I'm still working on the next book in my crime series, and mostly resisting the urge to change it from cosy to grisly with a massive body count!
Free to enter writing competitions
Thanks to Vivienne for sending me the link to this competition from Toasted Cheese. The theme is festivals. You can submit fiction (as long as it's not in any genre) or creative non fiction. There are Amazon vouchers on offer for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed entries.
Here's a competition to pitch a children's book. As well as the free competition, there's also the option to pay quite a lot of money to have your work assessed. It might, possibly, be worth it if you're certain you want a career from writing children's books and this is your publisher of choice.
Other publication opportunities
If you have a 'swoonworthy' romance novella of 10,000 to 40,000 words, you might like to consider submitting it to Spotify Audiobooks. Thanks to Liz for telling us about this one.
They only want audio rights, so you can still submit if the book has been published in other formats (as long as you hold the rights), or you'd like to do that yourself. I'm thinking of giving this a try.
Also from Vivienne is the info that Crowvus are looking for memoir submissions in prose, poetry or commentary.
I'm hope you get it sorted soon , Patsy.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of entering a chick- lit novella for the audio opportunity. There is romance in it but it's hardly swoon worthy romance! The love interest for my MC doesn't appear until further on in the story, so I don't think it will be chosen. Good luck to anyone else who gives it a go.
Well done to all with positive news.
By the way,TPF are publishing a poem in the weekly now (with a fee paid ) and they are launching another poetry competition in next week's issue. I assume this will be free to enter.
Thank you everyone, for all the info.
ReplyDeleteHow frustrating for you Patsy. On the plus side a new market beckons, grisly and gritty crime novels... But don’t get too angry Patsy, you don’t want to be writing a ‘True Crime’. 😊
Dee
How frustrating Patsy. Those kinds of problems are so frustrating and time-consuming. I hope things get sorted soon.
ReplyDeleteI can't get the Toasted Cheese link to open at the moment. The Spotify competition looks interesting. I've got something I might try but it needs a fair bit of tidying etc and the closing date is only 30th April so it may be a bit tight. I'll think about it, but obviously not for too long!
No successes to report. One of my WW subs is nearing the 12 week deadline, which was the time given by Andrew on submission. Don't know if it is now subject to the 16 weeks though.
Well, he said 12 week's on mine so that's what I'm going by. With this audio book project - if accepted, I should imagine that they expect the writer to promote it themselves on social media. The income the writer would receive (I expect) would depend on downloads. I'm not sure if I'd be ok with pushing my work like that!
ReplyDeleteYes I agree Sharon. I've had second thoughts about that competition anyway given the short time frame. Also I dont really think my story fits the bill. There is some romance but its not the main focus.
ReplyDelete@ Sharon – Interesting about TPF and the poetry competition. I'll keep a look out for that. Not sure I'll enter, but who knows I might get inspired to write one of my rare poems.
ReplyDelete@ Dee – I really do think that writing the fictional version reduces the temptation to plot the real thing!
@ Sue - I'm trying not to think about it any more until Monday. If it's not properly srted there's nothing I can do until then.
I've redone the link. Hopefully it works now.
Maybe try the sorting anyway and see how that goes? If you don't submit it to Spotify, you might be able to try it elsewhere.
@ Sue & Sharon – I did spot in the Q&As that it said not to submit stories which didn't fit the criteria and there will be other opportunities later.
It also says they'll help with promotion, but I'm sure you're right and they'll expect authors to do some too. It seems that al publishers, even the big trad print ones, now expect that. And yes, after the advance, any further payment would depend on the number of downloads.
Even if my novella was accepted, I'm only on FB and I don't have that many FB friends, so I wouldn't be a suitable candidate. I wouldn't feel comfortable, asking people to download it. I suppose they want writers who are happy to push their work on public platforms. My piece doesn't really fit the bill, as it's not 'swoon worthy' romance, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThanks Patsy, Sharon & Vivienne for all the writing opportunities.
ReplyDeleteHope you get the office fixed up Patsy, at least it doesn't seem to be stymieing your creative output though
Thanks for the openings, Patsy. Good luck with sorting out the office.
ReplyDeleteAlyson
If I've got the right Alyson (H), we are BOWW buddies this month. I don't know if there is any machinery to let us know if we have reprints (don't think so), but you have one. I know we can't all have all the magazines all the time and some don't feature on subscriptions or library lists. More details if I've got this right?
Delete@Marguerite - not seen BOWW, so I've no idea. Will try and find a copy this week! Thanks for the heads up.
DeleteIf you can't, could I write the title here?
DeleteOh, yes, please!
DeleteI'm working hard on limiting attributions so audiobooks in the very (very) distant future, but thank you, Liz. I have a shortlisted WM memoire I'm thinking might fit the Crowvus brief? Good luck with the office, Patsy. Still, the floor looks nice...
ReplyDeleteBOWW isn't on Readly, so the only way I can check is to look through the mag in a shop. By the way, has anyone had anything accepted by Fiction on the web? Just curious, as I submitted around 8 stories there and they were all rejected.
ReplyDeleteI tried one and it was rejected!
Delete@ Sheelagh – So far I've managed to keep writing. I'm not sure I will be able to while the people are here doing the work, but that should only be a couple of days. I'm hoping it will be good gardening weather.
ReplyDelete@ Alyson – Thanks. I'm hoping for the best.
@ Marguerite – Well done on the publication and good luck with future submissions.
I'm happy for you to share the title here, to see if Alyson recognises it. Maybe add the main character name(s) too in case the title has been changed.
As far as I'm aware, people don't get notified if their stories are reprinted. That's a pity for several reasons, including the possibility of missing out on ALCS payments.
Yes, it's a nice floor!
@ Sharon – I tried twice. The first time I had feedback which made me think they and I weren't on the same wavelength. The second time I was totally convinced!
Thanks for that, Patsy. Alyson's story is Just for one evening... Alphonso and pizza. I hope that's helpful. I'm determined to crack this! 3000 words for a Christmas story for... well, not going to write it aloud. We'll see...,.
ReplyDelete@Marguerite - thank you. That was a Valentine's story in WW in Feb!
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