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I just spent a week going back and forth with a freelance writer who wanted to see his piece published in this newsletter. TO be honest, the piece had great potential. I needed some changes in it, and he quickly accommodated. The message had purpose. I hadn’t had red flags before then, but while he did a rewrite, I did a deep dive into him to see if he might be in any way affiliated with AI or a con artist from a third world country. I get a ton of both. I had hope for this piece, but my gut told me to look harder after I studied his resume…then his email. Three different emails with all of them Gmail, and two of them with names I could not read much less pronounce. Every single link in his bio led to places I’d never heard of before except one, LinkedIn. Then I looked at where he claimed to be from, and it ranged from West Virginia to California to UK to Asia. His resume was posted with a company that blatantly promoted itself as AI-friendly. He had no presence on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, etc. When I questioned him More

Strong submission guidelines are the cornerstone of being a published author. If you know which publications are receptive and paying, you’re ahead of the writing race. However, good guidelines can be difficult to source, and they’re individual to every author. Here’s how to sift through the pile and find the golden guidelines. Searching for Pages and Guidelines Search for guidelines using different engines: DuckDuckGo, Bing, and Google can each produce individual results.  I sold “Ouij-e: Summoning Spirits Online” to Fate & Fortune Magazine – but only after switching to DuckDuckGo for my searches. Bonus tip: turn off AI Search and Personalized Results via search engine settings, or use incognito mode. Add keywords to your search matching your niche (e.g. “submission guidelines technology” or “write for us music magazine”) and add keywords like “pay” or “rate” to look for ones more likely to list their pay. Searching for niche “pagan” markets connected me to The Wild Hunt’s guidelines, and I sold “Are Massive Multiplayer Online Rituals the Future?” and soon after submitted my first piece to the quarterly Witches Magazine. Markets that don’t list their requirements are much more likely to say: “We have no need for writers,” or “We don’t have a writing budget.” Public guidelines and “write for us” pages More

Writers look at contests for entry fee, word count, prize money, potential publication, and which influential judge might be on board to read the entries. But what is also important to note is the rights you give up if you win. . . or maybe even if you just enter.   Begin with understanding why an entity is even running the contest. What is the motive? Such motives can be:   1) To make money with entry fees. Often the fees tally higher than the prize money and expenses, giving the sponsor a profit. It’s how many literary journals stay afloat.   2) To draw attention to other products. Entities might need members, or wish to sell tickets to courses or classes or editing services, or hope to draw attention to a book or two, and a contest is free advertising to the rest of the entity’s assets.   3) To gather assets in the form of all these stories, poems, or prose and use them to populate a website, publish an anthology, or gain a connection to writers’ brands for future use. (i.e., We’ve had successful authors like John Doe participate in our contests.)   There is nothing illegal More

I’ve been writing for a long time. I’ve written novels for just under 20 years though I’ve officially published for 14. By now, a lot of people know I write books, and when I’m introduced to someone new and they learn I write books, I can talk it off the cuff with no problem. It’s part of my nature now. But that also means that I have friends and family who think my writing is just another part of me, no different than feeding chickens, gardening, and going to the gym. No, they don’t come to events, and more don’t read the books than do. Don’t get me wrong. . .I have noble and loyal readers who mean the world to me. However, I don’t see or hear from them every day. That means it’s totally up to me to show up to work. I have to love putting words in order. I have to love studying craft. I have to make appearances. I have to keep my social media, newsletters, and website updated. I have to want to do this as if nobody else is there for me. A lot of fledgling writers need atta-boys and atta-girls to keep More

As writers, it’s vital to be able to summarise what we offer in a few brief interesting words – as much for ourselves as for the readers we want to reach. Whenever I write any article, let alone a book, I begin by drafting a rough lede which sets out the essence of the piece, and why it might be worth reading – part summary, part hook. Then, as I write, I can sense-check my emerging copy to keep me on track. In the same way, developing a nutshell statement for yourself as an author is a helpful shortcut to tell people who you are as a writer and what you offer. There are lots of terms people use for this – author brand statement, USP (unique selling proposition), elevator pitch, but the basic idea is very simple. It’s an instant self-marketing tool that helps everyone from readers to bookstore managers to agents to get a quick sense of what you’re about. The words aren’t many but the thinking behind them can be intense. You boil down what you do and make it appealing to people. Craft different versions and try them out on friends and family. My overall nutshell More

(See Part 1: The website) Despite complaints about inbox overload and spam, surveys show consumers consider email the least intrusive of direct marketing tactics. When someone signs up for your messages, they’re inviting you into a personal space that’s largely competitor-free (unlike a search results page). And unlike social media, your list is yours to keep. An author website is essential. But it’s the emails you send that remind people you are there, nudge them about new work, and drive sales at key moments. Let’s look at how to get your email newsletter up and running, and how to grow your list of followers. Choose your email platform MailerLite is free for <1,000 subscribers, with unlimited email sends. A popular choice with authors, it includes automation, customisable signup forms, drag-and-drop email builders, landing pages and a visual workflow editor. (Automation is when you set up emails to send in response to an automatic trigger, such as a pre-prepared welcome email that automatically fires when someone signs up for your newsletter.) The interface is clean and intuitive, and you can segment your list to target different reader groups. As often, you need a paid plan for some features like advanced automations and additional More

Some argue that you don’t need a website these days, that it’s enough to be on Facebook, Linktree or Substack. But platforms come and go, and with social media you are at the mercy of the algorithms. As publishing expert Jane Friedman notes, ‘your website serves as an online home and hub for everything that you do… Consider it the cost of doing business in the digital era, a necessary business card and networking tool’. But you can’t just build a site and hope people will come. You need to build an email list to drive people to your content and books. Together, web and email form a connected, affordable platform to support your writing goals. In part 1, we’ll look at low-cost author sites, in part 2, the email dimension. Choose your domain name Even on a budget, a domain like www.yourname.com or yournameauthor.com looks far more professional than something like yourname.wordpress.com. If you can’t get the .com, try for something like .net or .me. You can buy domains at places like Namecheap, GoDaddy or NameSilo. If you’re planning a pen name, check domain availability before going public with it. You’ll need to sign up for a web hosting service – effectively rent a chunk of internet space – More

A friend of mine, also a writer, posted about seeking work as a freelancer and having to wade through the naysayers, complainers, and grammar nerds to glean information about where to find work. Admittedly, AI is robbing this group of writers of much viable income. Businesses will take AI cheaply over original work for more cost. There’s a lot of copywriting work that needs no more than what AI can produce. It’s good enough, so to speak. Sometimes you don’t need someone who’s won a Pulitzer to write your copy. But whining was dominating the lists he was on. Being more old school, he saw this as writers slitting their own throats in finding work. Who wants to hire someone like that? Everything you write online gets read by people you don’t expect. Some of them impact careers. Whatever you post online, read the draft as if it can impact your career. Yes, we all have opinions, but does expressing that opinion outrank the effort to find work? Which is more important? If a potential editor or publisher or business executive saw what you posted, would it factor in whether they chose to work with you? And I’m not talking More

Writing is often called a solitary pursuit, yet none of us performs alone. It takes a supportive community including editors, proof readers, critique partners, and beta readers. Words don’t magically appear on the page to perfection, ready for publication. Start at the Library Libraries are filled with words and people who write them. When I retired to a new city, I found “writers” under the adult events tab on the local library’s website. The South Shore Scribes became my first critique partners, exchanging writing prompts and feedback. We learned about self-publishing, marketing and sales by compiling our own book of short stories. Since libraries are public buildings, no one is turned away and not everyone wants the same thing out of the sessions. When I moved to a new city and the local group wasn’t a good fit, I corralled two like-minded members to form our own writing group.  I also checked nearby communities and found one that better matched my personality and efforts in a town just half an hour away. Online Communities I belong to the Gutsy Great Novelist Community, a fabulous online resource of learning and connections. Hope Clark belongs to it as well. There are other online communities with varying More

The words ‘writing retreat’ might summon up images of a week in a lakeside cabin with a posh notebook, a pot of coffee, and birdsong for company. But for many of us, work, family and budgets such images are pure fantasy. But there are ways to create your own retreat even if you have next to no money to spare and can’t leave home. It’s just a matter of setting boundaries and working with what’s possible. Decide you’re worth it – and set your goals If you’re serious about making money from writing, then there will be times when you need to take a break from routine and give yourself space to nourish your creativity and refresh yourself for future writing. Accept that you deserve this! Don’t set loads of big goals for this time, like finishing that novel draft or planning a whole year’s blog content. Maybe your mind is so full of other stuff you just need to think about nothing for a while. Maybe you want a break from your manuscript. Set boundaries Figure out what you can realistically manage. Maybe you can book a few days off work, maybe just an afternoon. Whatever you do, this More