Submission updates

Oh dear - another week when I've got the alert that the blog post is live before I'd finished writing it! I rather suspect that might happen quite often in the months ahead. Still, my cunning plan of posting stuff whenever I can, and scheduling the post is working. I'll keep on with that in the hope that a scrappy, unfinished post with a bit of info is better than nothing.

Photos are from last week's mini literary crime festival. One of the attendees said he uswd to find the blog useful, but hadn't seen it lately. I assured him it's still going, so hope he's found this post. If so - Hello! It was nice to meet you. Have you started editing that book yet?

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Alyson for this short story competition from the Jane Austen society.  The prize is to have your story recorded as an audiobook. It all sounds a bit complicated, so please check the website for more details.

Womag news

With Woman's Weekly we're now to assume a rejection if we've not heard back within 16 weeks, rather than 12 as was previously the case. Stories can still be 'placed on file' for possible use in future. If that happens, it's OK to try them elsewhere and withdraw them fro WW if you get a sale.

The People's Friend have again asked for no formatting at all on submissions - incliding not double line spacing, and no page numbers. This is to save them time and they will now not consider any submissions with any kind of formatting at all. This was announced on Twitter. If, like me, you don't use that platform, you can find the deails in my previous post.

Loads of womag info and a few free writing competitions

Unless you're new to the blog (if you are hello and welcome), you were probably expecting to see loads of photos from my recent trip. You probably will eventually, but I'm still not caught up with everything. I think there's enough info in the blog for you to forgive me fobbing you off with a pile of rocks - even if the larger part of it was kindly written by a writing buddy.

Free to enter writing competitions

This short story competition offers a £1,500 prize.

If you know anything about the Czech and/or Slovak republics, this competition could be for you. The prize is $400.

And if you know about contemporary art but haven't written a lot about it, you could be in with a chance of winning £1,000 here.

Thanks to Fiona for sending the link to this free to enter poetry competition with a £70 prize fund.

Thanks to Sharon for the link to this halloween competition. You have 2,500 words and until the end of August to come up with a spooky tale and be in with a chance of winning the £20 prize.

There's a wide range of prizes on offer there. Those with the lower amounts on offer might well attract fewer entries, but don't be put off trying those with larger prizes because you think you'll have no chance - someone really will win, and if you can write what they want, it might well be you.

Other submission opportunities

Here's a call for submissions of short stories and essays. They pay £110 per accepted piece.

Womag news

Massive thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for the following very detailed and comprehensive information – 

Womag wonders

A lot of aspiring writers say there's no point trying to break into the womag market, as there's too many closed lists.

There's only three magazines I know that hold a closed list. 

These are My Weekly, Take a Break's Fiction Feast and Best. TAB also publish a new story in their monthly special. 

Stories from FF are sometimes re- printed in their monthly Fate & Fortune mag – writers aren't paid for these. A short story also appears in the monthly and seasonal specials of That's life! mag. (UK version). I think it's the same situation there.

Also, published stories are re- printed in That's life! the Australia weekly magazine.

Here's my list of paying magazines that hold an open list:

Ireland's Own Max length: 2, 300 words.

They haven't issued any actual guidelines, but from my experience they like the kind of story The Weekly News used to accept. They quite like ghost stories scams and twists, too. 

They publish various seasonal specials and hold an annual short story competition - it's around £7 to enter. They also publish children's fiction and pay for this.

Pay: around £40 - £50

They don't give out rejects, so after 4 months, assume it's a no. If your work appears, they send a complimentary copy of the magazine via snail mail.

Woman's Weekly 800 words & 1, 700/ 1, 800 words. 

Take all rights. Stories are now being re- published in Woman mag (Writers don't receive any more for this). 

A 4 month wait for a decision. If you don't hear, it's a no.

Pay: It varies. The lowest fee that I know of is £75.

Monthly 'Best of WW fiction' magazine  750 & 1, 500 words

The fiction ed requires pitches for unwritten stories, but if the story is already written, it's ok to send it in. Needs chasing for decisions.

While most stories are re- prints, it's good to see that fresh material is being included, and more womag writers have been added to their list. 

Pay: £75 for a 750 story and £150 for a 1, 500 story.

They take all rights.

The People's Friend and their special - various lengths from 1,000 to 9, 000. They have introduced a '5 stories submission' rule for some of their published fiction writers.

Fiction guidelines are available on their website:

https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/guidelines

They have an email submissions system for their unpublished story writers.

They also publish poetry in their mags, plus poetry and fiction in their yearly fireside and friendship books.

Pay: £80 for a newbie writer but this is raised after so many sales (I think it's 7) eventually reaching £110. £15 per poem. 

(From Patsy – Lucy Crichton, fiction editor at The People's Friend, has sent me an update with more information. I'm currently travelling, but will post it as soon as I can.)

The regular Yours – 950 words. 

Pay: £100.

They also publish poetry in their letters page, which is a paid slot.

They publish an annual year book and need stories and poetry for this. Payment for accepted poetry is now a £10 cheque.

Yours only give out rejects, but from experience, a yes arrives within 3/ 4 months. Same with the Yours special.

The Yours fiction special 450 – 2, 700 words

They sub- head their fiction slots which helps us aim for a particular theme.

Both magazines require a short synopsis of the story.

Guidelines for the magazines can be found here:

https://www.yours.co.uk/life/home/writing-for-the-yours-fiction-special

Pay: It varies from £25 upwards, depending on how many pages your story takes up.

The August issue is the last one for this year and after that,the future of the mag is uncertain - that's from the ed. So no dec one with xmas stories in.

Woman's World, USA - take all rights.

Fiction guidelines are available on request. 

They publish a 700 word 'solve- it yourself' detective murder mystery. They like a main detective and an aide. No gory violence.

At the end, your story should include the brief solution (In other words, who committed the murder and why). 

This solution is featured at the foot of the story page. 

These are quite difficult to write, especially in such a short story! I know womag writers who have attempted these detective mysteries, and subbed, but they weren't successful. But they managed to length their stories and sell them to UK mags.

They also publish an 800 word cosy romance. 

They have an active private FB group that focuses on fiction, and the fiction ed regularly posts call- outs for what they require. Search on facebook for 'WW writers'.

Pay: Again, it varies but it's about £250 – £500 (It could be more, depending on the exchange rate). 

I know 2 lucky womag writers who have sold their romances here. They were over the moon. The fee was around £500, but they haven't managed to repeat their success. 

Bear in mind that some published stories are discussed at length in the Woman's World U.S writer's websites. That's not something I'd relish!

Your Cat monthly magazine

No guidelines as such but from experience, I'd recommend that your story features some form of cat care. A 3/4 month wait for a decision, but the ed needs chasing.

Max 1, 500 words

Pay £100

Spirit & Destiny monthly magazine SADLY, THIS CLOSED IN APRIL 2023

Max 1, 500 words.

Pay: I recall it was around £100/ £150

They took all rights. Be aware that a newbie could be bombarded with a lot of unnecessary forms to fill in. This also happened to a new writer at TABFF in 2022. 

I refused and fought my corner to be paid. I didn't write for them because of that reason.

Best magazine run an ongoing themed short story competition. It's free to enter and the writer keeps their rights. 

£500 is awarded to the first place winner and £200 is given to the two runner- ups. Womag writers have won this competition and have clinched runner- up status too, so it's worth a go.

NOTE: They regularly publish fiction but have a closed list. I'm an experienced womag writer and I can't get on it. I've tried several times, all with different stories but I've had no luck.

Prima run an ongoing 800 words monthly short story competition. 

It's free to enter. The prize is £100. 

But be warned - they take all rights to all entries in their competition, so even by entering, you lose the copyright to your own short story.

Plus, there's the pocket novel market for longer fiction. (Up to 50,00 words). 

The two titles are from My Weekly and The People's Friend (37-39,000 words).

Anyone can submit a pocket novel for either title. If a MW one is accepted, you will be able to join the closed MW story writer's list. 

However, I've heard of people who've had a PN accepted, and asked to be included on the MW list, but not received a reply.

The best way to learn how to crack it is to read and study the short stories in the magazines you want to write for. 

I know this isn't always possible with the overseas magazines, but if you become involved with a womag writing community in some way, you'll find others are often prepared to help.

Good luck!

This is greatly appreciated, Sharon, especially as I've not had time to update my submissions database lately. I will as soon as I get the chance, and will use this to help.

I've had some relatively swift responses from The People's Friend for stories I withdrew after they'd been waiting a loooong time and then resubmitted. Writing friends are reporting the same thing, but not hearing back on those submitted last year, or the year before. In some cases when they've queried they've discovered the stories have got lost in the system. However it does seem that the backlog is reducing and things are improving.

There was a mix up at TABFF with one of my stories being credited to another author. I blogged about it on my website. It's the first time something like that has happened to me - and hopefully the last. TAB haven't yet responded to my email, but it's only just happened. I'm sure they will in time, and they'll pay the right author. Unfortunately I'll probably miss out on the ALCS payment, but I'll make enquiries.

Fiction guidelines for Woman's Weekly, free entry writing competitions and more

Free to enter writing competitions

The BBC short story award offers a top prize of £15,000. You must be either a UK national or UK resident and have 'a prior record of publication'. Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for the link.

Thanks to Linda Casper for telling me about this competition with a $500 prize for a factual piece about love on the road. As Linda says, that's a theme I can relate to – just not sure the judges will want ALL the details!

This competition is for poets and spoken word artists who are disabled or have 'long term impairment.' The prize is the chance of £300 in fees - but you need to do quite a lot to earn it.

Here's a chance for female or non binary playrights to win £12,000. The website was making me feel a bit dizzy, so I hope I've got that right.

In this competition someone will win $200 for the best piece of writing advice. My advice to you is - have a go!

Womag news

I've contacted Sharon Reid at Yours Fiction to ask whether the next issue of the magazine really will be August. Unfortunately her reply was - "I’m afraid it’s not a typo – the next issue of Fiction will be August. There are various other specials on different subjects in the pipeline between now and then, although I realise that’s not really helpful for fiction fans."

Not what we wanted to hear, but it's better to know than to keep submitting stories which can't be used, and to wonder if it's ever going to come back. (nb This only applies to Yours Fiction - not the regular Yours magazine.)

I contacted Andrew Shaw, who is the fiction editor for Woman, Woman's Own and Woman's Weekly to ask for the current guidelines. He said, "We are currently only accepting new fiction submissions for Woman's Weekly," and supplied the latest guidelines, which I've copied below. (Stories are sold on an all rights basis

Fiction Guidelines for Woman's Weekly

Firstly, we recommend that you read issues of Woman’s Weekly to get a feel for our audience and the type of stories we do publish. 

Fiction is a vital ingredient of Future's Women's Lifestyle magazines, the place where readers can escape and switch off. This doesn't mean predictable plots or old-fashioned romances. Escapism means getting involved in an engaging tale with believable characters. 

Above all, we are looking for originality and a wide variety of themes and moods, such as mystery, humour, relationships and family issues, with warmth and hope being vital factors.

A common misconception is that short stories should end on a big 'reveal'. This is just one kind of ending. Your story may simply make the reader go 'awh'. However, all stories should end on a positive note. ‘Uplifting’ is the word to keep in mind. 

We are not looking for stories set in care homes/hospitals/prisons, or stories that mention Covid/lockdown, or have plots that dwell on death, illness, or physical/mental abuse... 

Consider every type of person who might be reading your story. Think how certain plotlines or descriptions might be upsetting to the elderly, bereaved or ill. Sensitivity in your writing is vital. 

Remember the maxim ‘Show, don't tell.’ For example… 'Emily's cheeks flushed pink' instead of 'Emily was embarrassed'.  

Plus, a purely descriptive story can be heavy going. So keep things interesting with lively dialogue between the characters. And always ask yourself… 'Would someone actually say this in this situation? Is it natural?'

Attractive locations and stories about animals are often an opportunity for us to include appealing photo illustrations. And think how your story might 'stand out' from other submissions. Maybe the lead character has an unusual job and your story gives us an insight into a different world. 

WORD COUNTS (can be under but not over)

Single page in magazine: Approx 800 words 

Double-page spread: Approx 1700-1800 words

GENERAL TIPS 

• ● Submissions should be my email on a Word (or equivalent) document, not in the body of the email.  
• ● Single quotation marks throughout. Single space between sentences. 
• ● Your name, address and contact details should be included on the first page. 
• ● The title of the story and the word count should be in the document name.

Please note that it can take up to 16 weeks for manuscripts to be considered.

If your story is right for us, we will contact you. If you do not hear from us within 16 weeks, please assume that your story isn't right for us. 

Please be advised that stories may be edited as part of the publishing process. 

We are unable to give feedback on rejected stories, or enter into any correspondence by email. 

Please send submissions to: andrew.shaw@futurenet.com

(nb This applies to the regular Woman's Weekly, not to Best Of Woman's Weekly. For the guidelines to that magazine, see last week's post.)

Thanks to everyone for your comments. As well as allowing us all to share information, help and encourage each other, comments also show editors, competition organisers and others that the blog is read and will therefore be more likely to provide information for me to share with you.

The next scheduled post is 18th March, and will be 'Over To You' as well as any interesting news or free entry competitions I come across.

Featuring five fab freebies and feathers.

I find it hard enough thinking up interesting, relevant titles for stories, but it's even worse with blog posts. If I call them something original, it probably won't be clear what I'm blogging about. If they're all called something like 'free entry competitions and writing news' people won't be sure if it's a new one, or one they've seen before. That's part of the excuse for all the photos – I'm assuming you saw this and thought, 'Oh, birds. What's she up to now?' and not 'Oh, birds again? This must be an old one'.

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 –

"Yes, this is the case. If writers don't hear back from me within 16 weeks, then they can assume that their story isn't right for us. 

Writers are of course free to submit their stories to other publishers at any point. I have no problem with a writer letting me know that a story I have on file is no longer available. 

A story is only accepted for publication once I have found a place for it in the schedules. I will then contact the writer and inform them. I cannot guarantee that a story held on file will be published."

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.)

This competition from Siar Sceal is for poetry or prose with the theme of Sunlit Mornings/Ebbing Tides and offers a top prize of €200.

If you're female, funny and can (quickly) write a story of 5,000 to 15,000 words you could send it here and possibly win £1,100. Thanks to Sharon Bee for sending the link to that one. Some people say I'm a bit funny and I am female so I need a different excuse not to enter this one. (Yes, I know it's six competitions now I've added this one, but I'm NOT going to think up a new blog title.)

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.

Fiction guidelines for Woman's Weekly, Woman and Woman's Own.

Updated March 2023 – If you're looking for the current Woman's Weekly fiction guidelines, try here.

For other magazine's guidelines check the submissions database. 

To ask advice, please post a comment on the latest blog post, which you can find via 'home' at the top of the page.

These guidelines have been kindly supplied by fiction editor Andrew Shaw.

 Woman's Weekly Fiction Guidelines

Fiction is a vital ingredient of Woman's Weekly, the place where readers can escape and switch off. This doesn't mean predictable plots or old-fashioned romances. Escapism means getting involved in an engaging tale with believable characters. Above all, we are looking for originality and a wide variety of themes and moods, such as mystery, humour, relationships and family issues, with warmth and hope still an important factor. “Uplifting” is the word to keep in mind. We are not looking for stories about Covid, lockdown, or stories that dwell on death/illness/hospitals... Try to be subtle in your writing and remember the maxim: "Show don't tell".

We recommend you read several issues of Woman's Weekly to get a feel for our audience. Unfortunately, we can't offer feedback, but if your writing shows promise, we will contact you. Please be advised that stories may be edited as part of the publishing process.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: For the weekly magazine: Short stories of 800 and 1,800 words.

GENERAL TIPS

• Submissions should be my email.

• Single quotation marks throughout.

• Your name, address and contact details should be included on the first page.

• The title of the story and the word count should be in the document name.

Please note that it can take up to sixteen weeks for manuscripts to be considered, and that we are unable to enter into any correspondence by email.

Please send stories to: andrew.shaw@futurenet.com

Andrew says, "The same guidelines apply to Woman and Woman's Own, however, we are only looking for 1800-word stories for those publications. All submissions should be by email. We are no longer accepting hard copy submissions.... All fiction stories for Woman's Weekly, Woman and Woman's Own are on an 'all rights' basis." 

Feedback, families and the future.

Hi. How are things with you? We've been able to get out in the van a bit recently, and I'm trying to get back into the habit of using it as my mobile writing retreat. 

Feedback on your writing

One of the things The People's Friend mentioned in a recent tweet is that they can't critique stories or give detailed feedback. As far as I'm aware no magazine editor does this – please correct me if you know of any that do. This service is sometimes offered to competition entrants, either as part of the entry fee, or for a small additional charge. It might well be worth the money, especially for an ongoing competition.

Feedback, critiques, constructive criticism – whatever you call it, it's very valuable for a writer. That's especially true when we start out, but most experienced writers (myself included) also have at least one other person read their work critically before they submit it, as they've discovered how useful this is.

If you're really lucky there will be a local writing group which provides just the type of feedback you need. Often that's not the case – there might not be a group you can attend reasonably conveniently, or they might not be at the appropriate level for you, or might write in a very different genre. That's where online groups, forums, and critiquing partnerships can be immensely useful. If you know of an online group or site which is open to new members, please post details in the comments. And do the same if you'd like to swap critiques with someone else, or offer a feedback service, or are looking for somewhere to ask for feedback. Hopefully a few of you can find a suitable match.

You might like to consider joining the Facebook group run by Rosemary J. Kind and I in association with our writing book. We don't offer a full critique service, but you can ask for help and advice, plus there's sometimes an opportunity to post up a short extract for feedback.

Womag news

The People's Friend have given more information about submitting via email on their Twitter page. The gist of it is to only use the email address for short stories and that, just as with postal submissions, these must comply with their submission guidelines.

Following the guidelines is important with all markets. The magazines can only publish stories of certain lengths and they're sent plenty of these. If yours is too long, or too short, they would either have to request that you altered it, or do so themselves. Obviously this takes time, something no editor has lots of. I think you can see that they'd much rather buy a story from someone who has followed the guidelines and supplied something they can use without a great deal of further effort.

I've been in contact with Andrew Shaw at Future who has confirmed that fiction for Woman's Weekly, Woman and Woman's Own can only be accepted on an 'all rights' basis.  Stories submitted to him will be considered for all three magazines.  If I'm supplied with guidelines for any of these I'll share them in a future* post. Andrew doesn't deal with the 'Best of' magazine – that's a different department with different requirements.

*See what I did there? Future publishing, get it?

My news

I have a new book out! Happy Families is a collection of 24 family related short stories. The paperback can now be ordered from Amazon, your local bookshop, or in some cases your local library. The ebook is on 'pre order' and will be available in a few days.

I'll be back with more news, and some free to enter writing competitions soon.

February is for friendships

It's time for another Insecure Writers Support Group post! This month I'm one of the co-hosts, along with Louise - Fundy Blue, Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, and Nancy Gideon.

If you're a writer who is ever insecure in any way, you might like to join the IWSG. There's the monthly blog hop, Facebook group, help, support, resources, website... All kinds of stuff. You can get involved with it all, or just the elements which most appeal.

This month's optional blog hop question is – Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere? 

My answer is – YES! 

I've been fortunate enough to meet some of them in person (cake has usually been involved!). I hope to meet more once travelling and meeting people becomes safe again, but there are those I consider friends despite the fact we may never meet face to face.

It's not just through blogging I've made friends, but through other writing related activities such as forums, workshops, conferences, groups and social media. On the whole writers are interesting, friendly and very generous. We tend to help and support each other. We take time out from our writing to encourage others with theirs. 

Do you have blogging friends, or writing friends you've met in other ways?

One writing friend I first met virtually is Rosemary J. Kind. We get on so well that we've written a book together. From Story Idea to Reader is an accessible guide to writing fiction, available in ebook, paperback and audio versions. The ebook is currently reduced to  £1.99 / $1.99

Free entry writing competition news

Here's a romance writing competition with a small cash prize.

This competition is for 'book-length essays of at least 25,000 words by writers resident in the UK and Ireland who have not yet secured a publishing deal'. The prize is publication and a £3,000 advance.

For this competition there's a £10,000 prize for 'the best piece of writing on the theme of the Alpine Fellowship 2021 - Untamed: On Wilderness and Civilization'.

Womag news

The People's Friend will be doing a Facebook live event about their pocket novels at 11am this Friday. This is for readers and writers. 

Thanks to Jackie Sayle for letting me know that Woman's Weekly have introduced a new monthly fiction magazine. Don't get too excited as it seems to be entirely made up of reprints!

If one of your stories is used in the magazine you can still claim for ALCS payments for stories sold under the old 'first rights with extensions' contracts. If you've given up all rights, you may still be able to do that, but will need the permission of the rights holder.

Other news

I've set up a new  Womagwriter Twitter account. You can follow it here. I'll be using it to share writing related news and help to promote other writers, so will follow back and retweet those who engage with me. (My personal account is here.)