Maybe I should just use the date – but you can't go too far wrong with a bit of alliteration and some assorted aviation action, can you?
Womag news
I'd heard that Andrew Shaw (fiction editor of Woman's Weekly, Woman and Woman's Own) was no longer sending rejections, and asked him to confirm whether this was the case. His response was –
Ideally every submission would receive either an acceptance or rejection within a few months of submission, but I think we all realise that editors are very pressed for time meaning this isn't always possible. A definite cut off period seems to me to be preferable to waiting for replies which may take years to come, or never arrive at all. Unfortunately these particular markets still take all rights on published stories, so I still don't submit to them.
Free entry writing competition news
Thanks to Jenny Worstall for making me aware of the Welkin Prize. There's a top award of £100 on offer for the best 400 words of narrative prose, plus additional prizes for those who qualify. I'm very tempted to have a go.
And thanks to Alyson Hilbourne for passing on the information that Inkitt are running a couple of free contests. There's a publishing contract on offer for a horror, thriller, mystery or suspense novel and another for heart-wrenching tales.
I won't be entering, as I'm working on a long project already and the genre isn't suitable. In case you're thinking that winning such a competition is impossible, I'd like to assure those who didn't know, and remind those who did, that I know that's not the case. My first ever novel was published after I won a free entry competition. That was a long time ago and the publishing company concerned no longer exists – but the book still does!
The Society of Authors have a variety of awards for different types of writing. They're all free to enter, but there are restrictions on some, such as age restrictions or being limited to either unpublished authors only, or to those who already have a published book. Most exclude me one way or another, but there are good prizes on offer for those who qualify.
And thanks to my beloved husband for telling me about this crime novel writing competition. The publishing deal and cash prize sound brilliant and my current project is another crime story, but sadly there's little chance of me having it finished by the end of the month. (And it's just been pointed out that it's for writers of colour, so I don't qualify anyway.)
Other publication opportunities
Drabblecast have a call for submissions. If short and strange is your thing, you could earn 6 cents per word. I'm not tall - which is all I have to say on the topic.
Why I ask for comments on this blog
Asking questions/giving answers/sharing information makes the blog more valuable for all readers.
Comments show me what people are interested in, so helps me provide the information you really want. (And quite often someone rashly says they like the photos which justifies me bunging them in all over the place.)
Comments show others that the blog has readers and therefore makes it more likely that editors, competition organisers etc will share information with me, so I can pass it on to you.
My news
Soon after publishing last week's post I heard back about three different competitions, run by The Anansi Archive, Secret Attic and Globe Soup (and all previously mentioned on this blog). I didn't win any of them, but my entries all got a special mention or were selected for inclusion in an anthology. That's encouraged me to try a few more and see if I can do better.
If you're interested in reading more about my writing and published stories, then take a look at the blog on my website.
21 comments:
Thanks, Patsy, for the competitions and news from WW.
Lovely photos of birds!
I'm not a member of the SOA. Can you join as a freelance writer with no agent or publisher? Do people think it is worth the expense? Would be very interested to hear people's thoughts on this...
Alyson
Thank you so much for all the competition info and the response from Andrew Shaw. He currently has 2 of my stories 'on file', so I'm hoping he finds a slot for them.
I've just entered the current Secret Attic short story competition... so pleased that's open again. Also sent a poem to Anansi Archive. They're charging £1 per entry now.
I've come over all rash again Patsy! I love your bird photos and the effort you put in to choosing your blog titles.
Thanks for comp info I'm trying to work through some of them in between editing my WIP.
Interesting comment from ados123 about SOA, I would be interested in hearing more about the benefits too, there are so many associations available to writers to join it would be good to hear some pros and cons.
I had good news this week that Ulverscroft have purchased one of my Pocket Novels for their Linford Romance collection. Lovely wee boost.
Thanks again Patsy for keeping this blog going, it's much appreciated.
What another eclectic mix! I have to say, I rather fancy the short and strange ;) I think I need to go through all these carefully - I am sure I have some ready to roll. Lovely pictures, as always :)
Thank you very much for these, Patsy. I'm always pleased to hear about competitions, because I try to enter them where I can, because I need the discipline of a deadline. Otherwise, I can be really guilty of overediting before submitting. I too was selected by Secret Attic, which pleased me and I also had another acceptance from The People's Friend, which was a real thrill.
Many thanks for all the info, comps, lovely photos, updates and news Patsy.
It's good to know that WW don't give out rejects, as I have some from June out with them that I assumed hadn't made the grade.
I can try them elsewhere now!
@ Alyson – I'm not a member either and don't know much about the SOA. I'll try to find out more.
@ New Girl – I think Anansi always intended to charge fees, but decided not to for the first year. Sensible really, as people are more likely to risk an entry fee for established competitions with lists of previous winners than with brand new ventures.
@ Elizabeth – The only writing organisations I'm currently a member of are ALCS (Definitely worth joining if you get published in magazines) and ALLi (worthwhile if you self publish books).
@ Marguerite – I hope you do enter one or two.
@ Marian – Deadlines can be very helpful, can't they?
Congratulations on the acceptance and the selection.
@ Sharon – It's much better to know for sure than to be left wondering, isn't it?
@ Sally Jo – I've tried taking the link out and putting it back in again. That's worked before, so hopefully it will this time.
Congratulations on your special mentions and anthology publications Patsy. Another lovely selection of competitions to look at too.
I just managed to get my Perito Prize entry in after they extended the deadline (visitors, always lovely but my writing routine completely gone for 8 days.) Off to put the kettle on and choose a new deadline to aim for!
Many thanks for these, Patsy - I hadn't heard of a couple of them. The crime novel by the way (with Joffe) is only for ' a writer of colour' as they put it.
Many thanks for these, Patsy - I hadn't heard of a couple of them. The crime novel by the way (with Joffe) is only for ' a writer of colour' as they put it.
Thanks for sharing this information
Thanks for this info...
Having spotted Patsy's tweet just now, here's a response for @ados123, Elizabeth McGinty and others about the Society of Authors (I'm on the staff team at the SoA so this will of course be 100% biased!).
In terms of eligibility, we have members (writers, illustrators and literary translators) working at all stages of their careers - from authors just starting out (sending out submissions, entering competitions, querying agents, or studying on a course) and self-published authors, to established authors and deceased authors' estates! If you're at the start of your career, it's likely that you'll be eligible for Associate Membership, but if you're actively working as a professional author you should be eligible for Full Membership - although the only difference between the two is that only Full Members can serve on the SoA board and vote in elections.
As for the benefits of membership - a key one is unlimited one-to-one advice (on anything from contracts, disputes, career development and more). In particular, it's always worth asking our advice team to vet any contracts before you sign them - whether they're competition T&Cs, short fiction publications, or for publication of a full length manuscript. Membership gets you access to a wide range of discounts (on bookshops, insurances, travel and more), plus free membership of ALCS. We help members connect with other authors - either through our professional networks or through local groups.
There's a few more details here: https://www2.societyofauthors.org/join/why-join/
We provide a wide range of resources for authors - some available to non-members, but many for members only.
We campaign to government and industry - most recently we won a victory with Amazon as they agreed to end their policy of offering easy refunds to customers on fully-read Kindle books: https://societyofauthors.org/News/News/2022/September/Amazon-reforms-ebook-policies-in-response-to-union
We also campaign for fair contractual terms for authors, and around ongoing threats post-Brexit to the UK copyright regime, on book piracy and poor publishing practice, and on freedom of expression and other issues: https://www2.societyofauthors.org/where-we-stand/
And as Patsy mentioned, we run a wide range of prizes - including the new ADCI Literary Prize for authors with a disability or chronic illness - and offer grants for works in progress and grants for authors in need. (these aren't exclusively for members, although they do each have their own criteria decided by the founders of each prize and grant).
Obviously I think the membership fee is worth it, but even if you don't think it's for you right now it's worth coming along to our many free online events (https://www2.societyofauthors.org/events/) and downloading our free guides (https://societyofauthors.org/Advice/Guides).
Anyway, I've rabbited on quite a lot. If you have any specific queries, drop an email to info@societyofauthors.org.
Fingers crossed this has been useful.
Stay well - Martin.
Thank you so much Martin for your response, it has been very useful indeed.
I didn't realise just how much work the SoA did on behalf of authors to protect our rights.
I shall certainly be looking further into applying for membership.
Thanks again Martin and best wishes.
I really enjoy your blog - in fact, it's the only one I regularly check in on. So I appreciate you keeping it up to date in addition to all the other things you have going on.
I come here mainly for womag info, and I sometimes take a look at the submission call-outs. I'm not entering competitions at the moment and when I did, I tended to concentrate only on Australian ones. But competitions can be a great motivator for deadlines etc.
Thank you very much, Martin, for explaining more of the work of the SoA. I shall have another look at the website.
(And thank you Patsy for putting the call out for info...)
Alyson
Thanks Patsy for all the information, much appreciated. Congratulations on your (& others) publishing successes, I love reading about what people are doing in the writing world & I've read about & entered competitions here that I never would have heard of otherwise. And I love the photos Patsy so keep them coming
@ Fiona – It's not easy (or polite) to get much writing done when either being visited or visiting other people. Still, I think a break to our routine can be helpful sometimes, particularly if it's for something we enjoy.
@ Rosemary – I'd missed that detail, but it's now added in after someone else pointed it out. I confess that with competitions I know I can't enter I do sometimes only skim the rules, due to lack of time. I check more thoroughly before entering and urge everyone else to do the same.
@ Eithne and anonymous – You're welcome.
@ Martin – Thank you for replying so swiftly and with so much detail!
@ Elizabeth – Like you I hadn't realised quite how much they do and offer for writers.
@ Liz – I'm glad you find something of interest, even if you don't usually enter the competitions. I'm doing more of those myself, but will continue to pass on womag news when there is any.
@ Alyson – I'm impressed I got such a quick response with so little effort. After promising to try and find out I was concerned I'd have to put in some effort!
@ Sheelagh – Oooh, that's three of you I can blame for next week's photos, plus I have a bit of an excuse myself, so expect LOTS!
Special mention is good!
You are proof that people do win.
Thank you for all these writing opportunities! Something to get cracking with...
@ Alex – Yes, a mention is good. It shows I was on the right track.
@ Jenny – I hope you're able to take advantage of some.
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