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ONE QUESTION YOU DO NOT ASK AN EDITOR

When referencing "editor," I'm talking about the ones who make the decision whether to publish your editorial, essay, feature, short story, or even book. These are gatekeepers. These folks decide if they like what you submitted.

So what is the criminal question you're banned from asking? 

What topic do I write about?

This is about as close to an instant rejection that I can imagine, short of submitting in all CAPS or all lower case. This flies in the face of an editor putting together a publication. They are not paid to create content (usually). They are paid to correct, edit, arrange, and prepare to publish content. 

They are also paid to pick through submissions to find the best compilation of writing and subject matter. Good writing is part uniqueness, part proper English, and part voice. 

Writers must endear themselves to editors by proving they come loaded with thought, style, and quality. These days, way too many writers pitch to editors by simply asking, "What topics are you looking for?"

Editors are not looking for writing machines! They are looking for good material. But they are looking for something else. . . a writer with a work ethic. 

Coming to an editor asking them to provide you with anything is putting more work on their plate. Your job is to make their job easier. Provide them a manuscript as ready-made to drop into publication as you can. 

Writers are supposed to be imaginative. Part of any payment from a publication to a writer is based upon originality. So to ask that question, What topic do I write about, not only labels you as unimaginative but also lazy. For this editor, it's instant rejection.

The easier you make an editor's life, the quicker they snare your submission and give it a yes.

SUPER SPONSOR 

Skyrocket Press is searching for our next favorite book...and it might be yours!

One winner will receive a $250 cash prize and publication. We are open to all fiction genres except romance and erotica (we publish clean fiction). Romance may be an element within another genre, though not the main focus.


In addition to our annual novel contest, we also accept full-length non-fiction and speculative short story submissions year round. Skyrocket Press also offers affordable author services, such as editing & design. For details, please visit our website: www.SkyrocketPress.com.

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Featured article

Boost Your Writing Income with Themed Merchandise 

By Jessica McCann

Merchandise that highlights your writing, freelance work, or author brand can boost your writing income in multiple ways. The most obvious is through selling those products. Beyond that, people showing off your wares become your “street team,” shoring up the personal connections and word-of-mouth critical to book sales and freelance referrals.

“As human beings, we have an innate drive to belong to groups,” explained Joanna Penn in her book, How to Market a Book. She writes nonfiction for authors and is a best-selling thriller author as J.F. Penn. “Providing merchandise for fans of your work offers them a way to feel a part of the tribe. You must have at least one rock’n’roll t-shirt in your wardrobe! In the same way, authors can provide their fans with a way to connect more deeply with the books and characters they love.”

Displaying mugs, shirts, or posters at author signings, book fairs, and writing events helps draw people to your table. That, in turn, creates opportunity to generate a mailing list and future sales.

“As a writer, it’s always good to have more than one source of income,” said Jon Acuff, a motivational speaker and New York Times bestselling author of six books including, Finish: Give yourself the gift of done. “As buying habits change, as bookstores change and as products change, it’s helpful to know you’ve got multiple ways to build your career.” 

You can customize almost anything. Does your book series have a protagonist who loves wine? Put your covers or catch-phrases on wine charms and glasses. Does your main character own a business? Think about all the Forest Gump movie fans you see sporting “Bubba Gump Shrimp” apparel. Cookbook authors can make recipe binders, tea towels, trivets, spoon rests. Poets can design home decor or writing journals with meaningful lines from their best work. 

Popular print-on-demand websites include CafePress, Zazzle, Redbubble and CustomInk. Sites like these enable you to create products with no up-front cash. They have user-friendly tools to build and promote your shop, as well as templates and graphics to aid product design. Most allow you to set the retail price or royalty percentage you want to receive. They also produce and ship items directly to buyers.

My author website features a “Literary Merch” page that highlights my book-themed products for sale on Zazzle. The page provides my readers a way to support my work while awaiting the next book. I also buy items myself, for giveaways, and as thank-you gifts for editors, book clubs, booksellers and others who support my work.

If you’re crafty, you can use Etsy to sell products you make and ship yourself. Susan Johnston Taylor is a freelance writer covering personal finance and lifestyle topics for publications like Entrepreneur and Fast Company. She also writes articles and books for kids. Taylor’s Etsy shop, Grammar Geek Greetings, features unique greeting cards designed for “writers, editors, teachers and smart people.”

Another approach is to partner up and customize an existing product. Acuff collaborated with NeuYear after singing the praises of their wall calendars for years. The Finish Calendar now ties seamlessly with Acuff’s best-selling book of the same title.

“It’s always great for writers to create products they really use,” Acuff said. “I wouldn’t release a tea kettle with my quotes on it, for instance, because I’m not a big tea drinker.”

What best fits your writing or author brand?

Important note: If you have a publishing contract, study the subsidiary rights to make sure commercial and merchandising rights reside with you before proceeding.

NOTE: McCann’s “Find the Beauty in Adversity” product line ties with her 1930s Dust Bowl novel, Peculiar Savage Beauty. Her book cover and web address appear discreetly on the back of all products.

BIO – Jessica McCann has earned a living as a freelance writer and editor for 30 years. She’s an award-winning historical novelist and creative nonfiction author, and has worked as a judge for the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Contest. Visit her website and check out helpful “Stuff for Writers.” www.JessicaMcCann.com

http://www.facebook.com/JessicaMcCannNovelist
http://twitter.com/JMcCannWriter
https://www.goodreads.com/JessicaMcCann
https://www.instagram.com/jmccannwriter
https://www.zazzle.com/store/jessica_mccann_books
 

COmpetitions

CARVE PROSE AND POETRY CONTEST
https://www.carvezine.com/prose-poetry-contest
$17 ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 15, 2020. Prizes: $1,000 each for one winner in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. One poem, essay, or short story per entry. No limit to number of entries. 10,000 maximum word count for fiction and nonfiction; 2,000 maximum for poetry. We accept entries from anywhere in the world, but the work must be in English.



GRAYBEAL-GOWEN PRIZE FOR VIRGINIA POETS
https://shenandoah.submittable.com/submit/161041/graybeal-gowen-prize-for-virginia-poets-2020
(NOT SEEING AN ENTRY FEE.) Deadline October 31, 2020. All submissions will be considered for publication. Poets living in or born in Virginia, as well as those who have lived in Virginia for two or more years in the past, are eligible. Submit as many as three poems, each no longer than 50 lines along with brief biographical note, which should confirm the basis for eligibility as a Virginian. One poem will be selected to receive the $1,000 prize and will be published in Shenandoah. Please send three to five of the poems you consider your most urgent work. 



J. ANTHONY LUKAS WORK-IN-PROGRESS AWARDS
https://journalism.columbia.edu/lukas
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 9, 2020. Two J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards, in the amount of $25,000, are given annually to aid in the completion of a significant work of nonfiction on a topic of American political or social concern. Recognizing that a nonfiction book based on extensive original research often overtaxes the resources available to its author, the project envisions the award as a way of closing the gap between the time and money an author has and the time and money that finishing a book requires. Applicants for the award must already have a contract with a U.S.-based publisher to write a nonfiction book. Submit 50-75 pages from the work-in-progress. 



J. ANTHONY LUKAS BOOK PRIZE
https://journalism.columbia.edu/lukas
$75 ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 9, 2020. The J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, in the amount of $10,000, is given annually to a book­length work of narrative nonfiction on a topic of American political or social concern that exemplifies the literary grace, commitment to serious research, and original reporting, that characterized the distinguished work of the award’s namesake. Books must have been published in the United States between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. 



MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE
https://journalism.columbia.edu/lukas
$75 ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 9, 2020. The Mark Lynton History Prize, in the amount of $10,000, is awarded to a book­length work of history on any topic that best combines intellectual distinction with felicity of expression. Books must have been published in the United States between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.



ANTHOLOGY MAGAZINE SHORT STORY COMPETITION
https://anthology-magazine.com/short-story/
€10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 30, 2021. The winner will receive a €500 cash prize and the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology. Established to recognise and encourage creative writing and provide a platform for publication, it is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in the English language by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. Stories submitted must be on the theme of ‘Memories’ and not exceed the maximum of 1,500 words. 



MIRACLE MONOCLE AWARD FOR YOUNG BLACK WRITERS
https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/miracle-monocle-award-young-black-writers-H6gjk
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline October 31, 2020. The winner of the prize will receive a $200 prize and publication in the journal. Work in the following genres is welcome: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and experimental/hybrid literature. Writers must be 25 years old or younger and identify as Black. For fiction, please submit one piece of 1,000-10,000 words. We accommodate traditional realism and experiment alike. For poetry, please submit no more than three pieces. For creative nonfiction, please submit one piece of 5,000 words or less. We're looking for personal narrative, topical investigations, and lyrical essays. For the experimental and not-easily-defined, please submit no more than three pieces. We’re interested in flash, microfictions, nano fictions, and the like, preferably less than 1,500 words. (www.erikadreifus.com)

 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE - UK
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/DYCP
Deadline November 5, 2020. The fund supports creative practitioners thinking of taking their practice to the next stage to research, have time to create new work, travel, training, develop ideas, network, or find mentoring. Grant range: £2,000 - £10,000.



DURHAM ARTS COUNCIL - NC
http://www.durhamarts.org/artistinfo_emergingartists.html
The council welcomes applications for its Emerging Artists Program. Through the program, grants of up to $1,500 will be awarded to developing or established professional artists in the North Carolina counties of Chatham, Durham, Granville, Orange, or Person in support of a project that is pivotal to advancing their careers. Disciplines eligible for consideration include craft, dance, drama, film and video, installation, literature, music, painting and drawing, photography, printmaking/mixed media, and sculpture.



ADINA TALVE GOODMAN FELLOWSHIP
https://one-story.submittable.com/submit/160518/adina-talve-goodman-2021-fellowship
Deadline October 30, 2020. Together with the Talve-Goodman Family, One Story is pleased to announce the Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship. This educational fellowship will offer a year-long mentorship on the craft of fiction writing with One Story magazine, including free tuition for all One Story online classes and programming offered in 2021; travel stipend ($2,000) and tuition to attend One Story’s July 2021 week-long summer writers’ conference in Brooklyn, which includes craft lectures, an in-person intensive fiction workshop, and panels with literary agents and publishers; and a full manuscript review and consultation with One Story Executive Editor Hannah Tinti (story collection or novel in progress up to 150 pages/35,000 words).
 

FREELANCE MARKETS / JOBS

USA TODAY
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/12/04/submit-letters-columns-and-comment-social/2608825001/
The USA TODAY Opinion section publishes analysis, argument, and essays on a wide variety of subjects. We're looking for timeliness (pegged to news), persuasion pitched to the other side, new information, novel arguments, revelatory insights, passion without partisanship, first-person experience, original reporting that reveals fresh angles and makes news, expert knowledge, and/or a topic that will drive conversation on social media and in the real world. Columns typically run 550 to 750 words. 



VIA
https://mountainwest.aaa.com/via/about/contact-via
Writers can request our submission guidelines by emailing [email protected]. Professional photographers can send a link to an online portfolio to [email protected]. A bimonthly travel magazine for AAA members in Alaska, Arizona, Northern California, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. 



NATIONSWELL
https://nationswell.com/careers/#pitch
NationSwell is looking for freelance writers to tell impactful meaningful solutions stories between 800-1,500 words. NationSwell is a solutions-based news organization based out of NYC. We tell narrative and feature stories about people or organizations solving for America’s issues. This includes the woman who took on gun violence by confronting gangs and her local mayor in street rallies or the group that helps families of murder victims fight back against a system that unfairly punishes them. We take both video and written pieces. Pay is $.50-.65/word depending on experience and subject matter. 



SC ELECTION REPORTER
https://www.indeed.com/q-Writing-jobs.html?vjk=d6b3b506c9b2824b
No experience required! Just a smartphone is needed. Election reporters needed to relay results from the SC elections on November 3, 2020. Duties are very simple, just must arrive at a designated polling place by 6:45PM and report the results as they come in via mobile hotspot or Wifi. NOTE: All reporters are expected to follow federal and state recommendations for face covering and social distancing for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19. Pays $100 a day.
 

Publishers/agents

PERRY LITERARY
https://www.perryliterary.com/what-we-re-looking-for
Seeks the following. Nonfiction: Narrative nonfiction (music, film, television, sports, pop culture, biography, politics, current affairs, medical, journalism, history, legal history, and travel), Business books (business biography, history, business technology, economics), Cookbooks, Food and Wine, Parenting, Philosophy, Photography, Psychology, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, Self-help, and True Crime. Fiction: Literary fiction, Historical fiction, Legal thrillers, and Picture books. In addition to his agency services, Joseph is an attorney who performs legal work for authors, publishers, editors and other publishing industry professionals. You can contact Joseph for legal matters only at [email protected].



LAXFIELD LITERARY ASSOCIATES - UK
https://laxfieldliterary.com/
We are looking for fiction and non-iction of the highest quality. We are keen to receive literary and commercial fiction. We are also looking for nonfiction, particularly creative nonfiction, travel writing and nature writing. We do not represent poetry, plays, children’s books or YA.



MORGAN GREEN CREATIVES
https://www.morgangreencreatives.com/
A boutique talent agency committed to providing the very best representation for our clients, with a personal and far-reaching service. (Brand new - website opening November 2020)



STERLING BOOKS
https://www.sterlingpublishing.com/imprints/
Sterling books cover a broad range of subject areas including current events, diet and health, parenting, popular culture, reference, history, art and artists, music, and everything in between. Multiple imprints. 



DAW
https://www.penguin.com/publishers/daw/
DAW Books was the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy. Now almost 50 years and two thousand titles later, DAW has a well-deserved reputation for discovering and publishing the hottest talents in the industry. DAW accepts unsolicited submissions of science fiction and fantasy novels. We cannot consider short stories, short story collections, novellas, or poetry. The average length of the novels we publish varies but is almost never fewer than 80,000 words.



BAEN
https://www.baen.com/faq
We are looking only for science fiction and fantasy. Preferred length: 100,000 - 130,000 words. Generally, we are uncomfortable with manuscripts under 100,000 words, but if your novel is really wonderful send it along regardless of length. Query letters are not necessary. We prefer to see complete manuscripts accompanied by a synopsis. We prefer not to see simultaneous submissions.



FREE SPIRIT PUBLISHING
https://www.freespirit.com/submission-guidelines/#
Free Spirit is the leading publisher of learning tools for youth and educators that support young people’s social, emotional, and educational needs. We help children and teens think for themselves, overcome challenges, and make a difference in the world. We care about young people and the issues and challenges they face every day. Our line of materials includes early childhood board books and picture books on social skills and positive behavior; Self-Help for Kids®; Self-Help for Teens®; and teaching resources for educators. 
 

SPONSORS

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FINE PRINT

Please forward the newsletter in its entirety. To reprint any editorials, contact [email protected] for permission. Please do not assume that acknowledgements listed in your publication is considered a valid right to publish.

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

Copyright 2000-2020, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326

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