AMA Chat Saturday, May 4 at 8 pm EST
Authortunities #60│May 4—June 1
What are you up to? I'll be hanging out in chat Saturday, May 4 at 8 pm EST if you want to join me. I'll be making my own submissions plan for the week and seeing who feels like visiting. This could become a regular thing. You will find me here.
This issue comes in with a whopping 122 submissions, contests, classes, grants and other author opportunities. If you know of anything worth sharing, drop it in the comments. Your writing triumphs, submission calls, or even just some encouragement. I want to know.
Civil Writes
🟠 Have you recommended your favorite Space and Time works from 2023? Choose who will be on the ballot for the first ever Linzner Awards. Select your favorites here.
🟠 PEN America just released the Freedom to Write Index, revealing that “in 2023, a record 339 writers from 33 countries were unjustly imprisoned, an increase of more than 20% over the previous year.” Read the report here.
🟠 Last week, a sobering article from
about the publishing industry called “No one buys books: Everything we learned about the publishing industry from Penguin vs. DOJ” broke the internet. This week shares his thoughts with “Yes, People Do Buy Books.” What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments.My Writes
🟠 I have a short, free read up on Pen of the Damned called “The Last Child.” You can read that here.
🟠
gave me a kind mention in her article “Unusual Ways to Promote a Book” Thank you LindaAnn! We recently did a reading to celebrate Walpurgis Night you can watch here.Your Writes
🟠
is part of a Bookfunnel share with horror books. Get your free horror books here. She also shares submissions in her newsletter . There were a few I hadn’t seen and she reminded me that I forgot about House of Gamut. I forgot who mentioned her to me, but thank you!While I find author opportunities everywhere, you can find a list of my favorite resources and sources here. 🔗https://angelaysmith.com/subscribe/
🏁 This calendar is organized by emoji! Ctrl F to find what you want.
🟢 opening subs
🔴 closing subs
⭐ networking
♻️ reprints
📚 education
🏆 awards
💲 grants
🟢 MAY 3 · Reedsy Prompts opens until the following Friday for short fiction between 1,000 - 3,000 words based on one of five prompts. Writers have until the following Friday at 11.59pm EST to enter. No fee to enter and have work posted. $5 fee to be eligible for the $250 cash prize. New prompt every Friday. This week’s prompt is: Action Stations with Tom Bromley 🎬.
🔗https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/
🟢📚 MAY 4 · The 2024 Emerging Writer's Contest is open until May 15 for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book. Winners are awarded publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, publication in the Winter 2024-25 issue of Ploughshares, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres. The 2024 contest judges are Dantiel W. Moniz (Fiction), Porsha Olayiwola (Poetry), and Augusten Burroughs (Nonfiction).
🔗https://www.pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest
🟢 MAY 4 · Shallow Waters Flash Fiction Contest from Crystal Lake Entertainment is open until May 31 for stories up to 1,500 words inspired by Stephen King’s Carrie. The top 15 to 20 stories will be posted on our Patreon page for our patrons to vote on. The winner will receive $0.03 per word, publication, and an Author Spotlight on our newsletter and Patreon page. The second-place winner will receive $0.02 a word, and the third place winner $0.01 per word. The winner will also have the option of hosting the following month’s contest for an additional $50. Second and third-place authors will also be invited to be published in the Hotel Macabre anthology series.
🔗https://www.patreon.com/posts/theme-for-this-103436012
🟢 MAY 4 · House of Gamut is open until full for a wide range of dark speculative fiction, poetry and reprints. Payment is pay ten cents a word for original work, and three cents a word for reprints. Poetry is $50 per poem for new work and $25 per poem for reprints.
🔗https://houseofgamut.moksha.io/publication/house-of-gamut/guidelines
🟢 MAY 4 · Crannóg is open until May 31 for general submissions of poetry and prose. Payment is €120 per poem, €200 per story, author interview, and cover image.
🔗https://crannogmagazine.com/submit/
🟢 MAY 4 · 21 Futures: Financial Fallout Anthology competition is open until August 31 for stories up to 3k words about what economic and “catastrophic failures will we see in the next 100 years'' The 21 best stories will feature in the anthology and will be eligible to win the following prizes: 1st place: $1,000 + feature interview, 2nd place: $100 + podcast appearance, 3rd Place: Book haul + podcast appearance, and 4th to 21st place: Featured in anthology + anthology copy + launch appearance. Entry fee is purchasing a copy of 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain [https://amzn.to/3JMUBJ2]
🔗https://21futures.com/submissions/
🟢 MAY 4 · Fahrenheit Books has a double submission call for prose and poetry until November 30, or until filled, for their Spekulative Stories Anthology Series. The anthologies are Train Tales and Aliens Among Us. Payment is .10 a word for prose and $2 per line in poetry. Reprints accepted.
🔗https://www.omicronworld.com/anthology-submissions
🟢 MAY 4 · Eternal Haunted Summer is open until June 1 for poetry and short fiction with the theme "Garden." Payment is $5.
🔗https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/about/
🟢 MAY 4 · Parabola, a quarterly journal, is open until June 1 for original fiction, poetry, essays and translations exploring the theme 'Grief and Gratitude.' Payment details are unspecified, but rumored to be several hundred dollars. Have requested details and will update when I have an answer.
🔗https://parabola.org/submissions/
🟢 MAY 4 · Weird Little Worlds is open for submissions to their The Robots Were Right: Tales of Unstoppable Technology anthology. Payments are .5 per word (500 – 5000 words) and poetry at $1 per line (>50 Lines). No reprints or multiple submissions. Simultaneous submissions welcome. Payment will increase with Kickstarter stretch goals.
🔗https://weirdlittleworlds.com/submissions/
🟢 MAY 4 · Dragon’s Roost Press is open until June 30, or until filled, for “Cosmic Horror stories set in and around Arkham, Innsmouth, and other mythos related areas' ' for their forthcoming anthology Arkham Institutions (working title). Payment is $0.06/word plus one contributor’s copy in both paperback and digital formats.
🔗https://thedragonsroost.biz/submissions-2/
🟢 MAY 4 · Poet Lore is open until May 30 for poetry. “We are committed to diversity and inclusivity and highly encourage submissions from marginalized voices.” America's Oldest Poetry Magazine, publishing since 1889. Payment is $50.
🔗https://www.poetlore.com/submit/
🟢 MAY 4 · New Orleans Review is open for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Payment is $300 for prose and $100 for poetry. In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, there are no submission fees for all API writers for the month of May, not limited to those living in/born in the US. $3 submission fee otherwise.
🔗https://www.neworleansreview.org/submit/
🟢 MAY 4 · Baltimore Review is open until May 31 for poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Payment is $50 via Amazon gift certificate or $50 through PayPal and a contributor copy.
🔗https://baltimorereview.org/submit
🟢♻️ MAY 4 · Touchpoint Press is open for submissions until May 31 for three anthologies: Nightmares of Strangers, Christmas and Haunting Tales of Romance from 3,000 – 7,000 words. Payment is a choice of a $50 Amazon gift card or $50 cash via PayPal ($25 for reprints). Reprints accepted.
🔗https://touchpointpress.com/about/submissions/
🟢 MAY 4 · Quarter Press: Quarter(ly) is open until July 31 for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art to the theme of “W3IRD.” Payment is $5.
🔗https://quarterpress.com/the-quarterly-journal
🟢 MAY 4 · The Spring Black River Chapbook Competition is open until May 31 for unpublished chapbooks of poetry or prose between 16-36 pages in length from new, emerging, and established writers. The winner will receive book publication, a $500 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Entry fee: $18.
🔗https://blacklawrencepress.submittable.com/submit
🟢 MAY 4 · Funicular Magazine is open until May 11 for short fiction, poetry and flash “that shocks, surprises, moves, and tickles.” Payment is $10/printed page (up to a maximum of $100) for short fiction, $25 per piece for Flash and $25 per poem plus one contributor copy.
🔗https://funicularmagazine.submittable.com/submit
🟢♻️ MAY 4 · Escape Pod is open until June 1 for General Submissions of original science fiction from 1,500-6,000 words, reprints from 1,500-7,500 words, novelette reprints from 1,500-7,500 words and audio submissions for narrators. Payment is $0.08 per word for original fiction and $100 per story for reprints. Reprints accepted.
🔗https://escapepod.org/guidelines/short-fiction/
🔴 MAY 5 · The Suburban Review closes for “stories and essays that explode with sparks of connection, and poems that explore beyond the boundaries of tradition,” aka “MEETCUTE.” Payments are $275 for fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry, and $100-300 for art.
🔗https://thesuburbanreview.com/submit/
⭐📚 MAY 5 · Rattlecast livestreams, a livestreaming poetry reading and podcast, is part interview and part reading, with a prompt-based open mic. It’s a casual way to hangout with Rattle editor Timothy Green. Each Rattlecast begins with a Poets Respond Live segment, featuring poems about the news, and also features a writing prompt at the end of the show, and open lines for poems written for the last week’s prompt. Timothy Liu | Rattlecast 244 at 8 pm EST.
🔗https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLD_fMFokoxAEbUzqLMIldRifEYrWK7w9-
⭐ MAY 5 · GoIndieNow presents This Week In Indies for 2024 a weekly Sunday chat show that covers issues relevant for Indie artists and the scoop on who is publishing what and where you can get it. Broadcasting every Sunday at Noon ET/11a CT/10a MT/9a PT.
🔗https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PL6VztCh3ynGYoDKdSOgwGnXJiZG8eas7J
🔴 MAY 6 · Unnerving Books closes for “two stories to fill out THE MIDNIGHT EXHIBIT VOL. 4… 6,000-11,000 words of third person POV horror fiction.” Payment is $0.01/word USD + a paperback copy.
🔗https://www.unnervingbooks.com/submissions
🔴 MAY 6 · Eggplant Emoji Volume 4 closes for 1,000-7,000 word character-driven, culturally striking, and hilarious short stories. Payment is $25.
🔗https://eggplantemojilit.com/submit/
🟢 MAY 6 · One Story opens for short, literary fiction stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words until submissions cap of 2000 is reached. Payment is $500 and 25 contributors copies.
🔗https://one-story.com/write/submit-a-story/
🟢♻️ MAY 6 · Samovar, published by Strange Horizons, is open for speculative fiction, review-essays, poetry, interview/conversations, and reprints in translation. Payment for fiction is 8 US cents per word to the author, and 8 US cents per word to the translator. Payment for reprints is a flat $100 USD to the author and $100 USD to the translator. Payments for poetry are $40 USD to the author and $40 USD to the translator. Payment for interview/conversations is $40 USD to each participant. Payment for review-essays is $40 USD.
🔗http://samovar.strangehorizons.com/submit/
⭐ MAY 6 · GoIndieNow presents First Time For Everything Ep7 Angela Yuriko Smith with hostess Juliet Rose. In this brand-new series Juliet welcomes Indie creators to talk about their “first times” in life and art. First Time For Everything Ep7 Angela Yuriko Smith
🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mkT5idLCuQ
🔴 MAY 7 · Stone’s Throw, the monthly online companion to Rock and a Hard Place Magazine, closes to noir stories “set at home, wherever that is. Apartments. The suburbs. A townhouse. An RV. Under an overpass. We all need to lay our head somewhere, and while we imagine it to always be safe, sometimes that’s just wishful thinking” from between 1- 2,000 words with a payment of $25.
🔗https://www.rockandahardplacemag.com/stones-throw-submissions
⭐ MAY 8 · Meet the Author Podcast LIVE with hosts Rob and Joan Carter will be available on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and WDJY 99.1 FM RADIO (Atlanta, Georgia). Wednesdays at 7 pm EST. Today’s show will be the Magnolia Bluff Reveal Part 2.
🔗https://indiebooksource.com/podcast/
⭐📚 MAY 8-10 · Nonfiction Writers Conference (NFWC) Reserve your virtual seat to be among the first to receive conference updates. Registration begins at $197 with options for payment plans. Event starts each day at 9am PT / 12pm ET. Event ends each day at 3pm PT / 6pm ET. Five live sessions per day delivered with Zoom. Includes 10 minute breaks between sessions and a one-hour break mid-day. Save 20% with code: NFWC20 Discount expires 4/21/24.
🔗https://nonfictionwritersconference.com/#pricing®istration
📚 MAY 9 · Effective Book Marketing for Any Author, hosted by Writer’s Digest University This live webinar taught by publishing industry expert Jane Friedman, you’ll learn the key foundations of every book marketing campaign but also how to develop a personalized framework that’s appropriate to your strengths and abilities. Costs $89.99 and includes access to the archived version of the program and the materials for one year. You do not have to attend the live event to get a recording of the presentation.
🔗https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/effective-book-marketing-for-any-author-0jbx
⭐📚 MAY 9 · An online Harvard Diversity Discussion on “Race and Rural America: Contrasts to Urban America” will be open to the public via Zoom on Wednesday, May 9, 5-6 pm EST.
📚 MAY 9 · Author Strength Training with Becca Syme Gallup Certified Strength coach Becca Syme discusses success alignment and how our strengths can help us achieve the top 1% of our capacity. Free, registration required.
🔴 MAY 10 · Rattle Magazine’s “Poets Respond” challenge calls for poems inspired by “a news story or public event from the previous week, and has been written in the time since.” Selected poems will appear as the Sunday poem at Rattle.com which appear to over 10,000 people via RSS feed and daily email service. Poets will receive $100 and a complimentary subscription to the print magazine. The deadline for each week is Friday at midnight PST.
🔗https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/30232/poets-respond-online
🔴 MAY 10 · Cursed Cooking: A Horror Community Cookbook and Food Horror Anthology closes an extended submission window exclusively for writers of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and other underrepresented groups for flash, short stories, drabble and recipes. Payment is .05 per word.
🔗https://www.cateyepress.com/submissions
🔴 MAY 11 · Funicular Magazine closes for short fiction, poetry and flash “that shocks, surprises, moves, and tickles.” Payment is $10/printed page (up to a maximum of $100) for short fiction, $25 per piece for Flash and $25 per poem plus one contributor copy.
🔗https://funicularmagazine.submittable.com/submit
⭐📚 MAY 12 · Rattlecast livestreams, a livestreaming poetry reading and podcast, is part interview and part reading, with a prompt-based open mic. It’s a casual way to hangout with Rattle editor Timothy Green. Each Rattlecast begins with a Poets Respond Live segment, featuring poems about the news, and also features a writing prompt at the end of the show, and open lines for poems written for the last week’s prompt. Julie Marie Wade (w/ Denise Duhamel) | Rattlecast at 8 pm EST.
🔗https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLD_fMFokoxAEbUzqLMIldRifEYrWK7w9-
⭐ MAY 12 · GoIndieNow presents This Week In Indies for 2024 a weekly Sunday chat show that covers issues relevant for Indie artists and the scoop on who is publishing what and where you can get it. Broadcasting every Sunday at Noon ET/11a CT/10a MT/9a PT.
🔗https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PL6VztCh3ynGYoDKdSOgwGnXJiZG8eas7J
🟢 MAY 14 · Solarpunk Micro Mini opens until May 21 for solarpunk micro fiction, 250 words max. Submissions are capped at 150 per quarter. Payment is $25.
🔗https://solarpunkmagazine.com/micro-fiction/
📚 MAY 14 · Black Lawrence Press presents Poems as Pilgrims: A Workshop on Submissions With Robbie Gamble at 8 pm EST. Attendance is free. Zoom registration required.
🔗https://blacklawrencepress.com/events/
📚 MAY 15 · The Arcane University offers valuable video game development skills, including game writing, from experienced modders and industry professionals. In collaboration with TESRenewal, the AU aims to provide teaching and support to any and all members and applicants to help them to acquire, expand, or improve the skill set needed to contribute to Beyond Skyrim and/or their partnered modding projects. In addition, it serves as the primary location for learning or enhancing existing skills for the wider modding community, becoming the go-to place for anyone looking to learn. Free.
⭐ MAY 15 · Meet the Author Podcast LIVE with hosts Rob and Joan Carter will be available on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and WDJY 99.1 FM RADIO (Atlanta, Georgia). Wednesdays at 7 pm EST. Today’s guest is Judith Starkston.
🔗https://indiebooksource.com/podcast/
🔴♻️ MAY 15 · Luna Station Quarterly closes for “speculative fiction written by women-identified authors” from 500 to 7000 words in length. No poetry. Payment is $10 USD.
🔗https://submissions.lunastationpress.com/
🔴 MAY 15 · Diet Milk Magazine, a “biannual literary magazine devoted to Gothic” closes for submissions of “poetry, prose, and visual art of all kinds.” Payment is $15 per poem, $0.01 per word ($40 minimum) for short stories, and $50 per art piece for their annual themed mini-issue. The theme is “food.”
🔗https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/diet-milk-magazine-rv29z
🔴 MAY 15 · Songs of Eretz Poetry Review closes for “quality poetry of any genre and length congruent with our themes, including traditional poems, form poems, prose poems, and narrative poems.” The current theme is "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Payment is $7 per poem.
🔗http://www.songsoferetz.com/p/guidelines.html
🔴 MAY 15 · A Velvet Giant is closed for “ambiguity: flash pieces, found pieces, cross-genre experiments, the "poem" that thinks it might be a story, the "story" that thinks it might be a poem. Retellings and re-imaginings. Work that chips away at institutional structures. Work that breaks everything down so that it can build” in various formats, including words, recordings, visual art, hybrid forms, and translations. Payment is $20.
🔗https://www.avelvetgiant.com/submit
🔴 MAY 15 · Diet Milk Minis closes for prose and poetry written to the theme of “food.” Payment is $10 for poetry and $20 for prose.
🔗https://www.dietmilkmag.com/submit
🔴♻️ MAY 15 · The Lorelei Signal closes for fantasy short stories, flash fiction, and poetry with strong female characters. Payment is $15 for short stories, $5 for poems and flash (<1,000 words) fiction pieces, and $5 for reprints.
🔗https://www.loreleisignal.com/guidelines
🔴🏆💲 MAY 15 · The James Laughlin Award closes to “a second book of poetry forthcoming in the next calendar year.” The winner will receive a prize of $5,000, an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, and distribution of the winning book to approximately one thousand Academy of American Poets members. Sponsored by the Academy of American Poets.
🔗https://poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/james-laughlin-award
🔴🏆💲 MAY 15 · The Loraine Williams Poetry Prize is closing for a single poem, to be published in The Georgia Review. The winner will receive an honorarium of $1,500 and an expenses-paid trip to Athens, Georgia, to give a public reading with the judge. Cole Swensen serves as the judge of the 2024 Loraine Williams Poetry Prize. Entry fee: $30
🔗https://thegeorgiareview.com/the-loraine-williams-poetry-prize/
🔴🏆💲 MAY 15 · The Montreal International Poetry Prize closes submissions for original works of poetry, to encourage building international readership, and explore “the world’s Englishes.” The Montreal Prize awards one prize of $20,000 CAD to a poet for a single poem of 40 or fewer lines. A jury of internationally reputed poets and critics selects a shortlist of approximately 60 poems, from which a judge chooses one winner. Entry fee: $20.
🔗https://www.montrealpoetryprize.com/
🔴📚 MAY 15 · The 2024 Emerging Writer's Contest closes for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book. Winners are awarded publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, publication in the Winter 2024-25 issue of Ploughshares, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres. The 2024 contest judges are Dantiel W. Moniz (Fiction), Porsha Olayiwola (Poetry), and Augusten Burroughs (Nonfiction).
🔗https://www.pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest
🟢 MAY 15 · Riddlebird is open until October 26 for literary fiction, personal essays, and genre fiction from 650-5000 words focusing on humor and lighthearted pieces until full. Payment is $100.
🔗https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/riddlebird-Ae4Nk
🟢 MAY 15 · Star*Line, the official print journal of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA), is a literary venue for speculative (including science-fiction, fantasy, and horror) poets and poetry enthusiasts, and features interviews, articles, reviews, member news and letters, association business, and poetry. Star*Line is open for submissions year-round. Payment for poetry: 4¢/word rounded to next dollar, minimum $4. Nonfiction, 1¢/word rounded to the next dollar. Reviews pay a flat fee of $4.
🔗https://www.sfpoetry.com/starline.html
🟢 MAY 15 · Bright Wall/Dark Room is open for three weeks for “interviews, profiles, formal analysis, cultural criticism, personal essays, and humor pieces” on filmmaking. Payment is $50 USD.
🔗https://brightwalldarkroom.submittable.com/submit
🔴🏆💲 MAY 15 · Four Line Poem, hosted by FanStory.com Inc., closes to four line poems with “a specific syllable count. The first line has 1 syllable, the second line has 5 syllables, the third line has 5 syllables, and the last line has 9 syllables. The subject can be anything.” The winner takes away a $100 cash prize. All writers will receive feedback for their submission. Entry fee: $10
🔗https://www.fanstory.com/contestdetails.jsp?id=108747
📚 MAY 15 · Web Design on Reedsy | Reedsy Professionals Professional web developers Elena Saygo and Stuart Grant share their insights and experiences covering topics such as Building up your portfolio at the start of your career, Working as a web designer on Reedsy, How to optimize your freelancer profile and Setting your rates as a freelance web designer. Free, registration required, 1 pm EST.
⭐ MAY 16 · First Friday - Third Thursday Quick Read features 6 authors each reading a selection of speculative fiction for 8 minutes. There will be time for questions & answers at the end and a giveaway from the authors. This free event is hosted by Strong Women - Strange Worlds. Pre-register.
⭐ MAY 16 · Poetry as Prayer: In Celebration of remembering (y)our light Join Asian American Writers Workshop online for a celebration of poet and teacher, River 瑩瑩 Dandelion's remembering (y)our light. River's debut chapbook asks how we preserve intergenerational memory when the archives hold missing knowledge. Free to attend, registration required.
🔴 MAY 17 · Rattle Magazine’s “Poets Respond” challenge calls for poems inspired by “a news story or public event from the previous week, and has been written in the time since.” Selected poems will appear as the Sunday poem at Rattle.com which appear to over 10,000 people via RSS feed and daily email service. Poets will receive $100 and a complimentary subscription to the print magazine. The deadline for each week is Friday at midnight PST.
🔗https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/30232/poets-respond-online
⭐📚 MAY 17 · Rattle Magazine’s livestream Poetry Critique of the Week Rattle's editor hosts a livestreamed poetry critique on YouTube and Facebook, offering suggestions and feedback. The viewing audience is encouraged to participate. The goal is to help us all become better poets through the honest sharing of our reactions, similar to the experience of an MFA roundtable workshop. Critique of the Week at 4 pm EST.
🔗https://www.youtube.com/@RattlePoetry/featured
🟢 MAY 17 · Reedsy Prompts calls for short fiction between 1,000 - 3,000 words based on one of five prompts. Writers have until the following Friday at 11.59pm EST to enter. No fee to enter and have work posted. $5 fee to be eligible for the $250 cash prize. New prompt every Friday.
🔗https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/
This is the end of the free section. There are 60 more authortunities from May 18 to June 1 just beyond, plus a Submissions Support Group paid subscriber-only chat. The authortunities past this point will become available in the coming weeks.
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