test 2 http://ezezine.com
The Writers Network News, July 2011 Issue
In This Issue
One: From the editor’s desk – Save Our Trees!
Two: Ask the Book Doctor – About Networking--Getting a Job in the
Publishing Industry and Selling Freelance Articles
Three: This Month’s Writing Tip from Bobbie Christmas – Sneaked or
Snuck?
Four: Subjects of Interest to Writers
Five: Contests, Agents, and Markets
Six: Creative Writing Assignment – Fantasize a New World
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Writers Network News
No Rules; Just Write!
Editor: Bobbie Christmas
Contents copyright 2011, Bobbie Christmas
No portion of this newsletter can be used without permission; however,
you may forward the newsletter in its entirety to anyone who may be
interested in subscribing.
Newsletter Sponsor
Zebra Communications: Excellent Editing for Maximum Marketability
Top-rated Better Business Bureau Accredited Business
Zebra Communications
230 Deerchase Drive, Suite B
Woodstock, GA 30188
770/924-0528
http://zebraeditor.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meet Fellow Writers
Do you live in or visit metro Atlanta? Sign up for local meeting
notices today! Send your name and e-mail address to
Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Next scheduled meeting: Friday, July 22, at
noon at Martino’s in Roswell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some links in this newsletter may include “tiny url” with the help of
www.tinyurl.com, which takes long Web addresses and converts them to
short ones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writer’s quote of the day
"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the
seed of an equal or greater benefit." –Napoleon Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One: From the editor’s desk — Save Our Trees!
Dear Fellow Writers:
Last week yet another paper-wasting telephone book was tossed into my
yard in a plastic bag. I lean toward being a tree-hugger, especially
when it comes to such complete wastes of paper. When was the last time
you cracked open a telephone book? With the Internet so accessible and
most of our numbers already programmed into our cell phones, few folks
use a phone book anymore.
I posted a comment on Facebook about useless telephone books, and my
son responded with a note saying I could opt out of receiving phone
books. I didn’t know that! If you’d like to opt out of receiving any
more phone books, go to http://tinyurl.com/66qwqoo. They don’t make it
easy. You have to register, then get an e-mail, follow the directions,
sign back on, and then finally opt out, but it’s worth it. We could
save a good many trees if we cut out phone books entirely. I hope
you’ll follow the link and opt out of any phone books you don’t intend
to use.
Along the same lines, here’s something I’ve been doing since the early
1970s, when I worked as a news editor. We used to receive hundreds of
pages of single-sided press nad publicity releases, yet we never used
them. Rather than throw out all those fine pieces of paper, I stacked
them and used the backs as my paper for when I wrote articles and sent
them to the typesetter. To this day I keep my misprints or other used
eight-and-a-half-by-eleven sheets of paper and use them to print my
drafts, personal notes, schedules, and such. The only time I use a
fresh sheet of paper is when I print something I intend to send out.
Let’s face it; we all print out manuscripts and then make changes to
them. Don’t throw out that paper! Turn it over and use the back for
printing your next draft.
We writers can save the planet one sheet of paper at a time and save
those trees for important things, such as our literary works.
Speaking of literary works, I’ve just released the brand-new fifth
edition of my book doctor’s desk reference book titled Purge Your Prose
of Problems. It’s perfect for those who want to edit manuscripts and
make money or edit their own manuscripts and save money. To order, go
to http://zebraeditor.com/book_purge_your_prose_of_problems.shtml.
One more note: Write In Style, my award-winning book on creative
writing, is officially out of print. New copies are selling for as much
as $167.54 on Amazon. While they last, however, you can still buy one
of the few remaining new copies at the original price of $12.95. To
purchase, go to http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
Hurry! Supplies are rapidly dwindling. Only a few dozen are left.
Yours in writing,
Bobbie Christmas (Bobbie@zebraeditor.com or bzebra@aol.com )
Author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), owner of Zebra
Communications, and director of The Writers Network
Follow my "Write In Style" creative-writing blog at
http://bobbiechristmas.blogspot.com/
Follow my "Don't You Dare Call It a Diet" weight-loss blog at
http://dontyoudarecallitadiet.blogspot.com/
Follow my “Ask the Book Doctor” blog at
http://www.spannet.org/profile/BobbieChristmas.
========================================================
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up to get your
own copy. Simply go to www.zebraeditor.com, click on “Free Newsletter,”
and follow the prompts. I never share your address or send out spam.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Two: Ask the Book Doctor — About Networking: Getting a Job in the
Publishing Industry and Selling Freelance Articles
By Bobbie Christmas
Q: I've been looking for a more creative job for two years without any
breakthroughs. I don't have any real work experience in the way of
working for magazines, newspapers, or ad agencies, plus I am not a
college graduate. Nonetheless, my desire remains strong. I hope to find
a company willing to hire me for on-the-job training. I want to move
into a communications department (creating collateral materials, like
brochures), creative department (print or Web), a publications company,
a magazine, or any job that will position me to learn more about
writing and the publishing business.
If you have any appropriate contacts in my area, I would deeply
appreciate an introduction or icebreaker.
A: How wise of you to ask for introductions! Networking is the
number-one way to get a good job, because you won’t be competing
against hundreds of applicants for an advertised job.
Besides networking and asking for introductions, here are a few other
tips for landing a position as a writer, even without much experience.
Whenever I was in the position to hire writers, I always required a
portfolio that contained at the very least two or three samples of the
applicant’s writing. Writers had to prove to me that they had basic
skills before I hired them, after which I was willing to add on-the-job
training to refine their skills.
If it seems unfair that people can’t get jobs as writers until they
have already written something, please understand my point of view.
Many people want to become writers, but I needed people who had at
least a little innate ability. Until those folks actually wrote
something, I could not evaluate their potential. Read on, and I’ll tell
you more about how to create a portfolio, even if you have never been
published.
Being able to write is one thing; being willing to follow through is
another, so when I was a news editor, I used a trick to get rid of
wannabes. I kept a list of potential articles that were not time
sensitive. When visitors without portfolios claimed they wanted to be
writers, I assigned the article at the top of the list. I often
assigned the same article fifteen times before one of the wannabes
actually followed through and brought me a written article. As a
result, everyone left my office happy to have an assignment, but few
people ever darkened my door again. Most folks could not follow
through. If I had hired them, they would have continued to disappoint
me. The few people who returned with an article got paid assignments,
and I later hired a few for full-time positions.
How can you get a portfolio if you’ve never been hired as a writer?
Volunteer as a writer for your church or temple bulletin, newsletter,
or website. Volunteer to write articles or materials for nonprofit
organizations. Even if you aren’t working for an organization, write
articles, fundraising letters, information pieces, brochures, and ad
copy for an imaginary company. In other words, write! Don’t wait for a
job or an assignment. Put those polished pieces in a notebook to give
potential employers something they can see and evaluate.
After you have three or four items you have written—especially if they
have been published—you have enough to show your capacity and
dedication. It’s time to employ your networking skills to get your foot
in the door. How do you network? Call every company that has a
corporate communications department or other publishing or advertising
department. Don’t say you are looking for work. Ask to speak to the
head of the department, because you could use a little guidance. When
you get the person on the phone, explain that you appreciate his or her
knowledge and expertise and would like to come in for five minutes to
ask a few quick questions. When you get in for the appointment, again,
don’t ask for a job. Instead, explain that you are new in the field and
could use that person’s expertise to learn about other companies that
hire writers. Ask if the person knows of any jobs available in the
area. Have your notepad and pen ready. If that company is hiring,
you’re in the right place, but if not, you might very well get a
referral that gets your foot in the door for the next company.
Networking works!
Q: Do you know of any freelance writing agents? I would like to do more
writing but would also like to make some money doing it.
A: I worked with an agency in Charlotte, North Carolina, more than
thirty years ago that took commissions for placing projects with
freelancers. After about a year, the owner cried on my shoulder, saying
she had not realized how hard it would be to make enough money from
commissions on freelance projects. She wised up and changed her
business into an advertising agency.
Literary agents can make a living from the commissions on book sales,
because books can sell for $10,000 and up, and the royalties keep
coming in. Magazine articles sell for about $1,000 and down, with no
royalties, so agents can’t make a living from the commissions on
article sales. To make matters worse, most magazines prefer to work
directly with writers, rather than communicating through agents.
As a result, writers must wear many hats. Besides being writers, we
must also be business owners, bookkeepers, secretaries, and errand
runners. Most of all, we must be marketers who search for and acquire
writing assignments through networking, job banks, self-promotion, and
many other methods.
Send your questions to Book Doctor Bobbie Christmas at
Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. You’ll get a personal answer ASAP.
Would you like to read, save, or share the Ask the Book Doctor column
as a PDF file? At http://zebraeditor.com/files/ask_the_book_doctor.pdf,
the newest column is posted around the first of each month.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Three: This Month’s Writing Tip from Bobbie Christmas – Sneaked or
Snuck?
Which word is the right past tense for sneak, snuck or sneaked? Common
use does not guarantee acceptability. People commonly use certain words
incorrectly in conversation, but good writers avoid variants, slang,
and misuses in narrative. Yes, when we speak, we say snuck instead of
sneaked, just as we say wudn’t instead of wasn’t. Snuck is not an
acceptable form of the past tense of sneak, though. Use sneaked. The
Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition says this: Sneak is conjugated
sneak—sneaked—sneaked. Reserve snuck for dialect and tongue-in-cheek
usages.
Use my trademarked Find and Refine Method to locate the use of “snuck”
in your manuscript and fix any that appear in narrative.
Go to the Edit function on your computer and then Find (or use Control
+ F). Under Find What, type snuck. When “snuck” shows up in narrative,
replace it with “sneaked.”
For more opportunities for improvement, buy one of the few remaining
copies of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing) by going to
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Four: Subjects of interest to writers
Member Jim Rathbone writes, “I just finished my third novel in the
series I’m writing, There’s a SPY in the Family, and of course we are
using your book, Purge Your Prose, to do the editing. We also have
completed audio performances of my first two novels, There’s a Pirate
in the Family and There’s a Smuggler in the Family. We will be
producing two audio books. Thanks for your help and encouragement over
these past years.
Jim Rathbone
Holiday, Florida
WWW.RathbonesGifts.Com
WWW.KenpoJujits.Com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Turner Cassity Literary Festival
July 8, 9, 10, 2011
Douglasville, Georgia
Featured authors include poet and educator David Axelrod, editor and
book doctor Bobbie Christmas, poet Gregory Fraser, memoirist and editor
Emily Hipchen, and poet Will Wright. All writers 18 years old or older
are encouraged to participate. For more information see
http://www.artsdouglas.org/aboutUs/2011PRTCliteraryfestival6.6.11.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free book reviewer
Holey Smoley:www.holysmoley.com
Main reviewer: Michael N. Vanatta
mnvanatta@gmail.com
Reviews documentary and historical genres and nonfiction or
historically accurate fiction. Approximate turnaround time for reviews:
thirty days. Posts reviews on Amazon.com in addition to the Holey
Smoley blog. Does not charge a fee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Momma Nature, a member in Georgia, sent something that proves the value
of correct punctuation. Here goes:
An English professor wrote the words, "woman without her man is
nothing" on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it
correctly.
The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing."
The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."
--Momma Nature (Carol Madan), www.mommanaturesworld.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thinking of self-publishing? Lots of good information here:
http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The Chicago Manual of Style website Q & A this month:
Q. In two different writers’ group meetings, two writers told me that
“OK” should be spelled “okay.” Both said it was because that’s what
Chicago Manual of Style calls for, but I can’t find this in CMOS. My
training (newspaper, mind you, so AP style) is to use first-listed
spelling, and “OK” is first-listed in every dictionary I checked. Has
Chicago ever specified “okay,” or are these ladies confusing their
publishers’ house styles with that of CMOS?
A. CMOS doesn’t specify, but as it happens, the manual uses “OK” twice
(at 2.66 and 7.48; 2.113 doesn’t count) and does not use “okay” at all.
The Q&A uses both spellings. (You can learn all this by typing the
words into the Search box at CMOS Online. ) We follow Webster’s 11th
Collegiate , which puts “OK” as the first spelling—but that does not
mean it is preferred. Rather, “okay” is an equal variant (also
standard). Your writer friends are misguided, in any case. It’s rarely
wrong to use an accepted spelling. Consistency within a document can be
assured by using a style sheet.
Q. How do you globally change all the underlining in a manuscript to
italic? On page 112 of The Subversive Copy Editor is a story of a
colleague who did it all by hand. I am doing that now, but I’d love to
know the quick way . . .
A. In MS Word, use the Replace box (Ctrl+H). (1) In the Find box, hit
Ctrl+U for Underline. (2) In the Replace box, hit Ctrl+U for Underline,
and then type it again to get No Underline, and then hit Ctrl+I for
Italics. (3) Click Replace All. There are many things you can search
and replace: in the Replace box, click on More and then Special to see
a list.
For more CMOS Q & A, see
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/new/new_questions01.html.
Chicago Manual of Style
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t Buy This Book!
The fifth edition of Purge Your Prose of Problems: A Book Doctor’s Desk
Reference is finally here. Book editors and book doctors use this book
to educate themselves on how to edit manuscripts (and make money doing
it), and thousands of writers have used it to edit their own
manuscripts (and save money by not hiring an editor). The fourth
edition was praised by many, and with the fifth edition, the contents
have been updated, improved, and expanded, with dozens more subjects
covered than the fourth edition.
Instead of buying this $29.95 book, I would rather you pay me several
thousand dollars to edit your manuscript, so don’t buy this book! I
don’t want you to edit your book yourself with the information in this
book.
This proprietary reference book is written in easy-to-understand
language and covers what book writers need to know about grammar,
punctuation, word choices, creative writing, plot, pace,
characterization, dialogue, Chicago style, formatting a manuscript, and
much more. The spiral binder opens flat for easy use in front of your
computer, so you don’t lose your place while you’re working. If you
prefer, you can save shipping costs PLUS instantly get Purge Your Prose
of Problems as a searchable PDF for ease of use.
Please don’t buy Purge Your Prose of Problems, but if you insist, you
can order your copy today at http://tinyurl.com/4ptjnr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words Writers Should Know
poetaster (POH-it-as-tuhr)
An inferior poet
From Latin poetaster, from Latin poeta (poet), from Greek poietes
(poet, maker), from poiein (to make) + -aster (pejorative suffix).
Earliest documented use: 1601.
Usage: "In the title story, a poetaster suffering from 'chronic
acuteness' is rushed to the hospital before his verse does much harm."
Anthony Bukoski; Average Joes Wind Up in 'Hospital'; Star-Tribune
(Minneapolis, Minnesota); May 3, 2009.
"You have revealed yourself to the world as a conceited little
poetaster."
Simon Barnes; Rooney No Longer in Control of Fame Game; The Times
(London, UK); Sep 13, 2010.
Today’s word comes from one of my favorite sources, A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg of www.wordsmith.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ask the Book Doctor: How to Beat the Competition and Sell Your Writing
answers many of the questions you wish you could ask an editing expert.
Whether you write books, short stories, articles, reports, or anything
else, learn more about how to write, edit, and sell your work.
Paperback: $14.95 plus $4.99 S & H (total: $19.94 US) E-book: $8.95, no
S & H, with almost instant delivery. You’ll save almost $10 by buying
the e-book! To order either, go to http://tinyurl.com/lexp7n.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In May, Bowker Books in Print issued its preliminary estimates for the
total number of books published in the U.S. in 2010. Here are a few
highlights extracted in Southern Review of Books.
Fiction remained the largest category in traditional publishing, with
47,392 new titles in 2010, followed by juveniles at 32,638,
sociology/economics, science, and religion. Major increases were shown
in computers (51 percent), science (37 percent) and technology (35
percent). Categories that fell the most - "subject to discretionary
spending" - were literature, down 29 percent; poetry, off 15 percent;
history, down 12 percent; and biography, off 12 percent. Fiction fell
three percent, continuing a decline from its high point in 2007.
Self-publishers monitored by Bowker are growing at a rate of over 10
percent per year.
To subscribe to Southern Review of Books, send an e-mail to send an
e-mail to custserv@anvilpub.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beck Gets Own Imprint
Conservative media personality Glenn Beck has signed a new deal with
publisher Simon & Schuster that includes plans for Beck to “continue to
write numerous books every year,” and for his production company,
Mercury Radio Arts, to launch a new book imprint, Mercury Ink. One of
its first releases will be Beck’s nonfiction paperback, The Original
Argument: The Federalists’ Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the
21st Century. Beck also plans to release a new novel, The Snow Angel,
in October.
The new imprint will publish and promote authors that Beck “is
passionate about across a variety of genres.” Upcoming is a young adult
novel, Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25, by Richard Paul Evans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Considering self-publishing? A great deal of good information is shared
among members of the Small Publishers Association of North America.
Sign up here: http://www.spannet.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New words enter our language all the time, but they don’t make it into
the Oxford English Dictionary unless they stick around awhile. To taste
the delicious new morsels that are not yet ready for the OED, go to
www.WordSpy.com. My favorite recent one, in light of the Weinergate
scandal, is this:
twimmolation
n. The destruction of a person's career or reputation caused by lewd or
insensitive Twitter posts. [twitter + immolation.]
-twimmolate v.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t pay $221.11 for this book!
New copies of Write In Style, Bobbie’s Award-Winning Textbook on
Creative Writing, are selling for between $75 and $221.11 on
Amazon.com. Don’t believe me? See http://tinyurl.com/4hc2bxu. Like-new
used copies are selling for as much as $152. Don’t pay those prices!
For a very limited time, you can still buy this book at the original
cover price of $12.95 plus shipping, and I’ll even sign it for you. To
order, to go http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
Write In Style: Using Your Word Processor and Other Techniques to
Improve Your Writing by Bobbie Christmas teaches the Find and Refine
Method ™ to locate words and phrases you can delete, upgrade, or
rewrite to power up your prose. Bobbie Christmas reveals secrets only a
book doctor could know. First Place winner of the Royal Palm Award for
education, Best in Division (Georgia Author of the Year Awards), and
Finalist in USABookNews Best Books 2005. Available at
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml. Hurry! Supplies of
new books are dwindling quickly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lots of good articles filled with information for freelance writers and
writers of books: http://thedabblingmum.com/writing/index.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are You a Teen Who Loves to Write? InkPop Wants You!
Read and vote on what others write. Talk about novels, poetry, or a
book you love. Write a post for the community. Connect with other
literary teens like you. Make the Top Pick list, and your writing will
be read by a HarperCollins editor.
http://www.inkpop.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free Tools for Writers from Bobbie Christmas and Zebra Communications
Download PDF reports on correct manuscript format, how to form and run
a critique circle, how to identify weak writing and repair it,
self-publishing versus traditional publishing, and much more. Seventeen
reports are available, and the list keeps growing. Go to
http://zebraeditor.com/free_reports.shtml. Newest report: Genre – A
Slippery Subject Essential to Fiction: Learn about genre fiction
categories and the benefits of complying with genre specifications.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hachette Book Group announced it will launch a new faith imprint in the
summer of 2012 called Jericho Books. The imprint will be based in the
company’s Nashville division. Wendy Grisham has been named vice
president and publisher.
“The mission of Jericho Books is to seek new, innovative authors who
reflect a growing change in the church. These nontraditional voices
will appeal to the fresh perspectives in today’s culture and provide an
avenue for those exploring political and social issues as they relate
to faith.”
The publisher plans to launch about twelve new books a year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keep up with Bobbie’s activities on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/BookDoctor4u.
Become Bobbie’s friend on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/bobbie.christmas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Five: Contests, Agents, and Markets
The Dabbling Mum Online Magazine Seeks Articles on Business Ideas
$15 Original Article Fee
“To receive payment, your article must never have been and/or never
will be given away for free. Please understand no one wants to pay for
an article that could have been received for free.” Buys first-time
electronic (online) rights with one-month online exclusivity and
indefinite non-exclusive online archival rights. Author may sell
reprints to offline publishers immediately after publication.
For full information see http://thedabblingmum.com/write4us/index.htm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Passionate Writer Publishing Accepting Submissions
Submit online at http://tinyurl.com/3jf4veb. We are extremely
interested in mystery, paranormal, romance, horror, and drama. Please
submit only your first three chapters. If your manuscript passes this
phase, we will contact you for your completed manuscript. Please refer
to the submission guidelines at http://tinyurl.com/3mcomyd prior to
submission. Failure to follow submission guidelines may liken the
chances for rejection. As with any publisher we receive several
submissions daily, please allow up to 2-3 weeks for us to review your
submission.
Do not submit any work that is incomplete or in the final stages of
proofreading, editing, revising, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
InTheFray Seeks Submissions
InTheFray is a nonprofit magazine that seeks to bring people of diverse
backgrounds and beliefs together through the power of journalism and
art. By publishing exceptional writing and multimedia, we hope to bring
to light stories of cultural interchange, human rights, politics, and
other pressing concerns of our time. Our writers and artists tell
unique and often personal stories that can't be found elsewhere. We do
not ask them to consider advertisers or other directives; they are
asked only to tell the truth as they see it. This freedom allows our
over 50,000 readers to learn more about their worlds — and each other —
as they explore InTheFray's articles and images.
We are looking for writers and artists who can contribute original
reportage, commentary, personal essays, fiction, poetry, criticism,
artwork, and photography to our pages. For more information about the
magazine, visit our About page.
Our funding comes almost entirely from individual donors, and is, as
you might guess, limited. As a result, we are only able to pay a small
honorarium for reporting pieces ($75), cultural criticism ($20-$25),
book reviews ($20-$25, or a free copy of the book if the reviewer
doesn't already own it), visual essays ($45), and travel pieces
($20-$25). Unfortunately, we are unable to pay contributors for
commentary pieces, columns, and personal essays. We would love to pay
all of our contributors, and in the near future we hope to do so.
Because we cannot pay our contributors much, we give them the
flexibility to republish their work in other publications. By
submitting your work to InTheFray, you temporarily grant us exclusive
first Electronic Publishing Rights in the English Language for a 60-day
period, beginning on the date of publication.
See http://inthefray.org/content/view/192/167/ for full guidelines.
If you don’t mind writing for free, ITF also offers positions to
bloggers willing to write at least once a week or so. See the website
for more details.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About 70 Markets for Christian Books
Do you write books suitable for the Christian market? You’ll love this
website, which lists about seventy small (therefore approachable)
publishers that belong to the Christian Small Publishers Association.
http://www.christianpublishers.net/?page_id=3.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dirt Looking for Ideas
Dirt is your guide to healthy living from the ground up. It’s about
living sustainably, acting responsibly and thinking locally. You’ll
find information, news and — we hope — a little inspiration in our
pages. Dirt is published six times a year by Straus News. Dirt is
printed in the United States on 90% recycled stock.
Do you have an idea for a story or submission suggestion? Send it to
editor Becca Tucker at editor.dirt@strausnews.com or by mail to 20 West
Ave., Chester, NY 10918. Please include your name, address and email
contact information with your correspondence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Call for Submissions from Fearless Poetry Series
Fearless Books
PO Box 1292
Berkeley CA 94701
510-849-4028
www.fearlessbooks.com/Poetry.htm
Sari Friedman and D. Patrick Miller, editors of the Fearless Poetry
series are currently accepting submissions of poems and prose-poems for
their third anthology, TURNING THE PAGE: Poems of Trauma, Healing, and
Transcendence. Our previous volume, TOUCHING: Poems of Love, Longing,
and Desire was named the Winner in the Anthology category AND Second
Place Grand Prize Winner in the Nonfiction category in the 2011 Next
Generation Indie Book Awards.
Poets whose work is chosen will receive two copies of TURNING THE PAGE
and a 30% discount on ordering additional copies for a limited time.
Previously published work is okay, as long as the rights are free and
available.
Online submissions are preferred at www.fearlessbooks.com/Poetry.htm.
There is a reading fee of $10 with options for steep discounts on
previous volumes of the Poetry Series.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Funny Times Wants Humor
THE FUNNY TIMES
C/O THE EDITORS
P.O. BOX 18530
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH 44118
Everything we publish is funny, so please don't send in something that
isn't. We publish only cartoons and funny stories. Stories should be
about 500-700 words.
We cover just about everything that can be funny, including politics,
news, relationships, food, technology, pets, work, death, environmental
issues, business, religion, seasonal events, and everything else
relating to the general human condition. We have a lead-time of several
months, e.g., December holiday material should be mailed for
consideration in September. We buy only one-time reproduction rights
and do not require exclusives; all other rights stay with the copyright
holder. We pay $25 to 40 for cartoons based on reproduced size and $60
for stories. We pay upon publication. In addition to paying, we also
provide our published contributors with a complimentary Funny Times
subscription and will swap website links.
All submissions should include a SASE so you can get your material back
and will know if your material is rejected. We do not accept faxed or
e-mailed submissions. It may take us several months to get to yours, so
please be patient.
HINTS: Don't overwhelm the editors. Pick five to ten of your favorites
just to get us interested, and we'll contact you if we want more. In
your cover letter, please tell us where you've been published, because
it lets us know who else thinks you're funny (this will not necessarily
be held against you). Also, don't give up if we mail your packet back.
Several of our contributors mailed stuff to us for months before we
found something we liked or before we learned to appreciate their
perspective.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writer’s Digest Short Short Short Story Competition
We're looking for fiction that's bold, brilliant...but brief. Send us
your best in 1,500 words or fewer. But don't be too long about it—the
deadline is November 15, 2011.
First Place: $3,000 and a trip to the Writer's Digest Conference
Second Place: $1,500
Third Place: $500
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $100
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate for Writer's
Digest Books
See http://tinyurl.com/3spbhve for full information and to enter.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Six: Creative Writing Assignment – Fantasize a New World
How would things differ if you designed and ran the world? Think about
the things that frustrate you and how those issues could be resolved.
Consider new ways of traveling, communicating, or making a living, for
example. Write a scene that takes place in the new world as you have
fantasized it, and then, because fiction is only good when things go
wrong, make something go terribly wrong with a system that appeared to
be so much better in your new world.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do YOU have news for The Writers Network News? Please send it in the
body copy, not an attachment, to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Deadline: The
15th of each month.
…………………………………………………………………………….
Send a copy of this newsletter to all your writing friends. Tell them
to join The Writers Network F-R-E-E by visiting www.zebraeditor.com and
clicking on “Free Newsletter.”
…………………………………………………………………………….
With the exception of Zebra Communications, information in this
newsletter is not to be construed as an endorsement. Be sure to
research all information and study every stipulation before you accept
assignments, spend money, or sell your work.
The Writers Network News– a newsletter for writers everywhere. No fees.
No officers. “No Rules; Just Write!”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++