Are you a freelance writer, artist or photographer who is looking for work or a break? This month, we’ve provided hundreds of very real possibilities. Do you need help promoting your book? Discover over 3 dozen viable leads, such as 5 huge directories of book reviewers, a list of bloggers who review books, tips for getting your book into schools and much more.
Opportunities for Freelance Writers – 22 fiction markets
Opportunities for Authors – 5 publishers and a book contest directory
Book Promotion Opportunities – links to hundreds of book reviewers and 15 book excerpt markets.
Opportunities for Artists and Photographers – a major job database and two opps
Resources for Authors – Galley Cat, publishers database and a new concept–Togather
Here’s What’s New – old writer mag folds & new one emerges, marketing training for women and more.
Going, Going, Gone – 5 to report.
22 Opportunities for Freelance Fiction Writers
(Most are paying markets.)
The editors at Untreed Reads are soliciting stories for a new horror short story anthology they’re calling Year’s End. They want to see your scariest story about New Year’s Eve. Manuscripts should be between 1,500 and 5,000 words. Send them to Jay Hartman at jhartman@untreedreads.com with the words, “New Years” in the subject line by October 15th, 2012. They want us to remind you that the bulk of the story must take place on New Year’s Eve. Contact Hartman for additional information or find it here: http://www.untreedreads.com If you make the final cut, you’ll be published in the book and receive a portion of the royalties.
Woman’s World pays $1,000 for contemporary fiction. They use romance and mainstream stories of 800 words and mini-mysteries of 1,000 words with a light romance theme. Send your submission to Fiction Editor, Johene Granger at Woman’s World, 270 Sylvan Ave., Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632.
Alive Now uses fiction for a general Christian audience. http://www.alivenow.upperroom.org. Pays $35 and up.
Strange Horizons publishes fantasy and science fiction stories of up to 5,000 words. They pay 7 cents/word. Study their explicit guidelines for writers here: http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction.shtml
Tor.com needs short speculative fiction including horror, science fiction, fantasy, etc. And they pay as much as 25 cents/word up to 5,000 words, 15 cents/word for the next 5,000 words and 10 cents after that. Try to keep your story under 12,000 words. You can earn around $4,000 if you score with Tor.com. Check it out: http://www.tor.com/page/submissions-guidelines
Analog Science Fiction and Fact pays as much as $450 to $600 for stories between 7,500 and 10,000 words. http://www.analogsf.com/information/submissions.shtml
Mslexia publishes 30 fiction pieces/year. They want anywhere from 50 to 2,200-word stories related to their themes. Check their website each month for themes. Payment should be in the $70 to $300 range. http://www.mslexia.co.uk/pdfs/contribguidelines.pdf
Naturally Magazine uses humorous and science fiction stories of 800 to 2,000 words. Pay is $80 per page. Keep in mind that this is a magazine for nudism and naturism. http://www.internaturally.com
Flaunt Magazine uses a little fiction and they pay up to $500 for up to 5,000 words. Contact Andrew Pogany at info@flauntmagazine.co. http://www.flaunt.com This magazine focuses on culture, arts, entertainment, music and fashion.
The Sun continues to be one of the best paying markets for fiction and poetry. Check their guidelines at: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/about/submission_guidelines/writing They pay as much as $1,500 for fiction and $100 to $500 each for poetry.
The World of Welding Magazine publishes fiction. They prefer mainstream pieces with a welding theme that involve history and/or adventure. http://www.welding.org
Post Peak Fiction Magazine will be launched this month. And they are looking for freelance writers and artists. Check out the opportunities here: http://postpeakmagazine.com Contact Arwen Gwyneth Hubbard at editor@postpeakmagazine.com (I don’t believe they are paying writers at this point, but it could be a good break-in opportunity.)
San Diego Family Magazine publishes short fiction for children. These must be read-aloud stories or stories for beginning readers. http://www.sandiegofamily.com Payment appears to be somewhere between $20 and $90.
Family Dog (the publication of the American Kennel Club) has a short fiction contest. Winning entries will be published in the magazine. Deadline January 2013. See guidelines here: http://www.akc.org/pubs/fictioncontest
Purpose Magazine uses humorous stories, historical fiction and they prefer stories that appear to feature real people and places. This is a paying market, but they don’t pay much. Word count: up to 600-words. They also buy 140 poems/year. They want no more than 12 lines and will pay $7.50 to $20 per poem. http://www.mpn.net. Carol Duerksen is the editor purposeeditor@mpn.net.
Aim Magazine publishes 20 fiction pieces per year. Editor, Ruth Apilado wants fiction that teaches the brotherhood of man. She is asking for ethnic, historical, mainstream and suspense. http://www.aimmagazine.org. Contact Apilado here: apiladoone@aol.com She publishes 20 poems of 15 to 30 lines per year. Pay for poetry is $3 to $5 each.
Sundog Lit is seeking fiction for their new online literary magazine. They publish flash fiction, short stories, creative nonfiction (personal, lyric, segmented, and hybrid essays), and poetry. http://www.sundoglit.com They are not a paying market, but promise a lot of exposure for your work.
Alimentun publishes both Fiction & Nonfiction. The editors are currently seeking food-related articles and stories. The reading period ends March 15, 2013. Send submissions to Peter Selgin, Fiction & Nonfiction Editor Alimentum P.O. Box 210028 Nashville, TN 37221
Shades of Romance Magazine uses stories of from 500 to 1,500 words and they pay $20 on publication. They are open to many genres—historical, paranormal, mystery, time-travel, contemporary, etc. http://www.sormag.com/guide.html
Field Trial Magazine publishes four stories per year that deal with bird dogs and field trials. Payment is in the $100 to $250 range. http://www.fieldtrialmagazine.com
If you are an Asian-American writer, you may be able to get your fiction published in International Examiner. They use fiction by or about Asian-Americans. Learn more here: http://www.iexaminer.org It doesn’t appear that they pay for submissions at this time.
Ever heard of Highway News? It’s a magazine focusing on trucking and Christianity. They use fiction and poetry and prefer humor, slice-of-life and religious works. http://www.transportforchrist.org
Opportunities for Authors
Dutton Guilt Edged Mysteries is relaunching as a digital imprint of Penguin (after having folded in 1956). They are dedicated to discovering and publishing original crime short stories and novellas as ebooks. And they want to see your manuscript of between 10,000 and 50,000 words. Learn more about their submission process here: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/duttonguiltedged/submission_form.html
Are you always on the lookout for good contests to enter? There’s a new book out called, Sell More eBooks, How to Increase Sales and Amazon Rankings Using Kindle Direct Publishing by (member) Lucinda Crosby and Laura Dobbins. There are some great resources in this book, including contest directories. Here’s one: http://www.bookmarket.com/awards.htm.
Redhook is a new fiction imprint from Hachette Book Group and their focus is science fiction/fantasy. I don’t find a website for this imprint. I suggest trying to reach the acquisitions editor for Redhook through the main website: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com
GigaOM Books is a relatively new digital book publisher focusing on the people and trends shaping the evolution of technology. http://pro.gigaom.com/books
Dreams Publishing Company publishes both fiction and nonfiction. Check their guidelines here: http://www.dreamspublishing.com/guidelines.htm
Unmanned Press is an independent publisher committed to emerging and underserved writers. They publish novels, short story collections, and also have a Short of the Month feature, where selected authors are paid for their work. Submissions to their Short of the Month are now open. Please visit their website for details: http://www.unmannedpress.com
Book Promotion Opportunities
Here is a book blogger directory featuring bloggers who review or talk about other people’s books. http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com. Sign in and use their A-Z directory to find reviewers for your book. I located over 75 listings just under the letter A.
One of our former members put this Indie Book Reviewer Guide together. In case you have misplaced her URL, here it is—with all of the most recent updates: http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html
The third edition of The Book Reviewer Yellow Pages, a Book Promotion Reference Guide for Authors and Small Publishers is out. There are 80 new book reviewers, making the Yellow Pages of Book Reviewers, which is now 292 pages. Get your copy at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com.
And John Kremer offers this list of magazine and other reviewers for books. http://www.bookmarket.com/magazines-books.htm
If your book focuses on health issues, you might contact the San Francisco Chronicle for a review in their new health column or submit an article designed to get exposure for your book. http://www.sfgate.com.
If you are not familiar with the concept of getting reviews in newspaper columns related to the theme of your book, here are some links to get you started. Check out the newspapers in these directories and discover which ones have sections or columns related to your book’s topic. Many actually have book review sections. But I recommend going where your audience is. If your book is on pets—have it reviewed in the pet column, a family cookbook should be reviewed in the family or foods section, solicit the editor of a travel section to review your book on inexpensive European travel, for example. What if you are promoting a novel? Try to get your book reviewed in the book review section of newspapers, of course, but also use your nonfiction hooks to score those coveted reviews. Hope Clark’s novel set within the world of agriculture business might rate a review in the farming section of newspapers across the states. If your novel features a quilting group, the editors of newspaper home/craft columns might be interested in reviewing it. Likewise, pet/animal columnists for newspapers might review a book featuring a retired racehorse, a rescued greyhound or a clever cat who solves mysteries, for example.
http://newspapers.com
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com
http://www.thepaperboy.com
http://www.50states.com/news
Here’s a directory of tweeters who will promote your book for free through Twitter and various blog sites. To date, there are approximately 40 review tweeters listed and most of them prefer reviewing fiction. But there are a few nonfiction reviewers. Check out this opportunity here: http://www.booktweetingservice.com/p/like-free-review.html
Get your book added to the Family Friendly Book Directory (to be sent to 28,000 schools). The founder of “I Love to Write Day” (held in November), is recognizing his 10th year anniversary of this landmark day by compiling a book of family-friendly book listings to be sent to schools throughout the U.S. The basic listing is free. However, you can get more prominence for your book in this directory for a fee. Contact John Riddle at JohnRiddle@SprintMail.com
Book Excerpts
15 magazines that use book excerpts
Every once in a while, I list magazines that accept book excerpts. Authors, I would pay attention to this. Not only can you get great exposure for your book by having it excerpted in an appropriate publication, you can get paid anywhere from a few dollars to several for the privilege. Here are a few magazines that publish book excerpts related to the theme of their publications:
Christian Home and School uses book excerpts on topics related to family life and Christian education. http://www.csionline.org/chs Payment may be in the $175-$200 range.
Conscience covers such issues as contemporary politics, women’s rights, reproductive rights, social justice, church and state issues and so forth. If your book covers issues that would be of interest to the audience of this magazine, the editors might be interested in publishing excerpts from your book. Pay is around $200. http://www.catholicsforchoice.org
Tricycle focuses on the impact of Buddhism on Western culture. If you want to offer them a book excerpt from your book on this topic, check out their submission guidelines here: http://www.tricycle.com/contact
Kaleidoscope is published for individuals and agencies that work with people with disabilities. If you have a book on how to care for someone with an emotional disorder, for example or about your experiences with crippling arthritis, you might be able to sell them an excerpt from your book. Pay isn’t much, but it could be good exposure in front of your audience. http://www.udsakron.org/kaleidoscope.htm
Catholic Digest publishes book excerpts on topics ranging from health, psychology, family, spirituality and more. Guidelines here: http://www.catholicdigest.com/writers_guidelines.html
Tree Care Industry Magazine uses excerpts from books on tree care and landscape maintenance. If your book fits this profile, visit http://www.treecareindustry.org
Seattle Weekly uses book excerpts on most anything related to the northwest—arts, food, business, politics… And they pay as much as $800. http://www.seattleweekly.com
Virginia Living covers just about everything related to life in Virginia—food, architecture, gardening, travel. If you have a book that relates to the Virginia lifestyle, consider contacting the editors of this magazine here: http://www.virginialiving.com
Dove Tail. Have you written a book focusing on or featuring the issues of interfaith families? Perhaps Dove Tail would be interested in an excerpt. http://www.dovetailinstitute.org
Autopilot Magazine uses excerpts from books related to the aviator’s lifestyle. Check it out here: http://www.autopilotmagazine.com
Flaunt Magazine covers the arts and entertainment, featuring emerging photographers, writers, artists and musicians. If your book is designed for the same audience as this magazine, you really ought to see about sharing excerpts with their readers. Pay is around $500. http://www.flaunt.com
Coloradobiz focuses on trends and issues related to Colorado business and the goings ons within the state’s various businesses. Does your book cover minority businesses, technology in business, issues that are affecting Colorado businessmen and women? Perhaps the editors of this magazine would publish an excerpt. Pay is 40 cents/word. http://www.cobizmag.com
Common Ground uses book excerpts related to health and wellness, spirituality, creativity and so forth. This Canadian magazine has a 70,000 circulation. Their audience is the creative community. They pay 10 cents word. http://www.commonground.ca.
Harvard Magazine pays up to $3,000 for articles—and they do use book excerpts for books on Harvard-related and intellectual subjects. http://www.harvardmagazine.com
Next Step Magazine goes out to high school juniors and seniors who are preparing for college. If your book addresses college life, careers and financial aid, for example, you might be able to sell an excerpt to this magazine. http://www.nextstepmag.com.
Opportunities for Artists and Photographers
The staff at the new Post Peak Magazine are soliciting artists to help with art for their magazine as well as for their website. http://www.postpeakmagazine.com Contact, Editor@postpeakmagazine.com. It doesn’t appear that they are paying any of their freelancers at this time.
Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine uses freelance artwork. They want illustrations to visually interpret the stories. You might contact the magazine directly to find out if you could submit some samples of your work. Or contact some of their contributors to see if they need illustrations to accompany their stories. Are you a bit shy about approaching people to consider your artwork? Here’s some motivation: Pay is over a thousand dollars for cover art and $125 for black and white interiors. http://www.analogsf.com/information/submissions.shtml
Simply Hired is a website where you’ll find job listings for artists and photographers. Check it out here: http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/q-Freelance+Artist It appears that they have nearly 600 jobs such as, production artists, graphic artists, character artists, game artists, children’s clothes designer, concept artist, artist for children’s books, illustrators for a variety of projects and other in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and various cities in Texas, Colorado, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and others. The opportunities for photographers are equally numerous. You’ll find them here: http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/q-photographer
Resources for Authors
Galley Cat is a good place to find information and news related to the publishing industry. Here, you’ll also find writers’ resources, book reviews and more. http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat
Here’s a large database of publishers—some you will not find in Writer’s Market. http://www.everywritersresource.com/bookpublishers/
This resource was brought to my attention by a long-time WPN member. Togather is a free, online fansourcing platform that brings authors and audiences together. Now here’s a new concept. They say it works this way—you let the public know you’re available to talk (about your book) and your fans will plan events where you can speak. You can also create your own gigs. Togather helps you price yourself and manage your criteria. I must say, as with some other crowdsourcing projects, I am skeptical. But I guess it won’t hurt to try it. http://www.togather.com. Check it out and let me know what sort of experiences you have.
Here’s What’s New
The publisher of The Writer Magazine has announced that the magazine will go on hiatus after their October edition. This is after 125 years of publishing. (This bit of bad news was brought to my attention by an active WPN member.)
Now here’s something for women only. If you own a business, have a book to promote or are in some other kind of sales work, you live near Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, California and you want to increase your sales, you should know about Fearless Women Rising. Former marketing/sales executive, Kathleen Kaiser and top sales professional, Linda Murphrey have created a sales and marketing training program for women. For additional information visit http://www.fearlesswomenrising.com.
Worldwide Freelance has a new website format. This is the publisher of Worldwide Freelance Newsletter. Check it out at http://www.worldwidefreelance.com
Ogden Publications will combine Natural Home and Garden Magazine and The Herb Companion to form Mother Earth Living. First issue due out in October.
Upstart Business Journal (formerly Conde Nast Portfolio) focuses on American entrepreneurism. http://upstart.bizjournals.com
There’s a new magazine for authors in town. Publishing Talk is designed to help you write, publish and sell your books. Check it out at http://www.publishingtalk.eu
Barnes and Noble has a new cloud-based reading service. So far, it works with PC and Mac browsers and will eventually be suited to tablets and smartphones.
Going, Going, Gone
Her Nashville has folded
Kush Magazine is no longer publishing
St. Louis Commerce Magazine has ceased publishing
SmartMoney is going digital only.
Urban Climber has closed.