HB spotted this from The People's Friend on X recently "We're thinking of summer! Especially summer fiction! Kick off your flip flops and get writing! All our genres and our word counts, please!"
Thinking about summer is very tempting at the moment. I'm sharing some sunny pictures to get you in the mood.
Here's a verse and/or spoken word competition. They want pieces prompted by the objects in the photos. Winners will share £2,000.
I stumbled across this site, which offers free competitions and other potential benefits to members. I can't actually recommend them as I'd never heard of them before, but they make the claim that entering will 'Get your work in front of industry professionals and a wider audience. Stand out with podcast interviews and biographies on a platform where people are looking for new talent.'
My news
I'm going to make more effort at marketing my books this year. So far I've signed up for some online promotions (if you use KU you might like to take a look at this one) and am booked to take part in a small literary crime festival in Lee-on-the-Solent on 28th March.
Anyone got any brilliant book marketing tips?
I'm going to make more effort at marketing my books this year. So far I've signed up for some online promotions (if you use KU you might like to take a look at this one) and am booked to take part in a small literary crime festival in Lee-on-the-Solent on 28th March.
Anyone got any brilliant book marketing tips?
22 comments:
Thanks, Patsy. I also note that TPF have slightly tweeked their word lengths for serials as below if it affects anyone. Good luck with your publicity drive - I hate that, which is why I do nothing with my stories once sold!
Alyson
The People's Friend
@TheFriendMag
·
Jan 15
If you're a 'Friend' serial writer, please note that our word counts are now 4500 for a first instalment, and a max of 4200 for subsequent instalments. Thanks!
Many thanks Patsy. I think even I sent a nice summer story to TPF, it'd be rejected! It's nice to see that woman's weekly have an puzzles and fiction extra in their occasional issues ( there's been one out recently ) and that the stories in there are new ones and not re- prints.
Nothing much to report apart ,from poems in a local paper and stories in an e-mag and online projects .
Oh, how I echo Sharon's comments re TPF! Congratulations on the stories and local poems though. Thank you, HB and Patsy for all the news and opportunities. I had a busy week sending to Best, Deepings and, not sure whether I have the genre right, but Crowvus call out (that was the high fantasy by 31st March). I think it has a wide definition but depends what they are looking for. And the Parsec... ah, that was the one that has you jumping through hoops with the manuscript format. Nearly there but needs a quick check.
Good luck, Patsy, with your promotions. I know of a number of authors who use substack. Thing is, once you set something up like that (probably a bit like the blog?) you have to keep it going... and that takes time... time then spent away from writing? Hmm... a balance, I suppose... or a team of secretaries ;)
I've begun submitting again to the US based micro romance e-mag which is run on Substack. Whether anyone actually reads the stories on there, I don't know. They send an email newsletter out to subscribers. I used to subscribe but I found it a bit overwhelming. It's a no fee project, but it's somewhere to send work and it's free to do so. I don't know much about Substack, to be honest but yes, I should imagine it would be pretty time consuming.
All the best with marketing your books Patsy. It’s what I like least which is why I decided not to go down the self-publishing route.
I did follow your example when submitting a story to PF though and used the same email to ask about a story sent in just over a year ago. Good news - three hours later both were accepted so thanks for that tip.
As always, thanks for the comp and submission info - always appreciated.
Good luck with the marketing, Patsy.
What a result, Fiona! Congratulations.
HB
Could I ask you seasoned PF pros if you have any advice re word count? Do you have more success with your longer stories, or shorter ones? Or is it much the same? Do you prefer to write shorter or longer stories? Do you aim for a certain word count, or write the story and then see how long it is...? Questions, questions.
When I read this, I found myself just scratching my head a little...
"Our word counts are: 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, and 4000 words"
Congratulations, Fiona. It obviously pays to ask. On that note, were you writing a 'How to' book on TPF publication? I'm sure there would be many on this blog who would buy it. 😉
@Ruth TPF used to flexible on word counts but more recently they work to a tight template and you must keep the word count on or below. I think 3000 word stories are always in demand as they get less of them. They often have a lot of 1200 words but nothing is cast in stone and it just depends what they get sent. When I start a story I usually have a fair idea of the word count I expect but sometimes my character surprise me!
Hope this helps
Alyson
Great info as ever, Patsy thanks. My best bit of news is that I was a runner up in the Ireland's Own memoir section with a piece about my dad & his ford Anglia, delighted with that.
Ps Fiona, I find for me the storyline dictates the length & that my success rate was not word count dependent
Well done to all with positive news. I'd love an info sheet on how to write for TPF and get a story accepted there. It's embarrassing how many years I've been trying. Let's put it this way, Shirley was the fiction ed!
How lovely, precious memories - congratulations Sheelagh. When my husband was a youngster his dad owned an old black Ford Popular ‘sit up and beg’. Going on holiday was a challenge… two adults in the front, two children in the back, sitting on boxes of food, with two guinea pigs and a cat…!
Dee
Thanks for the updates, Patsy, and congratulations to those with good news.
My only news is that I managed to submit a summer story to TPF in the midst of dress rehearsals and performances of my drama society pantomime, so I've definitely been living in two different worlds!
@Ruth When I was first submitting to TPF, my natural story length seemed to be 2000 words, so I didn't try to force longer ones, and that worked for me. I like writing 3000 words now, but I agree with others that it all depends on the storyline.
Thanks for all the info Patsy and congratulations to those with acceptances or submissions. I have a story in My Weekly this week so I'm thrilled with that and I have one coming up in the next TPF Special, I think! Good luck with marketing Patsy it's such a time consuming part of the job.
Can I just shoe-horn in something about a current competition? As the deadline is fairly close, I hope you won't mind me rushing to add what details I have without submitting to Patsy in advance, plus my details at present are incomplete - but here goes. I'm talking about the Bloody Scotland crime short story competition run in conjunction with Glencairn Glass. I'm unable to include a direct link (as I don't know how!) but it's simple to Google: just key in 'Bloody Scotland short story competition 2026' and select the entry under 'The Official Whisky Glass', entitled 2026 Crime Short Story Competition. I can tell you that they want stories of 2000 words or under, the closing date is Tuesday 31st March and this year's theme is that the story's protagonist must be from Scotland. I can't see what the prizes are, but I think they're pretty good (cash plus publicity, possibly?) Stories must not have been previously published in any format online or in print. One thing I'm unclear about is whether the competition is open to all or only debut writers, so that's something it would be important to check out. Sorry this is all a bit clumsy, but I wanted to give everyone here maximum time to get cracking, if interested. Returning to Ruth's PF questions: my understanding is similar to Alyson's - I believe the fiction desk receives more 1200-word stories than any other length, so things are therefore more competitive and waits for news and/or publication necessarily longer. With fewer stories received in the longer, 3000-word length, a response might come more quickly. I think (although I'm not completely sure) that the PF magazines use more of 2000-word length than any other, so aiming to submit stories of that length seems like a good idea. However, while the templates are fixed, length-wise, no advice I can offer is comprehensive and if you send the right story on the right day you can certainly have success with any length/genre, I imagine! When I sit down to write a story, I usually have a pretty good idea of how long it is going to be, and bringing it in at one of the specified lengths without having to rewrite or cut certainly comes with experience. However, there will always be a story from time to time that surprises me - I thought I was starting to compose a real little shortie, and then it takes flight ...While any advice I offer is well-intentioned, I have absolutely no authority to say anything at all, by the way! Also, well done, Fiona - a lovely email to receive! Thanks, Patsy, for hosting this week's discussion. Best wishes with your marketing endeavours and may they bring great rewards.
PS. Have just now spotted that the Bloody Scotland competition mentioned above is, indeed, open to all writers worldwide, published and unpublished, aged 16 and over.
Is the comp mentioned above free to enter please?
Thanks, Eirin for the Glencairn comp. I've entered before - unsuccessfully obviously, but I live in hope...
Alyson
I wish I knew the formula, Marguerite!
Yes
Thank you for the updates, and good to hear about submission successes.
Re marketing Patsy, I have heard that all things ‘retro’ are popular at the moment, (retro tech - old phones, LPs, Polaroid cameras etc) and, surprisingly… paperback books!! Apparently social media is now inspiring millions to pick up printed books, again, especially ones with attractive covers. What good news this is!
Dee
@ Alyson – Thanks for the update re serials.
I hate the publicity stuff too!
@ Sharon – It's good to know that WW are using more new stories rather than reprints - that's better for us and regular readers.
That seems quite a lot to report. Well done!
@ Marguerite – Strange as it might sound, I almost welcome rejections. At least then I know the story has been read. It's REALLY frustrating to send in what's asked for and discover it's still waiting to be read over a year later. (she rants!)
Good luck with all your entries.
Lots of different platforms are reportedly good for selling books. No doubt some are for some people / genres, but finding what works (if we ever do) might involve a lot of experimentation. I'd rather be writing!
@ Fiona - Oh, well done!
@ HB - Thanks. I'm trying...
@ Ruth – I see you've already had some answers. My personal method (for all markets and competitions with word counts) is to draft what I think is a suitable story, then see which word count it's closest to, and edit to suit.
@ Sheelagh - well done and congratulations!
@ Dee - You've got the setting for a great story there. TPF seem to like nostalgia - and travel details.
@ Sharon – Shirley was a great editor. I think the fiction team was bigger then? If so, that would have helped. All the magazine editors seem short of time these days.
@ Marian – Well done. Sometimes simply getting something written is a real achievement.
@ Elizabeth - congratulations.
@ Eirin - Thanks for the competition info. I've found a link and will put it in the next post.
Thanks for your suggestions re TPF too.
Although I've sold them stories in most lengths, a larger percentage of my 3,000 word ones have been successful than is the case for shorter ones. That suggests it could be a good length to try - if, of course, the story is right for that length.
@ Dee - that is good news!
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