How to ask a question or post a comment on this blog

Recently I've been contacted by a couple of people who are struggling in different ways with the technical aspects of commenting on this blog. As this is likely to come up again, I'm putting the instructions here so I can send a link to them rather than keep typing them out. 

1. Find the most recent post on the blog. If you use this link https://womagwriter.blogspot.com/ it should be the first one you come to. The date will be at the top of the post. If you don't think it's recent, or aren't sure, click on 'home' which can be found on the left towards the top of the page.

(All examples are screen shots - clicking on those won't do anything.)

2. Read or scroll to the bottom of the post. There you will see information such as who made the post, labels for other posts on the same subjects, buttons to share the post. There will also be the word 'comment' if nobody has yet commented or a number and 'comments' showing how many comments have so far been made. Click on that.

3. You'll be able to see any comments already made (well worth a read as people frequently answer the questions raised by others, share useful links, tips and encouragement). Below the comments you'll see this –

4. Type your comment or question in the big box. 

5. Choose an identity, by clicking on one of the little circles under where it says 'Choose an identity'. There are three options.

If you're signed into an appropriate account you'll see your name where this example shows 'Google account'. You can leave that as it is, or pick one of the other two options. 

If you click the middle one (Name/URL) you'll see this.

Type a name in the box after where it says 'Name'. That can be your real name, nickname, writing name, initials.

If you have a blog or website and would like a link to that displayed then you can copy that into the URL box. You don't have to do that.

Alternatively select 'Anonymous'. If you choose that one it will be helpful if you can add a name, initials, nickname or number somewhere in your comment. That just makes it easier for people to respond to you.

6. Click in the box next to where it says 'I'm not a robot' (even if you are!).

7. Click on the button which says 'Publish Your Comment'.

That's it - you're done. You deserve cake! Once you've done it a few times it will seem much easier, I promise.

Feel free to try it out by replying to this post (even once it's got old) telling me your favourite colour, guessing what mine is, or even talking about writing! You can try all the options if you like, to see how they look. Of course those who already to know how to comment are welcome to join in.

Usually your comment will appear immediately. Sometimes comments are moderated, meaning I need to press a button to make them appear. If that's the case, there should be a pop up message saying so.

In case you're wondering – If you use the first identity option, I will be able yo see your email address. I and others will be able to identify you. If you use the middle option and copy in a link, it will be possible for me and others to identify you that way. If you choose the middle option and don't copy in a link, or choose the anonymous option, all I or anyone else will see is the name, initials etc you choose to give yourself. 

Even when comments are 'moderated' I allow all except those which are obviously spam, are truly offensive or are anonymous rants. In all the years I've been blogging, other than spam, I've deleted fewer than five such comments. If a post is clearly a duplicate due to a technical difficulty I'll probably delete that too.

If you have a blog yourself – Feel free to link to these instructions if they might help your readers. If it's a writing blog you think my readers might enjoy or find useful, comment here with a link and I'll add it into the list below.

Other writing blogs you may like to visit –

For those new to this blog, this is me. I regularly share information about submitting to various markets, particularly woman's magazines and also maintain a database of that information, I share links to free entry competitions and generally chat about writing. I also randomly sprinkle posts with photos from my garden, baking sessions or adventures in the mobile writing retreat (campervan).

The next scheduled post Saturday 18th March. 

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.

Guidelines for Woman's Weekly 'best of' and From you

I've realised that links and other info posted as comments on the over to you posts could get lost, and that info (especially about free entry competitions) I find out or am sent might become out of date before the next planned post. Therefore, when I have time and an internet connection, I'll try to copy them into a new post like this one.

These are likely to be scrappy, but perhaps better than nothing? We'll see how it goes.

The photos will be whatever I happen to have been working on last. I don't think posts look right without an image, and that's the easiest way to include one.

From Sheelagh

 Globe soup have a new exactly 100 word story any topic as follows: 2023 OPEN DRABBLE CONTEST | PRIZE: £300 | ENTRY: FREE | WORDS: 100 EXACTLY | DEADLINE: 31st MARCH, 2023. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:

Please send your entry as a word doc, .docx, or PDF attachment to:
globesoup.drabble@gmail.com
The winner receives £300. The winner retains ownership of their story.

The Bridgehouse Publishing competition, deadline 28th Feb, theme 'Gifted'

From Alyson

Best have a new competition going for a story about pets, 1200 words, closes Sunday, 26th March, submit to: bestfiction@hearst.co.uk
Also came across this on twitter this morning. Open to UK residents only but might of interest to some: https://pentoprint.org/get-involved/competitions-2023/

From Sharon Bee

Here's a free enter comp, closing date, 28th Feb:

https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize

And one I missed from an earlier post (apologies) from PJH

a Welsh Poetry Competition I saw in my local library with 3 good cash prizes see www.welshpoetry.co.uk for further details.

Womag News

Also from Sharon – BREAKING NEWS
The monthly Spirit and Destiny mag, who publish fiction, is to close this April.
Writers who have had stories already accepted by them and any scheduled for publication, should be paid.

April, fiction editor at Woman's Weekly 'best of', is currently writing new fiction guidelines. She's very kindly supplied the following information and guidance in the meantime.

Best of Woman’s Weekly Fiction is published monthly and is mainly a collection of fiction that has been previously published in the main Woman’s Weekly magazine. As it’s a monthly rather than a weekly, the timescales for responding to pitches, commissioning, publication and payment may be longer than expected for writers used to submitting stories to weeklies. 

I (April) run Best of Woman’s Weekly on a freelance basis, outside and on top of my regular job as an editor in Future’s Bookazines department. This means that I am not working on it day-to-day and rarely respond to queries within the same day. The best time for writers to contact me is on Friday mornings between 10am and 1pm if they’re hoping for a faster answer to their query. Email me on april.madden@futurenet.com 

Best of Woman’s Weekly Fiction pays £75 for 750-word stories or £150 for 1500-word stories. No other word count options are available and the budget cannot be varied. The magazine contains the equivalent of four 1500-word stories in each monthly issue (This might vary from month to month, for example three 1500-word stories and two 750-word stories instead, but the basic word count and budget is always the same).

Writers should pitch me the initial description of the story in the first instance along with the proposed word count. If the story is already written, they are welcome to send it in its entirety. If the story is accepted, a purchase order will be sent to them, either with a deadline on it or noting that the story is complete and already on file. 

New contributors will need to be registered on Future’s freelance hub and fill out their details with our Finance and Rights departments, which can take a little while and involves a few forms to fill out – please do be prepared for this if you’re not already registered with us! 

Genres I’m looking for are currently:

• Slice of life

• Romance 

• Historical fiction

• Everyday comedy

• Gothic fiction / supernatural / ghost stories

• Drama / thrillers / mysteries 

As Best of Woman’s Weekly Fiction is monthly, I’m usually thinking a couple of months ahead in terms of themes and settings. For example, as I write this in February, I’m currently planning for late spring and early summer. It’s worth bearing this in mind if your story relies on a particular season or festival as a plot point! 

We don’t have a style guide per se, but please put speech in ‘single quotes’ rather than “double” in your stories (and obviously please do run a spell check before submitting!).

Don’t forget to pop your name and pen name (if applicable) on your submitted story :) 

Finally, as I’ve had a few queries about this recently, our Rights department has recently confirmed that Future is happy for writers to claim ALCS (secondary) rights on stories we’ve commissioned / purchased from them. 

I'm sure you'll agree that's all very helpful. As it isn't spelled out, I asked about rights (you know me!) and April confirmed that they will continue to take all rights. 

Thanks for all the comments recently. They show that the blog is read and therefore make it more likely that editors, competition organisers and others will be willing to provide information for me to share. The next scheduled post is 4th March and will include lots of links to free entry writing competitions, and some more womag news.

Over To You

Over to you posts are back! They're primarily intended as a way to share womag market information and to help and encourage each other with our writing, but questions and comments on any writing related subject are welcome on any post.

If lots of us share information this could become a valuable resource for us all and I'll continue to post them on the third Saturday of every month. I'm also trialling posting links to free to enter competitions and other writing news and opportunities on the first Saturday of the month. Again I'll make a decision on whether or not to continue based on the response each one gets. This does mean that some things would become out of date before I can share them. (I'll try to post them on the womagwriter twitter account.) If there's breaking news I feel needs to be shared, and I have time to do it, or there are guests posts or anything else which doesn't fit into one of the two regular posts they'll come out on a different Saturday, but generally I'll only be posting on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month.

When time (and internet connection when I'm travelling) allow, I'll reply to blog comments, but this might not always possible. Please do continue to answer any questions raised here if you can, and generally respond to other comments in the way some of you have been doing and keep this a useful and positive community for all those writers who value it. 

So, 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.

Womag news from me –

You may have seen news reports of job losses and title closures at DC Thomson. That's unpleasant news for all those involved. Fortunately, as far as I've been able to discover The People's Friend and My Weekly aren't directly impacted.

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.

My news

I've had a couple of rejections from stories submitted last year to Yours – not the response I wanted of course, but so much better than waiting years for a reply, or never hearing back at all.

A story submitted to The People's Friend has been passed onto the next stage. I'll try to be patient about that one! I've also had an acceptance from TAB.

Thanks to my cake fuelled research, mentioned in a previous post, I'm making good progress on my latest cosy crime novel.

Nine of my ebooks are currently available to download for 99p (99c) from Amazon.

A change

Thank you so much to those of you who comment on this blog. I really appreciate you taking the time and trouble to do that. Sadly there are very few of you and I feel I'm spending rather a lot of my own time to reach, on average, fewer than a dozen readers. 

I nearly didn't post at all this week, but Fiona sent me the link to this poetry competition, reminding me that this blog does receive great support, even if it is from a very small number of people. That made me feel think I should post, if only to explain that in future I'll be doing so less frequently. I'll try alternate weeks for a while, and see how that goes.  I may go to monthly.

Anyway, back to that competition. The website states, there are - 'Three Grand Prizes will receive $100 each plus their poem costumed and danced, a DVD of the poem being danced.' That makes me want to have a go - perhaps I will.

Better go now – I'm expecting a visitor to help with research for my cosy crime novellas, and to help eat the cakes I baked this morning. (Except the carrot cake – I made that last week.)

As always –

New blog posts are published alternate Saturdays. All blog readers are welcome to use the comment section to share writing news, tips, successes, links to competitions and other publication opportunities, to ask questions and to respond to comments from others.

Busy doing nothing

I've had one of those weeks where it's taken all my time to do almost nothing, so apologies for not finding much info. 

If someone could make up a clever sounding reason for littering this post with lighthouses, so I can say, 'You're absolutely correct,' that would be marvellous.

Free entry writing competitions

If you write plays, here's your chance to go to London to see it being recorded and earn £2,500 in cash. And here's another competition, this time with a £3,000 prize.

Do any of you write plays? If so, does it pay as well as these suggest?

Harper's Bazaar are again running a short story competition and again it seems to be a rights grab. By entering the competition and in consideration for Hearst publishing your entry, you assign to Hearst the entire worldwide copyright in your entry for all uses in all print and non-print media and formats, including but not limited to all rights to use your entry in any and all electronic and digital formats, and in any future medium hereafter developed for the full period of copyright therein, and all renewals and extensions thereof, any rental and lending rights and retransmission rights and all rights of a like nature wherever subsisting. 

I don't advise anyone to give up all their rights, even if they're paid to do so. Giving them up just to be able to enter a competition seems an especially bad idea.

Creative Futures are running three competitions (poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction) for UK writers who are who are underrepresented--those who find it difficult to access the writing world either because of mental health issues, disability, health, or social circumstance. There are cash prizes as well as courses and mentorships on offer.

My News

I've had another great review for my free short story collection.

As always –

New blog posts are published each Saturday. All blog readers are welcome to use the comment section to share writing news, tips, successes, links to competitions and other publication opportunities, to ask questions and to respond to comments from others.

Five freebies and flowers

It's got cold again – do you have any top tips for keeping warm whilst writing? 

Mine are -

Wear fingerless gloves (thanks again Fiona!) as well as lots of layers.

Drink tea and eat cake.

If you can, go out for a brisk walk every day. The longer we sit still the colder we feel.

Free entry writing competition news

Thanks to Barbara Trevitt for passing on the details of this competition for local history stories. The prize is a year's subscription to family history website, Findmypast, and includes unlimited access to the 1921 Census. Sounds perfect for anyone interested in writing a historical novel set then – or who'd just like to find out more.

Thanks to Fiona for telling me about this competition for poetry or prose. The top prize is £500.

Here's a haiku competition with a $500 dollar prize.

And this one, with the same prize is for screenplays.

The Alpine Fellowship's competition offers a £3,000 cash grant as the top prize. I have no idea how a grant differs from any other cash prize – do you?

From The Horse's Mouth have a poetry competition with a £50 prize. (I won last year's short story one!)

Womag news

The latest word count requirements for The People's Friend can be found here. Thanks to Eirin for reminding us about the website and Alyson for pointing out this particular post.

As always –

New blog posts are published each Saturday. All blog readers are welcome to use the comment section to share writing news, tips, successes, links to competitions and other publication opportunities, to ask questions and to respond to comments from others.

Large print books - a chat With Margaret Holbrook

Towards the end of last year Margaret Holbrook published a couple of her books in large print format. When I expressed an interest, she was kind enough to share the technical formatting details with me and I've now produced one of my own. Here's why we did it, and how, in case anyone else fancies a try.

What made you decide to produce books in large print? 

Margaret – I have Dry AMD and now struggle with reading. If I hadn't a problem myself, I perhaps wouldn't have given it much consideration.

In my case it's because both my grandmothers, who were very keen readers and encouraged my love of the written word, suffered visual impairment in later life. Large print books helped them to continue enjoying reading and I'd like to add to the variety of books now available in this format.

Is this something you'd advise other Indie authors to try?

Margaret – Give it some thought. If your books are quite lengthy the printing costs could mount up. I've only published two titles so far. One a novella of about 22,000 words, the other a collection of nine short stories. (Both Previously published, not new work.) Although they were both more expensive to print in Large Print Format, I hope the retail price is not so expensive as to put potential buyers off.

I totally agree about the length, especially with a first attempt, but if you have something suitable and can manage the formatting then I think it's worth a try.

Other than making the font larger, are there others things we need to do when formatting our books?

Margaret – The book size is larger. I'm using 6'' x 9'' and a cream paper and you keep text left justified so the right is 'ragged'. Also leave 1.15 -1.25 line space and don't indent paras, just leave a line space between. This makes them more easily defined. Also, on title page, under title put 'Large Print Edition.' The large print edition will need a new ISBN, but if you're only publishing through Amazon you can use their free one as you would with regular editions.

You'll also need to select a clear sans serif font – that's one with no little flicks or flourishes which can make reading harder for visually impaired people.

Is there anything else that's different from regular print books? 

Margaret – You'll notice there's a lot more 'white' on the page. It makes it easier for anyone with low vision to make out the text.

When you upload the book to Amazon or Ingram Spark, make sure you tick the box to say it's large print, so that shows in the book's metadata and is displayed on the sales page.

Which books have you published in large print format? 

Margaret – The two books I've published so far are Reflections of Murder, a novella, hardback, and Picking the Bones, nine tales in the folk tradition, in paperback.

Mine is Coffee & Cake, a collection of 25 short stories and I've done both paperback and hardback large print versions. It was already available as a ebook, paperback and audio version, so I thought I'd do every possible option!

Do you read large print books? Have you published any yourself, or is it something you'd consider in the future?

(As always – New blog posts are published each Saturday. All blog readers are welcome to use the comment section to share writing news, tips, successes, links to competitions and other publication opportunities, to ask questions and to respond to comments from others.)

New Year, New Start?

How's the writing going so far this year?

I've not done much due to really bad toothache. I've had some treatment now and hopefully it will soon be much improved.

To cheer myself up I've been looking at photos of my garden in spring. Whether you need cheering up or not, I hope you'll enjoy them.

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Alyson for sending the link of this brilliant flash fiction competition. There's $200 on offer for the winner, but even shortlisted entries get a small prize, plus publication.

Alyson also sent me the details of this flash fiction competition which offers a £50 book token as the prize.

Papatango are offering a new script writer £7,000, a full run at The Bush Theatre and a share of box office takings. If I wrote plays I'd definitely want to give this a go.

The Curae prize has two categories - short story or non-fiction. Both have a 4,000 word limit and offer a prize bundle including a £500 bursary, mentoring, book token and magazine subscription. You must be a carer of some kind in order to enter.

If you write games, or would like to try, this competition is for you. There's a £1,000 cash prize, plus the chance to earn royalties from every game entered.

As always –

New blog posts are published each Saturday. All blog readers are welcome to use the comment section to share writing news, tips, successes, links to competitions and other publication opportunities, to ask questions and to respond to comments from others.