A complaint, my thanks and some (hopefully) useful info.

The complaint

I've had a(nother) complaint about the blog. That doesn't really bother me. I accept it's not perfect, just as I hope you accept that it's the best I can do and still have time for writing and the rest of my life.

What does annoy me about this complaint is that it wasn't made as a comment to one of my monthly Your Go posts where I invite feedback, but was done by personal email. If you have anything to say about the blog, good or bad, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do it as a comment on the blog. Although I may not always act on them, especially if they'll be time consuming for no obvious benefit, I do welcome suggestions for improvement.

Yours grumpily and quite frankly rather cross.

p.s. You don't need a Google or Blogger account to leave a comment. Start by clicking on 'post a comment' then type your comment in the big box. Then select one of the bottom two of the three reply options. For 'url/name' type your name or nickname into the box which comes up, for 'anonymous' you skip that stage, but might like to add your name to the comment. Then click the orange 'publish your comment' thingy.

My thanks

Thank you very much to everyone who takes the time to leave a comment on this blog. I really appreciate you doing that – if it wasn't for these comments I wouldn't continue. It's useful too as it gives me an indication of which topics are of interest, it thanks guest bloggers for the time they've spent writing posts, and shows people that the blog is read and might therefore encourage them to share further information. 

And thank you to those people who help with the task of keeping the blog as up to date as it is, by sharing information in comments or emails, and to those who send me links to free to enter competitions. These things are very helpful.

Womag News

Magazines currently accepting unsolicited fiction submissions – 

The People's Friend – You're currently much more likely to be successful, and might get a faster response, with 3,000 word stories.

Allas

My Weekly (pocket novels ONLY)

Yours

Yours Fiction

Woman's Weekly*

Prima* (via their monthly competition)

Spirit and Destiny*

Ireland's Own

Woman's Way (they don't pay)

* These take all rights. I DO NOT recommend giving up all rights.

Magazines either currently closed to fiction submissions, or who only accept work from an existing pool of writers –

My Weekly (short stories)

YOU

Take A Break

That's Life (Australia)

Please note – this information is, to the best of my knowledge, correct at time of writing. If you're reading when it's five years, or even a week, old it may no longer be accurate.

Competition news

Thanks to Alyson Hilbourne for telling me about this competition. There's £50 on offer for a short story of up to 2050 words. You'll have to be quick though, as entries close 1st December (and I forgot to add it to an earlier post!)

Woman's Way guidelines

Here are the latest guidelines for Woman's Way. This Irish publication don't pay for the stories they publish. Personally I don't think it's fair that readers pay for the magazine, yet none of that money reaches the writers. I'm including the guidelines here because my aim is to provide as much information for writers as possible, and allow them to decide what they want to do.

Woman’s Way Fiction submission guidelines

·         We only accept stories via email and we cannot accept stories by post

·         Stories must be previously unpublished. 

·         We will not accept poetry, scripts or an opinion piece

·         Stories will not be considered if they are offensive to gender, sexuality, religion or race.

·         We will not consider stories that contain unnecessary or graphic violence or language

·         We will not accept serialized stories – the story must stand on its own

·         Word count: One page stories of a maximum of 800 words

·         All stories must be in English

·         Stories may edited to Woman’s Way’s house style

·         Woman’s Way will not enter into any discussion on stories that are not chosen for publication

By sending Woman’s Way a story you are agreeing that:

•              You are the original creator of the work submitted   

•              You are the copyright holder of the work

We currently have stories as far as January 2021.

I've added more to the womag information on my website, do let me know if you have suggestions for improvement, or if you know of other publications which could be included.

Woman's Way

Woman's Way is an Irish magazine currently open to submissions of fiction. 

Bad news first – They're not currently in a position to pay.

Slightly better news – They don't claim any rights over submissions, other than those required to publish the story in the magazine. It's also possible that they may consider stories which have been previously published. If you want to send something in that category, for which you retain rights, I suggest stating when and where it was published.

All stories must be in the 800-850 word range as they don't have the space for anything else. If you require more information on submission requirements then please contact the publication directly – there's a form for this here.

Woman's Way are currently running a Christmas story competition. There are some very nice, literary themed, prizes on offer for this. More details and entry form can be found here.

Guest post by womagwriter Shane Telford

Today's guest is Shane Telford.

Imagine my excitement when I accidentally discovered a new market for short stories while aimlessly flicking through my Readly app the other night.

Woman’s Way is a weekly publication in Ireland, aimed at women thirty and beyond. I’ve noticed it on shelves before but it was never really on my radar. Once my finger slipped and I’d downloaded the most recent issue onto my phone I decided to go for a bit of a snoop, to pass the time if nothing else. And there it was on the content’s page, ‘Reader’s Fiction’.

I skipped to page forty-one, eager for a read and found a rather cute story about dating in your fifties, the kind of story I’ve read and written in the past. Then I investigated further and discovered that their fondness for a short story was only recent; it had become a regular feature two weeks prior.

So far, so good. I decided to get in contact with the editor and enquire about their fiction guidelines, asking about word count, theme and pay rate.

The editor replied rather promptly, another plus I thought, and sent me a detailed list of guidelines. But before I could begin plotting my first submission to the magazine, I saw a sentence that made my heart sink. ‘We are not currently in a position to pay.’

And just like that, any excitement I had about this new market dissipated until all I was left with was anger and disappointment. I flicked through the pages again and noticed that the magazine were willing to pay for reader’s letters, but when it came to eight hundred words of fiction their purse-strings were tightly pulled and knotted.

That got me thinking: Why is our writing so often treated as second-class, unworthy of payment? In an ever-shrinking market, where it’s becoming harder and harder to sell a story, why do some publications think it’s okay to ask us to just give away our work and be content with a pat on the back?

I suppose the answer is because some people will sell a story and be completely okay with the thrill of publication as the only payment. But that doesn’t help those of us who use our hard-earned writing money to pay the bills. If anything it’s a hindrance.

So, what is the answer? I wish I knew that for certain. I just know that I could never support a publication that takes my work for granted, considers my writing just a hobby, and expects me to fill their pages free of charge. Instead I’ll spend my time and money on those magazines that offer more than just an opportunity to see my name in print. The Womag market isn’t at its healthiest but I think it’s important for us all to appreciate that there are still magazines out there willing to give our work the respect it deserves and pay us what we’re owed. They are the magazines we should be supporting, in whichever way we can, whether it be by subscribing every month or submitting our best work.