Content of this newsletter:
- PUBLISHING NEWS & TIPS
- WRITERS RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
- PAID CONTENT
- WRITING CONTESTS
Hello Friends,
Welcome to the August Newsletter with lots of useful tips for writers and publishers.
Author Erica Verrillo writes about the month of August:
“August is affectionately known as the “dead month” in the publishing industry. During August, all work comes to a virtual halt as editors, agents, proofreaders, typesetters, CEOs, dog walkers, and everyone else on the planet takes a much-needed vacation.
So, all you aspiring authors, don’t submit your manuscript to publishers, and don’t send your queries to agents in the month of August. (To be fair, the two weeks up to and after the Frankfurt Book Fair in October are not so great either, and mid-November to mid-January is also a bad time, but for different reasons).”
- LOTS OF PUBLISHING NEWS & TIPS
August is the perfect time to gather publishing "ammunition". This is how to do it:
Foreign Book Rights: Multiple Sales of Your Manuscript
Top 7 Regrets of Less Successful Authors
https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/top-7-regrets-of-less-successful-authors/
Top Five Sites for Finding Book Reviewers
https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2013/09/top-5-sites-for-finding-reviewers.html
How to Start Successful Publishing
https://content-on-demand.blogspot.com/2020/02/how-to-start-successful-publishing.html
Writers: How Else Can You Leverage Your Manuscript?
. Do you remember my blog "Split Your Book Apart"? What else could you do with your manuscript and your copyright? One…savvybookwriters.wordpress.com
- WRITERS RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
KHN Center Arts Residencies
The mission of the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts is to support established and emerging writers, visual artists, and composers/musicians by providing working and living environments that allow uninterrupted time for work, reflection, and creative growth.
$35 Application Fee. Deadline September 1
https://www.khncenterforthearts.org/residency/resident-application
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MacDowell Fellowships
Emerging and established artists may apply in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts. There are no residency fees, and need-based stipends and reimbursement grants are available. While artists may request residencies of up to eight weeks, the average stay is 30 days.
Location: Peterborough, NH.
Deadline: September 10 for the Spring/Summer residency season (March 1 – August 31).
Application Fee: $30 (USD) is required with each application.
https://www.macdowell.org/apply/faqs
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- PAID CONTENT
ElitePersonalFinance
A highly trusted finance blog with content that belongs to the best in the finance sector. Aim for 1,000 to 3,000 words per post. Pays $300. We are also willing to compensate you for your own identity theft story if you have been victimized before.
https://www.elitepersonalfinance.com/write-for-us/
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Good Grit Magazine
They serve a community of adventure-driven millennials who crave meaningful travel experiences. Assignments are typically 700–800 words. Our longest pieces are 1000–1200 words. They generally pay $0.25 to $0.30 per word.
https://goodgritmag.com/contributor-guidelines/
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Grassroots Thinking
This independent publication focused on the stories that matter to the Black working class. We explain the news, politics, and culture through reportage, analysis, commentary, interviews, and essays with an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist lens. Our contributors are organizers, experts, and cultural workers who see the world as it is and know the point is to change it. Pay is based on an estimated $.10/word starting at $75 per story.
https://www.grassrootsthinking.com/submissions/
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Deceleration
They welcome submissions from freelance journalists, writers, and media producers whose interests fall within the scope of our mission. Pay ranges from $150 for opinion columns and reviews; $250 for shorter explanatory stories, videos, and photo essays; to $0.50/word for longer-form investigative and time-intensive features. Email your pitch or query to editor@deceleration.news.
https://deceleration.news/submissions/
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The Walrus Magazine
Note the preference for Canadian writers. They publish original reporting, essays, fiction, poetry, and visual essays in the fields of politics, the arts, science and the environment, health, business, sports, technology, and international affairs. They publish articles of varying length, depth of reporting, and writing style and compensate writers accordingly. For example, short essays of around 1,000 words start at $500; long-form reported features pay up to $1/word. Features 1200–2000 words. Essays 1000 to 4000 words. Fiction 2000–5000 words.
https://thewalrus.ca/about/submissions/
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- WRITING CONTESTS
Gival Press Short Story Award
The author will receive $1,000 and the winning story will be published on the Gival Press website. Submit a previously unpublished original (not a translation) stand-alone short story in English must be approximately 5,000 to 15,000 words of high literary quality.
$25 Entry Fee. Deadline August 8
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Chicken Soup for the Soul: Count Your Blessings.
Nonfiction. One of the most important keys to contentment and happiness is the ability to count your blessings. Even during the toughest times, if we can find gratitude and count our blessings, we feel better. Each day holds something to be thankful for, and it could be just as simple as having the sun shine or having food on the table. Payment: $200. Deadline: August 15
https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics
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Waterford Poetry Prize
First prize is €600. Second prize €400. Third prize €300. The Waterford Poetry Prize is open to all writers currently living on the island of Ireland. A line limit of 40 lines applies.
No Entry fee. Deadline August 14
https://waterford.submit.com/show/381
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True humorous stories. “Share your funny stories about something that happened to you in your life — in your relationship with a partner or spouse, a parent or child, a family member or friend, at work or at home — that made you and the people around you laugh out loud. Did you mean for it to be funny? Did the other person mean to make you laugh? Did a situation just get out of control? Did a misunderstanding turn into a comedy of errors?” Payment: $200. Deadline: August 31
https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics
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1 Picture = 1000 Words
You can write whatever you want, so long as you connect it to the photo on the website. Creative nonfiction. Sci-fi. A joke. Something else. It’s up to you. First place gets $1,000. Second and third get $250 each. Anybody can apply to participate. The piece needs to be EXACTLY 1000 words.
NO Entry Fee. Deadline August 31.
https://www.quarter--mile.com/1picture1000words
The Bedford Competition
Short story and poetry main prizes. Separate short story and poetry prize-winning categories for those aged 17–25 and for local Bedford residents. See all competition categories and prize money online. Open to writers worldwide. 1st Prize £2000. 2nd Prize £400. 3rd Prize £300. Stories maximum 3000 words. Poems maximum 40 lines. £8.50 per story/poem. Deadline October 31
https://bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk/
August can symbolize seasons of change and renewal in our lives. The eighth month of the Gregorian calendar was named for the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar.
Famous writers born in August: David Baldacci, Suzanne Collins, and Danielle Steel.
Have a wonderful month ahead.
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