IWSG: Rejection and Encouragement

Today is IWSG day-the first Wednesday of each month. IWSG stands for Insecure Writers Support Group and was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Our purpose is to share and encourage.  You can follow other IWSG members here or on twitter using the hashtag #IWSG. We also have a Facebook page.

I submitted a mini-mystery about three months ago to Woman's World magazine, and received the rejection a week or so ago. I felt so certain it might find a home with them. We never know, do we? But I think it's good to feel positive about our work. It makes it a little harder when the rejection comes but still ... maybe next time. Hope some of you are getting acceptances instead of rejections.

I can't think of a better way to encourage you than to share Cindi Myers' newsletter with you.

Every year Cindi attends the annual Romance Writers of America conference and comes home to share market info with her readers. As usual, she allows us to pass the info on to our blog readers too. I think that's incredibly generous of her so invite you to check out/subscribe to her blog HERE. 

This week Cindi is spotlighting St. Martin's Press.  Read on:
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The Spotlight on St. Martin’s Press was presented by Publisher Jennifer Enderlin, Associate Publisher Ann Marie Talberg, Associate Editor Rose Hilyard, Executive Editor Monique Patterson and Associate Editor Eileen Rothschild. St. Martin’s publishes all formats and all kinds of fiction. They produce three to four romances a month in hardcover, trade paperback or mass market formats. In addition to the editorial staff, they have an 11 person marketing team. All the St. Martin’s romance editors will accept queries from unagented authors.

Jennifer Enderlin began by talking about “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Publishers”:
1. They know their authors are a resource. They want the author’s feedback on covers, marketing, etc.
2. They are not slaves to trends. Once you identify a trend, it’s over.
3. They do not give up quickly.
4. They know they are working with an author. It is not a case of ‘us vs. them’ but ‘we.’
5. They understand we live in a global world, and take a global approach to marketing and publishing.
6. They listen to editorial passion. If an editor is passionate about a project, they will take a chance.
7. They have fun. They are readers and book lovers who are excited about their work.

Ann Marie Talberg is a former bookseller and romance buyer for Waldenbooks. She oversees the Heroes and Heartbreakers website and St. Martin’s ebook original program and welcomes romance submissions of both novels and novellas for the ebook program, and short stories for the website. Find out more details about Heroes and Heartbreakers here.

Monique Patterson is interested in all kinds of romance, except sweet and inspirational. She’d also like to see some high concept commercial women’s fiction, and she’s open to contemporary fantasy with strong romantic elements. She also edits some literary fiction. She loves paranormal romance and is still buying it. She prefers a snail mail submission of a query, synopsis and first three chapters of the book.

Ellen Rothschild is actively building her list of authors. She loves Alpha heroes, redemption stories and “quirky, sassy, interesting heroines.” She’d love to see a contemporary trilogy about brothers. She’s open to all sub-genres of romance except historical romance. She prefers an email query.

Rose Hilyard is open to submittions of all kinds of romance, including sweet romance, Young Adult, New Adult, women’s fiction, and erotic romance. Her favorite books are either really sexy or really sweet. She loves historical romance, and she’d love to see more Christmas books in all sub-genres. She accepts both email and snail mail queries.

The editors did not give out their email addresses at the workshop, however, the standard form for email there seems to be firstname.lastname@stmartins.com.
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Tor.com, the online short story magazine for science fiction stories, is closed to submissions until October 1. The magazine is separate from Tor Books, the publisher, which remains open to both agented and unagented submissions.
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Eldritch Press is seeking steampunk horror stories for an upcoming anthology, Lost Worlds. Stories may be up to 17,500 words and should focus on post-prophetic or end-times scenarios in which the world has been reconstructed with mechanized curiosities and steam power. Payment is 6 cents a word and the deadline for submissions is December 30, 2014. Find all the details here.

Thank you Cindi Myers. Readers, for more about Cindi and her books, check out her websites here and here. And good luck with your submissions!

Meet Cindi Myers - Time Management for Writers

Do you know Cindi Myers? You should. She written more than fifty books, and she has one of the best, up-to-date marketing newsletters around. Cindi started her newsletter in 2000 as a way to share her publishing information with others. Be sure to visit her site, but first read her post on:

Time Management For Writers

The dream: you sit down in your beautiful office, your favorite beverage of choice close to hand. Soft music plays in the background and a scented candle fills the air with your favorite perfume. You open your laptop and the words flow. You lose track of time as your story unfolds. Hours later, you emerge from a trance, thrilled with the day's work.

The reality: you carve out a few hours to devote to writing and just as you sit down to work, the school calls to inform you that your child has the flu and is projectile vomiting in the office. The Fed-Ex man arrives with a package, the cat delivers a dead mouse to the doorstep, your mother calls, and you realize that if you don't do laundry right now you will have to go naked for the rest of the week. And then your favorite episode of Castle is on and you really can't miss it!

Finding time to write around the demands of family, home and day jobs is a challenge every writer faces. After 17 years as a full-time writer, I've developed a few tips and techniques to help you make the most of the time you have to write.

1. Take Inventory. Borrow a technique from successful dieters and spend a few days to a week tracking your time. Write down what you do all day in 30 minute blocks. Analyze the results and identify places where you're wasting time and vow to avoid these traps in the future.

2. Eliminate and delegate. Get rid of activities you can live without. Cut out the volunteer job you hate. Give the kids or your husband a chore that will free you up for writing time. Get rid of the clutter to make cleaning house easier or better yet -- lower your standards for house cleaning.

3. Carve out writing time. You've probably heard this one -- get up an hour earlier. Go to bed an hour later. Give up watching one show each evening and use that time to write instead.

4. Set a schedule and keep it. When you commit to an exercise program, trainers advise you to schedule a time and place to exercise and commit to doing it every day for at least six weeks. Do the same with your writing.

5. Make your writing portable. Carry a notebook with you everywhere. Write while your kids are at sports practice. Write on your lunch hour at your day job. Write before and after work, while you ride the bus on your commute, or anywhere you have a block of 10 to 30 minutes. It's not the ideal fantasy, but you'll be surprised at what you can accomplish.

I hope these tips will help you find more time to create the great stories that are inside you, waiting to be written. 

Cindi Myers is the author of more than 50 novels, including The View From Here. Find out more at www.CindiMyers.com

MARKETS, MARKETS, MARKETS

I'm a little busy taking my MS Word for Writers class and trying to edit some works for three contest deadlines so thought I'd post some market info instead of trying to create an original blog post. I know many of you are searching for homes for your work so I hope you find these markets interesting and helpful. One of my favorite sources for markets is Cindi Myers so you might want to subscribe to her blog. Check her out HERE. Also note that Cindi has a new release, a historical romance called A Long, Sweet Ride.

Writers with a strong connection to Prince Edward Island are eligible to submit to a new anthology, The Island Fiction Reader, to feature work by PEI writers. Stories may be up to 5000 words, any genre, for teens or adults. Those chosen for inclusion in the anthology will receive $75 and author copies. Deadline for submissions is June 30, 2011. Find the details here.

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eChook publishes short stories as apps for people to read on their phones. They’re open for submissions now of short stories, 750 -2000 words. Payment is $100 and 10 apps. Deadline to submit is March 31, 2011. They’re also looking for holiday stories — Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza — deadline October 31, 2011 and memoirs — deadline Decemer 1, 2011. You may submit as many stories as you like, but they must be previously unpublished. See all the details HERE.

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Albedo One, an Irish magazine that features science fiction, fantasy and horror, is hosting the Sixth Annual Aeon Awards for short fiction. Writers from anywhere in the world may enter. First prize is 1000 pounds and publication in Albedo One. Second and third place also receive cash prizes and publication. Entry is 7 pounds, payable via Paypal. Dealines to enter are March 31, June 30, September 30 and November 30. At the end of each entry period, judges choose the top stories to go on to the final round. Final round stories compete for the grand prize. Entries should be no longer than 10,000 words and previously unpublished. See the rules HERE.
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Heroes and Heartbreakers is a new website launched by Macmillan. The site is accepting submissions of romance short stories between 6000 and 15,000 words. They welcome all subgenres — contemporary, paranormal/urban fantasy, women’s fiction/chick lit, historical, and romantic suspense. Payment is a $1000 advance against 25 percent royalties for stories downloaded from the site. Find all the details HERE.

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Crescent Moon Press publishes ebook and print editions of all sub-genres of paranormal and fantasy romance. The editors are open to submissions of urban fantasy, futuristic, steam-punk, science fiction, space opera, time travel — any kind of speculative romance, in both novel and novella lenths. Novels should be complete at 60,000 to 120,000 words, and novellas should be 20,000 to 40,000 words. Acquistions Editor Heather Howland is also accepting submissions of young adult books in these same genres, with strong characters and compelling romances, for a new line to launch this year. Find the submissions guidelines HERE. And check out the interview with Ms. Howland HERE.

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Silver Moon Press publishes nonfiction study guides for elementary and middle school studetns. But they also publish historical fiction aimed at these same markets. They’re interested in Chapter Books targeted to grades 3 to 5, featuring mystery, adventure or suspense set in a significant historical period. No paranormal elements, please. Query with your resume, table of contents and first chapter of the work. Include information about your research sources. Check their catalog for sample titles. Query to: Submissions Editor, 381 Park Ave. South, Suite 1121, New York, 10016.

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Don D’Auria, former executive editor with Dorchester Books, has joined Samhain Publishing and is looking to acquire horror manuscripts. Samhain publishes ebook and trade paper editions. They’ve been successful with romance and are now looking to launch a new horror line with D’Auria at the helm. He’s looking for all kinds of horror stories, between 12,000 and 100,000 words (minimum 50,000 words for print in addition to ebook; shorter works will be ebooks only). Unagented and previously unpublished authors are welcome to submit. Send the complete manuscript and a full synopsis. Get all the details HERE.

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If you write mystery, or aspire to write mystery, check out Sisters In Crime’s new report “The Mystery Book Consumer in the Digital Age.” Among interesting tidbits in the report: the majority of mystery readers are women, and more than half are baby boomer age or older. Younger readers like darker, more suspenseful stories. E-book sales are growing. Book covers matter.

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Enchanted Conversations, a Fairy Tale Magazine, will be accepting submissions soon for 2011. Each issue has a theme around a particular fairy tale. You can submit a short story, a poem or an article that addresses some aspect of the fairy tale spotlighted in that issue. Payment is 10 cents a word for stories and articles, $50 for poems, via Paypal. Stories and article may be up to 2000 words, but preferably no more than 1500 words.
Issue themes and deadlines are as follows:
Issue #2: May 11-14, Snow White (poetry only)
Issue #3: June 27-30, Cinderella
Issue #4: Sept. 27-30, Little Red Riding Hood
Check out all the guidelines HERE.

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Writers often find themselves up against the closed door of publishers who only accept submissions from agented writers. Non-represented writers are left out in the cold. Angry Robot Books, which publishes fantasy, science fiction, horror and urban fantasy, will make an exception to their own agents-only rule in March of 2011. During that month only they’ll be accepting manuscript submissions from unagented writers. Find all the details HERE.