Monday 17 August 2020

A little help

Womag news

I've had an email from Alan Barker. He says, "I’ve just been corresponding with Sean Nolan, editor of Ireland’s Own, asking about their maximum word count for short stories. He said that 2,000 is the standard length and 2,300 the maximum. Hope this helps."

It does, thank you, Alan. I knew 2,000 was the standard length, but hadn't realised it was OK to exceed it by so much.

There don't seem to be any official guidelines available online, but submissions are mentioned on the 'contact us' page of their website.


Womag / free entry writing competition

Thanks to Chris Sutton for the photo from Best magazine, with details of their latest competition. As she says, the T&Cs are very small. If you're reading this on a computer you should be able to click on the image and open a bigger version (please let me know whether or that works for different kinds of devices). It might be better to buy yourself a copy though – and it will definitely be better for the magazine, and show them the benefit of running these competitions, if sales increase.
Reading a few current issue of any magazine you hope to be published in is always a good idea. It helps you understand what they're looking for and learn about their readership. It also helps ensure the magazine stays in business long enough to accept your submissions.

11 comments:

ados123 said...

Thanks, Patsy. Both for Ireland's Own info and Best comp.

Marguerite said...

Spooky sounds more my genre ;) Thank you, Patsy :)

Lynn Love said...

Thanks patsy

Lynn Love said...

Thanks Patsy. I can almost hear dozens of womag writers brains ticking over, searching for spooky story ideas 😀

Anonymous said...

With the Best comp do you add your details to the story or only include them in the email as in anonymously judged comps?

Lost Soul.

Patsy said...

@Alyson and Marguerite – you're welcome. Thank you for taking the trouble to comment and let me know the info is appreciated.

@ Lynn – Yep! I'm sure there will be lots of good ones.

@ Lost Soul – as they've not said, it shouldn't matter. I'd be inclined to include them with the story, in case they print them out and lose your details.

Lynn Love said...

Has anyone spotted when the Best spooky tales are being published? Be nice to know when I'm safe to resubmit my story and to read the winners (not a Best subscriber). Guessing I'm good to go, but just to be safe 😀

Patsy said...

I don't know for sure, Lynn – but I'd guess hallowe'en.

Lynn Love said...

Oh, of course ☺️. Thanks Patsy

Anonymous said...

Chockfan: Re: Best mag spooky story competition. Does anyone know if the spooky stories are going to be in issue 43 released 20/10/20 or issue 44 released 27/10/20? I am shielding so will have to buy a single issue of the mag online rather than go to the shops. Would be helpful to know which one the spooky story is going to feature in. Thanks!

Patsy said...

Just heard there's (at least) one in the issue currently in the shops.