January 2020 Newsletter - Tips for Successful Publishing

Dear friends, I hope you all had a marvelous Holiday season and energetic to tackle the New Year and a new decade. Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source - just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true.

Content of this Newsletter:

• WRITING COMPETITION
• WRITER RESIDENCIES
• FOREIGN BOOK SALES
• BOOK REVIEWER
• PUBLISHING NEWS

WRITING COMPETITION

Orwell Prizes

The Orwell Prizes aim to encourage good writing and thinking about politics. Honors exceptional fictional and nonfictional works that “make political writing into an art.” Only in its second year, this prize awards ￡3,000 to its winners. Books must be submitted by their publishing house, and the book must have been first published, or published simultaneously, in the UK. The Orwell Prize asks shortlisted publishers to contribute ￡150.

No Entry Fee. Deadline January 13, 2020 

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/

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K. Margaret Grossman Fiction Awards

First Prize $1,000. Second Prize $300. Send unpublished stories, 10,000 words max. All subjects and styles welcome.

$10 Entry Fee. Deadline January 15

https://www.literal-latte.com/contests/fiction-award/

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The BookLife Prize

Nonfiction Contest - entry period is now open through Jan 31, 2020

$5,000 cash and a profile in Publishers Weekly

Categories: Memoir/Autobiography; Self-Help; Inspirational/Spiritual; and Business/Personal Finance

https://booklife.com/affiliates/pw-prize-single

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Breakwater Fiction Contest

We are seeking submissions for pieces that breathe freshness to the form. We are interested in previously unpublished prose ranging from 1,000 - 5,000 words. 

Prize $1,000 and publication

$10 Entry Fee. Deadline February 1

https://www.breakwaterreview.com/contests

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The Masters Winter Short Story Award

The winning story will be awarded $3,000 and publication online. Second and third place stories will be awarded publication and $300 and $200 respectively. All winning stories and any notable Honorable Mentions will receive agency review. Stories under 6,000 words. 

$20 Entry Fee. Deadline February 1, 2020

https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-for-new-writers/

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Quantum Shorts Flash Fiction Competition

We want stories of up to 1,000 words long that take inspiration from the mind-blowing world of quantum physics. The Quantum Shorts competition is free to enter, offering prizes of up to $1,500.

No entry fee. Deadline February 29, 2020

https://shorts.quantumlah.org/news/announcing-new-call-flash-fiction

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American Short(er) Fiction Prize

The prize recognizes extraordinary short fiction under 1,000 words. The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication. 

$17 Entry Fee. Deadline February 1

https://americanshortfiction.org/2019/11/05/now-open-the-2020-american-shorter-fiction-prize/

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Malahat Review Novella Prize

The Malahat Review invites entries for its biennial Novella Prize, for which one award of $CAN 1,500 is given. The contest is open to Canadian and international writers anywhere in the world. Writers may submit a single work of fiction per entry, with a minimum length of 10,000 words and a maximum length of 20,000 words. There are no restrictions as to form, subject matter, or aesthetic approach.

CAN $35 for each entry from Canada. US $40 for each entry from the USA. US $45 for each entry from Mexico or outside North America. Deadline February 1, 2020

https://www.malahatreview.ca/contests/novella_contest/info.html

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Red Hen Press Women's Prose Prize

The Women's Prose Prize is for a previously unpublished, original work of prose. Novels, short story collections, memoirs, essay collections, and all other forms of prose writing are eligible for consideration. The award is $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press. Word length 45k to 80k words

$25 Entry Fee. Deadline Febr 29

https://redhenpress.submittable.com/submit/68507/red-hen-press-womens-prose-prize

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Puchi Award

The competition is open to books in any genre or form: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, novels, comics, picture books, essays, cookbooks, etc. The winner will receive a cash prize of €8,000

No Entry Fee. Deadline January 23 

https://puchiaward.com/en/guidelines

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First Pages Prize

Guest Judge: Award-winning author Sebastian Faulks. Enter the first FIVE pages (1,250 words max) of a fiction or creative nonfiction manuscript. Open internationally to un-agented writers, whether published previously or not. We support emerging writers with cash awards $1,000, $750 and $500, partial developmental editing and travel stipends plus lodging to be in Paris, France for prize-giving events June 9-10, 2020. Opens January 1, 2020

$25 Entry Fee. Deadline February 2, 2020

https://www.firstpagesprize.com/guidelines-and-termsconditions

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WRITER RESIDENCIES

MacDowell Colony Residencies

The colony is accepting applications from emerging and established artists for its summer fellowship program in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theater, and visual arts. The fellowship includes exclusive use of a private studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for a period of two to eight weeks. Summer residencies are available from June 1 - September 30, 2020. The sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence.

Deadline January 15, 2020

https://www.macdowellcolony.org/apply/application-guidelines

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Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing

To be eligible an applicant must be at least 21 years of age, reside in the US, and not enrolled in university.

Deadline February 1

https://www.bucknell.edu/academics/beyond-classroom/academic-centers-institutes/stadler-center-poetry-literary-arts-3

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James Jones First Novel Fellowship

A prize of US$10,000 is given annually for a novel-in-progress by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel yet. Runners-up will receive $1,000. 

$30 Entry Fee

https://www.wilkes.edu/academics/graduate-programs/masters-programs/creative-writing-ma-mfa/james-jones-fellowship-contest.aspx

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Summer Institute

It is an immersive two-week creative writing and cultural exchange program held in Iowa City, IA, a UNESCO City of Literature, for participants age 18-22 from Pakistan, India, and the U.S. 

Deadline February 1, 2020

https://iwp.uiowa.edu/programs/summer-institute/application

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Djerassi Residency

The mission of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in California is to support and enhance the creativity of artists by providing uninterrupted time for work, reflection, and collegial interaction in a setting of great natural beauty. Free 4-week residency.

Deadline March 16

https://djerassi.org/apply/artist-residencies/

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Native American Artist Fellowships

The Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) offers three artist-in-residence fellowships annually to advance the work of established and emerging Native American artists. Each fellowship includes a monthly stipend, housing, studio space, a supplies allowance, full access to the IARC collections, and travel reimbursement to and from SAR.  

Deadline January 15, 2020 - Location Santa Fe, NM

https://sarweb.org/iarc/native-american-artist-fellowships/

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I-Park Residencies

I-Park is a rural artists-in-residence program offering fully-funded residencies in Connecticut to creatives. All 2020 residencies are four weeks in duration except for an experimental six-week residency in September/October. Artists need only pay for their art supplies and transportation to and from the area. 

Deadline January 15, 2020

https://www.i-park.org/2020grp

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Baltic Writing Residency Sweden

The writer receives $1,000, and a free stay in a furnished cottage, based on a completed application. Applications are chosen by an anonymous peer-review committee, including a fiction writer, a poet, and a member of Harvard University's English Department. The Sweden Residency is located in Stockholm, and the writer resides, for three to four weeks at a time most convenient for them in a furnished cottage. 

Deadline January 21, 2020

https://balticwritingresidency.submittable.com/submit

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PlySpace Artist-in-Residence Program 

Dedicated to offering visual artists, writers, performers, designers, and other creative individuals time and space to investigate and pursue their own practices. Location Muncie, IA. PlySpace Residents will be offered living quarters, studio amenities, a $1,500 stipend provided by PlySpace to be used for travel and living expenses and up to $1,000 in funding toward their proposed collaborative project and supplies. Resident Fellows must plan a nine to twelve-week residency stay.

https://www.plyspace.org/residency-about

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Kerouac Project Residency Orlando, FL

The Kerouac Project provides four residencies a year to writers of any stripe or age, living anywhere in the world. You will be judged on the quality of the writing sample you submit. Each residency consists of a three-month stay in the cottage where Jack Kerouac wrote his novel Dharma Bums. Utilities and a food stipend of $1,000 are included. As writer-in-residence, all you are required to do is live in the Kerouac House during your residency, work on your writing project, and participate in two events: a Welcome Potluck dinner for you, and a Final Reading of your work at the Kerouac House at the end of your residency. 

Deadline March 15, 2020 - Opens for application January 1, 2020

https://www.kerouacproject.org/submissions/

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Brush Creek Arts Foundation 

It enables artists to professionally develop their work in a relaxing and inspiring setting. Deadlines for application submissions are March 1 and September 1 each year. Located on 30,000 acres of scenic splendor at the base of the Medicine Bow National Forest outside of Saratoga, Wyoming, the camp is situated right next to Brush Creek, in between the Sierra Madre and Snowy Mountain ranges. Writers, visual artists, performance artists, musicians, and composers are encouraged to apply for our three-week artist residency programs, complete with lodging, meals, working facilities, and incredible natural beauty.

https://www.brushcreekarts.org/

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Bogliasco Foundation, Italy, one of many free writers residencies (full room and board).

Apply until February 14 for Fall 2020

https://www.bfny.org/en/apply

#Residency #Grants #Fellowship

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Residency in a historic cottage in downtown Spartanburg, S.C.:

Emerging writers with a college degree in creative writing receive lodging, utilities, and a stipend of $800/month

$35 Entry Fee. Deadline April 15 

https://www.hubcity.org/writers-house-residency

#WritersResidency #Grants #Fellowship

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FOREIGN BOOK SALES

Handle your foreign rights yourself, faster, better, without losing copyright or paying someone else top $$$. International sales are, for some titles, as much as one-third or more of book sales. But how to successfully sell your author-published book in foreign countries? Read about all possibilities:

https://www.savvybookwriters.com/maximize-your-foreign-presence-almost-for-free/

BOOK REVIEWER

Are you writing Fantasy or YA books? This might be your reviewer:

Jess Peters reviews YA, dystopian, fantasy, sci-fi books

https://jessreviews877169955.wordpress.com/review-guidelines/

PUBLISHING NEWS

Pearson Sells Last 25% of Penguin Random House to German Publisher Bertelsmann. Read more:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/82018-pearson-sells-last-25-of-prh-to-bertelsmann.html

As we say life goes on … we need to appreciate the littlest thing as it’s there one day and maybe gone the next! Wishing you all a fabulous New Year 2020 full of happiness and health and joy.

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