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you posts could get lost, and that info (especially about free entry competitions) I find out or am sent might become out of date before the next planned post.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.

End of year party!

Welcome to the end of year party! 

Everyone is welcome. All food is calorie and allergen free, the drink won't give you a headache and nobody will take embarrassing photos to post online.

To join in all you have to do is say what you're bringing – food, drink, jokes, games, news, reflections on 2022, hopes for 2023 ...

I'm hoping to continue writing stories both long and short whilst travelling in the mobile writing retreat (aka campervan). 

A few more sales would be nice...

Wishing everyone who has contributed to this blog, by commenting and/or providing information, happiness in the year ahead.

Cheers!

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.

Warm winter wishes

Today is Christmas Eve, the shortest day (in my part of the world) has passed and the days are getting longer and lighter.  That makes me happy. Are these things you celebrate? 

I'm celebrating another flimsy excuse to share some of my photos of Scotland! I do know that's not a reindeer - I mean the first competition link.

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Fiona for passing on the link to this essay writing competition. "Entrants must be aged over 16 and resident in Scotland, born in Scotland or have a longstanding association with Scotland. " I wonder if I'd qualify? (I don't just go there and take many, many photos – my husband is half Scots.) For those who do, there's a £1,500 prize on offer.

Thanks to Marguerite who shared a link to Lipstick and Lies in the comments to last week's post. This is a monthly competition with a £10 voucher for the winner and publication of their story and the runner up in a booklet due out in 2024.

And thanks to Elizabeth McGinty for sharing this flash fiction competition which looks like fun and offers a small prize. 

There's still time to enter the Green Stories novel writing competition and it looks as though they'll be running more competitions for different writing forms in 2023.

Other publication opportunities

Fanatical are looking for sci-fi, horror and fantasy stories. They pay £20 per published piece.

Womag news

I've had an acceptance from a magazine I didn't even submit to! 

Not quite as strange as it sounds – A story submitted to Yours was forwarded by the editor to her colleague at the sister publication Yours Fiction. 

That was an exception. Generally stories (poems, articles etc) will only be bought by the editor you've sent them too, so don't leave them lurking on your hide drive – get them out there! 

My news

My hands are toasty warm, thanks to the gloves Fiona made for me. Aren't they great? 

I'm amazed how much difference they make. If you're getting cold hands while typing, it's definitely worth trying a pair.

(Gary took this photo and didn't laugh very much at me trying to position my fingers as though I can actually type.)

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.

Happy all the seasonal and festive things to you!

Brrr!

Brrrr! Don't you sometimes wish writing was a more active occupation? I get involved in a story and don't notice how cold I am until I stop and then it takes a lot of tea to warm me up again.

 

Free to enter writing competitions

The Secret Attic run regular competitions for fiction of various lengths. To qualify for the Amazon vouchers you need to be a member which costs £12 a year, but you can still enter the competitions for the fun and glory (plus publication) without doing that.

The prize for this year's W&AYB short story competition is a place on an Arvon course. I've heard that as well to the useful writing stuff they serve good cake. If you've been, can you confirm that?

The L Ron Hubbard Writers Of The Future contest offers a $1,000 prize every quarter for sci-fi and fantasy stories of up to 17,000 words.

Other Publication opportunities

Thanks to Alyson for pointing out that Bridge House Anthologies are looking for submissions on the theme of 'Gifted'.  Successful submissions will be published and you may earn a small amount in royalties if the book happens to do well.

Womag news

I've sold a couple of stories to TAB, 800 and 1,200 words. One was subbed in January, so don't give up on those which have been out for a while. (This is a 'closed' market.)

If you'd like to share the word lengths and waiting period for some of your successes it will help people judge what's in demand and how far in advance we need to send it.

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.

The way forward ?

Blog news

In my last post I asked for suggestions to help keep this blog going so it's useful to readers without taking up quite so much of my time. Thank you very much to all who replied (or will do so). I'll definitely be implementing some of your ideas. 

Some asked how blog readers can help take the pressure off me. I've replied more fully in the comments, but to sum it up – please share information in the comments. To (hopefully) make it easier to do this, I'm discontinuing the 'over to you' posts and will ask more specific questions in each post. However you're always extremely welcome to share writing related information and experiences, to report your successes (or otherwise!) pass on details of free competitions or submission opportunities, ask questions or for help, in the comments section of any post - and to reply to such posts from others.

If you'd like to send me competition links or general womag news directly via social media or emails that's great – but please only ask questions, share your personal experiences etc in the comments. That's because anything shared on the blog might help other readers - and they might be able to help you.

I like to thank those who provide useful links etc. If you have a website, blog or anything else you'd like me to link to, please provide that along with the info (even if I know you as my memory is terrible!)

I've published a new 'How this blog works' page to let people know what to expect, and how they can help. I expect I'll be revising that a bit over the next few weeks.

This week's specific question – which publications (physical or digital) do you submit to, or know of which are open to submissions? Please share any details you have, plus a link if possible, in the comments. Amongst other things, this will help me keep the submission guideline database up to date.

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Alyson for sending the link to this 400 word competition. First prize is £150. International entries welcome. You can submit fiction or non fiction.

Here's a crime novel competition with a publication contract as the prize.

Thanks to Fiona for sending me the link to this short story competition. Not only is there a £1,000 first prize, but the theme is crime story set in Scotland, so I've got an extra excuse to share a few more photos from my recent trip. It would be criminal to waste such an opportunity!

This short story competition has the theme 'preserve or purge'. The prize is $200 plus publication and you're allowed up to 3,500 words.

Womag / competition news

Best magazine are running another short story competition. The theme is Valentine's, closing date15th Jan and the prize £500, plus publication.

Womag news

I have a story in the current issue of Yours Fiction. Alyson Hilbourne kindly scanned the lovely illustration for me. The story was subbed in July and accepted in October. You'll only get a reply if the story is accepted.

The guidelines, websites etc for this, and all the other magazines I know about, can be found in my submissions database.