Content of this newsletter:
- PUBLISHING NEWS & TIPS
- WRITERS RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
- PAID CONTENT
- WRITING CONTESTS
I hope you enjoyed a relaxing, long Labor Day weekend, full of good books.
Summer closes, and September heralds the transition to autumn and seasonal change, and offers a much-needed reprieve from summer. Since more than half of the year has passed, this is a great time to mull over our writing and submission goals.
- PUBLISHING NEWS & TIPS
Some tips from me and other writers:
Flying Under The Radar: How to Use LinkedIn to Find Writing Jobs
https://thewritelife.com/use-linkedin-to-find-writing-jobs/
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How to Write Successful Queries for Any Genre of Writing: What elements go into a query letter, and 39 real examples of query letters that have worked for writers with commentary from their agents,
https://www.writersdigest.com/publishing-insights/how-to-write-successful-queries-for-any-genre-of-writing
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“Never send out an email without your author’s signature!”
You have probably heard this advice before, but: do you use the gains of e-mail signatures to market and promote your books?
Every day you send out emails to friends, family members, business colleagues, your lawyer or accountant, potential readers … If you have an email signature, you are constantly sending people your “passive” marketing, spreading the word about you, your brand, and your books. Create your email signature right now, immediately after reading this post!
Email signatures can be added under “settings” in your email service. Create a hyperlink to your author’s website or blog, or you can hyperlink to your Amazon.com author page. If you are not yet on Amazon, link to your social media presence. Gmail for sample makes it easy to create an email signature.
And the best: it does not cost you a cent or a penny.
- WRITERS RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
MacDowell Residency
About 300 artists in seven disciplines are awarded Fellowships each year. The sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence. Need-based stipends and travel reimbursement grants are available to open the residency. MacDowell encourages applications from artists of all backgrounds and all countries in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts. Deadline September 10 https://www.macdowell.org/apply/apply-for-fellowship
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Casa Uno Residency
Located in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, the residency takes place on a beautiful property that provides an opportunity for one to three artists simultaneously to have meaningful interactions and stimulating discussions while pursuing their own individual projects in an inspiring natural setting. Taking applications for 2026 residencies. Deadline September 15 https://mostlydance.com/1830-2/
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The Cullman Center
Outstanding scholars and writers—academics, independent scholars, journalists, and creative writers. Foreign nationals conversant in English are welcome to apply.
Award: A stipend of up to $90,000! an office, a computer, and full access to the Library's physical and electronic resources. Deadline: September 26
https://www.nypl.org/about/fellowships-institutes/cullman-center-scholars-writers
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Shearing Fellowship
Eligible applicants must have published at least one book with a trade or literary press, and will need to submit a letter of application, a CV, and a writing sample. The fellowship includes compensation of $46,500 paid over a nine-month period; a nine-month-long letter of appointment; eligibility for optional health coverage; office space in the BMI offices on UNLV's campus; housing (fellows cover some utilities) in a unique and vibrant arts complex in the bustling district of downtown Las Vegas—home to The Writer's Block, our city's beloved independent bookstore. There are no formal teaching requirements for fellows. Instead, fellows will maintain office hours (10 per week) and engage in a substantial way with the local literary community by planning and holding workshops, craft talks, events, and other programming of their own design. Location: Black Mountain Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV. Deadline September 30
https://blackmountaininstitute.org/fellowships/apply/
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Dorland Mountain Arts Residency
The Arts Residency offers artists, writers, musicians, and creatives the gift of focused time in a peaceful and inspiring environment. Nestled on 300 acres of protected chaparral in Southern California’s Temecula Valley, Dorland is a retreat for those seeking solitude, renewal, and deep creative work.
Deadline September 30
https://www.dorlandmountainarts.org/residency-program
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- PAID CONTENT
The Drift
The Drift is a magazine of culture, literature, and politics. Our issues, published three times a year, feature long-form essays and cultural criticism, short fiction, poetry, interviews, dispatches, and extremely abbreviated reviews. We want sharp, surprising interventions; socially engaged cultural criticism; class-sensitive analysis; pieces that point out what’s being avoided or talked around in politics, media, arts, or even academia; upbeat cynicism; un-self-serious screeds; generous takedowns; entries from the margins; fiction; poetry; 150-word reviews of books/ films/ TV shows/ art/ ephemera. Pays $2,000 for essays, $500 - $1,000 for short stories, $150 for poems. https://www.thedriftmag.com/about/
- WRITING CONTESTS
Write Before Midnight: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Short fiction up to 7,000 words about any of the existential threats the Bulletin covers: nuclear weapons, climate change, biological and chemical weapons, artificial intelligence, killer robots, doomsday drone submarines, bioengineered zombies, the gray goo of nanotechnology gone wild, and so, so much more. Prize: $3,000 for first place, with $500 each to four runners-up.
Deadline: September 30. https://thebulletin.org/write-before-midnight/
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L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is held four times a year. The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits. Genre: Short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. Prizes: $1,000, $750, $500, Annual Grand Prize: $5,000. Deadline: September 30
https://writersofthefuture.com/Contest-Rules-Writers/
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Fiction Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.
Pays roughly $500
https://www.theparisreview.org/about/submissions
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Summer closes, and September heralds the transition to autumn and seasonal change. We wish you an abundance of writing splendor this autumn and all the happiness that comes with it!
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