Monthly Archives: January 2013

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GalleyCat’s list of 20 places to market your book for free.

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Bedlam is an independent online arts journal showcasing the work of writers, artists, and musicians from all over the world. The journal is dedicated to promoting work that is passionate, daring, and inspiring.

 

We seek art, writing, and music that demonstrate a dedication to craftsmanship, a willingness to challenge boundaries, and a deep passion for the work. We welcome art that compels, provokes, inspires, or amuses. We’re seeking out manifestos and rhapsodies, confessions and litanies, crimes of passion, stolen moments, and loves. We’re looking for something brave, something gone a bit ’round the bend, something on the run, something gone wild.

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Some basics to remember when planning your submissions here. 

Resilience Combats Rejection

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Check out this article on how to handle the rejections that are a part of every writer’s life. Mark McGuinness has a background as a psychotherapist before becoming an author’s coach, so his advice is founded in longstanding theories and practices.

Joan Gelfand recently shared this:

According to Writer’s Relief, the writer’s submission service, the average writer has a 4% acceptance rate. A good writer has a 10% rate and if you’re really lucky 20% and higher.

 

Make the Most of Rejection

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This essay provides 5 tips for handling rejection letters. They range from honoring your very real emotional response to moving on to the next opportunity.

Contest: Regional Juvenile Author Laureate

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2013 PIEDMONT LAUREATE CALL FOR AUTHORS

Deadline: January 11

The Piedmont Laureate program has reopened its call for applications from authors of children’s literature for 2013. The range of literature has been expanded to target children of all ages, up to 18.  Authors must be residents of Alamance, Durham, Orange, or Wake counties.

 

Contest: Emerging Southern Writer

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EMERGING WRITERS CONTEST

Deadline: January 7

Award: $300 / $200 and invitation to Symposium

Fee: $15

Entries are now being accepted for the 2013 Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Contest. This year categories will feature fiction and poetry. The contest is open to writers who meet at least two of the following criteria: currently live in the South; are natives of the South; write about the South. Additionally, writers must have not yet published a full-length volume in the genre that they are entering. For example, writers are still eligible for the emerging fiction writers contest if published in volume form in nonfiction or poetry. Manuscripts of fiction considered: up to 5,000 words, typed and double-spaced. Poetry considered: a single poem, or up to five to be counted as a group, typed. Entry must not have been previously published in any form. Entry must not have previously won recognition in any other contest. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable.

 

Contest: Novel and Story Collection

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FICTION CHAPBOOK CONTEST

Deadline: January 5

Award: $250, publication, 25 contributor copies

Fee: $15

We are pleased to announce the first ever Origami Zoo Chapbook Contest. The final judge will be the cataclysmic Matt Bell. Origami Zoo Press has published chapbooks by Laura van den Berg, Chad Simpson, BJ Hollars and Brian Oliu. Submit manuscripts of 40-80 pages. Both novellas and collections are welcome. It’s great if pieces of the manuscript have been previously published as standalone pieces or excerpts, as long as the manuscript as a whole has not been published.

 

Contest: Multiple Fiction Categories

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PRESS 53 OPEN AWARDS

Deadline: March 31

Award: Five beautiful etched-glass awards (personalized award certificates for Second Prize and Honorable Mention) and publication

The sixth annual Press 53 Open Awards is now accepting submissions. Five Categories, three Winners in Each: Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short-Short Story, Short Story, Novella (Finalists and Winners Announced No Later Than June 28, 2013). Five Industry-Professional Judges. Thirteen opportunities for publication: First Prize, Second Prize, and Honorable Mention in Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short-Short Story, Short Story, and First Prize in Novella will be published in the 2013 Press 53 Open Awards Anthology.

 

Contest: Short Story

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NELLIGAN PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION

Deadline: March 14

Award: $2,000 and publication

Fee: $15 ($17 to submit online)

Colorado Review is now accepting submissions for the 2013 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction. This year’s final judge is Jim Shepard. The prize is given annually for the best short story under 50 pages.

 

Contest: Short Story

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DORIS BETTS FICTION PRIZE

Deadline: February 15

Award: $250 and publication

The Doris Betts Fiction Prize awards $250 and publication in the North Carolina Literary Review to the author of the winning short story. Up to ten finalists will also be considered for publication. The contest is open to writers with North Carolina connections (who live or have lived in NC), members of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, or subscribers to the NCLR. The competition is for unpublished short stories up to 6,000 words. One entry per writer. No novel excerpts. No simultaneous submissions.

 

Marketing Article

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This is a very short essay about one author’s experience marketing her book after a traditional publisher picked it up. Although she’s a children’s book author, the core of her experience is pretty common.

Most important lesson:

Publishing is a business and books are products. Help buyers understand why they should purchase your product over someone else’s.

Writing a Novel

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Here’s a very in-depth article from Writer’s Digest that helps you plan out a novel’s structure, character development, and other key points.

I find some of the recommendations too detailed. There’s a point at which authors have to stop worrying about minor details and allow the story to flow. There are two important things to remember when you start writing a novel:

1. You can’t fix it in your head. No matter what issue you’re wrestling with, you won’t be able to truly work with it until you have it on the page. Manipulating it in your mind doesn’t give you the same hold on the work. Put the material on the page where it remains fixed. Then you can adapt, adjust and revise.

2. Creativity is not logic. Writers need both skills to create a novel…and each skill is used at different times. Don’t allow the critical (logical) judge to ruin the flow state. Don’t allow the illogical creative flow ruin your revision process.

 

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Here’s a listing of calls for submissions from The Review Review.