Guest post by Della Galton – Selling All Rights

Today's guest, Della Galton, is probably known to all of you as a very successful womag writer.

Selling All Rights

Long ago when I joined a creative writing class – which was what got me started as a writer – I was told by the tutor never to sell All Rights to my work.

All Rights meant that you no longer owned your work. You literally handed it over lock stock and barrel to a new owner, who could if they wished make a film script from it, put their name on it, sell it on to someone else, enter it in a competition, all without asking your permission, or, of course, paying you any extra fee.

For the above reasons selling All Rights was a financially unsound thing to do, especially in the days when you could sell the rights more than once. However it could possibly be considered as an option if the buyer paid handsomely. Not many writers did it though. Not ones who knew what they were selling anyway.

There was another very good reason not to do it. After all, if a few writers were to start selling All Rights to their work then what was to stop all markets demanding that all writers did it?

If this happened then sooner or later writers would be redundant. Why would a market pay for new work when they could simply reprint old work without payment?

Have things changed? Is it OK to sell All Rights now? Obviously it’s up to the individual writer what they do with their work, just as it always has been. But everything I’ve said above still applies.

I often hear writers say that it’s OK for well paid bestselling authors but that the poorer ones among us have no choice.

We ALL have a choice. Although not necessarily a very palatable one.

Everyone has bills. Lots of us – myself included – are self supporting with no partner to help and no other income but writing related earnings. When Woman’s Weekly decided to buy All Rights I made my choice not to sell them any more work. This meant I took on a cleaning job, to supplement my writing income. Not a choice I particularly relished. But a choice none the less.

So now Take a Break has followed suit and I know some writers will be saying, Oh no, but I have no choice. If I don’t sell All Rights I won’t be able to pay my mortgage/rent/bills.

There is actually still a choice.

I have now added an invoicing job to my cleaning job and my writing job. I think they call it portfolio working. This enables me to continue working for markets that don’t take All Rights for fiction. I’m very happy about that.

To end on a very positive note, I’ve been approached twice recently by publishers asking if I still owned the rights to my short stories. I now have an anthology of short stories aimed at teaching people English coming out in Russian and English. I can’t wait to see what my work looks like in Russian.

I was also approached and given a very good fee for a story to be reproduced as part of an educational course used by Oxford University Press. Neither of these things would have happened if I’d sold the rights to what is MY work. Please think about it before you sell the rights to what is YOURS.

If you enjoy Della's writing, you might like to take a look at her latest novel, Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff Hill. I've not read that one yet, but I've read and enjoyed several of her other books. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Great news from Yours magazine

I've been away and came back to this email from the editor of Yours magazine ...

"Hi Patsy,

Just wanted to update you on something in case you’re able to add anything onto your blog post.

Following your mention about the fact many writers aren’t happy with all-rights and a few other conversations we’ve had about it, we’re now going to be accepting stories on a limited licence agreement rather than all rights. 

Basically this means we have a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual and unconditional worldwide licence to use the works in any and all media whether now known or invented in the future and continue to have the right to edit, retouch or amend any of the works. However unlike with an all-right agreement we are not asking you to perpetually hand over all present and future copyright on the work. So we hold a licence to use your work where we’d like to within Bauer media but we do not own outright the copyright to your work.

Just thought you and some of your readers might like to know about the change

Warm wishes

Katharine."

Update – I asked for confirmation that the new terms will apply to all new stories and that all writers, whether they've previously sold to Yours or not, will get new contracts. Katharine's reply is– 

"Our new policy applies from this month and not historically so any stories already bought by Yours up to this point on an all-rights basis is still contracted on an all-rights basis meaning we won’t be contacting writers to update the contract and all the terms of the all-rights policy signed for for that particular story still apply. From this month, though, the writers of all new stories accepted for either for Yours or Yours Fiction will be asked to sign the new limited licence agreement." 

Harping on! (Free entry writing competitions)

Harper's Bazaar are running a free to enter short story competition and offering a two night stay at a hotel in Hampton Court. When I say it's free I do of course mean there's no entry fee, but this one is free in another way – you'll be giving your story away for free simply by entering!

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.

That means that even if you don't make the long list the story will no longer be yours. The organisers may print it, sell it to someone else, make it freely available online etc etc. I doubt they will unless you're one of those in the top few places, but that's not the point. Even if they never do anything with it, neither can you. Ever.

Does that seem fair to you?

I strongly advise all writers NOT to give up all rights to their work, even if they get paid for them. To give up all rights for no reward at all seems like an even worse idea.

This free novel writing competition by the similarly named Harper Collins (no relation!) is considerably better in that the author retains their copyright. The prize is an editorial review and editorial mentoring. They're not guaranteeing to publish the winning stories, but it does seem as though there's a reasonable chance of that happening.

They're looking for complete, or nearly complete, crime novels.

As we've got a campervan I don't have photos of hotels, and there is no photographs of me committing crimes (as I'm either good or careful!) Instead here are photos of some of the locations in my, not yet published, crime novel.

Guest post from Womagwriter Sharon Boothroyd

Today I have a guest post by Sharon Boothroyd

MAGS WITH OPEN FICTION LISTS

It amazes me when writers say, 'I'm not on the closed lists, so I have limited places where I can send my work.' These mags all pay:

Ireland's Own - Max word count 2, 300 words. 

UPDATE: April 2021 – I've been told they are currently closed to subs due to a backlog (But I don't think this includes the children's fiction slot).

Woman's Weekly – 800 words – take all rights

Woman/ Woman's Own - 1, 800 words – take all rights

Fresh material is also appearing in the 'Best of' WW fiction special

The People's Friend and their special - various lengths from 1,000 to 4, 000.

They also publish poetry in their mags, and both fiction and poetry in their fireside book and in their annual

UPDATE: Unpublished TPF story writers can now email their work in.

The regular YOURS – max 1, 200 words. They also publish poetry in their letters page.

They publish an annual year book and need stories and poetry for this.

The YOURS fiction special – various lengths

Allas, a Swedish magazine – max 1, 500 words

YOU in South Africa - max 1, 500 words. They have 6 month periods when they close to subs.

Woman's World USA. They have an active FB page that focuses on fiction, and the fiction ed regularly posts call- outs for what they require. I think they take all rights.

Spirit and Destiny - take all rights but they are currently closed to subs due to a backlog.

Candis magazine - (Subscription only) will consider stories from published novelists. Whether this includes self- published ones, I don't know. Not sure of the length they require but they do pay.

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

Prima – 800 words. They take all rights to all entries in their ongoing competition.

OTHERS:

Amateur Gardening magazine publish poetry in their letters page and pay £20 per published poem.

Reader's Digest pay for jokes and funny stories.

Letters, daft photos and top tips in most magazines pay a fee.

I hope this list will keep writers busy! Please contact the editors for more details.

(From Patsy – My guidelines database might be useful in finding out more details about each magazine, but it's always a good idea to read a recent issue.)

All rights contracts – again.

If you came here because you're concerned about all rights contracts, then you can click on 'copyright' under this post to get my opinions on the matter. Those opinions are not favourable.

If you're here for my advice on the matter that's very simple – don't sign. Simply explain to whoever sent it that although you'd be happy to have your work published by them, you're not prepared to give up all your rights. They might listen – several of us asked Yours to reconsider and they did. 

The only way we can stop all magazines from taking all rights is if a lot of us refuse to sign any new all rights contracts, and if those who've already signed some contact the editors and explain they will no longer submit work under all rights terms, either in their own name or a pen name. We could achieve this together. I cannot do it alone.

Please, please, please!

I know it can seem boring, and I know I go on about it, but PLEASE ensure you fully understand and agree with any contract BEFORE you sign it. If there's anything you don't understand, ask for an explanation. No reputable business will want you to sign a contract you don't understand.

If there's anything you don't like, you can ask for it to be amended. In the case of a contract with the publishers of a womag, the chances of this being agreed to are slim, but you can ask – and if you don't get the response you want you can, and in my opinion should, refuse to sign.

Just a reminder 'All rights' doesn't just mean the magazine can use the story online or in another publication, as well as where it was submitted. Giving up all rights means exactly that. You can't submit the story elsewhere, enter it in a competition, offer it for a charity anthology, publish it eleswhere, not on your blog, or claim ALCS – because those things can only done by the copyright holder. If you've sold all rights, that isn't you. It's no longer your story.

Womags don't need to take all rights. They can offer contracts which give them the right to use the story when and where they wish, yet allowing the author to also re-use their story once it has been published and any exclusivity period has passed. This is what most of them currently do, at least for most of their authors. I've heard of new (to them) authors being offered only all rights contracts. You can imagine what might happen if some of those are signed.

UPDATE – I've had a response from ACLS. "If you don’t hold copyright, you need to have an agreement in place with your publisher in order to claim. ALCS does not pay out to publishers (they claim through @PLSlicensing) so if they hold the rights, they can’t claim for the article through us."

They provide more information on copyright here.

Guest post by womagwriter rights champion Carol Bevitt

My guest today is writing friend and #writingchat co host, Carol Bevitt. She's written an article for Writing Magazine on the Woman's Weekly all rights issue, and I invited her here to explain why.

I was as shocked as other writers when the news began to spread of Woman’s Weekly‘s new ‘all rights’ contract for fiction accepted for publication. The ongoing lack of communication with their regular writers created confusion, anger and obviously worry about the future of existing work in the system.

Although I wasn’t personally affected by the proposed changes, I’d hoped to submit to WW sometime in the future; as many writers have mentioned, WW is a benchmark for quality fiction, so a target publication.

When a writer friend (on Twitter) suggested I approach Writing Magazine editor Jonathan Telfer and tell him what was happening and ask if he could help in any way. He considered the all rights contract an important issue for the magazine to cover. My ‘Womag Rights’ article published in the September issue and in newsagents from today (2nd August) is the result.

I only had ten days and the article would not have been possible without the support and quotes from a number of womag writers. I wanted their voices to tell readers how and why this copyright change is disturbing. But equally WW’s owners needed to have an opportunity to give their viewpoint.

Being able to step back and look at – excuse the cliché – the bigger picture I was able to make the best use of my research, quotes and the possibilities if the new contract goes ahead. But most of all, I hope, that this tells the reader all they need to know about womag writers and the demands of their job.

Treat writers fairly and the womags they write for will benefit with quality fiction, while the readers will continue to buy the magazine. Result, everyone wins.

Now we just need owners TI Media to realise that...

Thank you, carol. Obviously I hope it will add to the growing pressure on the owners of Woman's Weekly to rethink this, but even if it doesn't, it will help make more writers aware of the implications of giving up all rights, and therefore be better able to decide if they're willing to do that. 

(For a little more on the WW issue, see Simon Whaley's latest blog post.)

Update – WW's owners have announced on twitter that they're excited about their rebranding. Some fiction writers are responding ...

Bad news from Woman's Weekly – guest post by Tara Westgate

In response to my blog post earlier today, Tara Westgate made a comment about her experience with Woman’s Weekly, and offered to expand on that.

By Tara – I have been writing for womags for eleven years, but a sale to Woman’s Weekly is something that has always eluded me. For all that time, it’s been an ambition of mine to sell them a story. I wanted to appear in Woman’s Weekly because it’s a famous and long-established national magazine, with a reputation for publishing excellent fiction.

Yesterday, I thought I had achieved my ambition. I received an acceptance for a 2,000-word story. The offer made to me, though, was extremely disappointing - so disappointing that I turned it down.

Until recently, the rate of pay for a story of 2,000 words from an author new to Woman’s Weekly was £150. In the past, this rate could rise with further acceptances. The offer I received for my story was £100. There was no explanation for the sudden pay-cut.

Worse than this was the fact that they wanted to buy all rights to the story, which of course would make it impossible to sell elsewhere, and would mean that the story was not eligible for ALCS payments.

I said that I was not prepared to sell all rights for that amount of money, and asked if we could negotiate a better offer. The answer was No.

I also asked about the current pay scale. I wanted to know if it was still possible to work up to a better rate of pay with further acceptances. I would have been prepared to start writing for Woman’s Weekly at a rate of £100 for a first story, if I had known that it was possible to achieve a better rate of pay eventually. I was most disappointed not to receive an answer to this question. It was simply ignored. (I have absolutely no hard feelings towards the individual editor concerned, as I am quite sure that her hands are firmly tied, and that she is doing her job as she has been instructed to do it.)

This failure to answer my questions, especially the pay-scale question, shows that Woman’s Weekly is not prepared to put any effort whatsoever into the relationship with a potential new writer. If a writer is good enough to be published in the magazine, then surely that writer is worthy of being properly engaged with when he or she asks an important question? The answer to the pay-scale question was important enough to determine whether or not I became a Woman’s Weekly writer. They didn’t answer me, so they lost me.

I believe that they refuse to engage because they think there will always be another writer along who will accept the lower pay and total loss of rights. I would like us to prove them wrong. We need to stand up for ourselves, because if we don’t, writing for magazines will eventually become not economically worthwhile.

Please, don’t accept Woman’s Weekly’s new terms. Refuse to sell them stories for this massively reduced fee, and refuse to give up your rights.

By Patsy – I've been informed that they wish to take all rights for my stories too. I refuse to accept this. Like Tara I urge you to do the same. Taking all rights is unnecessary, unfair and unacceptable. Will you join us and say no?

To see the subsequent posts on this topic, click on 'Woman's Weekly' below this post, or in the 'magazine quick links' in the right hand column (that's also where you'll find the guidelines and other details for all the womags which accept fiction).

Bauer taking all rights

I have nothing positive to say about this, so I'll just copy today's email correspondence between myself and Tracie Couper who is the Features editor Spirit & Destiny and then go for a very long walk.

Hi Tracie, 

I run the Womagwriter blog (https://womagwriter.blogspot.com) which passes on information to those wishing to submit fiction to the various women’s magazines. Today I’ve been contacted by several people telling me that you now require all rights to the stories you buy – and that in some cases this is being imposed after acceptance. I’m sure that last bit can’t be correct, but would very much welcome a clarification about the rights you now require – and any other information you feel may be of use to writers who’d like to submit to your magazine.

Best wishes,

Patsy Collins

Dear Patsy

The current situation is that any article appearing in the magazine will require the writer/contributor to sign an agreement, giving us all rights to the article/story/feature. This is because Spirit & Destiny is now syndicated in other countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

Regards

Tracie Couper

Features editor Spirit & Destiny 

Hi Tracie,

Thanks for your reply. 

Can you explain why it’s ‘all rights’ and not ‘first rights with extensions’ as is the case with many other magazines in the same position? 

Best wishes,

Patsy 

Hi Patsy

This is the agreement that has been drawn up by our legal team and applies to all Bauer publications.

Tracie 

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.

Re-using previously published stories

Several people have asked me what, if anything, they can do with stories after they've been published.  The answer is – it depends!

You'll need to check which rights (copyright) you've sold. This information will be in your contract if you have one, or will have been included in the guidelines (or competition rules) or on the letter or email of acceptance. If, as is the case with Yours magazine, you've sold all rights then you no longer own the copyright – you can't do anything at all as it's no longer your story. You can't sell it, put it on your blog, enter it in a competition. Nothing.

If, as is far more usual, you've sold first rights, or first rights with extensions, then you can offer the story elsewhere after it has been used by the first publication. There may be a time period before you are permitted to do that. Again, this information will be in your contract. (This is one reason it's so important to read and understand contracts before signing them.)

When submitting a previously published piece of work, you must also take into account the requirements of the publication you hope will accept it. Some will consider reprints without restrictions, but more usually they won't want work which has already been published wherever their publication is on sale. You may think that because you've only sold to a UK publication that the story will only have been published in the UK. That may not be the case. Depending on the terms of your contract, the buyer may have the rights to print it in other magazines within their group (at no extra cost to them) – and if they do, it's unlikely you'll be informed.

If the publication you hope to sell to only publishes work on a first use, first rights, or all rights basis, then you'll have to write something new. That doesn't just mean changing the title and character names!

Depending on the terms of the contracts, it may be possible to sell the same story multiple times. I do that whenever I can.

Assuming you haven't sold all rights, the buying publication have used the story and any exclusivity period has passed, then you may also publish the stories yourself.

I've just put together another collection of my short stories. The stories in With Love And Kisses originally appeared in My Weekly, YOU (South Africa), Allas (Sweden), Woman's Weekly,  Woman's Weekly Fiction Special, That's Life (Australia), The Lady, Pages of Stories (Canada), Stories That Lift (U.S.) Cafelit, Ireland's Own, Take A Break's Fiction Feast, The Weekly News, or were placed in competitions.

Buy it (or read free with kindle unlimited) here.

See my other blog to discover how one of these stories was written at the instruction of Norah McGrath (former fiction editor for Take a Break's Fiction Feast), and to see my wearing a peculiar hat.

Fiction Feast – all rights contracts.

Heres an email I've just received from Fiction Feast.

Dear Patsy

Thank you for continuing to submit your stories to Fiction Feast, we appreciate your contributions.

I am writing to let you know that from issue #10 this year (published in September 2020), both Take a Break Fiction Feast and Take a Break Monthly will be changing the basis on which fiction is commissioned. From that date we will require you to grant all rights for any commissioned work.

This is to bring Take a Break fiction commissioning in line with all other Bauer UK arrangements.

I have attached a copy of the commissioning agreement for your information. Clause 5 lays out the rights requirements. I have attached a copy of the commissioning agreement for your information. Clause 5 lays out the rights requirements. Please can you print out the Agreement, fill in your details and sign and date at the bottom, before emailing it back to us.

Please note that this change of rights applies to future commissions only.  Any work that we have commissioned from you previously will remain on an FBSR basis, as originally commissioned.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes

Helen

Helen Stables

Publisher

And here's my reply.

Dear Helen,

I’m very sorry that you’ve taken this step as all rights contracts are very unfair to the writers. It’s entirely possible to have a contract which allows you to use the work multiple times and in multiple formats without taking away our moral rights and the ability to reuse our work in other ways, such as self publishing. I therefore won’t be submitting work under the new terms.

Regards,

Patsy

If you care about copyright, I suggest you do something similar. As I said in my last post, it is possible to make publishers think again, but for this to happen with Fiction Feast it will need a lot of us to work together.

Bit of an update on the Woman's Weekly issue.

(If you're wondering what issue, please see the last three blog posts and comments. Make yourself a cup of tea first.)

The 'all rights' smallprint includes giving up our moral rights. Well of course it does, as all rights means absolutely ALL rights. That means they don't have to put our name in the byline. They probably would, but they'd be under no obligation to do so – in the magazine or anywhere else. In the admittedly unlikely scenario of it being made into a film, there would be no need for them to credit the author in any way.

Mark Winterton (Manging director at WW) has said that they will give permission for authors to claim ALCS – info courtesy of Jo Styles in the comments on the last post. She also provides contact details of members of the the TI management team, for those who wish to raise any concerns or queries.

I've heard from ALCS who are looking into whether this is indeed possible. If it is, this isn't giving us any rights back. It would just allow us to claim the money – and the permission could be withdrawn at any time. I'm not saying it would be, but it could. I imagine that when offers were made for our stories six months ago, that was done in good faith – but clearly changes have happened since and the terms we thought we'd submitted and been accepted under, no longer apply.

The Society of Authors are investigating the rights issue. I and other WW authors have forwarded as much information as we can.

If you accept the new terms, you will have given up your rights and won't be able to reverse that decision. If you wait then you could still agree to them later – but it's just possible they'll have a rethink and you won't have to.

Thanks to Carol Bevitt for copying this message from The Society of Authors ...

We’re already in touch with several authors who‘ve spoken out on this - keen to hear from others who are prepared to be named in any lobbying we do, particularly SoA members who have been published by the magazine - please drop a note to mreed@societyofauthors.org.

Another magazine taking all rights!

I've heard from several sources that Spirit and Destiny magazine now require all rights to any stories they publish.

'irrevocably and unconditionally assign to us in perpetuity by way of present assignment of present and future copyright, the entire copyright and all other rights and title of any kind that you have in the Commissioned Works throughout the world (including any amendments and extensions to that copyright). You hereby irrevocably waive any and all moral rights you have in the Commissioned Works to the fullest extent possible throughout the world.'

I've also heard that authors have been asked to sign these new contracts AFTER stories have been accepted for publication! I'm contacting the magazine to ask for clarification and will let you know their response – if any.

UPDATE

I've had a reply from Tracie Couper at Spririt and Destiny.

'The current situation is that any article appearing in the magazine will require the writer/contributor to sign an agreement, giving us all rights to the article/story/feature. This is because Spirit & Destiny is now syndicated in other countries, including Australia and New Zealand.'

There's been another update – please see the more recent 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.