Closes in December 2023. NYC WOMEN'S FUND FOR MEDIA, MUSIC, AND THEATRE
https://www.nyfa.org/awards-grants/nyc-womens-fund-for-media-music-and-theatre/
Deadline November 1, 2023. The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre provides grants to
encourage and support the creation of digital, film, music, and live or online theatre content that reflects the voices and perspectives of all who identify as women. THE EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS FUND
https://www.audible.com/ep/audible-theater
A program that invests in and nurtures self-identifying emerging playwrights, some of our most inventive, delightful, and provocative storytellers. Any applicant over the age of 18 may submit a Script. Submissions are accepted year-round. The Fund specifically supports the creation of original dramatic work, written with audio in mind, but theatrical in spirit. Contact: [email protected] 18TH STREET ARTS CENTER
https://18thstreet.org/residency-program/
The Visiting Artist
Residency Program accepts applications from working, professional artists who demonstrate a deep commitment to their practices. The program is open to artists of all generations, nationalities, and disciplines. Applicants are required to cover studio rental costs themselves. Although we primarily support visual artists, 18th Street Arts Center will consider applications from performing artists, writers, and filmmakers as well. Hosts artists from across the United States and from around the
world. THE DOROTHY AND LEWIS B. CULLLMAN CENTER FOR SCHOLARS AND WRITERS FELLOWSHIP
https://nypl.onlineapplicationportal.com/misc/guidelines/default.aspx
Deadline
September 29, 2023. The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers supports projects that draw on the research collections of The New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (formerly the Humanities and Social Sciences Library). The Center seeks top-quality writing from academics as well as from creative writers and independent scholars. CLIMATE HOME NEWS
https://www.climatechangenews.com/write-for-us/
Climate Home News is seeking stories on the global renewable energy supply chain. If you are a journalist with at least three years’ experience, please send us your pitches. We can offer a reporting fee of around $1,600 per story, including photos and videos, in addition to covering travel and accommodation expenses. Travel costs will be negotiated in advance and reimbursed subject
to valid receipts. Please send your pitches with the word ‘Pitch’ in the subject line to project editor Chloé Farand by emailing [email protected]. Your pitch should include the top line of the story and essential context in no more than 200 words. If we like the idea, we will ask for more detail; the sources you would interview, any travel requirements; and a short
summary of your journalism experience, including links to three recent stories you are proud of. If you are pitching on another topic, rates start at £0.35 a word (GBP). A standard 600-word news story should involve interviewing (and usually quoting) at least three sources and linking to relevant data or research. All stories must have a climate change angle and an international outlook. While our coverage is informed by scientific evidence, our editorial focus is on the political, economic and
social dimensions of the climate crisis. INDIEREADER
https://www.mediabistro.com/jobs/indiereader/job/22005726-pro-book-reviewer#
IndieReader, one of the
original book review services for small press, hybrid and self-published authors, is looking for professional book reviewers with previous editorial experience (preferably writing book reviews). The position pays $45-$50 per 350-400 word review. Reviewers will be credited for their work. Please submit three book review samples along with your CV. ONE IN FIVE
(Anthology)
https://unbound.com/books/one-in-five/
Deadline September 15, 2023. Unbound is looking for essays for One in Five—an anthology about the realities of living in poverty. They are particularly keen to hear from writers of colour. We’re looking to select three essays of 2,000-3,000 words each to go
in the anthology and will pay each author £200. You’ll retain rights to your work and can publish it elsewhere after first publication. Pitch Aliya Hulamani, Commissioning Editor and Editorial Lead at Unbound Firsts at [email protected]. SENTIENT
MEDIA
https://sentientmedia.org/pitchguidelines/
Every Sentient Media story should support our mission of changing the conversation around animal agriculture. With explainers, reporting and analysis, we aim to get people talking about the impacts, injustices and consequences of our food system. Each story should fit
within at least one of our verticals: agriculture, science, climate, health or justice. Our rates start at $200 and go up from there. We pay higher rates for experienced writers and journalists, and for stories that require significant reporting or research. LINER NOTES
https://catalogworks.notion.site/Editorial-Pitches-80db854dbf7042ca991c946b5ec9b59a
Pays around $200. They are anti-AI. With the music media landscape as battered as ever, shrinking the number of outlets available to passionate writers, we’re excited to welcome article pitches that contain tie-ins to at least one [Catalog
record](https://beta.catalog.works/) and/or tackle one of these focus areas:
- Thoughtful essays or debates about music/web3 topics (aka cultural commentary)
- Profiles that direct attention to under-appreciated artists and music
communities
- Oral histories of influential, beloved musical works (an album, club night, etc.) DRIVE
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cu_CQHEaDQn2W4ThmPn6WqSZQ1NvDeNaLTu2ZYCkTu4/edit
Drive is a lifestyle publication published by Subaru of America and delivered to almost two million print and digital subscribers. We pay ~$1/word, depending on the complexity of the assignment. We pay upon acceptance of a final draft by our editorial team, and generally ask for one round of revision before acceptance. Our audience of Subaru
owners is diverse in terms of age, demographics, family status, and geography, but the commonalities are a love for adventure, family, traveling, health and fitness, road trips, pets and animals, giving back to their communities, environmental consciousness and learning new things. NOURISH
https://nourishbooks.com/become-a-nourish-author/
Watkins Publishing Ltd specialises in books for Mind, Body &
Spirit (under our Watkins Publishing imprint), and Food & Drink (under our Nourish imprint). First, please take a look at our website and/or catalogue and assess whether your title would fit in well with our list. We are looking for titles that have a clearly identifiable, international market, as well as having an original and crystal clear concept. Please note: We do not publish original poetry books or spiritual or new age fiction. We no longer publish spiritual or new age children’s
books. IGLOO BOOKS
https://igloobooks.com/us/about-us/
Igloo Books publishes high-quality, affordable books for every kind of reader. From illustrated storybooks, novelty and board books,
wipe-clean learning, licensed advent calendars, to coloring, sticker, and activity books, we have something for everybody between the ages of 0 to 100. We are the global leader of mass-market publishing with a world-wide reach in 77 countries across 64 languages. Please forward the newsletter in its entirety. To reprint any editorials, contact [email protected] for permission. Do not assume that acknowledgements listed in your publication is considered a valid right to publish out of ours.
C. Hope Clark
E-mail: [email protected]
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
http://www.fundsforwriters.com Copyright 2000-2023, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326 **Note that FundsforWriters.com places paid advertising in this
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