Authortunities #47 Feb. 10—Mar. 9
Now read in 50 states and 40 countries! ➕ S&T Submissions Update #4 ➕ FREE Space and Time #142 from Fall/Winter 2022 〓 100s of author opportunities for you!
Arthur has a brand new book 😂 Apologies for a bit of a longer opening, there’s a lot to cover. Next week I’ll officially launch my how-effective-are-ebooks-for-promotion experiement and share all the good, bad and ugly details.
A Hope-full Response
Last week on Exercise Your Writes I had the pleasure of interviewing C. Hope Clark of FundsforWriters. We met because she had sent me a message chastising me over my participation with KDP’s Virtual Voice Beta. I respect differing opinions. We both agreed it was a beneficial conversation for our mutual readers which happen to overlap. I had her as a guest on the show. She didn’t mention anything about it to her readers so I assumed we’d moved on. I was a little surprised to find her newsletter message this week has skewed my words (albeit anonymously).
From her weekly newsletter:
“Someone mentioned to me that AI levels the playing field for those who cannot get traditionally published or cannot afford editors and cover designers. Why does the playing field have to be leveled? There are beginner, journey level, and seasoned writers out there. In any profession, one must pay their dues to learn, grow, and produce quality material. Why do we need shortcuts?”
“Someone” is me. I really want to set the record straight. She may have attributed me anonymously but any of you who watch Exercise Your Writes heard this conversation. I didn’t say AI leveled the playing field. I said I was happy that KDP’s Virtual Voice (Text-to-speech) did. Virtual Voice gives authors access to a fast growing market most of us can’t access: audiobooks.
I thought I made these points clear in the video, but in case I didn’t:
KDP’s Virtual Voice isn’t AI at all. It’s Text-to-speech, the same thing that has been used to narrate books for the visually impaired for a while now. Nothing is being generated. I repeat, it’s not AI.
I stated that I’m curious and open to AI, but I agree with Hope it isn’t in a place to generate useful creative work at this time. Side note, most platforms, like Amazon, do actually ask creators to disclose any AI use, and how it was used.
I respectfully disagree (and take light offense) with Hope’s statement that the playing field shouldn’t be leveled and one must “pay their dues.” How is using a tool, and I am speaking of Text-to-speech, a shortcut or cheat?
Our mutual newsletters are, but definition, tools to boost writers. I hope this newsletter acts to “level the playing field.” I don’t agree that using a tool is taking a shortcut any more than using a computer instead of longhand is a shortcut.
I repeat, Text-to-speech is NOT Artificial Intelligence. It reads text out loud and that is it. The definition:
When only 4% of all authors have audiobooks, a fast growing market, I don’t see it as a short cut, but a widening of the path. I looked at Hope’s books and she doesn’t have any audiobooks that I could find, so this could make her own books accessible to more readers. However you feel about Amazon, I think most of us will agree that being able to use Text-to-speech is beneficial.
Writing is a hard career and I think we should help each other however we can. This includes sharing tools, tips… and just sharing.
You can watch the C. Hope Clark episode of Exercise Your Writes here.
If you want to hear a sample of KDP’s Virtual Voice, I now have it for three of my books and you can listen to a sample clip for free.
Bitter Suites uses a British female voice.
End of Mae uses a different British female voice.
BRAND NEW How to Be an Authortunist uses an American female voice.
The How to Be an Authortunist ebook is already scheduled to be free from now until Monday, February 12, 2024, 11:59 PM PST.
If you miss that window, it’s always free to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Speaking of How to Be an Authortunist
This was going to be my big announcement before I read Hope’s newsletter today and wanted to clear things up… moving forward.
Just released, How to Be an Authortunist shares three decades of information gathered from the writing and publishing industry. From unconventional ideas, such as how to use Second Life for promoting your work, to time-tested tools, like how to write a press release. Included are templates, websites and other specifics that will help you slap down the impostor syndrome and be your best publishing self. From the publisher of Space and Time magazine (est. 1966), a two times Bram Stoker Awards® winner and the curator behind the weekly Authortunities newsletter, you can find it in paperback, ebook and audiobook here.
How to Be an Authortunist is free from now until Monday, February 12, 2024, 11:59 PM PST. Find all editions here.
Authortunist. / (au̯.tʰorˌtjuːnɪst) / noun. A writer who skillfully adapts their actions, responses, and creative strategies to seize opportunities within the publishing world, adapting to trends, market shifts, and evolving circumstances in the literary landscape.
Space and Time Submissions Report
Space and Time submissions are officially closed, but every submission has been read at least once. A few rejections and acceptances have gone out. Kudos to those of you who read my message about shorter pieces having a better chance this round. You all sent in some brilliant flash fiction. I’m going to take as many of them as I can. I like giving not-so-secret updates here and will continue.
Another not-so-secret update: there will be an open call for an RPG stories anthology around the time we release this next issue. Yes, finally a place where you can publish your party wipes and other adventures.
Final word on submissions… please use Shunn formatting. There is a reason it exists. When we’re tight on wordcount it really helps to open a doc and see if the piece is 8k words or 2k without having to scroll through and guess. After reading 20 pieces, scrolling is hard.
Jonathan Maberry tells a story about a call he had once where he had an ungodly amount of submissions (I think 10k?). His reader team cleared through most of them pretty fast because they weren’t properly formatted. Put yourself in the lead by simply using Shunn.
Unclear what I’m talking about? Here’s your template.
🔗 https://www.shunn.net/format/
Exercise Your Writes Submissions Opened Feb. 7
I like to at least close the show with a reader submitted video and the submissions are coming in already. Get your videos ready because submissions close on Feb. 14th. I’ll be choosing just one video this time. Details here.
The March 1 show will be “With Lydia Prime [Kandisha Press, Silent House Press, Sirens Call Publications]” and it’s already scheduled here.
Holistic Horror Poetry Online Chapbook
Here’s a great article/mini-chapbook from last month's “Holistic Horrors” column that focuses on the use of poetry as a vehicle for expressing themes of mental illness/mental health. Lee Murray was instrumental in putting this together.
If you missed it, HWA Members can find it here.
S.P. Somtow │“the most well-known expatriate Thai in the world,” says International Herald Tribune
I have a legendary guest on API Hour this week: S.P. Somtow, first Asian President of the Horror Writers Association, a celebrated speculative author and a composer of merit… all this and an absolute joy to listen to. Don’t miss his refreshing perspective and stories.
🚀Happy Lunar New Year from Space and Time magazine! To celebrate, this week’s issue is #142 from Fall/Winter 2022. It will be free from now until Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 11:59 PM PST.
Includes art, poetry and prose by Linda D. Addison, Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito, Gordon Linzner, John Grey, Debasish Mishra, Andrea Mungiello, Dennis Maulsby, Sean Joseph Pino, Michael Wyatt, Marge Simon, Benjamin Henry, Sean Eads, Joshua Viola, Purbasha Roy, Colleen Anderson, Daniel M. Kimmel, Lena Ng, Marcus Whalbring, E. E. King, Maria Zoccola, Terrie Leigh Relf, Aaron Sandberg, Angel Leal, Rina Inae, Kelly Talbot, Francis W. Alexander, Maxwell I. Gold, Mary Soon Lee, Jay Sturner, LindaAnn LoSchiavo, Geneve Flynn, Briant Laslo, Randall Andrews, Chong May Yin, Carina Bissett, Archie Abaire, Seth Jani, Angela Acosta, John Urbancik, Ara Hone, Lynn I. Hsu, Carol Edwards, Allen Beck, Kyra Starr, Shikhar Dixit, Arthur Haywood, Brad W. Foster, Al Sirois, Mark Levine, and Doug Draper.
Whenever you read for free on Amazon you support authors with your Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC). As much as we all want to support each other, very few of us can afford to buy every book. Reviews, shares, likes and KENPC are all easy ways to support your favorite authors. 🧡🧡🧡
🔗Own #142 from Fall/Winter 2022 for free!
Calling All Screenwriters
Have a screenplay, stage play, teleplay pilot, spec and/or podcast? Why not start the year off right by submitting your work to Austin Film Festival’s annual script competitions! Austin Film Festival is the biggest screenplay competition in the country and has been catapulting writers into life-changing careers for the past 30 years. The early bird deadline is March 22. Submission prices range from $25-$60 right now--but those prices will go up after March 22.
🔗https://austinfilmfestival.com/submit/
o has attended the Write or Die 101 workshops on
? You can check out their 2024 Workshop Calendar here. I had a busy week so I’m going to see what I missed as soon as I hit send.If you are looking for something funny and insightful,
wrote “How I Grew My Substack From 439 to 451 Free Subscribers In Just 11 Months.” Refreshing humor.Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote in last week’s poll: “How do you prefer to plan your writing?”
12% of you are “plotters.”
20% of you are “pantsers.”
68% of you are “plantsers (a mix).”
✅ This survey makes me think most of us are pretty versatile. We adjust to the situation at hand. But now… for the elephant on the page. Let’s discuss Virtual Voice. Voting stays open for the next three days, and I’ll share the results in next week’s Authortunities. Remembering that Virtual Voice is not AI…
And finally, thank you to all the great sources we get our author opportunities from. You can find a list at 🔗https://angelaysmith.com/subscribe/
Authortunities readers — share your news! Send a 100 word write up of your publishing news to authortunities@substack.com and I’ll comp you a 3 month paid professional level subscription to say congratulations.
🏁 This calendar is organized by emoji! Ctrl F to find what you want.
In this entire calendar share you will find:
41 newly opened submissions 🟢
87 submission deadlines 🔴
11 events for authors ⭐
17 reprint markets ♻️
10 education 📚
6 awards 🏆
3 grants 💲
🔴 FEB 10 · Orion’s Beau Spring 2024 Issue is open for submissions until February 10, 2024, with the theme "The Curiosities That Bind Us." Dedicated to LGBTQ+ fantasy and sci-fi, the publication seeks original works of magic and fantasy that reflect this focus. Payment is $3 per published piece.
🔗 https://www.orionsbeau.com/arts-and-literary-submissions
⭐📚 FEB 11 · The Horror Writer Association’s Horror University Online presents a panel on “Exploring the Horror Studies Collection at the University of Pittsburgh” on the Teachable platform, 8 pm EST. Please join James Chambers as he moderates a panel including Horror Studies Collection Coordinator Ben Rubin along with Linda D. Addison, Clay McLeod Chapman, Lisa Morton, Tim Waggoner, and L. Marie Wood, whose papers reside in this collection. Free to attend.
🔗https://horror-university.teachable.com/p/explore-the-horror-archives
🔴♻️ FEB 11 · CatsCast opens for speculative fiction stories about cats, including non-Earthly species. Stories should have happy or hopeful endings for all featured cats. Pays $0.08 per word USD for original fiction, $100 flat rate for reprints over 1,500 words, and $20 flat rate for flash fiction reprints. Submissions open on February 1 and close on February 11.
🔗 https://escapeartists.net/catscast/catscast-submission-guidelines/
⭐📚 FEB 12 · The Horror Writer Association’s Horror University Online presents “Anti-Ableism in Horror” to be taught by Callie Stoker. The class will illustrate “How to write accurately and avoid pitfalls when representing all abilities in the human spectrum.” 8 pm EST, workshop costs $65.
🔗https://horror-university.teachable.com/p/anti-ableism-in-horror
⭐📚 FEB 13 · An online Harvard Diversity Discussion on “Race and Religion: Cultural Intersectionality” will be open to the public via Zoom on Tuesday, February 13, 5-6 pm EST.
🔴 FEB 14 · Split Scream is accepting novelette-length horror stories (10,000 - 20,000 words). Payment: $150 upfront and 40% royalties. Deadline: February 14, 2024. Note: Website issues reported at the time of writing.
🔗 https://dreadstonepress.com/submissions/
🔴 FEB 14 · Kennings Literary Journal, affiliated with Hanover College, accepts fiction (500-3,000 words), poetry, creative nonfiction, art, photography, and other media. Submission deadline is February 14, 2024. Payment is a contributor copy.
🔗 https://kenningsliteraryjournal.com/submissions-1
🔴♻️ FEB 14 · Cast of Wonders seeks YA speculative fiction for podcast. Payment: $.08/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words. Reprints: $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. Deadline: February 14, 2024.
🔗 https://www.castofwonders.org/submissions/
🔴 FEB 14 · Augur Magazine opens submission to Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Disabled, and/or Trans creators in Canada. Accepting speculative fiction short stories and poetry. Payment: $0.11 CAD per word for short fiction, $110.00 flat fee for flash fiction. Deadline: February 14, 2024.
🔗 https://www.augurmag.com/submissions/
🔴 FEB 14 · Tales and Feathers is in search of cozy SFF fiction submissions (up to 2500 words) from Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Disabled, and/or Trans creators in Canada. Payment: 11 cents CAD/word. Deadline: February 14, 2024.
🔗 https://www.augurmag.com/submissions/
🔴 FEB 14 · Crimson Quill is Seeking original tales of peril with fearless protagonists relying on mental might. Genre: Fantasy, up to 10,000 words. Payment: $30. Deadline: February 14, 2024. Will buy first rights.
🔗https://crimsonquillquarterly.com/#home
🟢 FEB 15 · Apparition Lit is accepting speculative fiction and poetry submissions for their themed issue, "Mercurial." They offer a payment of $30, and the deadline for submissions is February 28, 2024. The submission period opens on February 15 and closes on February 29, with an extended week for BIPOC creators.
🔗 https://apparitionlit.com/submissions/
🟢♻️ FEB 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/
🔴♻️ FEB 15 · STREET MAGIC II invites speculative fiction submissions exploring hidden magic realms between 6000 and 9000 words. Payment is through royalty sharing, and reprints are accepted until February 15, 2024.
🔗 https://www.camdenparkpress.com/streetmagic2/
🔴 FEB 15 · Omenana Magazine is open to speculative fiction submissions from writers in Africa and the African Diaspora. They offer a payment of $20, and the deadline is February 15, 2024.
🔗 https://omenana.com/omenana-submissions/
🔴 FEB 15 · Prairie Fire is accepting fiction, poetry, and CNF submissions from Canadian women writers over 50. Prose pays $0.10 per word, and poetry pays $40. The deadline is February 15, 2024.
🔗 https://www.prairiefire.ca/submissions/call-for-submissions-burning-up-burning-down/
🔴 FEB 15 · Fallen Tree Press seeks poetry chapbooks from writers in the U.S. and Canada, specifically BIPOC and/or over 50. Payment is through royalties, and the deadline is February 15, 2023.
🔗 https://fallentreepress.com/submissions/
🔴 FEB 15 · Carte Blanche (Canada) is open for submissions in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, comics, and photography. Payment is $75, and the deadline is February 15, 2024.
🔗 https://carteblanchemagazine.com/submissions
🔴🏆 FEB 15 · CAAPP Book Prize opens to first or second books by writers of African descent, encompassing African American, African, or African diasporic experiences. Accepts poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation. The winning manuscript will be published by Autumn House Press, and the author will be awarded $3,000.
🔗 https://www.autumnhouse.org/submissions/caapp-book-prize/
🔴♻️ FEB 15 · Luna Station Quarterly seeks “female-fronted speculative stories” of “500 to 7000 words in length” for $5 USD.
🔗https://lunastationquarterly.com/submissions/
🔴FEB 15· Jay Henge Publishing seeks speculative fiction AI, Robot. stories that ask big questions about consciousness, morality, and the nature of intelligence. Payment is $5 USD per 1000 words, up to 15k words.
🔗https://www.jayhenge.com/callforstories.html
⭐ FEB 15 ·The First Friday - Third Thursday Quick Reads event highlights women and non-binary writers of sci-fi, fantasy and speculative fiction at 7 pm EST. This event features authors TBD along with emcee/host Sarah Smith along with support from authors Anne Nydam and Terri Bruce.
🔗https://strongwomenstrangeworlds.weebly.com/
⭐📚 FEB 17- MAR 9 · From Kundiman, “Writing the Crisis with Bobuq Sayed" is open to all writers of color, and students must be able to attend all four sessions of the workshop held on Saturdays from 2-4:30 pm EST. The non-refundable tuition fee is $300. This workshop will be held over Zoom. There is one scholarship spot available, and the applications are open through Sunday, January 28th.
🔗https://www.kundiman.org/writing-the-crisis?
⭐📚 FEB 17 · PARSEC, Pittsburgh’s premier Science Fiction & Fantasy Organization, welcomes the public to their monthly meetings held the third Saturday of each month beginning at 12:30 pm EST. February’s meeting will be virtual Zoom meeting only. The guest will be Herb Kauderer, a frequent Confluence attendee.
🔗https://parsec-sff.org/monthly-meetings/
🔴 FEB 15 · Muse Magazine is accepting nonfiction articles for children. This month's theme is "The brave new world of bots, nanobots, and robots." The deadline is February 15, 2024. Queries only.
🔗 https://cricketmag.submittable.com/submit/58980/muse-magazine-for-ages-914-science-nonfiction
🔴 FEB 19 · Faces magazine seeks nonfiction and activities for children aged 9-14. This month's theme is "Bears: How do different cultures perceive the bear? What kinds of bears are there around the world?" The deadline is February 19, 2024. Queries only.
🔗 https://cricketmedia.com/faces-submission-guidelines/
🟢🏆 FEB 21 · Fabula Press Short Story Contest invites submissions of short stories ranging from 2500 to 7000 words. Prizes include US$500 (First Prize), US$250 (Second Prize), and US$100 (Third Prize), along with an honorarium of US$75 for all selected authors. Opens February 21.
🔗 https://www.pressfabula.com/guideline/
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