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DURING A PANDEMIC, SELL BOOKS LIKE A POLITICIAN

In relation to this subject about selling books in a pandemic, I have to say that I have not seen a blog post or newsletter feature that was worth a darn. They all felt to be grasping at straws.

Nothing against the writers, all tried to be helpful, but they felt as if they were filling copy space for the week instead of providing anything of substance. Bottom line is, marketing has changed. Marketing is also a dire concern for many writers, particularly those who did not have a solid platform in place pre-COVID-19.

Timing may suck and you might be releasing your first book. You might have sold at festivals and fairs that no longer exist. You may have toured schools (good luck getting in those doors) or appeared to civic organizations (who mainly meet online now). Gone. So what is a relatively unknown writer supposed to do when it comes to selling books?

Let me ask you this? What are politicians doing? Knocking on doors was no longer an option. Neither was there as many meet and greets. Let's learn from the pros (whether you like them or not).

1) Saturate your area. Politicians, especially locals, saturate their areas with their presence. Who lives in your area willing to do some simple mailbox stuffing for you?

2) Mailboxes. Mail postcards via the post office or put them in newspaper boxes. Every time I release a book, I order hundreds of post cards (cheaper in bulk). I use them to hand out in lieu of business cards (more colorful and less likely to get lost), and I mail them to everyone I have an address to include my doctors and dentists. 

3) Local social media. Locals buy from locals these days. They keep business close to home. NextDoor is a neighborhood social media entity where people literally know and talk to each other, assisting each other. My local coffee shop posts regularly on Facebook and a blog, and they carry my books. The town councilman for our local town is quick to post on the town Facebook page, and I let him know when a book is out. There are so many pockets and groups on social media. Saturate your area.

4) Participate in causes. I'm active in local politics, and I don't miss a beat making it known I'm the local author for Chapin when I meet someone. I appeared just this week as a school board event (social distanced, of course), and people squealed at meeting me, having learned of me through the school board.

5) Zoom or TikTok or online video. I do Two Minutes of Hope on Facebook, and people love the personal feel. Seeing and hearing someone without the makeup and pretense of being on a stage is catching on fast.

I haven't tried putting up signs like a senatorial candidate or buying billboard space, but I have learned that people are shrinking their bubbles and remaining closer to home. That's where you need to focus your attention. The virus has hurt business in all realms, and people want to help. Focus local. Who cares if you sell 2,000 books close to home or across the country?

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.

HOPE'S APPEARANCES

SUCCESS QUOTE

SUccess Story

Good morning Hope, 
  
I am grateful that you invest a chunk of your precious time to publish FundsforWriters every Friday. Although I subscribe to a number of newsletters and blogs, yours is the only must-read I check my inbox for each week.
Funds for Writers resonates with me because it’s your bully pulpit as a cheerleader, teacher and leader. You provide stimulating content from your own perspective, as well as thoughtful commentary from other writers whom you pay to share their expertise. Thank you!
 
Writing is such a solitary practice that it’s easy to feel trapped by the events unfolding around us and lose heart. That’s why the key message you reinforce in every issue of FundsforWriters never gets old and bears repeating. You don’t tell your readers what to do to be successful; you show them. It doesn’t matter if there’s a pandemic in our midst, turbulent news shaking the status quo or a personal tragedy; you don’t give up. There are so many stories waiting to be told!
 
When I started my blog, Stories from the Slow Lane, I took your example to heart. www.elainethomaswriter.com/blog/ I spent a good deal of time exploring who my target audience was and how I could reach out with stories that would be meaningful. Of course, I kept in mind that the content of these stories would need to compliment the books I’ve written and those I’m planning.
 
Those of us who faithfully read your newsletter benefit from your positive energy, skill and enthusiasm. Thanks again, Hope, for being a beacon in the writing world.
 
Warm regards,  



Elaine Thomas – Writer
www.elainethomaswriter.com
www.facebook.com/elainethomaswriter
https://elainethomaswriter.com/blog/

- - - 

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

 

Featured article

Are You Being Paid Enough for Your Freelance Writing? 

By Dan Brotzel

The issue of freelance pay is a sensitive one, but there are good reasons to benchmark your rates. Knowing what your work is worth gives you ammo to negotiate better rates, plus setting measures helps drive up industry rates overall. Here’s how to determine what you should be paid.

Ask your peers

Talking to fellow freelancers about how much they charge and how much they get paid is the first step to benchmarking your own pay. The more transparency freelancers have with each other, the more power they have to drive up rates for all. Ask your own network and get the conversation started. Bring it up on writer-related social media. 

Consult freelance networks and industry associations 

Silence about pay favours clients, who will understandably not pay more than they need to and, in some cases, may be paying different amounts to different people for the same work. Check out freelance organisations and forums like the Freelancers Union in the US, which aim to drive transparency and facilitate discussion on such issues. They carry out industry-wide research and lobby for better conditions for freelancers. 

The Editorial Freelancers Association in the US and the National Union of Journalists in the UK also publish regularly updated guide to freelance fees, with lots of additional advice on getting paid, invoicing, and rights.

Look at freelance pay surveys 

Surveys like this one by freelancing guru Carol Tice are a useful way to compare your pay with your peers. 

Look at industry and in-house surveys

Understanding the broader context of what’s happening to the industry can help inform your sense of how much you should be paid. For example, salary surveys by econsultancy in the UK show that marketing and content salaries have been falling in recent years, which is likely to impact freelance rates, too. 

So, too, if you write in a sector that’s currently struggling, such as business travel or hospitality. Many recruiters publish salary surveys for specific sectors. Based on its surveys, Glassdoor publishes a useful guide to setting competitive freelance rates.


Consult rate databases

Rate databases go beyond surveys to give details of specific pay per publication, often with extra information about what it’s like to freelance. The Freelancer’s rates database (powered by Content.ly) is a rich resource of fees, jobs, and publications, with lots of invaluable notes about client communication, payment issues, and so on. It’s also great for discovering new markets. Submit your own anonymous contribution and you can use the site’s freelance rate calculator. Journo Resources has a smaller, more UK-focused list.

Remember to compare like with like 

In all this comparison, keep in mind the variances in rates for work that may seem superficially similar. ‘Copywriting work’ might mean writing product descriptions based on information supplied, for example, which is very different (and likely to be much less well-paid) than conceptual short-copy work where you are coming up with a clever idea for a whole campaign. Magazines also have a significant range, and some well-known titles continue to get away with stingy historical rates. 

Work out how much you want to get paid 

The other factor to consider is how much you actually need to earn. A freelance rate calculator like this one or this one (many are out there, along with lots of apps) helps you calculate how much you should earn per hour to achieve your annual income goals. Saying no to work becomes easier if you can see that the rate offered is simply not going to make you enough to hit your earnings target.

BIO: Dan Brotzel is the author of Hotel du Jack (Sandstone Press) 

COmpetitions

FALL SHORT STORY CONTEST - THE WRITER
https://www.writermag.com/contests/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 8, 2020. Submit your very best fictional short story in 2,000 words or less. Any theme, subject, or genre is fair game, as long as it falls under 2,000 words. First prize $1,000 and publication. Our second-place winner will receive $500 and publication on our website, writermag.com; our third-place winner will receive $250 and publication on writermag.com as well.  



GEIST SHORT LONG-DISTANCE WRITING CONTEST
https://www.geist.com/contests/short-long-distance-writing-contest/short-long-distance
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 14, 2020. Send us a story, 500 words or less, fiction or nonfiction, which spans two or more Canadian time zones. This could mean a physical transition across time zones (like a road trip), or an implied transition between them (like a phone call). The details are up to you. Get creative! First Prize: $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $150. All winning entries will be published in Geist and on geist.com



BETTER THAN STARBUCKS!
https://www.betterthanstarbucks.org/sonnet-contest
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 30, 2020. Winning poets receive First Place $350, Second Place $100, Third Place $50. This contest is for a metrical sonnet. Your sonnet can be Shakespearean, Petrarchan, Spenserian, rhymed, or slant-rhymed. Blank verse is fine, as long as the sonnet form is clearly identifiable. We’ll consider tetrameter, hexameter, etc. as well as pentameter. Some metrical variation is fine, but don’t forget the volta! As always, we do accept previously published work. Submit up to two sonnets.



JF POWERS PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
https://dappledthings.submittable.com/submit/24212/j-f-powers-prize-for-short-fiction
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 30, 2020. The contest awards prizes of $500 to the winner, $250 to its runner up, and publication for any additional honorable mentions at the discretion of the editors. The word limit is 8,000 words. 



SILLERMAN FIRST POETRY BOOK PRIZE FOR AFRICAN POETS
https://africanpoetrybookfund.submittable.com/submit/46724/sillerman-first-book-prize-for-african-poets
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 1, 2020. The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry is awarded annually to an African poet who has not yet published a collection of poetry. The winner receives $1,000 and book publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal. An “African  writer” is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.



WRITING BLACK JOY
https://grubstreet.org/get-involved/writing-black-joy/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline December 6, 2020. The winner will receive $1,000, second place $750, and third place $500. All three prize essays will also be published on our blog, GrubWrites. We want to hear true stories from you about joy—specifically Black joy: moments, scenes, memories, which celebrate Black families, relationships, culture, and history. Submissions must be true stories between 500 and 1,000 words. Submissions can be in any genre: prose, poetry, or cross-genre. Open to any resident over the age of 18 in New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine) and New York state. 



DRIFTWOOD PRESS SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://www.driftwoodpress.net/storycontest
$12 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 15, 2021. The winner will receive $400 and five copies of the issue in which the story appears. The winner will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work; the interview will be published alongside the story. If a runner-up is chosen, their work will be offered publication, an accompanying interview, $100, and one copy of the issue in which their work appears. Fiction entries only. Limit 1,000 to 5,000 words. 



ONE TEEN STORY CONTEST
https://www.one-story.com/index.php?page=submit&pubcode=ots
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 20, 2020. The winning stories will be published in forthcoming issues of One Teen Story, which will reach over ten thousand readers. The contest winners will receive $500 upon publication and 25 copies of the magazine featuring their work. The contest winners will also have the opportunity to work with a One Teen Story editor prior to publication. Honorable mentions will be chosen in three age categories: 13-15, 16-17, and 18-19, and each will be announced on our website, by email announcement, and on social media. Short stories should be between 2,000 to 4,500 words and be the writer’s own original, previously unpublished work.



VOYAGE CONTEST
https://thevoyagejournal.com/submit/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 15, 2020. Can you tell us a good YA story in 5,000 words or less? Send us your best YA contemporary, romance, fantasy, science fiction, genre-bender, and more! The First Place winner will receive $3,000 and an hour-long consultation with Literary Agent Saritza Hernandez of Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Second Place will receive $300 and publication, and Third place $200 and publication. Finalists will also receive written feedback from Literary Agent Saritza Hernandez.



THE BOILER PRIZE
https://theboilerjournal.com/contest/
$7 ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 30, 2020. Limit 800 words. We welcome fragments, experiments, prose poems, flash essays/fiction. One winner will receive $500 and be published in our winter issue. A runner-up will be awarded $250 and also be offered publication. Additional finalists will be considered for our winter issue.



SANDY CRIMMINS NATIONAL PRIZE FOR POETRY
https://philadelphiastories.org/poetry-contest/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline November 15, 2020. Philadelphia Stories will award $1,000 for first place and $250 to each of three runners-up. The winning and runner-up poems are published in the Spring issue with these poems and honorable mentions appearing online. The Crimmins Prize celebrates risk, innovation, and emotional engagement. We will accept up to five pages of poetry. You may submit one 5-page poem, five 1-page poems, or any other combination within the five-page restriction.

 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

AMAZON LITERARY PARTNERSHIP
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/books-and-authors/amazon-literary-partnership-accepting-grant-applications-for-2021
Now through January 29, 2021, we’re seeking requests from nonprofit literary organizations whose mission is to champion underrepresented writers and connect writers with their readers, for grants that will be awarded in 2021. Apply for an Amazon Literary Partnership 2021 grant, including the Poetry and Literary Magazine funds at the link on the above site. 



GASHER FIRST BOOK SCHOLARSHIP
https://www.gasherjournal.com/first-book-scholarship
Deadline November 30, 2020. In an effort to support equality and accessibility within literary publishing, GASHER Journal and Press is pleased to offer a $250 scholarship to a writer currently submitting their first book manuscript to help cover submission costs for contests and reading fees. Writers must not have published a full-length collection at the time of submission, including self-published books. (chapbooks are okay.) The writer must reside in the United States at the time of submission. Please submit your first-book manuscript (must be at least 48 pages in length, committed to identifying material) with a cover letter and bio. 



SALT LAKE CITY PROJECT SUPPORT GRANTS
http://saltlakearts.org/grant/project-support-grants/
Deadline November 17, 2020. Project Support grants are awarded to individuals, groups, and nonprofit organizations for specific arts projects and programs determined to be of value to the community. Concerts, performances, festivals, workshops, and readings are examples of projects eligible for funding through Project Support grants. Project Support grants have at least one-to-one cash matching requirement. If awarded, a Project Support grant will be $500-$10,000. 



FORGE NYC FELLOWSHIPS
https://www.forgenyc.org/forge-fellowship
Deadline November 23, 2020. With a 2021 FORGE Fellowship, we invite individual makers and small teams (of no more than three) at any point in their career or process to spend a year (February through January) digging in, getting curious, and defining success. Learn to articulate your work to fellow innovators, concoct creative solutions to today’s conundrums, and retrofit your process with guidance from FORGE and leaders in your field. We invite folk with diverse backgrounds, lived experiences, and modes of expression to incite creative friction and re-envision the inherited systems and accepted norms of our fields. Location NYC. 



MESA REFUGE
https://mesarefuge.org/residencies/
Deadline December 1, 2020. The Mesa Refuge has supported more than 800 writers and other creatives, mostly focused on “ideas at the edge” of nature, human economy and social equity. A Mesa Refuge residency is an opportunity to develop ideas and present them to the public. We give priority to writers focusing on nature, the human economy and social equity. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. The Mesa Refuge offers the true gifts of time, space and support—no daily fees are charged for residents, though many make donations. 

 

FREELANCE MARKETS / JOBS

SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN
https://www.migrantanthology.com/
Deadline December 5, 2020. Edited by acclaimed poet and author of Nostalgia & Borders, Sonia Guiñansaca, and award-winning author of The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande. We are seeking bold, personal nonfiction essays and poems from migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and displaced people with experience in the United States. We are especially interested in essays and poems from those in the Midwest and Border towns. We are centering and giving priority to essays and poems from Indigenous migrants, Black migrants, Asian Pacific Islanders, and Arab communities. The anthology will be published by HarperCollins in English and Spanish. Contributors will be compensated a minimum of $800. 



KUOW
https://kuow.org/stories/kuow-calls-for-bold-stories
Seattle Story Project is seeking stories that offer an unflinching glimpse into what it means to be human. Writers don't have to be currently based in Seattle, but you should be linked to our Emerald City or the surrounding Puget Sound region in some meaningful way. We are especially interested in hearing from writers whose voices are underrepresented in the media such as people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants, people living with disabilities, incarcerated individuals, and writers who have experienced or are experiencing homelessness. Aim for between 800-1,200 words. Must be true and first person. Pays $450 for previously unpublished work and $200 for reprints. (Thanks www.erikadreifus.com)



ARTIFICIAL DIVIDE
https://pressesrenaissancepress.ca/2020/09/19/call-for-submissions-artificial-divide/
Deadline December 1, 2020. Artificial Divide is an own voices anthology by blind and visually impaired writers. It’s a multi-genre anthology with visually impaired protagonists. It will feature a diverse array of short stories with protagonists that are visually impaired. For this anthology, edited by Robert Kingett and Randy Lacey, we’re looking for short stories between 500 and 8,000 words. Pays six cents/word Canadian.



THE NEW SOUTHERN FUGITIVES
https://newsouthernfugitives.com/submit/
Deadline November 30, 2020. Pays $40 per book review, $40 per poem, $40 per photograph or piece of visual art, and $15 per page for prose (minimum $45 and maximum $105). Our mission is to “tell a million tales of y’all means all” and we especially encourage submissions from indigenous, LGBTQIA+, disabled, current or previously incarcerated, and non-binary people, women, and people of color. We will not accept work with gratuitous depictions of violence or sexual abuse. We consider reviews of novels, short story collections, poetry collections, memoirs, essay collections, graphic novels, anthologies, and books that hybridize or bend these categories. Reviews must be of books that are forthcoming or published within the past 18 months, and published by an indie or university press, or self-published. 



AQUILA
https://www.aquila.co.uk/images/docs/Author_guidelines_2016.pdf
Articles and stories are planned up to a year in advance. A selection of fiction is made each summer and most nonfiction is commissioned by the end of November for the following year. The magazine has a readership of 40,000 children between 8 and 13 years. The majority being in the 9-12 range. The content is designed to appeal to bright children who are confident and independent readers. The story should be between 1,000 and 1,150 words (to fill one double spread). The feature should be around 800 words (depending on how much space is needed for diagrams, illustrations etc.). Payment for either is £90.



CAST OF WONDERS
https://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/
Cast of Wonders is a young adult short fiction market, open to stories up to 6,000 words in length. We’re dedicated to publishing fiction that reflects the entire spectrum of the human experience. Stories that evoke a sense of wonder, have deep emotional resonance, and have something unreal about them. We aim for a 12-17 age range: that means sophisticated, non-condescending stories with wide appeal, and without gratuitous or explicit sex, violence or pervasive obscene language. We pay $.08/word for original fiction of any length (yes, including flash!). For reprints, we offer a $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, and a $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. 



ISSUES IN EARTH SCIENCE
http://earthscienceissues.net/submissions
We are interested in MG and YA fiction that incorporates Earth Science concepts as key, rather than incidental, elements. Stories with adult characters but written for MG or YA will also be considered. Stories should be between 1,000 and 3,000 words, with preference for stories around 2,000 words. Payment will be $0.06/word ($60 minimum). 



CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE TEENAGE SOUL
http://www.chickensoup.com
We're collecting up-to-date stories written by teens and men and women under age 35. We want these stories to represent how the world is today for teenagers, and we're hoping for stories about the pandemic, technology, social media, and other modern-day concerns. Limit 1,200 words. Must be in first person. Pays $200 and ten copies. 



ELLE UK
Learned of through Twitter. Katie O'Malley is the new acting digital editor for Elle UK and is accepting pitches. Sent to @elleuk or email [email protected] 



VICE WORLD NEWS - UK
Learned of through Twitter. Simon Childs is the contact at @simonchilds13. If you have any ideas for reported news features, investigations etc. that could work for @VICEWorldNews then send a pitch. Mainly UK stories but with one eye beyond these borders, too. Email [email protected] 

 

Publishers/agents

FRANKLIN KERR PRESS
https://www.franklinkerr.com/aboutUs/
Our focus is on publishing quality works of fiction primarily in the horror, science-fiction, and thriller genres though we also entertain an array of other genres and sub-genres, such as fantasy and young adult.At Franklin/Kerr, authors have our full attention. Once we accept a manuscript for publication we work with the author each step of the way to produce a well-tuned book ready for the world to devour. This includes getting input from the author on cover design, marketing materials and providing professional editing, formatting, ebook setup and more at no cost to the author. We ask that authors take a proactive role in their book′s success and allow us to take the literary journey along with them.



GIBBS SMITH
https://www.gibbs-smith.com/submissions
Our main emphasis is on interior design, architecture, children's, and cookbooks. Additionally, we accept submissions in the following subjects: arts and crafts, western humor with general appeal, general humor, and gift books.



REGAL HOFFMAN AND ASSOCIATES LITERARY AGENCY
https://www.rhaliterary.com/submissions/#agents
Our primary areas of interest include literary fiction, suspense and thrillers, narrative nonfiction (history, biography, science, et cetera), book club fiction, YA and middle-grade works, some memoir, and some category nonfiction. We enthusiastically seek out new voices and perspectives. We do not represent romance, poetry, or screenplays. 

 

SPONSORS

www.fundsforwriters.com/advertising 

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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