Summer's here!

How are you enjoying the weather? Personally I like it hot and sunny, as long as I don't need to be too active. It can be draining though. If you're finding it hard to write at the moment, here's an idea which might help.

Free entry writing competition news

Green Stories are running another short story competition. The theme is microbes and the top prize £500.

A tip for entering any competition with a theme, prompt, genre requirement etc – make sure it's obvious you've written your piece to fit the requirement. One of the entries in my local writing group's short story competition was disqualified by the judges because they didn't feel it fitted the brief. That's a shame as the person concerned is a good writer and had created the piece specifically for the competition, it simply wasn't clear to the judges that was the case.

Btw, the winning entry (mine!) was praised for its layout, grammar lack of filler words and the fact an original title (as opposed to the competition theme) was used. Obviously the actual story is the most important element, but it's worth paying attention to the details because if two or more entries are close, as I'm sure they were in this case, that might well make the difference.

Other publication opportunities

Stand magazine is a new to me, although well established, paying market, which considers poetry and short stories. The style seems to be more literary than womag – does that appeal to any of you?

Womag news

Angela Gilchrist has been replaced as editor of The People's Friend by Stuart Johnstone, who has previously been a My Weekly editor. More details here.

The new fiction editor at My Weekly has been announced. She's Kirstyn Smith. 

I don't yet know what difference, if any, these change will make. 

This isn't really news, just a clarification. It's YOURS FICTION which is currently on hold with an uncertain future. The regular YOURS magazine is continuing without change, so you can continue to submit work there.

As YOURS FICTION had a policy of, if you've not heard in three months then it's a no, I think it's safe to assume anything submitted there won't now be used. Submission to the regular YOURS should all eventually get a reply. That can take up to six months, although do sometimes come more promptly.

My news

I'm using my website more now. If you're interested in reading about my writing life, take a look.

For those wondering about the TAB FF story of mine accidentally credited to another author – I have received an apology and payment. My guess is there was a change round when the magazine was laid out and switching the author name got overlooked.

The next scheduled post is 15th July. There may be travel photos!

Over To You

Do you have any womag news?

Any market news? Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Still waiting to hear back on outstanding submissions? Do you have a question? Can you offer tips or encouragement to other writers?

Any other writing related news, questions and comments are also welcome.

My womag news

Sharon Reid who usually edits Yours Fiction has bought a story from me to go in a Yours Easter special pull out thing (possibly not the official description.) This sale is extra to those in the regular magazine. Maybe they'll be doing more of that kind of thing, perhaps a coronation special as Elizabeth suggested in the comments of the last but one post, so the temporary halt of Yours Fiction won't be such a blow?

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Fiona for sending this link for a short story competition with publication and $500 as the top prize. On the home page it states entries must be unpublished.

And this is from Vivienne Moles  – Fictionette is looking for subs and competition entries.  Lipstick and Lies is under this umbrella.

There's a lot included in the subs - short story, flash, micro, poetry and novellas. 

Competitions are varied according to the schedule, currently 'flash' - 150-700 words by 31.3.23

Feel free to use these photos as picture prompts. If you'd like written writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.

Don't forget to check the submissions database for details of which magazines publish fiction under what terms, and how to submit.

For those who didn't see my comment on Thursday's post –   I have a policy of only giving out information which is already available online (even if it's usually hard to find) or which the editor or whoever has given me permission to share.

In some cases there may be value in sharing information that can't be obtained elsewhere, but on balance I feel this blog can be most useful if those suppling me with information trust me only to share what they want shared, or which is already 'out there'. I'm not just protecting editors. If I, for example, happen to learn your pen name or any personal details, I wouldn't pass those on to anyone without your permission.

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 1st April.

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.

Free entry competition good news and other stuff for writers

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Sharon Bee who kindly sent me the following competition links – The Daily Mail are running a novel writing competition with a £20,000 advance as the prize. This is for 'first-time authors who have not had any work of fiction published before' so I'm not eligible. Brilliant opportunity for someone though.

The Top prize for the Commonwealth Short Story Competition is £5,000. I'll be having a go at that one.

Thanks to Alyson for the link to this competition from W&A It's for those who are starting work on a novel and don't have an agent or publishing contract. (I don't think having had short stories published would be a problem.)

This competition is for 6 word stories and has a $100 prize.

Banbury Writers Cafe are offering £50 for the best story written to one of their photo prompts.

There's a $10,000 advance on offer in this crime writing competition.

Other publication opportunities

Prairie Fire are looking for 'fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction that looks at the depth of peace.' This is a paying market.

The Rialto want poems and pay £20 for those they publish.

Fanaticalmag are looking for sci-fi and fantasy inspired by tabletop games. They pay £20.

This publication seems to be for a similar genre. They pay £25.

I doubt I'll have time for any of these as we're getting ready for another trip in the van! There will be photos.

Womag news

Sharon Reid is now editor of Yours Fiction Special. I know because I got an acceptance from her! 

There's a new sub editor at The People's Friend. I know that and no more detail because I saw something on Facebook which I can no longer find.

I've been informed that all the Friend Christmas stories have now been selected for this year.

Help for writers

In the comments for last week's post, Alyson asked about eligibility and benefits of The Society Of Authors and I promised to find out more. Tweeting the SOA seemed worth a try and I was rewarded by a speedy response from Martin who has added information and useful links in a comment of his own. If you missed it then it's worth taking a look - there are loads of useful looking free guides on offer. Click here and scroll to 13th comment.

My news

Remember the summer themed short story competition from The Horses Mouth I mentioned about a month ago? Well, I won! Obviously I'm pleased on my own account, but it's also nice for the blog that I'm able to confirm these competitions are genuine and real people win them. I hope my good fortune inspires you to have a go at some and that you'll be able to come back and report your success.

From tomorrow, 16th October, my new collection of short stories Beyond The Garden Wall goes on special offer. Both the ebook and paperback versions are at least £1 /$1 less than the usual selling price. This promotion lasts until 22nd October. (The book can be ordered through libraries and book shops, but unfortunately this offer only applies to purchases through Amazon.)

This collection contains 24 plant, garden and flower themed stories – giving me the perfect excuse to strew this post with flower photos!

Anything you can do to help spread the word, including sharing FB posts and tweets will be much appreciated.

Singing the blues

The sky is still a cloudless blue, the sea an invitingly cool blue, and some of the prettiest flowers in my garden right now are blue. I'm not blue myself – just a smidge exasperated with some aspects of this writing lark.

Free entry competition news

Wasafari are looking for, "critical essays of an exemplary standard, which constitute the most exciting academic work happening today across the field of international contemporary literature." There's a £250 prize, plus other benefits for the best entry.

I've never written anything like that, and doubt I ever will (not enough of a blue stocking?) How about you?

Thanks to Alyson for reminding we about this competition from Comma Press. £500 is on offer for a short story with the theme of Music. All shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology.

Womag news

Nothing much to report! I'm not getting acceptances, or rejections. It feels as though everything I submit is slithering into a heap behind a metaphorical sofa out in cyberspace.  

I have had an acknowledgement of a submission and a response, but not an actual answer, to a query about long outstanding submissions. 

Yours have stopped sending the automatic responses, so now we don't even have the reassurance that our story arrived safely as we wait for a response which might not come. The website states Yours Fiction don't send rejections, but Yours does. They no longer provide a cut off period past which you may assume your story will not be used.

Email subscriptions to this blog

To the right of this post is the option to sign up for email blog updates. Some people have reported that it doesn't work very well, or that they're unable to add their email to the list. I'm sorry about that, but don't know how to fix it. If anyone does know, please tell me! 

If you do subscribe, you should get a confirmation email with a link to click to activate your subscription. You may also get scary warnings about it not being secure!

Sorry, I can't add anyone myself. That's probably a data protection thing. I do have a newsletter you can sign up for, which does seem to work, but that's not news about my writing, not blog updates.

I've added a link to an alternative way to subscribe, just in case that's helpful. If you try it, please let me know if it works!

Sorry not to be better and more professional with the technology side of things. 

Womag updates

I'm still on my travels, so not always finding it easy to keep up with news. Luckily I have friends who help to keep me informed. Thank you to those who have passed on the following bits of womag news ...

Those writers on the Take a Break closed list have been sent news contracts, offering a much lower rate of pay, but no longer requiring all rights. 

The fiction editor at YOU is still reading and buying stories which were sent prior to them temporarily closing to new submissions.

The current word count requirements for Yours fiction are –  450, 800,1400, 2,000, and 2,700

The word count range for Seven Days is confirmed as 500 - 1,200 (not 500 - 1,000 as stated in one issue.)

Yours and Yours Fiction rejection policy

Recently I've seen a few comments from people who've submitted to Your or Yours Fiction and after not hearing back for a few months are wondering if they should consider their stories to have been rejected. 

This is from their official guidelines.

"Rejection policy 

For short stories submitted to Yours magazine, you will receive a rejection slip if we are unable to use your story. 

However, for short stories submitted to Yours Fiction, because of the volume of submissions, we are unfortunately unable to provide individual letters of rejection. If you would like your posted short story returned to you, you are welcome to include a Stamped Addressed Envelope with your submission. Please note, however, that it may take up to six months to return these stories."

When you make a submission, you'll get an auto response, which includes this –

"Our review period is x6-12 months. As a result, if you haven't heard from us by the end of 12 months, it's safe to assume we haven't been able to use your submission. 

Space in the magazine is very tight, so please don't take it too badly if we haven't been able to publish your submission."

So, we need to wait 12 months with either publication, unless we get a rejection before then. Just to add to the confusion, it's not uncommon for a story to be passed from one editor to the other. I'm not sure if that story would then jump the queue, or if there could be a further 12 month wait.

Usually the response, if there is one, takes less than 12 months but I don't think it's safe to assume that what has usually happened in the past will necessarily be the case for current submissions.

Winner announcement and womag updates

The winner Eirin picked to recieve a copy of I Know I Saw Her by E D Thompson, as offered in this post is – CHARLIE. Congratulations! Please email me (address on the questions and contact page) and I'll put you in touch with Eirin to arrange delivery.

Womag news

I've recently updated my guidelines database. I hope you find this useful. As ever, if you learn of any changes, or hear of other potential markets please let me know. For those either leave a comment to any post, or email me using the address on the questions and contact page.

Yours and Yours Fiction have new guidelines, which you can find here. These guidelines explain their rejections policy. Thanks to Pamela Gough for bringing them to my attention.

For Yours the guidelines state – "We also publish longer stories that are serialised over three issues. These should be approximately 3,000 words long and the first two parts must end on a cliff-hanger so that readers will be eager to find out what happens in the next issue."

It's not clear to me if they mean 3 x 1000 words or 3 x 3000 words. Anyone know?

Susan Watson will be returning as My Weekly's fiction editor in September. Claire Gill, who covered her maternity leave, will be remaining with the magazine working on virtual events and digital content. The magazine is currently (still!) closed to unsolicited submissions.

My News

My short story collection Coffee & Cake is now available as an audiobook, as well as in paperback and ebook formats. The paperback can be ordered through your local bookshop, or library, if you prefer not to use Amazon.

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!)

Guest post by Womagwriter Charlotte Sabin.

Today's guest is Charlotte Sabin, talking about her very first womag sale.

I’ve been writing stories since high school and after I enjoyed a home study course in creative writing I decided to improve on my craft and go to university to study a degree in the creative writing and English literature but due to my mum becoming terminally ill I returned home early before completing my course so transferred my studies to distance learning and then years later achieved enough points to gain a higher education diploma which covered all aspects of creative writing and English literature. I knew I wanted to become a writer but having a family took priority so over the years I self published many children’s books with my fiancé, Andy Wegg, using kdp self publishing platform on Amazon but I still had this burning desire to write short stories for women magazines.

I had submitted and failed with many attempts over the years but it was only recently I thought 'I’m going to give it one more shot', so I wrote a handful of stories and sent them off to several magazines. I’ve had a few rejections so far, actually a lot, but I now know you should never give up on your dreams.

I have had my first success and had my ghost story – The Pink Ball published in this months edition (August) of Yours Fiction and another acceptance from Yours for another ghost story to be published in their October edition.

I sent the story to them via email, following their guidelines back in April and they sent me an email of acceptance in June with a copy of a contract attached and said the date of publication and how much I would be paid.

I was doing cartwheels around my living room and I am looking forward to going out to celebrate with Andy somewhere very special.

Seeing it on the shelf in Tesco was just surreal and seeing it in the magazine was so amazing and I couldn’t stop smiling – it looks fantastic and I can’t wait to see my next story in print and how it will look.

The advice I can give to writers is that never, ever give up and keep writing and keep sending your stories out as one day you could see your name in print and you can feel very proud of yourself! And I will mention use the support of those around you, especially family and loved ones as they are your readers and your proof readers and really listen to their opinions as I really couldn’t have achieved what I have set out to do without their help and their support.

Congratulations on your first sales, Charlotte. I'm sure there will be more, especially if you follow your own excellent advice to keep writing and submitting.

You can find Charlotte's children's books here.

Yours Fiction guidelines

Thanks to Alyson Hilborne for sharing these guidelines she spotted in Yours Fiction. Please note that although Yours and Yours fiction are sister publications, they have different submission guidelines and you must state which magazine your story is for.

Both Yours and Yours fiction are open to submissions from all writers. They both take quite extensive rights, but after discussions with myself and others they no longer take all rights.

Clarification on submissions to Yours

Several people have asked about the rules for submitting work to Yours Magazine and Yours Fiction. I asked for clarification, both for myself and to share on this blog. The response was as follows –

Dear Patsy

Thank you for your email.

It seems that many of our regular contributors are a little confused about the difference between submitting stories for the magazine or the Fiction Special. Just to clarify, any stories intended for publication in the magazine that are either approximately 1,200 words long or three-parters (see the Short Story Guidelines attached) should be clearly marked for my attention.

Any stories intended for the Fiction Special (which can be of any length) should be marked for Katharine’s attention.

Making it clear whether a story is intended for the magazine or the Fiction Special helps to ensure that Yours admin staff can direct it promptly to the right person.

Every time that a story is accepted for publication, either in Yours magazine or the Fiction Special, we will ask you to sign a contract accepting Bauer’s terms and conditions which in their revised form do allow writers to place their stories elsewhere. In other words, stories are no longer accepted on an All Rights basis.

Please feel free to contact myself or Katharine if you have any further queries.

Kind regards,

Marion Clarke

Contributing fiction editor

Those attached guidelines follow. 

SHORT STORY (fiction) Guidelines

Dear Reader/Writer,

YOURS is always looking for good short stories. Every submission is read but we receive more than a hundred manuscripts a month and are able to publish only one short story per issue.

Please allow up to six months for a reply and enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you would like your manuscript to be returned. Submissions should be 1000-2,000 words long and not have been published elsewhere before.

From time to time, we also publish longer stories that are serialised over three issues. These should be approximately 3,000-3,200 words long and the first two parts must end on a cliff-hanger so that readers will be eager to find out what happens in the next issue. 

Manuscripts can be sent by email or by post, clearly marked SHORT STORY. Submissions must be TYPED on one side of the paper and the title page must include the following:

• 100 - 150 word synopsis.
• An accurate word count.
• Your full name (and real name if you write under a pen name), address & telephone number

If we can’t use your submission and you would like it returned to you please enclose a SAE with enough postage to cover the cost of the submission/s. 

TIP - Know your audience….

It is essential that you study three or four published stories in YOURS before writing anything for us.

Many manuscripts are rejected because, although they may be well written, the stories are aimed at a completely different market, such as younger women or a largely middle-class readership.

Read several issues of YOURS. This will give you a good idea of the type of reader you should be writing for and the general tone we use. 

Our readers range in age from fifties upwards, with most in their mid-sixties and seventies. They are mostly women, although YOURS is read by some men, so don’t ignore their interests! 

TIP - Good subjects….

Some of the most popular themes with YOURS readers are romance, families, grandchildren, nostalgia and wartime comradeship. A lot of our readers did war work and/or had husbands or boyfriends serving in the Forces. Don’t be limited to these subjects though; the style and tone of what you write about must appeal to our readers as much as the content.

The first line of your story should grab the attention; it is all too easy to start a story with a bang, which quickly turns into a damp squib by the end of the first page. Keep up the reader's interest until the end or they will not bother to get that far - and a brilliant surprise ending will not make them read it in the first place.

TIP - What to avoid….

Avoid stereotypical images of older people as ill, frail and lonely. Make sure your story is plausible and realistic and do not rely on unlikely coincidences. Try and avoid the hero turning out to be a cat or dog. Avoid downbeat subjects such as death, widowhood, illness and loneliness, or write about them in a positive way that does not dwell on negatives. 

Try not to rely on obvious plot devices such as twists in the tale and memory flashbacks. These are very common and, unless cleverly written, can be predictable. A good story does not always need a surprise.

Remember this….

Always think of YOURS readers, not just as older people, but as ordinary human beings who have experienced everything in life - childhood, growing up, starting work, falling in love, friends and family, joy, sorrow, heartache, longing and laughter. YOURS readers have their own interests and needs which match their years of experiences but many of their hopes, fears and dreams are shared by all of us and they still enjoy a good story.

Send your manuscript to*:

Short Stories (FAO: Marion Clarke)

Yours Magazine

Bauer Media

Media House

Peterborough Business Park

Peterborough, PE2 6EA

By email to: yours@bauermedia.co.uk (Subject: Short Story Submission for the attention of Marion Clarke) – email submissions must include contact telephone number and address details. 

Marion and the Short Story team

*PLEASE NOTE: If you would like us to return your submission, please include an SAE with the correct postage amount on it. We regret that any submissions without an SAE will not be returned. All successful submissions are accepted on Limited Licence Agreement