Do you have any womag news?
Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Any other news?
Feel free to use the as a picture prompt. If you'd like other writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.
I'd love to hear your competition news.
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.)
Do you have writing tips to share, questions to ask, or suggestions for this blog?
22 comments:
I received 2 rejections from PF this week. Not good news but at least I now know. Still have a few in with them so hoping for some success. An acceptance from Womans Weekly. Been entering quite a few competitions. Thanks Patsy for all your information on comps. Longlisted in Cranked Anvil Press short story comp.
Happy to have had an acceptance by Yours fiction Oct issue this month and a thumbs up by woman’s weekly/woman mag - just hoping for a spot now. Had a couple of rejections by TPF but got a couple more with my editor so keeping my fingers crossed. Something I spotted today - best magazine has a short story in its weekly issue this week, is that a usual thing?
I have just sent off my entry to Ireland's Own annual writing competition, closing date is 1st October, they have a few different categories including Short Stories & Memories & unpublished Writers short story section. Entry fee of €10 per submission.
Other than that I've had a couple of acceptances from Woman's Weekly (one coming up in Oct in Woman's Own & one waiting for a place in the schedules) and one rejection. I'm a bit nervous to send anything to PF because the last time I received a rejection in a few hours, great in some ways but not good in other ways. Maybe I will work up the courage again. I've had a piece accepted by Ireland's Own early June, not sure when it will be published but at least they send you a copy so I won't miss it.
Hi Patsy! Am over halfway on the PF serial... with a rewrite to do! Not as bad as it may feel at first. There are always rewrites! What I find is that PF suggestions often help you into another view, where Something New may then happen. This will definitely help with tying the ends together... eventually. :-)
ATB Penny.
Another story and a weekly write selected in Secret Attic - my goto vurtual writing club :) A tip: Furious Fiction - Don't write a story with all the included critical words etc..., then edit it and remove one of them by mistake :( Still awaiting some Christmas story answers from magazines...,.
Happy to have had a winter theme story accepted by Yours Magazine. Had a couple of extremely speedy rejections from PF but much prefer that to months of limbo. Lots of stories still out there awaiting a verdict so fingers crossed. Great to hear everyones news.
Anyone got any good tips for dealing with rejection effectively and not wasting too much time dwelling on it. I find that it sort of unsettles me (especially if I was very happy with it when I sent it off) & makes me wonder if I'm wasting my time. I know rationally that's not true as I have a reasonable amount accepted but still I wonder every time & I end up not really doing any writing for a few days at least. Perhaps its that I don't really know many writers or their acceptance rate. Any tips would be most welcome.
Anyone looking to pitch their manuscript soon, #IWSGPit is next January. And Shannon Lawrence has some great submission tips this week.
I recently followed the tip you gave somewhere else of reading my story in between a few from TPF to see if it would fit in. I even re-read my rejections that way to see where I went wrong. Well, it must have paid off, because I've just had my first acceptance from them! So, thank you very much! I've also had an acceptance from Woman's Weekly. I've entered a few competitions as well. I'm not expecting anything from them, but it was good practice for working to a deadline, because I'm not very good at setting my own.
I’ve just received my first acceptance from Woman’s Weekly. (It has to wait for a space in their schedules). I also had a Christmas story rejected by them the same week. I think it was longer than their desired word length. (If that is the case, I could attempt to rewrite a shorter version - too late for this year, though). I did enter Best Magazine’s Halloween short story competition, but don’t expect to hear anything from them. A few stories submitted to Yours, but had no response.
Michael D
All quiet here in terms of acceptances (no rejections either). Everything seems very slow at the moment.
Sheelagh, my tip for dealing with rejection is to crack on with another piece. Also, ask
a kind womag writer friend to look at your story and give feedback. I'd be lost without my womag writing group! It's free to join and runs via email.
Writers have different rates of acceptance, so that's not relevant - it's your writing journey, not theirs.
I wouldn't compare your achievements to anyone else's, as it doesn't help matters. Also, have you thought that others could be envious of your success?
I see some of you have had acceptances from Yours, both the fiction special and the regular mag. Yours don't seem to issue rejects, so I assume I haven't made the grade there.
Has anyone had any acceptances from the yellow room mag yet?
Thanks Sharon, I'm sure you are right re getting on with the writing. I do find this forum is great for getting an overview of what others writers are up to & a big thank you to Patsy for putting in all the ground work on that front, I really appreciate the opportunity to link up with so many writers.
@ ChrisC – well done for the good news. I agree that, if we have to have work rejected, it's better to know.
@ Charlie. Well done for the positives. Best do have competitions now and then - often seasonal ones.
@ Sheelagh – Well done for your acceptances. I can understand why such a quick rejection is off putting, but I do think it's better than months and months of not knowing.
@ Penny – I'm glad the serial is going well and the suggestions you're getting are helpful.
@ Marguerite – Good tip! It's easy to do that kind of thing. Very, very easy!
@ :-) - Well done for the acceptances and I hope you get more from those you're waiting to hear back about.
@ Sheelagh – I find it helps to always have stories out, so there's always the chance that the next email will have better news.
@ Alex – I'll put up a link for #IWSGPit in a future post. Please nudge me if I forget.
@ Marin – Hooray! I'm so glad it helped.
@ Michael – congratulations. The first sale to a new to you market is always extra sweet.
@ Liz – response times do indeed seem to be getting slower.
@ Sharon – I totally agree with both your tip to get on and write something else, and the advice about no comparing ourselves with others.
@ Sheelagh – I'm so pleased it's helpful. It is easy to assume everyone else is writing and selling loads and we're the only one struggling – that most definitely isn't the case!
My news – I have several stories waiting for feedback, and some which have been passed up the line/being held onto etc by different editors. I've also heard of what sounds like a promising new womag market. Hopefully the editor will be writing a guest post soon, to explain her requirements.
Thanks Patsy appreciate that. Sounds like good advice. I've decided to take advice from both yourself and Sharon and crack on with it. I'm going to try to up my output so there is always something to hope for!!
Best of luck with your stories. Also I look forward to hearing more about a new womag market, just the news we all need to hear I feel.
I've heard that Allas are no longer translating stories into English so looks like another market lost...GM
I've started a Tik Tok account. Please take a look and join me there!
@jennyworstallauthor
On submitting to andrew.shaw@futurenet.com for Woman's Own, Woman, and Woman's Weekly, I've received no notification of receipt and don't know how often they accept submissions. Has anyone had the same experience? Thanks for any comments.
SM
No I haven't had that experience, generally I receive a short personalised email on either the day or the day after I submit, something on the lines of 'thank you for your submission, look forward to reading it'
I would submit it again just to be on the safe side. It does take about 12 weeks before they make a decision after that. Best of luck with it.
Just a quick question from a returning fiction writer please. How long have some womags been taking all rights? I ask this because I was occasionally published in the past by such mags and I should like to know if the all rights clause was in force then. We are talking at least 5 years.
If I want to publish a collection of my s/s's - how will I know if I am innocently infringing such rights without being aware of them (until I get the solicitor's letter)!
Sadly, I no longer have the contract. Any thoughts from anyone please? Thank you.
I hope you are all staying safe and well in these troubled times, kind regards, Sue AJ
@ GM – I've heard that too, but haven't been told directly.
@ Jenny – Sorry, I don't understand Tik Tok. (Typing that has made me feel old!)
@ Sheelagh – thanks for answering SM's comment. As I don't submit to those markets (because of rights issues) I couldn't help.
@ Sue – There's not an easy answer to that – sorry! The various magazines who've gone down this route have done so at different times and some such as Yours, who used to take all rights no longer do so. There's also the possibility that the contract I signed had different terms than the one you signed. For that reason I can't guarantee that you'll be safe to reuse your stories, unless you can find the contracts and double check.
Having said that, I believe that for most people TAB, TPF, MW, TWN and WW were not taking all rights 5 years ago, but Yours were. As far as I can recall none of the overseas markets were taking all rights.
The only way (without locating contracts) to be safe would be to contact the publishers and explain what you'd like to do.
A reminder to everyone – be sure you know what rights you're giving up and keep records!
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