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According to a 2022 article in Publishers Weekly, “shivery tales are proliferating.” Middle grade horror stories are having a moment, and for good reason. These books can do both things a great kids book sets out to do: entertain and enlighten. Horror stories keep kids engaged and turning the page. R.L. Stein, the king of middle grade horror, writes brilliant books that master engagement. But middle grade horror can also provide a metaphorical lens through which kid readers can deal with real life trauma. Books that do this well—Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls, Christian McKay Heideker’s Scary Stories for Young Foxes—have even won the coveted Newbery Award. This market growth shows no signs of slowing down. If you’re a middle grade writer, how can you tap in? Use the wealth that’s already there. With the rise of shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday, kids are already tuned in to the spooky, monstrous zeitgeist. Take something familiar and put your own twist on it. Want to write a ghost story? Check out City of Ghosts by V.E. Schwab, Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko, and Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega. All ghost stories with a unique twist. All very successful entries in the booming middle grade horror market. Think school visits. From the beginning, More

Well known mystery/suspense author Lee Goldberg received a call recently from a gentleman professing to be with a literary agency. He and his organization would assist him in getting his book promoted at the Los Angeles Festival of Books. Mr. Goldberg recorded the conversation and you’ll enjoy listening to this renown traditionally published author mess with a scammer. https://leegoldberg.com/the-new-age-literary-agency-scam/ Someone calls me every month or two want to promote me at some book fair or another. Most of the time they ask to represent The Shy Writer Reborn, a nonfiction how-to book I self-published last in 2014. Sometimes I talk to them. Other times I do not. I have messed with them like Mr. Goldberg, too. A FundsforWriters reader recently wrote me, asking for assistance in finding grant funds to pay a literary agency that called him, seeking to promote his book at the Frankfurt Book Fair. I warned him to avoid these scammers, and I really think I took the wind out of his sails. He was hoping this was a break for him and his book. If a caller seeks you out, making promises about publishing and marketing your books, do not take them seriously. They are not good More

Congratulations on your endeavors, authors. You are part of an elite group of caring individuals. You care for your words, characters, worlds, and subjects. Yet, caring for your computers? Not so much. I read too many complaints in writing groups that go something like this: “My computer is slower than a sloth working a fast-food counter.” “I can’t save the 700th novel draft on my hard drive.” “Oh, no, my laptop crashed. I lost the only copy of my 500-page, coming-of-age, cyberpunk dinosaur romance.” The Common Problem Trifecta As a writer and IT administrator, I’ve repeatedly seen these issues across many industries. On the one hand, I sympathize with your difficulties. On the other, I grind my teeth and softly scream into my mouse pad at your issues. The fact is these problems are solvable. A trio of circumstances causes the most common problems: 1. You haven’t updated your operating system (OS), firmware (hardware programs), or security patches. 2. You leave multiple tabs on your internet browser, causing excessive use of memory and processing time. 3. You don’t back up your material, and your hard drive is near capacity, causing file saving to fail. Additionally, one or all these issues More

Last week, in mentioning my hardline distain for AI in the creative universe, someone labeled me naïve in thinking AI wasn’t here to stay, mentioning technology. Admittedly, AI already has been in existence for a few years in that department, but now it’s crossing into creativity, and that’s utterly insulting. In my not-so-humble opinion. it will deteriorate writing, art, and music. Unless we handle it astutely. My suggestion is this. Make it a requirement that an author post whether or not AI was utilized in the creation of the words or cover. Our food has consumer laws mandating a list of ingredients so the consumer can make an informed decision whether to eat that many carbs, consume red and blue dyes, or allow preservatives into their system. When I, as a reader, want to purchase a book, I want to insure I get value for the dollar invested. It’s why I, and other readers, read reviews. I will even read about the author if I’m pondering whether to read someone I never have before. Personally, I want to support the author because I fully understand how important that support means. I also prefer to read something organically human, from the More

We all want to write that perfect script. One that will blow the reader’s mind and convince a producer to shovel copious amounts of money into our creation (but only once the strike finishes, of course). Unfortunately, this is much easier said than done, as the majority of screenplays fall well short of perfection. I’ve spent the last year pouring through scripts of all kinds like my life depends on it (it does actually); new ones and classics. You name a type of script, I’ve read it twice.  Therefore, I’ve decided to lay out the three biggest issues that newcomers tend to make when trying to crack into the industry as I see it. Confusing Screenwriting with Prose Writing: Novelists have always resented screenwriters because we seem to have less work to do. As you know, your screenplay is not written to make the New York Times Bestseller list; instead, it exists as a manual of sorts for filmmakers and their crew to breathe life into. Since pages from a screenplay generally have much more white space than those from our counterparts, you’d think that we screenwriters would revel in this fact; however, some still seem unaware that they are More

When we start anything in our lives, we stumble through it. Yet, for some reason, we don’t want people to know that we are stumbling. In fact, everyone in the world is stumbling through their lives, because the only way to grow is to proceed through trial and error, and you know what? We haven’t done most of this before. But a lot of people stop pursuing their dreams because they dislike the stumbling part. They are afraid of appearing novice when everyone has to go through that stage. They are afraid of making mistakes, when the only way to learn is by making them. So they stop in the middle of all the learning because it is painful to feel stupid. The successful continue to muscle through that phase (or multiple stages of that phase). Social media exposes a lot of stumbling. 1) We feel we must post our attempts on social media or we feel like we aren’t doing anything. 2) We feel we need pats on the back for just trying. 3) Trolls feel the need to demean our attempts, failures, struggles, and choices. We don’t have to post our attempts. We can just push through our More

Writers who know the nuances of WordPress can manage their own websites better — and be of more help to their clients by mastering WordPress as an extra skill. WordPress.com and .org As much as 40% or more of the internet uses WordPress to post blogs, manage websites, and create content. Learn this skill, and you can present something more to clients (or manage your own blog). WordPress.org is the version you want for maximum premium (paid) features, for business. WordPress.com is the platform to use if you’re still finding your way. Domain Registration Domains help people find things. Domains identify who you are, or what you have to offer. Writers can use their names as a domain like I have (alexjcoyne.com), and Hope has (www.chopeclark.com) while others may use their brand or business name (like www.thewritingroom.co.za or www.fundsforwriters.com ). Choose something easy-to-remember that can’t be mistaken for something else at a glance. I registered an extra domain, alexcoyneofficial.com to grab more traffic. Search for available domains, and pick your pricing guide. The more important you become, the more valuable your domain name becomes as well, but automatic renewal stops your domain from being snatched by someone else. Basic Pages and Posts Pages like About and Contact are More

As I tried to explain last week, pitches must be smart and cater to the needs of the editor and their publication first and foremost. Again, in my researching markets, I came across a guidelines page with great advice. Climate Change News posts detailed and informative guidelines at https://www.climatechangenews.com/write-for-us. In your pitch, explain: What is new? Whether your story is based around a single event, ongoing process or trend, explain why *now* is the time to read about it. Why does it matter to an international audience? Who are the main actors? To catch a reader’s attention, there should be colourful characters and/or tension between different interest groups. What sources would you use? Make the most of any hard-to-reach contacts, leaked documents, original analysis and on-the-ground reporting. What is your background? If you have not written for us before, include a short bio and links to two or three stories you have had published. Where is the action? For certain reporting programmes, we can cover reasonable travel expenses, by prior agreement. Is there a visual or audio component? While our reporting is text-based, good photos can elevate a story and we are open to multimedia ideas. The guidelines go into greater detail about More

I’ve had more than twenty surgeries from my eyes to feet, and my health has become accepted as one part of my writing journey. Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) is a manageable group of connective-tissue conditions — shared by others like actress Jameela Jamil. It hasn’t slowed the writing journey down. Actually, it’s helped! Here’s how surgeries and medical costs can change your writing perspective, and what to do if you’re a chronically ill author, too. Selling My Own Story Lived experiences are powerful essays, which can be the right fit for many publications. My first medical story sold in 2009 as a Readers’ Digest short. Call it the writing bug, but I’ve written more about my medical experiences since. In 2018, when doctors believed my diagnosis to be a closely related condition called Marfan Syndrome instead, I sold Spider Hands: Writing With a Deadly Genetic Disorder to Folks Magazine. Since, I’ve realized my condition shares similar symptoms to Marfan, though is much closer to EDS. In 2021, I wrote an update about the signs of connective-tissue disorders for Bridge Base Online. Also branch out from your own story to find others worth telling: I’ve written for Alzheimer’s South Africa on the topic of cards and More

A lot of freelancers make the mistake of thinking that the publication they are pitching wants to know more about the writer than the topic being pitched. Please, understand that most publications are most interested in a quality subject that strongly pertains to their readers. Who you are matters little unless you are an expert in the matter and bring a large platform with you. In researching markets to place in FundsforWriters, I read dozens of guidelines. Some are fantastic. Others are vague, expecting you to become intimate with the publication rather than just read a submissions page. This one with The Woodlands Magazine (see pitch guidelines for Volume 3 here) gives a fantastic step by step on pitching to them. In my opinion, the template fits for most magazines. [Sentence 1] This is an attention-grabbing intro sentence that sets the stage for your story. [Sentence 2] This sentence elaborates on and explains the intro sentence. [Sentence 3-4] In this sentence, you explain the form the article will take and the main point it aims to make, like a thesis statement. You may add some other clarifying details about the main idea and why this story is interesting. [Sentence 5] You More