2020 edition of Writers' Handbook now available to buy
firstwriter.com – Thursday October 3, 2019
The 2020 edition of firstwriter.com’s bestselling directory for writers is the perfect book for anyone searching for literary agents, book publishers, or magazines. It contains over 1,300 listings, including revised and updated listings from the 2019 edition, and over 400 brand new entries.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday October 1, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Markets: Academic; Adult
University press aiming to cut across disciplinary boundaries and blur the distinctions between theory, practice, fiction and nonfiction. See website for proposal forms and submit by email.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday October 1, 2019
Publishes: Fiction;
Areas include: Horror;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Webzine publishing fiction and poetry. Seeks cutting edge, hardboiled, horror, literary, noir, psychological / horror. No fanfiction, romance, swords & sorcery, fantasy, or erotica. Send submissions by email. See website for full guidelines.
Chris Hammer: 'I am a serial killer. I kill my darlings left, right and centre'
theguardian.com – Sunday September 29, 2019
Chris Hammer’s career as a political advisor was meteoric and very, very short.
Three weeks after he started a job with Labor MP Stephen Jones, he got “this fantastic book deal”. “I was laughing and crying, it was just unbelievable,” he says.
That was a Friday. On the Monday, he resigned. “Stephen was most gracious about it all.”
Shortly after that, the international and television rights to Scrublands, Hammer’s debut novel, were sold. Overnight he had became that rare, elusive thing: a writer who could make a decent living from fiction. Yet even now he has difficulty calling himself an author. “It is even more difficult to say I am a novelist,” he tells Guardian Australia.
Gollancz announces a £4,000 prize for sf writing by people of color
boingboing.net – Sunday September 29, 2019
Gollancz, a venerable British science fiction publisher (now a division of Hachette) has announced its BAME SFF Award, with a top prize of £4,000 for science fiction written by over-18 BAME ("Black, Asian, minority ethnic) writers.
The top prize includes a critique by Gollancz commissioning editor Rachel Winterbottom. Second prize is £2,000 and a critique, while five runners up will receive £800 each. Entrants need to submit 5,000-10,000 words of prose (either a complete short story or the opening of a novel) in the science fiction, fantasy or horror genres.
The prize is co-sponsored by writer Ben Aaronovitch, Nanowrimo and the Good Literary Agency.
How to Get Published in a Health Magazine
writingcooperative.com – Sunday September 29, 2019
Health stories make the covers of magazines and newspapers almost every day. From the latest weight loss method to a potential cancer cure, editors are actively seeking story ideas.
Freelance writers who write health articles for consumer magazines can get as little as $50 for short pieces and as much as $5,000 for feature articles in top magazines.
Corvisiero Literary Agency Presents Authorpreneur Workshop, 9/28/2019 @ The Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, NJ
centraljersey.com – Sunday September 29, 2019
Corvisiero Literary Agency presents its third annual Authorpreneur Workshop – By The River on Saturday, September 28, 2019 at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, New Jersey. There will be a full day of classes that will inform participants on everything they need to learn regarding editing a manuscript, pitching to agents and editors, demystifying publishing deals and developing the successful author mindset. The event will conclude with a networking mixer in the Pearl Lounge. Registration is $220. Pitching session with agents and editors, query critiques, first ten page evaluations with an editor and coaching sessions will also be available for an additional fee. Refreshments and a deli-style lunch are included.
A penny a word - you pay
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Saturday September 28, 2019
GMH: What common style mistake bugs you the most?
Phyllis Grann, the first woman CEO of a major publishing firm: The use of unnecessary words.
Writers being paid by the word say that instead of “bang,” they might write “bang, bang, bang” for gunshots. That’s really a joke—sort of. While often the length of a story or article is fixed by guidelines and a flat fee is paid, sometimes writers do get paid by the word, even today. But any writer imagining that adding unnecessary words to a piece is a good idea isn’t the writer who is going to sell the story or article. And that’s the long of way of saying that the best writing is economical writing. How many words should the story or article be? As many as telling the story takes, but not a single word more.
YA Authors You Should Be Following for Writing Advice
bookriot.com – Thursday September 26, 2019
Writing…is hard. I wanted to say something more profound about the exhausting and turbulent life of a writer and the never-ending worry of publishing and judgment, but when it comes down to it, writing is just hard. We do it anyway, though, because it’s some sort of natural instinct to use our words to say something, anything. We still write, even when we don’t want to. Even when I’ve tried to quit writing entirely, I still come back to it.
And oh, how I wish it was this beautiful, graceful moment where you sit at your perfectly messy-while-still-organized desk, take out your fountain pen, and the most profound and perfect words stream out onto the paper. No, it’s a gruesome process, fighting your way back into writing.
Luckily, we’re never in it alone. Personally, I don’t have a ton of writing friends to bounce ideas off of or get inspiration from, and I’m sure it’s the same for a lot of people. But what’s really pushed me out of a deep, dark writing slump is other writers. And thank god for the internet, because I’ve got an endless amount of writing advice to pick through!
After some deep digging, writing prompts, and podcasts, I’ve gathered some of the most helpful writing advice I’ve found, from some pretty spectacular YA authors.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday September 26, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Publishes a literary journal and chapbooks. For chapbook submissions, send up to 30 pages of writing via online submission system ($12 submission fee).
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