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you posts could get lost, and that info (especially about free entry competitions) I find out or am sent might become out of date before the next planned post.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

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.

The other side of the desk

I'm sure many of you will remember Clare Cooper from her time on the fiction team of Woman's Weekly. Today she's sharing her experiences of life on the other side of the submissions desk.

Wanted: Writers to fill pages in magazines. Must have thick skins and be prepared to take criticism, rejection and incredibly long waiting times on the chin. Must learn to bite their tongues and not get stroppy, or they will be sent to the naughty desk. Must accept that not everything they write is going to see the light of day but must put their keen disappointment to one side, keep the faith and carry on regardless. Is there anybody out there mad enough to take on such a seemingly thankless job?

As I have mentioned before on here, the best part of my previous job as Deputy Fiction Editor on Woman’s Weekly was reading and selecting the short stories that appeared in the magazine each week and also in our monthly Fiction Special. The second-best bit was contacting the writers to let them know we wanted to buy their story. We always marvelled at how our brilliant band of writers continued to rise to the challenge and provide us with a never-ending supply of great fiction.

Fast-forward a year (and a bit more) since I left my job. Let’s face it, my previous role sounds quite cushy from where I’m sitting now, not doing a great deal and spending unhealthy amounts of time on social media. I have an idea for a novel but I’m stuck on it at the moment. I don’t feel motivated. How do people get inspired? Where do their ideas come from? Where do all those thousands of words come from? Do they feel like failures if they haven’t kept to their self-imposed deadlines, while others are getting on with it and producing their third novel in the same amount of time? It feels as though the world and his wife are writing books and social media is full of them promoting their work and plugging their friends’ work, to boot.

It’s all rather daunting and disheartening and, while I am struggling to get my novel idea off the starting block, I have been mulling over something I wrote on this website at the beginning of 2018, about getting writing fit for the coming year. Inspired by some kind comments, I thought I would try and see if anyone would like to publish it. I have never had to put myself “out there” and sell something to anybody, other than within my old company and to people I already knew, so it took a lot of nerve and effort to write the email and send my feature off into the ether – well, to Jonathan Telfer at Writing Magazine, anyway. To my relief, he liked it and it’s going into the February issue. Then, blow me if he didn’t get in touch to ask me to write about something else – for the same issue, as it turns out. Typical! You wait a year, and then two come along at once…

Yes, the view from the other side of the desk is more than a bit scary and it’s very early days, but I’d like to think there will be more literary gems dropping from my computer keyboard at some point. If not, and I’ve peaked too soon, at least I now have a much better understanding of what it’s like for everyone else – and I respect and salute you all! I feel I have an awful long way to go. Now, where did I put the application for that seemingly thankless job?

The February issue of Writing Magazine containing Clare's article is available from newsagents now. You might also like to visit her blog Hampton Caught.

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.

Interview with womagwriter Glynis Scrivens

My guest today is Glynis Scrivens.

1. When did you start writing, Glynis?

In a sense, I’ve always written. Not for publication, of course. But writing’s always been my best way of conveying what I think and feel. When I turned fifty, I gave myself permission to be a writer. To see where it could lead. I’d enrolled in an editing course and quickly realised I wanted to be the one doing the writing. There was nothing left to hold me back.

2. What persuaded you to try writing for women's magazines?

I read Woman’s Day, New Idea and Women’s Weekly and always wondered how to become the person writing their stories. I’d see the same names over and over again. Then I heard of a teacher at the local high school who’d just sold a story to Woman’s Day for $300. Only that morning I’d been in a nice boutique trying on a $300 jacket I couldn’t afford. I sat down and wrote a story. The next night I wrote another. When Julie Redlich accepted the second story, I was hooked.

It’d never occurred to me that a magazine would pay so much. And we needed the money. I didn’t end up buying the jacket. My sales to Woman’s Day went on things for our home such as nice kitchen chairs and good cutlery – and a steady supply of decent coffee beans.

3. There aren't many magazines which publish fiction in Australia, are there?

That’s Life with its quarterly fiction special is our main story market. There are other magazines. Cosmos uses sci-fi stories. Bauer has a presence over here. For example, Take 5 puts out a quarterly fiction special but these contain reprints sourced mainly from Fiction Feast (UK).

Only ten years ago stories were the norm – in Woman’s Day, Woman’s Weekly, New Idea, Family Circle and other magazines that have since disappeared.

4. What are the main difficulties with regard to writing for foreign markets, and how to you overcome them?

When I decided to try selling stories abroad, finding details for the markets was the first hurdle. These days the information is more freely available but it used to be closely held.

Getting hold of a recent copy was also a challenge. In Australia we could buy English women’s magazines such as Woman’s Weekly and People’s Friend, but to read Fiction Feast it was necessary to take out a subscription. And People’s Friend arrived by ship, three months after publication.

Nowadays most magazines have a Facebook presence and a website or blog. These give a feel for the magazine and who its readers are.

I suppose the biggest change over the years for me is that I now write stories specially for certain overseas markets, rather than just sending them the stories I haven’t been able to sell in Australia.

Working out what to send non-English magazines will always be a challenge. Gauging length, style, genre etc. And of course they continue to change and evolve. I usually go by what they’ve accepted already and send more of the same, although sometimes I try my luck and sometimes get surprised.

I haven’t been able to sell stories to Woman’s World (US) yet. All I can do there is ask American writing friends to check for colloquialisms, and follow TV dramas for things like police procedure.

Nothing beats being able to read a magazine regularly, but when that’s not possible, it doesn’t mean we can’t break into that market. It’s a matter of perseverance – and good luck.

5. You've written a book on editing, how did that come about?

Writing a book was on my bucket list so when I read on Facebook that John Hunt Publishing (UK) wanted one on editing fiction for their Compass Points series, I was interested. At that time I’d just got together all my Writers’ Forum articles, wondering whether to put them out as a book. I had 30,000+ words. This seemed to be the way to do it – and gave me the confidence I’d be able to find enough material.

I was surprised how much work was involved in putting together a proposal, but thankfully my friend Lynne Hackles was at hand encouraging me and making sure it got done.

There wasn’t space in the book for any of the WF articles, as it turned out. So maybe that original project will see the light of day after all?

You can get the book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com and is on sale at 99p/99c over November.

6. I've heard that some writers use real people and situations in stories, especially if something has annoyed them. Do you ever do that?

Yes, probably more often than I should. Whoever said writers don’t need a psychologist was right in my case. If I’m wronged, the perpetrator often meets a grisly fate soon afterwards. Preferably something appropriate. I’ve even killed off editors in stories.

Generally whenever life throws something at me that really gets under my skin, I know it’s potentially a story. I’ll write it, often using real names and details. Then I let it cool off and come back to it later to change names, sometimes the sex or age of a character, setting etc.

Sometimes it’s just a phrase someone has used that stays in my mind until I’ve thought of a story around it.

7. What is it with possums? The Aussie magazine guidelines want us to avoid them - is that hard to do?

I hadn’t realised guidelines actually mentioned possums. Where I live in Brisbane they cause all kinds of problems as they like to live in the space between the ceiling and roof of a house.

You probably wouldn’t put a flying fox, dingo or toad in a story either.

8. What's your happiest or proudest writing moment so far?

It’s hard to imagine anything surpassing the thrill of holding my first published book. The realisation I’d actually done it. And it opened doors. If I could do this, what else could I do?

With stories and articles, every acceptance gives me a buzz, especially if it’s somewhere I haven’t been published before.

9. Are you a disciplined writer who plans everything out and sticks to a schedule?

I’m probably the antithesis of that by nature. I can be disciplined if I need to, but it doesn’t come naturally. If I’m writing a series, such as the best how-to books one for Writers’ Forum, that has to be carefully planned before I start. And I worked to a schedule for my book, setting aside a week every month to write a chapter.

But things tend to take on a life of their own and head off in a different direction to what I envisaged.

When it comes to fiction, I think my inspiration would dry up altogether if I tried to be disciplined. I can go for weeks without writing any stories and then produce five in a fortnight. I just have to trust my own process.

I seem to need chaos. Maybe that’s why I enjoy having chickens and ducks roaming around the garden?

10. Can you pass on any advice to other womagwriters?

I suppose the fundamental thing is to simply write your own stories. The ones that only you can write. Don’t be worried if they’re completely different to what everybody else is writing – or reading.

And if you believe in one of your stories, don’t give up on it. It can take a while for a story to find its home. Some of mine have well-worn passports. One I wrote in 2004 was consistently rejected. I’ve sold it twice this year. Another I wrote in 2012 sold to 4 different magazines in the space of 4 months earlier this year after being previously rejected by all and sundry.