Please read the comments for the latest news about Woman's Weekly.
Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Any other news?
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Have you entered any writing comps? Had any luck? Heard about interesting contests? Got any tips to pass on? (Although I only feature free to enter competitions in my posts it's fine to share news about other competitions too.)
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22 comments:
No acceptance news, unfortunately, Patsy. Things still very quiet on that front, just a reprinted story in That's Life Australia. But changes underway at Woman's Weekly again, with Emma moving to another team. Fiction is now being handled by Jane Kemp, who I believe is the editor of the WW Specials. So fiction subs should now be sent to... Jane.Kemp@futurenet.com
I've not long posted my monthly competition blog on the RNA website, which includes comps for short stories, flash fiction and novels. I don't include ones that are ridiculously expensive and I always vet them to make sure you're not giving away your rights or agreeing to publication with no renumeration. Also some tips on deadlines this month. Hope it's helpful, Patsy. https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/2020/10/october-2020-competition-monthly/
Hello, my first comment here... I've had a couple of acceptances recently, from Yours Fiction and Yours Magazine. I've been reading the blog here for a couple of years and never had any success before so this was a real surprise. I'm really grateful for all the info you include here, thank you Patsy.
Congratulations to the smiley-face writer who has just had his or her first acceptances from Yours and Yours Special. That is such a great feeling. Well done.
Sadly, writers of stories for the Woman's Weekly Specials have just had an email from Emma Shacklock to say that Specials will cease publication after December. This is such a big blow - our markets just get smaller and smaller. Who's next, I wonder.
I was just about to pass on the news that there will be no WW Fiction Specials after December, but I see you already know. Sad news.
I didn't write for WW after the rights issue but have been published by them in the past. It's very sad to see yet another story magazine fold and I'm sure their writers (and maybe their readers) will be devastated. I wonder if it will increase the pressure on TPF with more submissions?
I had an acceptance from TPF this week but have been entering some competitions too.
Congratulations to smiley face on selling to Yours! First acceptances are wonderful, but then is so is everyone after!
Alyson
@ Chris – thanks for the info, despite it not being good news! I can only hope that the readers of WWFS start buying one of the other magazines which public fiction and help keep them going.
@ Francesca – thank you. I'll take a look at that.
@ :-) Congratulations! All acceptances are good, but those first few are amongst the sweetest.
@ Jackie – It is a shame.
@ Alyson – I stopped writing for them for the same reason, but I'm still sorry to here the specials won't continue. I'm almost certain it will mean more submissions going to the other magazines.
Well done on your PF acceptance.
@ Chris – thanks for the info, despite it not being good news! I can only hope that the readers of WWFS start buying one of the other magazines which public fiction and help keep them going.
@ Francesca – thank you. I'll take a look at that.
@ :-) Congratulations! All acceptances are good, but those first few are amongst the sweetest.
@ Jackie – It is a shame.
@ Alyson – I stopped writing for them for the same reason, but I'm still sorry to here the specials won't continue. I'm almost certain it will mean more submissions going to the other magazines.
Well done on your PF acceptance.
I've had a great few weeks - had a short story accepted by People's Friend, had my first serial given the green light by People's Friend (submitted instalment 2 of 3 last week), had a story published by People's Friend this week (with my name on the cover, which was a first and very exciting), and finally I had a story shortlisted for the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. The Scarlet Stiletto Awards is an annual conmpetition for short crime stories written by women in Australia.
Sad to hear about the WWFS, though. I didn't write for them because a) they don't accept emailed submissions from overseas writers and b) the rights issue, but it's sad to see the market shrinking even further.
I guessed once the 'Rights' issue took place, and many writers (myself included) stopped subbing to Woman's Weekly, that the magazine would likely fold, not least because many of us who held subscriptions cancelled them. It is very sad as it was once a beautiful magazine, which I truly looked forward to reading. I wonder if TAB will be the next to fold. Surely there's an opportunity for someone to start a great fiction mag out there - anyone know any kindly billionaires? Good wishes Kate Hogan
On a lighter note, Furious Fiction (Australian Writers' Centre) does a free competition on the first Friday of each month - '500 words in 55 hours' - submit by Sunday. The criteria are sometimes completely wacky but give me a bit of focus and fun - and some ideas of Proper Stories have come from them!
Looking forward to the Spooky Stories, Patsy :)
Kate, when another womag market goes, everyone says 'Why doesn't someone set up a mag?'
My hubby and I did exactly that.
We ran an e-mag called Kishboo in 3 formats - website, kindle and app - that held ongoing short story and poetry competitions.
As we wanted the e-mag to be free of charge, we covered the website cost ourselves.
It was extremely stressful, very hard work and we had no time to ourselves, plus we didn't make a single penny.
After 2 years, we'd had enough and shut the project down.
Then there's the Alfie dog website - this had hundreds of womag style stories on it (mine included) yet the web master removed them if they didn't sell.
As soon as my work was uploaded onto the site, it was removed due to lack of sales!
So, some great ideas there to replace a gap in the womag market, but sadly both projects were closed in the end.
Hi Sharon - what a fantastic effort, I can't even imagine how stressful it must have been. Well done for trying. Let's all hope for a ray of sunshine in the writing world - and all the world - soon. Good wishes Kate Hogan
@ Liz – Congratulations on all your successes!
@ Kate – Writers buying the magazine, and then encouraging friends, family and fans to buy issues they have a story in probably does account for quite a few sales. Aspiring writers also buy to research the market and they won't do that if they can't submit either because it's not open to them, or they aren't willing to accept the terms.
@ Marguerite – Thanks for telling us about that. It sounds as though it could be fun.
@ Sharon – You're right, people often suggest starting a magazine, or alternative short story market, but as you've found starting it and keeping it going are very different things. It's not a job for one or two people, not unless they're willing to invest some of their money and a lot of their time. Understandably few are willing to try, and those who do have found they couldn't sustain it.
Got my second ghost story out in yours fiction this month but still quiet on the acceptance front from them and PF - keeping my fingers crossed though! Shame about another magazine going, will get my skates on and finish my first novel I think.
@ Charlie – congratulations for the publication, and good luck for the other things.
Still not heard from TPF when the story they bought back in May will be published, so it looks like my first ever published story will be in Yours Magazine on the 3rd Nov after them buying in September, so that's super exciting news for me.
Thank you, Patsy, for your generosity in sharing all this information about writing markets and for all your hard work on this. Please forgive me if this question has already been covered, but do most of the mags accept simultaneous submissions? That info would be so helpful in your data base if it's not too much work to add. Thanks again. And best wishes for your continued publishing success!
@ Chris – Not long to wait now!
@ Fay – None of them want simultaneous submissions. They'll often check before publishing that the story is still available, but its not unheard of for that to get missed and even if it isn't, they'll soon get annoyed with an author who regularly withdraws submissions.
@ Patsy, thanks for that. So what I advise about simultaneous submissions in my writer's guide is still accurate. Personally, I have never done simultaneous submissions, although it is frustrating sometimes waiting months for a reply before we are able to submit to another mag. I just wondered if the protocol might have changed now.
The long waits can be frustrating. The trick is not to wait, but to get on and write more stories!
So true, Patsy!
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