VOLUME 24, ISSUE 10 | MARCH 1, 2024 |
ANOTHER CONTEST PURPOSE In having coffee with a local writer, we started talking contests. She has a goal of entering one per month with her works in progress. She writes mainstream and romance, so she has to select contests open to other than literary fiction (which makes up a lot of contests). She'd heard me say that I once entered contests, before being published, in order to take measure of how well my writing had advanced. I felt once I started placing or winning contests, I must be improved enough to risk pitching agents and publishers. It was a good challenge and, actually, the agent who signed me up said my contest wins had helped show her that I was
serious about this writing thing. This friend of mine was hoping the same would happen with her. Try harder, submit, try harder, submit. Additionally, she was entering contests that gave critiques and feedback, to help her along her journey. Contest turn-downs are less painful than those of agents and publishers, for some reason. Most of the time you only know you didn't win when the winners are announced. However, the critiques are worth the rejection, IMHO. Keep that in mind when scrolling through the contests in FundsforWriters. |
C. Hope Clark
Editor, FundsforWriters
Email Hope | Visit Website | Sign up for Newsletter
Newsletter: ISSN: 1533-1326
FFW has 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. 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 IMPOSTER SYNDROME I'm someone who does not believe in writer's block. However, I have to admit that everyone, sooner or later, is
touched by Imposter Syndrome. For those unfamiliar, it's when you believe you cannot write up to the standard to be taken seriously, you feel you cannot fulfill a task, or you feel like a fraud. One tends to feel this
when: 1) They are starting out and pitching to editors/publishers/agents.
2) They are attempting a bigger or more complex project than they have attacked before.
3) They have done a lot of writing
and get sideswiped by the feeling that regardless what they've accomplished, the luck is gone. Notice something in those three examples? The truth is that imposter syndrome can flare up at any time in your writing career. I have written hundreds of articles, appeared in many Writer's Digest events, spoken at dozens of conferences, done hundreds of book signings, and written 19 novels. Every once in a great while, as I am seated at the computer about to launch into whatever project stands before me, I wonder if my material is marketable or if I've been lucky. . . and the luck is about to run out. My solution is to dive into the writing. Admittedly, I do not get this feeling as much as before, but it still sneaks up and bites me periodically. I wonder who thinks my work is not that great. But I then dash it aside and just write. The worst thing you can do is NOT write when you get this feeling. The solution is to write
through it. I promise you. Been there...done that. The 30-Day Writing Challenge Are you ready to get some
writing done? Join the 30-day writing challenge hosted by The Writing Desk! The challenge runs from April 1-30, 2024. Your task? Write 15,000 words! Throughout the challenge, you'll get: - Daily emails with your word count goal
- Weekly emails with advice on building
sustainable writing habits and overcoming roadblocks
- Weekly email check-ins
- Four live co-writing sessions with your host, Bailey, and fellow challenge participants
You'll also receive a PDF workbook with progress trackers, information about each week's writing habit, and more. The challenge is $15, and you can learn more and sign up here! Visit www.usethewritingdesk.com and email [email protected] with questions.
About The Writing Desk: The Writing Desk exists to help you tell stories that matter. Bailey Lang is an experienced writer, editor, and coach who works one-on-one with authors to build sustainable writing habits, make writing fun, and get you from draft to done.
-March 8, 2024 - Colleton County Library, 600 Hampton St, Walterboro, SC - 1-2PM -March 24, 2024 - Writer's Digest Mystery/Thriller Virtual Conference - presenter - Keeping Pace in the Middle of
Your Mystery - 1 PM Eastern -May 29, 2024 - A Moveable Feast, presenter C. Hope Clark, Restaurant TBD, Pawley's Island, SC -June 1-8, 2024 -
The Gutsy Great Novelist Retreat, Bar Harbor, Maine - writer-in-residence
-June 22, 2024 - Richland County Library, Ballentine,
1200 Dutch Fork Rd, Irmo, SC - time TBD - July 9, 2024 - South Congaree-Pine Ridge Branch Library, 200 Sunset Dr, West Columbia, SC 29172 - 5:30-7:00 PM
Email: [email protected] to schedule events, online or otherwise. "I don’t like to write, but I take great pleasure in having written – in having finally made an arrangement that has a certain inevitability, like the solution to a mathematical problem. Perhaps in no other line of work is delayed gratification so delayed." ~William Zinsser, journalist and nonfiction writer, and author of On Writing Well
Hope, THANK YOU. You don't know how much your newsletter gives me weekly hope. Just shared it with a fellow grad from my MFA program and she was totally wowed. She now counts on it as a
regular resource. I continue to try contests that I see in your newsletter, and get new energy when I have the chance to submit a book that my agent and I know is good but just hasn't gotten placed yet.
Throughout it all, my agent, Tara Gelsomino, has been a true advocate and warrior. She does marvelous
pitches, she does lots of creative problem solving, and she hasn't given up yet.
You may already know that I indie released a novel I wrote back in 2013 - 2016, and shopped out with a former agent. @nervesofsteel just won 1st place for Middle Grade/Young Adult in the Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards (listed in your newsletter).
I'm working on a new novel, a project of my heart for many years, and have others in the hopper as well. Because that's what we do; that's our daily joy. For now, I'm content to balance my college essay business and its regular income with the occasional royalties and contest wins, along with fun release parties and bookstore signings. Perhaps when I retire in my sixties, I'll have time to do more promo and PR. Until then, I have so many books to write.
Now I'm off to submit to a few more contests When Pigs Fly, the book that's been on submission, contests I found thanks to you. How great it is to have your curated list so I can focus on what I need to be doing in precious morning time: building the thing page by page, bird by bird, pig by pig. 😀🐖🐷
Take care,
Lyn Fairchild Hawks
Author & College Essay Consultant
www.lynhawks.com
www.success-story.lynhawks.com
P.S. I've also started working out and I love your updates; you're an inspiration. <<If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to [email protected] >>
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Leveraging Substack and Public Speaking to Monetize Your Passion
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By John Atwell As a starving freelance writer, I always look for ways to turn craft into coin. Enter Substack. Think of it as a personal online publishing platform with which you build a paying readership. Setup is free, intuitive, and quick. Fill it with previously published work, new articles, OpEds, short stories...whatever tickles your fancy. Create subsections, the content and purpose of which are only limited by your imagination. Insert graphics to make your written word pop (free
tutorials for your account help you find royalty-free images). I launched The Island Intelligencer Substack on Independence Day 2023; it took four hours. The core
of the written material comes from a monthly newspaper column that I write for a local rag and focuses on espionage and national security. With my editor's blessing, newly released pieces post on the Substack the same day they come off the press and are sent to the email inbox of my subscribers, including those with free accounts. To draw subscribers, I include free access for everyone to a Flipboard magazine (another free tool at www.flipboard.com) that I stock weekly with news clippings about the global cloak-and-dagger world. Paid subscribers can access more features related to the subject of the writing (intelligence). Especially popular are regularly
updated lists of movies about real intelligence operations, online spy museums around the globe, and podcasts and video channels catering to spy buffs. For the professional and academic crowd, there is a regularly updated list of international intelligence-focused publications and organizations. I plan to offer paying subscribers occasional unique articles that can only be found on the Substack. You can bend this model to almost any subject matter or collection of writing. Building a subscriber list is easy. Gift seven-day free subscriptions to everyone you know, relevant FaceBook and LinkedIn and Reddit groups, and people in organizations that would be interested in the content, asking them to spread the word. Keep some content free for all subscribers, but have some unique offerings that will compel some followers to throw money your way. (I only ask $30 for an annual subscription that unlocks all
features.) Group discounts are a built-in optional feature. (I offer half price subscriptions for members of groups that request a discount.) Will this make you rich? There are stories of writers who have grown their Substack into their main income source. As for mine, it netted $500 in its first month. In the weeks thereafter, as the platform helped spread my written products, it led to other unexpected
opportunities. A professor at a prestigious university invited me to deliver a paid lecture for one course ($250 for a one-hour talk). Another member of the academy suggested a joint research paper. A publisher of another product asked permission to reprint one of my pieces in a new venue. Then came the public speaking engagements. Unpaid talks have proven to be an excellent way to build readership, garner
invitations for more speaking gigs, and—for me—even a job offer as a community college lecturer. (They have all thrown in a free lunch, one asked me to select a charity to receive a $25 donation tied to my talk, and another invited me back for an encore.) Local libraries and philanthropic organizations—Rotarians, Elks—are open to having guest speakers on many topics. Special interest groups—military retirees, Daughters of the American Revolution, etc.—have a narrower scope of interest. Public
library speakers series can be tapped. Did you know that cruise lines will give you a free cruise and plane tickets to/from the point of departure to offer lectures onboard? Check out www.cruiseshipenrichment.net and www.compassspeakers.com. Give Substack a look over at www.substack.com. A little cash and new opportunities may await you. Explore mine for free at https://islandintelligencer.substack.com. Bio: John Atwell is the editor of Weekly Intelligence Notes (the online news magazine of the Association of
Former Intelligence Officers), the author of the Hawaii Tribune Herald's The Island Intelligencer (a monthly column on espionage issues), and a lecturer on national security matters at Hawaii Community College. 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 29 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 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpaulatwell. Blog: www.sojournchronicle.wordpress.com Blog/articles: www.motherearthnews.com/contributors/John+Atwell/ Published newspaper articles: https://islandintelligencer.substack.com
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THE CATERPILLAR POETRY PRIZE
https://www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=7254&page=21
€15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2024. The Prize is open to anyone over the age of 16. First prize €1,000 plus a week at Circle of Misse, second prize €500, third prize €250. Enter as as many poems as you like. There is no line limit. BRIDPORT POETRY, SHORT STORY, FLASH, NOVEL, MEMOIR CONTESTS
https://bridportprize.org.uk/
£24 ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 31, 2024. Poetry: 42 lines max. No
minimum. Title not included in the line count. Short story: 5000 words max. No minimum. Flash fiction: 250 words max. No minimum. Novel anbd Memoir: 8,000 words max. 5,000 words minimum from opening chapters. PLUS 300 word synopsis which should form the first page of the submission. Poetry: 1st prize £5,000, 2nd prize £1,000, 3rd prize £500, Highly Commended 10 x £100. Short story: 1st prize £5,000, 2nd prize £1,000, 3rd prize £500, Highly Commended 10 x £100. Flash fiction: 1st prize £1,000,
2nd prize £500, 3rd prize £250, Highly Commended 5 x £100. Novel: 1st prize – £1,500 plus up to a year’s mentoring from The Literary Consultancy. Runner-up – £750 plus full manuscript appraisal. Memoir: 1st prize – £1,500 plus up to a year’s mentoring from The Literary Consultancy. Runner-up – £750 plus full manuscript appraisal. IFFLY'S MINIGAME MARCH
WRITING CONTEST
https://ko-fi.com/post/Announcing-Ifflys-MiniGame-March-Writing-Contest-P5P0ULYKN
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2024. The premise is simple: during the month of
March, write and publish a complete game on Iffly.co. Our judges will review them, and select a winner! Iffly is a game-writing platform where you can write and publish a game without ANY code, programming, or design. You don't need to have art. You don't need to know any programming language. ALL you need to be able to do is write -- and you can make a text-based game on Iffly. The winner gets $250. WASHINGTON PRIZE
https://wordworksbooks.org/submissions/the-washington-prize/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 15, 2024. Awarded annually to a living American or Canadian poet. Prize is $1,500 and book publication for a manuscript of original poetry in English. Poets at any stage in their career may submit a manuscript of 48 to 80 pages. GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING BOGLIASCO FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS
https://www.bfny.org/en/about/program-overview
Deadline March 14, 2024. Awarded to artists and scholars in the various disciplines of the arts and humanities, including archaeology, architecture, classics, dance, film/video, history, landscape architecture, literature, music, philosophy, theater, or visual arts. During their month-long stay at the center, fellows are provided with living quarters (bedroom with private bath), full board, and a work space or
separate studio, depending on the discipline. All meals are shared, and every evening, fellows come together for a served dinner featuring typical local cuisine. Bogliasco Fellowships cover room and board but do not provide a travel or living stipend. Location Italy. COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION
https://www.collegeart.org/programs/publishing-grants/meiss
Deadline March 15, 2024. Supports book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of art, visual studies, and related subjects that have been accepted by a publisher on their merits but cannot be
published in the most desirable form without a subsidy. This is a publishing grant that goes to the publisher. ARIZONA YOUTH ART ENGAGEMENT GRANTS
https://azarts.gov/grant/youth-arts-engagement/
Deadline April 4, 2024. Youth Arts Engagement Grants support arts learning projects for young people that occur outside of traditional school hours. Focuses on young people, ages 24 and under. Organizations can request $2,500 to $5,000. Individuals can partner with education, nonprofit, and cultural groups to
apply. KEROUAC RESIDENCIES
https://www.kerouacproject.org/
Deadline April 14, 2024. The
Kerouac Project provides six residencies a year to writers of any stripe or age, living anywhere in the world. Each residency consists of approximately a two-month stay in the cottage where Jack Kerouac wrote his novel The Dharma Bums. Each writer stays free with their utilities covered and a $600 food and supplies stipend to use during their residency. The residents are required to participate in four events: a welcome potluck dinner held in their honor, two creative workshops, and a final
reading of their work at the end of their residency. Writers will be judged on the quality of the writing sample submitted. VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY WRITER IN RESIDENCE
https://www.vpl.ca/writer
Deadline March 22, 2024. The writer in residence program promotes Canadian writing and literature to Vancouver citizens. During the four-month residency from September to December, the writer spends 50% of their time working on their own project and 50% of their time mentoring emerging writers, conducting workshops and participating in other
activities and programs to share their experience with the community. Contract terms: $22,000 for four months full-time activity ($5,500 per month on a self-employed basis). Contract dates: April 15 through April 30, 2024 and September 2 through December 8, 2024.
PRIDE SOURCE
https://pridesource.com/pitch-a-story
Covers topics of
interest to the LGBTQ+ population: LGBTQ+ politics, relationships and weddings, sex, health, home, LGBTQ+ people and their pets, pop culture and celebrities, and other queer-centric trends. We publish short and long features, profiles, Q&As, essays, opinion pieces, listicles and video interviews. Though primary focus is on Southeast Michigan, open to national stories, particularly national stories with a Michigan spin. Columns/essays $100-$125; News features, other news/pop culture reporting
$100-$250. TAPROOT
https://taprootmag.com/pages/submissions
Taproot Magazine is an ad-free,
independently published bimonthly print magazine, celebrating farm, food, family and craft through writing, photography and the arts, both fine and domestic. Themed deadlines. Articles range from 800-4000 words. WRITER'S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS AWARDS
https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/self-published-book-awards
$100 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 1, 2024. Submit your self-published, printed and bound book in one of seven categories (mainstream/literary fiction,
genre fiction, nonfiction/reference, inspirational/self-help, memoirs/life stories, early reader/children's picture books, middle-grade/young adult) for a chance at a Grand Prize package that includes $10,000, a trip to the Annual Writer's Digest Conference and a feature article about you and your book in the March/April 2025 issue of Writer's Digest. Also, one of seven First Place prize packages that include $1,000 in each respective category and promotion in the March/April 2025 issue of
Writer's Digest. THE WILDEST
https://www.thewildest.com/contact-us
The Wildest is a new platform for
millennial and gen-z pet owners. They're looking for interesting article ideas about pets, with expert input. They prefer topics that are original and not focused on shopping or personal stories. Pay is £200-£300 per article, depending on length, interviews and research. If you're interested, send your pitches to [email protected]. BARN
RAISER
https://barnraisingmedia.com/
Deadline March 15, 2024. Send a 200-300 word description of your idea to Lydia at [email protected] and two to four links to recent and relevant work. Stories (including creative nonfiction,
reported stories, and photo essays) will explore the work of artists, environmental stewards, community organizers and artistic and social justice movements informing Midwestern creativity and social change, with a focus on reimagined or nontraditional forms of cartography and mapping. Should be within Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and the Native Nations in this grography. Each project comes with a $1,000 stipend.
HATHERLEIGH PRESS
https://hatherleighcommunity.com/submissions/
No fiction. Seeks books in the topics of Heath and wellness, Fitness and exercise, Living with chronic diseases and medical, Self-help and inspirational, Sustainability and green living. CHESAPEAKE PRESS
https://www.chesapeakepress.org/
Chesapeake Press publishes fiction and non-fiction books for children about American democracy. We are looking for original fiction manuscripts and non-fiction book proposals related to civics education for readers in grades K-8. We are also looking for illustrators, graphic artists, and book designers. MONKFISH
https://www.monkfishpublishing.com/submissions/
Monkfish publishes fiction and nonfiction books related to the
subjects of spirituality and religion. KORERO PRESS
https://www.koreropress.com/submission-guidelines/
Our love of lowbrow and pop surrealism drives us to focus on pop culture and art, in particular kustom kulture, street art, illustration, erotica and horror. We know what we like and are quick to determine whether or not we are interested in a new idea. No novels. We do illustrated books. 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 newsletter. ALL ads are 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. While the mailing list is not sold to third parties, other parties do advertise in the newsletter, to include the occasional solo ad. 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 wish to receive the
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