Pitch an Agent/Poetry and Essay Markets

Writers Thought for the Week: The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time. ~  Mary Oliver

AGENT QUERIES

Want some help crafting your query to prospective agents? Here are 23 actual pitch letters that grabbed an agent queries. Why 23? Because they represent 23 different genres.

HOW I SURVIVED

Deadline: April 30, 2013

Did you survive an illness, personal tragedy, abusive relationship, financial ruin, or other life experience that brought you to your knees? Did Gloria Gaynor's disco-era song “I Will Survive” inspire you to rise and thrive? If so, share your story in a new book of personal narrative essays about survival and how the song influenced your life. The book will include 50 stories of 1,000-2,000 words each. If your essay is selected, you will receive $75 and a copy of the book signed by Gloria Gaynor. Submit to either glolo2004@me.com or susancarswell@aol.com

THE FREEMAN

Deadline: June 1, 2013

Theme: Power

You may submit up to 6 unpublished poems up to 60 lines each. Pays $50/poem, plus one copy of the issue containing your poem, for FNASR. The theme changes monthly.

4-Week J-School

The Writers Den is offering their 4-Week Journalism School only one time this year and sign-ups are being taken now. Fee includes a month's membership in the Den which has lots of resources. Free bonuses if you sign up by May 1.

I've been a Den member since last year. I joined to take advantage of a class and have continued my membership ever since, participating in many free classes and webinars. Carol Tice knows the ropes. The Den itself is currently closed to new members but you can get in now if you take the class.

Pitching Agents/Novel and Short Story Markets

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Writing begins with a knot. ~ Margaret Atwood

Pitching Agents: Plan on pitching your book to an agent at a conference? An agent shares some pointers for authors here.
  
HORATIO NELSON FICTION PRIZE
Black Balloon Publishing will award the winner a $5,000 prize as part of their book deal. Must be a work of fiction: a novel or short story collection, minimum word count of 50,000 words. This is a two-tiered process: initial entries include a summary and an excerpt no longer than 4,000 words. Authors who move on to second round of judging will have one week to submit their manuscript after being notified.

CROSSED OUT MAGAZINE #4

Deadline: May 1, 2013

Submit up to three short stories, 2000 words or less each, that are direct, concise, character driven, and socially relevant. This online biannual pays $20 per accepted fiction story for first and one-time rights.

Promote Your Book/Short Story Market

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Winners don't blame. Winners don't whine. Winners keep at it until they win. ~ Joseph Konrath  

PromotingYour Book Tips on using press releases to promote your book.  (Filmed at the Southern California Writers Conference.)

ELECTRIC LITERATURE’s Recommended Reading magazine publishes one 2,000 to 10,000-word fiction story a week and pays each contributor $300. The current submission period closes May 1, 2013.

Rejection/Calls for Submission

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.  ~ Ralph Charell 

REJECTION

The next time you’re having trouble dealing with rejection, read about the story accepted by New Yorker and subsequently rejected by a long list of literary journals and finally by the New Yorker.

A-MINOR PRESS is open for submissions until April 30, 2013.

Seeks 15,000 to 40,000 word novella, flash or short fiction collections and 60 to 120 page mixed-genre or poetry collections. For fiction, they prefer surrealist dreamscapes. Realist fiction is welcome if it's dark and quirky. Their poetry leans toward the “lyrical, eccentric, ambivalent and wildly imaginative.” Pays "industry standard royalties and author's copies."

HENRY HAZLITT CONTEST FOR BUSINESS FICTION
Deadline: April 30, 2013
Prize: $500 and an offer of a publishing contract with a $2,000 advance

No entry fee
You must be an unpublished author and your novel must have a pro-business theme related to business, finance, entrepreneurship or economics.  The novel’s target audience can be any age from middle-grade to adult. The contest is sponsored by Fiscal Press, “an independent publisher of unique and entertaining books related to business, economics, entrepreneurship and finance (BEEF).”