Authortunities #38 Dec. 9—Jan. 6
❗ Announcing Linzner Awards❗ ➕ Free book from Joe Mynhardt/Crystal Lake ➕ FREE Space and Time #15 from May 1972 〓 Nearly 150 author opportunities for you!
The end of the year is upon us, and once again I ask (as I do every year at this time): WTH? How did the last 11 months go by so fast? You’d think after 5.5 decades of this I’d be used to it. Sorry, I know I mentioned this last week, but my shock will only get worse from here until the new year. Any plans for the new year?
Here’s one of mine:
Beginning with the January 6 issue I’m going to start doing monthly audits of the entire calendar to make sure the information we share is up to date and accurate.
As of yesterday, the new issue of Space and Time magazine is out. Hopefully next week I can be offering the Kindle version as our read-for-free issue, but this week the Amazon Overlords said no.
Instead, I have a way back issue from 1972… but if you can’t wait for the ebook to cross the… Amazon… 🤣😅😂 you can find the brand new print edition of Space and Time Fall/Winter #145 here.
PEN America’s Town Hall will be happening Monday, December 11 from 7 – 9 pm ET with a focus on “Conversation Amid Crisis: Sustaining Dialogue in Divided Times.” From the event description:
This panel discussion will examine not the conflict in the Middle East per se, but rather its ripple effects on the cultural, academic, and literary ecosystem back home. Through this conversation, we will endeavor to cultivate a space where writers and thinkers can navigate fraught topics by demonstrating a willingness to listen, engage, learn, and even narrow differences if possible.
Register to attend the livestream here.
You have a few more days to apply to be a First Reader at khōréō. Applications close December 15th. From their website:
We’re looking for folks who will be available for a few hours a week once per quarter; you will read approximately 25 stories per submission cycle. While we welcome readers of all backgrounds to apply, we are particularly interested in volunteers who themselves identify as immigrants or members of a diaspora, and/or with multilingual and translation skills.
To apply, please submit this form: https://forms.gle/E9iJpbp26aJD2ERG9.
There’s still room to help out Lucy Yu of Yu & Me Books in Chinatown, Manhattan. She began a GoFundMe in the summer when her magnificent shop had to temporarily close due to a fire on the floor above. The bookshop was severely damaged. She has managed to raise enough to survive for now but there is still time to donate to the emergency fund here. It’s on my bucket list to one day buy books from Yu & Me Books.
Here’s the best thing I read on Substack this week: In a really enlightening piece,
reveals why best selling book lists are misleading and biased in her recent “Bestseller Lists are Broken” post. She includes how the lists work, how people get on them and she offers some solutions for making them work better.Last week’s poll asked “How important is social media for a career?”
Only 2% of you chose “Very, and I love it.”
52% of you agree “Very, but a necessary evil.”
24% of you think “It doesn't really help.”
and 21% you think “It's only a distraction.”
I think I’m grouped in with the 52% that think social media is a necessary evil, but important for our branding. The percentages are eye opening. For all the scrolling we do, only 2% of us are enjoying ourselves. Surely there’s a more fun way to promote.
✅ Time for a new poll! Let’s talk about holiday sales and the end-of-year book buying blitzes… voting stays open for the next three days, and I’ll share the results in next week’s Authortunities.
Free books!
Just in time for all that planning, Joe Mynhardt from Crystal Lake Entertainment is offering a free copy of his new book, 75 Power Tips to Jumpstart Your Horror Career. You can get your copy for free here.
ARCs for Inujini, my own first novel-length book, will be going out this next week via Bookfunnel. I’m still signing up readers, reviewers and other curious parties. You can sign up to read Inujini first here.
And speaking of free, be sure to collect your free issue of Space and Time magazine! This week’s issue is #15 from May 1972 and will be free from Sunday, December 10 to Thursday, December 14, 2023, 11:59 PM PST.
When you read for free, you support authors with your Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC). That’s money in our pocket that didn’t come from yours which means we can make more art. Thank you for the love! 🧡🧡🧡
🔗Own #15 from May 1972 for free!
Space and Time News
🚀Announcement from my editorial in the latest issue of Space and Time: …
…we will be putting together the first ever LaikaCon online event from October 30-November 3, 2024. The first Linzner awards will be chosen by our readers from everything we published in 2023. Not to exclude the previous decades of excellence, there will be categories for Space and Time issues of the past as well. Yes, there will be actual awards you can put on your shelf. No, I will not be creating them from salt dough and toilet paper tubes, I promise. …Watch for more details in all our channels beginning in 2024.
🚀❗ Ever had something published in Space and Time? I’d love to share what you’re doing now. Contact me at authortunities@substack.com.
❓Thank you to all the great sources we get our author opportunities from. You can find a list at 🔗https://angelaysmith.com/subscribe/
🧡And that’s it from me this week. Enjoy this week’s Authortunities and go write something that matters… because writers gotta write.
🏁 This calendar is organized by emoji! Ctrl F to find what you want.
In this entire calendar share you will find:
37 newly opened submissions 🟢
80 submission deadlines 🔴
2 events for authors ⭐
14 reprint markets ♻️
8 award 🏆
Send comments, items, Signal Boosts+ to authortunities@substack.com
From December 9
🔴♻️ DEC 9· The Other Stories Podcast in need of 2,000 word speculative fiction on the theme of “The End” for a $15 GBP flat rate on December 9. 🔗https://theotherstories.net/submissions/
🔴 DEC 9 · The Other Stories (Audio) is accepting horror submissions based on themes until December 9, 2023. They offer a payment of 15 GBT. Explore the themes and check the details at
🔗https://theotherstories.net/submissions.
🔴 DEC 10 · Coffee-House Poetry is accepting submissions for the Troubadour International Poetry Prize. The prize includes £2,000 for the winner and £1,000 for the second-place, along with publication on their website and an invitation to read at a celebration. Mona Arshi and Tom Sleigh will judge. Submit any number of poems, each up to 45 lines, with an $8 entry fee per poem by December 10. Check the details at 🔗http://coffeehousepoetry.org/prizes.
🔴 DEC 10 · Friends of American Writers is offering the Literature Awards with a $2,500 prize for a book of fiction or creative nonfiction set in the Midwest or by a Midwest resident. Eligible writers must have published up to three books, and self-published books are not accepted. Submit two copies of books published in 2023 with an author bio by December 10. There is no entry fee. Check the details at
🔗http://fawchicago.org/awards.php.
🔴 DEC 10 · Northern Gravy invites fiction, poetry, and Kid Lit submissions from UK & Ireland writers, offering £100 per contributor. The deadline is December 10, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://northerngravy.com/submissions/.
🔴🏆 DEC 10 · Troubadour International Poetry Prize accepting entries. ENTRY FEE £6/€7/$8. Deadline: Dec 10, 2023. First prize £2,000, second prize £1,000, third prize £500. Plus 20 commendeds. Poems may be submitted from any country, on any theme, in English, no longer than 45 lines, original work, and unpublished. Check details at 🔗http://www.coffeehousepoetry.org/prizes.
🔴 DEC 11 · Funicular Magazine is seeking fiction, poetry, and flash fiction submissions. They pay $10/printed page for short stories, $25 per piece for flash, and $25 per piece for poetry. The deadline is December 11, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://funicularmagazine.submittable.com/submit.
⭐ DEC 14 · An online Harvard Diversity Discussion on “Race and Childhood: Cultural Upbringing” will be open to the public via Zoom on Thursday, December 14, 5-6 pm EST. Register at 🔗https://cutt.ly/RaceChildhood
🔴 DEC 14 · Apparition Lit’s Reality Show Madness Flash Fiction Prompt closes to submissions of speculative flash fiction (under 1k words) prompted by “Terrace House/Big Brother/The Real World” until the 14th. Payment is $30 USD.
🔗https://apparitionlit.com/submissions/
🔴 DEC 14 · Jelly Bucket, published annually by Bluegrass Writers Studio, is currently accepting works of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. They are reading for a special issue with a section focused on neurodivergent writers, to be published in Summer 2024. Currently, submissions for this issue are free and close on December 14th. 🔗 https://jellybucket.submittable.com/submit
🔴 DEC 14 · Hippocampus Magazine is open for Memoir Excerpts, Personal Essays, and Flash Nonfiction submissions. They offer a payment of $40. Submissions are fee-free from December 1 to December 14, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/submissions/.
🔴 DEC 15 · Gival Press is holding the Poetry Award, offering a $1,000 prize and publication for a poetry book. Submit a manuscript of at least 45 pages with a $20 entry fee by December 15. Check the details at
🔴 DEC 15 · Longleaf Press is open for submissions for a poetry collection with a $1,000 prize, publication, and 25 author copies. Submit a manuscript of at least 50 pages with a $27 entry fee using the online submission system by December 15. Check the details at
🔴 DEC 15 · Radon seeks short stories and poetry with elements of anarchism, transhumanism, dystopia, and/or science fiction. They pay 1 cent per word for original work and half a cent per word for reprints. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.radonjournal.com/submit.
🔴 DEC 15 · Eye to the Telescope is accepting speculative poetry submissions with a payment of $0.04/word, up to $25. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://eyetothetelescope.com/submit.html.
🔴 DEC 15 · On Spec is open for speculative fiction and poetry submissions with a payment of $100CAD. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://onspecmag.wpcomstaging.com/submissions/.
🔴 DEC 15 · Propagule is currently accepting short stories that embrace experimentation and oddity, exploring the strange, surreal, atypical, and unexpected. Payment is up to $20, and the deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://onspecmag.wpcomstaging.com/submissions/.
🔴 DEC 15 · Copper Nickel is open for poetry, fiction, essays, and translation folios. They offer a payment of $30 per printed page, two copies of the issue, and a one-year subscription. Submit early in the month to avoid submission fees. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗http://copper-nickel.org/submit/.
🔴 DEC 15 · Baffling Magazine is seeking speculative flash fiction submissions with a payment of 8 cents/word. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.bafflingmag.com/submissions.
🔴 DEC 15 · Lost Boys Press is open for Romantasy submissions, seeking romance set in a fantasy world. The word count should be between 60,000 and 120,000 words, and payment is in royalties. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.lostboyspress.com/romantasysubmissions.
🔴 DEC 15 · Brazenhead Review is accepting poetry submissions with a payment of $200. The deadline is December 15, 2023, and submissions close when the cap is reached. Check the details at
🔗https://brazenheadreview.com/Submit.
🔴 DEC 15 · Eavesdrop Magazine welcomes fiction, poetry, comics, plays, CNF, and art submissions from Canadian writers. Payment ranges from $30 per poem to $70 per short fiction, CNF piece, short play, and visual art piece. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.eavesdropmagazine.ca/submissions.
🔴 DEC 15 · Midstory Magazine is seeking personal essays about love, loss, and friendship at midlife. They offer a payment of $50 for accepted essays. The preferred word count is 750-2000 words, and the deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.theherstoriesproject.com/submissions.
🔴 DEC 15 · The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is open for fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, mixed media, and visual arts submissions. They offer a payment of $50, and the deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://matter.submittable.com/submit.
🔴 DEC 15 · Archive of the Odd is seeking speculative fiction, with a preference for horror. They accept stories in various formats and pay $15-$25 for fiction of 500-5,000+ words. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://archiveoftheodd.wordpress.com/submissions/.
🔴 DEC 15 · Samjoko Magazine is accepting fiction, nonfiction, poetry, play, and screenplay submissions. They offer a payment of $20, and the deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.samjokomagazine.com/submission-guidelines.
🔴 DEC 15 · Muse Magazine is open for nonfiction articles for children. The payment is not specified, and the deadline is December 15, 2023. See themes and submit queries only. Check the details at
🔗https://cricketmag.submittable.com
🔴 DEC 15 · Eastover Press: Rural Writers of Color is open to BIPOC writers presenting short stories featuring characters in rural or semi-rural spaces. They offer a payment ranging from $100-$300. The deadline is December 15, 2023, considering previously published stories in 2021 and 2022. Check the details at
🔗https://eastoverpresscutleafjournal.submittable.com/submit.
🔴 DEC 15 · Rebel Satori Press is accepting full-length LGBTQ+ speculative fiction submissions. Payment is in royalties, and the deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at🔗https://rebelsatoripress.submittable.com/submit.
🔴 DEC 15 · Borne in the Blood is seeking stories about elements carried in the blood, whether magic, disease, or something else. The length should be 1000-7000 words, and the payment is $20. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/borne-in-the-blood-guidelines.
🔴 DEC 15 · Meetinghouse is open for fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry submissions. They offer a minimum payment of $100 for prose and $20/page for stories over 5 pages. The deadline is December 15, 2023, accepting up to 7,500 words per submission. Check the details at
🔗https://www.meetinghousemag.org/submit.
🔴 DEC 15 · Orca is seeking literary fiction submissions. They offer $50 for short stories, $25 for flash fiction. Submit early in the month to avoid submission fees. The deadline is December 15, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://orcalit.com/guidelines/
🔴 DEC 15 · Chicken Soup for the Soul seeks stories or poems on the theme “Cat Stories” for $250 paid “one month after publication of the book and you will receive ten free copies of the book your story or poem appears in.” 🔗https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/submit-your-story/
🔴 DEC 15 · Split Lip Magazine closes tip jar submissions for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, art, interviews/reviews, and mini-reviews. Payment is $75 per author for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, and art, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews.
🔗https://splitlipthemag.com/submit
🔴 DEC 15 · Chicken Soup for the Soul seeks stories or poems on the themes “Dog Stories” for $250 paid “one month after publication of the book and you will receive ten free copies of the book your story or poem appears in.” 🔗https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/submit-your-story/
🔴 DEC 15 · 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
🔴 DEC 15 · AGNI seeks poetry and prose. Payment is $10 per printed page for prose and $20 per page for poetry, up to $150. Fee for online submissions, but no fee for USPS submissions. Open from September 1st to midnight December 15th
🔗https://agnionline.bu.edu/submit/
🔴 DEC 15 · RCC MUSE art + literary journal – poetry and prose submissions open: MUSE is especially looking to publish work from under- or misrepresented groups, such as people of color, disabled people, LGBTQ+, present/formerly incarcerated people, and others from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. Submit one short story or creative nonfiction (1500 words max) or up to three poems through December 15, 2023. Mail your submissions to RCC MUSE, Riverside City College, 4800 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92506 or email muse@rcc.edu. If emailing, send your submission as an attachment with "Last Name – Genre – Title of Submission" in the subject line (e.g., Smith – Prose – "In Summer"). Please include contact information. Review full submission guidelines at
🔗 https://rcc.edu/community/publications/muse.html
🔴 DEC 15 · Story Foundation Prize is currently accepting submissions. A prize of $1,500 and publication in Story is given annually for a short story. Using only the online submission system, submit a short story of no more than 10,000 words with a $25 entry fee, which includes a subscription to Story, by December 15. Check the details at
🔴 DEC 15 · Longleaf Press Book Contest is open for submissions. A prize of $1,000, publication by Longleaf Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner will also be invited to give a virtual reading in early 2024. Roger Weingarten will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 50 pages with a $27 entry fee by December 15. Check the details at
🟢♻️ DEC 15 · Luna Station Quarterly seeks “female-fronted speculative stories” of “500 to 7000 words in length” for $5 USD. 🔗https://lunastationquarterly.com/submissions/
🟢💲 DEC 15 · Restless Books, Prize for New Immigrant Writing, offers $10,000 and publication for a debut book of nonfiction by a first-generation immigrant. Eligible writers who have not published a book of nonfiction in English can submit a prose manuscript of at least 45,000 words or a writing sample of 25,000 words or more and a detailed proposal; a curriculum vitae; and a one-page cover letter using the online submission system. The prize alternates annually between fiction and nonfiction. There is no entry fee.
🔗http://restlessbooks.org/prize-for-new-immigrant-writing
🟢♻️ DEC 15 · Samovar, published by Strange Horizons, seeks 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/
🟢♻️ DEC 15 · Zooscape opens for submissions December 15th for original stories or reprints up to 10,000 words; query for longer. Reprints should not be readily available elsewhere online. All stories must be furry, meaning an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in the story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. They love “science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars.” Payment is 8 cents/word for original fiction, $20 for reprints.
🔗https://zooscape-zine.com/guidelines/
🔴 DEC 15 · Eastover Anthology of Rural Stories: Writers of Color invites previously published short stories from BIPOC writers with a connection to rural or semi-rural locales in the United States. The stories should feature characters living and working in such settings and be up to 7,500 words. Compensation ranges from $100 to $300. 🔗 https://eastoverpresscutleafjournal.submittable.com/submit
🔴 DEC 16 · The Offing is open for creative nonfiction submissions, particularly personal essays. The length should not exceed 7,500 words, and payment ranges from $25 to $100. The deadline is December 16, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://theoffingmag.submittable.com/submit.
🔴 DEC 16 · Humour Me is seeking festive humor stories for their Christmas special, including fiction and non-fiction. The word count should be a minimum of 1,000 words and a maximum of 3,000. Payment ranges from £25 (GBP) to £40 (GBP), and the deadline is December 16, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://humourmemag.co.uk/submission-requests/.
🔴 DEC 16 · Kelp: The Amber Waves of Winter is accepting noir/neo-noir submissions in the genres of crime, capers, detective stories, and mysteries. They offer a payment of $35, and the deadline is December 16, 2023. Check the details at
🔗https://kelpjournal.submittable.com/submit.
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