I’ve received several emails and IMs about places to submit to for different genres. One particular question popped out at me. Where do I submit a horror novel? Not a paranormal or paranormal romance, but Horror?
Great question. So for this genre spotlight I give you:
Horror, three submission houses and a place to find out more!
Have you ever considered writing a children’s book? I know I’ve been toying with the idea for some time, but until recently I really hadn’t explored the nuts-and-bolts aspects of actually submitting the story once I have it written.
It may sound strange that I’d be looking into the market before I’ve finished anything, but as someone who’s done a lot of advertising work in the past, it’s something I’m used to doing. It was worth the initial research I did.
If you’ve been thinking of getting into the world of children’s books or stories, Here are some links you might find incredibly valuable.
The Children’s Book Council, Inc. is the nonprofit trade association of publishers and packagers of trade books and related materials for children and young adults
The Purple Crayon: Information on Writing, Illustrating, and Publishing Children’s Books.
*Writing Children’s Books* Aaron Shepard’s kidwriting page.
From these sites you’ll be able to pull together a much larger list to visit, including publishers, editors and independants.
Here’s wishing you luck on your writing journey.
Announcements, Helpful Resources, Observations, Tools of the Trade
Crawford Killian is a name you may or may not have heard. I’ll admit I’ve never read any of his books, but I’ve been reading his blog, Writing Fiction, for over two years now.
Crawford is not only a writer, but an expatriate American, a college professor, and a veteran of the U.S. Army. His insight into the writing and publishing process is born of years of experience, and his matter-of-fact answers to questions from his readers are a joy, plain and simple.
Take some time out of your busy day and visit Writing Fiction. I think you’ll be glad you did.
There are several ways to make money with your blog, though some are more effective than others.
For a long time the only option out there was AdSense. Almost every blogger has run AdSense at one time or another. I don’t know about your experiences, but in mine, It’s never really paid that much, if anything. (It’s been a very long time, and I’m still waiting to break the magic $100.00 mark.)
I’m happy to say that there are finally opportunities for a blogger to make anywhere from a few extra dollars a month to a full time income, if he or she is prolific enough in adding content to a blog.
This new method of monetizing is known as paid posting, and it works like this. A blogger signs up for with one of the paid post services available, and once accepted the blogger takes an opportunity from that company and blogs about the topic of his or her choice. The service then pays you for the post after a specified number of days has past.
I don’t know about you, but I find this exciting.
One of the best of those services is Bloggerwave. Bloggerwave is kind of the new kid on the block, but they’re growing rapidly, so get in on the ground floor! If you’ve been looking for a new revenue stream, I’d look to them for a refreshingly easy way to add to your bottom line.
We’ve all heard that we only have the first three chapters to capture an editor’s attention. While that’s all well and good for a novel, it’s not going to get you anywhere with a short story.
You’re going to have to catch the reader with the first line.
I feel that this applies to any work of fiction, but the short story or novella relies on this principle even more heavily than a full length novel. With a short piece, your reader expects to be immersed in the tale quickly, which stands to reason, since the story is going to end pretty quickly.
Honestly, I sit around just thinking up first lines for stories. My wife is a writer as well, and her notebooks are full of lines I’ve blurted out while watching T.V. or working on another writing assignment. She’s using at least three of them as a basis for stories of her own right now, and has kindly asked me to sop distracting her until she’s finished something.
Say you’ve decided to write a story about an outbreak of zombies in a small Georgia town. There are a lot of ways to open a tale like this, depending on the tone you’d like to set. Let’s assume that we’re going to go with something a bit campy, since the zombie genre is a bit flooded, and hey, what’s more fun than poking fun at zombies, they’re not exactly the brightest bulbs.
