Substack Creator Studio Fellowships!
Authortunities #61│May 11—June 8
Thanks to everyone who popped in last weekend for both the AMA chats. Let’s make that a monthly thing for everyone on the first Saturday of each month with the next one on June 1. I have an ongoing chat for paid subscribers as a special thank you for your support here.
Promote yourself and share any author opportunities you find in the comments!
Our Writes
🟠Big news! Substack is introducing Substack Creator Studio, “embracing video’s urgent need for a new business model.” You have until May 17 to apply for one of 10 fellowships with world-class strategic support and promotion from a team that includes Adam Faze and the team at Gymnasium, the short-form television studio behind the hit show Boy Room. Selectees announced May 22. Read about - and apply- here.
🟠Here’s a great article by
about “the ten best places to publish ebooks, ranked according to the best royalty per ebook sale.” I’d never even heard of most of these. KDP only made it to #7! Read about that here.🟠 Ginger Nuts of Horror is back after a hiatus and looking for new reviewers. There’s no compensation but it is building your portfolio of published work. Read about that here.
Your Writes
🟠 You have until May 19 to enter for a chance to win The Darkest Night: 22 Winter Horror Stories. This book giveaway is open to members in the following countries: U.S. Edited by
and includes stories from Josh Malerman, Rachel Harrison, Christopher Golden, Tim Waggoner and an introduction by George C. Romero. Enter to win here.🟠
is having a sale on his ebooks. Six of his books are on sale for just $1. You can find the list here.🟠 Jonathan Maberry’s ebook Kagen the Damned is discounted to $2.99 for the month of May! The Kagen Trilogy will conclude in August with The Dragon of Winter. Get your copy here.
🟠 Congratulations to the Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalists, especially to Maxwell I. Gold and Michael Bailey. See all the Finalists here.
🟠 Really enjoying J. W. Donley’s 100 Unusual Prompts for Writers of Horror, Weird, and Bizarro Fiction. Great prompts, the title is absolutely accurate. I’ll share more in a review at the end of the month. Find it here.
My Writes
🟠 While not a submission success, I am excited to announce I’m now a Reedsy editor. I onboard Monday so give me until then to get up and running. I thought anyone could sign up to freelance through Reedsy, but they really vet the people they allow on their platform. I got a nice message saying I was “among the top 3% of applications.” You can find me on Reedsy here or copy/paste https://reedsy.com/angela-yuriko-smith.
🟠 I’m also going to test out having a true virtual open mic event tonight at 7 pm EST. If it all goes well, I’ll doing it regularly as the new Exercise Your Writes format. If not, I’ll blame Rattle editor
because he told me how to do it. But seriously, thank you, Timothy! I’ve been trying to figure it out since 2020 when I had to close my in-person event. If you want to go watch the mayhem… It will be live tonight here.🟠 While I find author opportunities everywhere, you can find a list of my favorite resources and sources here. 🔗https://angelaysmith.com/subscribe/
Comments, questions, compliments or concerns?
🏁 This calendar is organized by emoji! Ctrl F to find what you want.
🟢 opening subs
🔴 closing subs
⭐ networking
♻️ reprints
📚 education
🏆 awards
💲 grants
🟢 MAY 10 · 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: All Ears👂
🔗https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/
🔴 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 11 · Mslexia is open until July 8 with 17 ways to submit, including four-line poems, 3,000-word lead articles, 300-word bedtime stories to 700-word memoir performance pieces. Payment varies but begins at £30.
🔗https://mslexia.co.uk/submit-your-work/
🟢♻️ MAY 11 · NonBinary Review, Zoetic Press is open until August 1 or until submissions reach the acceptance cap for each issue.for prose, poetry and visual art. Payment is $0.01 USD per word for prose up to 3k words, $10 for poetry and visual art $25 USD flat rate. Theme is “false memories.”
🔗https://nonbinaryreview.submittable.com/submit
🟢 MAY 11 · Samjoko Magazine is open until June 10 for "exemplary work from content creators around the world.” Not genre specific. Payment is $20.
🔗https://www.samjokomagazine.com/submission-guidelines
🟢💲 MAY 11 · 2024 Akron Poetry Prize is open until June 15 for submissions to their annual contest. The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of their book. Manuscripts should be at least 48 pages and no longer than 90 pages. $25 reading fee.
🔗https://theuniversityofakronpress.submittable.com/submit
🟢💲 MAY 11 · The Book Project Fellowship applications are open to cover partial or full tuition for the entire two-year program.designed to help writers of book-length manuscripts. Writers of fiction, nonfiction, short stories, memoir, and hybrid texts can apply for the fellowship. The deadline for applications is June 26.
🔗https://www.lighthousewriters.org/book-project-fellowships
🟢 MAY 11 · Havok is open until June 28 for flash fiction to the theme of “Remember September” in “all five genres: mystery, science fiction, humor, thriller, and fantasy.” Payment is $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology; no payment for online publication.
🔗https://gohavok.com/submission-guidelines/upcoming-themes/
🟢 MAY 11 · Havok is open until May 31 for flash fiction to the theme of “Remember August” in “all five genres: mystery, science fiction, humor, thriller, and fantasy.” Payment is $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology; no payment for online publication.
🔗https://gohavok.com/submission-guidelines/upcoming-themes/
⭐📚 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. They pay $10 USD plus a lifetime subscription to the ebook version. Reprints must be at least 3 years past their initial publication date.
🔗https://submissions.lunastationpress.com/submission-guidelines/
🔴 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 reimaginings. 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 · 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 · 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 · 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 and features O. F. Cieri, Shawnelle Gibbs of The Gibbs Sisters, Amy Grech, Patti Larsen, Aimee Picchi, and Vanessa Reid. Pre-register.
🔗https://strongwomenstrangeworlds.weebly.com/
⭐ 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 · Substack Creator Studio closes applications for “10 fellows who cover a wide range of subjects and give them access to world-class strategic support and promotion.” This is an opportunity for video-native creators.
🔴 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/
⭐📚 MAY 18 · 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. Virtual Zoom meetings are available for those who can’t attend in person.
🔗https://parsec-sff.org/monthly-meetings/
⭐📚 MAY 18-21 · The 2024 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference will have craft classes, writerly conversations, generative workshops, networking events, and readings available as recordings for $100. Access to recordings of keynote, classes, and panels available for one month after the conference. The Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference has been the place where writers from Alaska and beyond come together to create community and learn how to be better writers.
⭐📚 MAY 19 · 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 Kane | Rattlecast at 8 pm EST.
🔗https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PLD_fMFokoxAEbUzqLMIldRifEYrWK7w9-
⭐ MAY 19 · 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 19 · May 1k Words, hosted by Twist in the Tale, closes for prompted stories with a main genre and an assigned a twisted subgenre (unusual) from a pool of ten. Entrants will also get either an event/character/object/subject (depending on the contest) that they must include. They can reroll subgenre and subject three times each. “For example, if thriller is the main genre, you might get occult detective as your subgenre. Rerolling that might give you cyberpunk, environmental, etc.” Feedback from judges. Winner receives $1200 USD. Participate in weekly challenges to earn rewards and credits to reduce entry fees. Early Entry Price: $25. Early entry price remains until April 24, 12 AM, then increases by $5.
🔴🏆💲 MAY 20 · The Fiction Potluck contest from The Writer’s Workout is free to enter and open to fiction writers of all ages around the world. April Challenge: MG & YA Milestones up to 5,000 words. One entry per person per challenge. The first place winner receives Duotrope service for free for two years (valued at $100) plus query package reviews to each of the top spots.
🔗https://www.writersworkout.net/potluck
🟢 MAY 20 · Poet Lore: jason b. crawford’s Guest Edited Folio opens until June 5 for ekphrastic 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 21 · Solarpunk Micro Mini closes for solarpunk micro fiction, 250 words max. Submissions are capped at 150 per quarter. Payment is $25.
🔗https://solarpunkmagazine.com/micro-fiction/
⭐ MAY 22 · 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 Aaron Ryan.
🔗https://indiebooksource.com/podcast/
📚 MAY 23 · Canva Create: Work Redesigned Join inspiring industry leaders like Nekesa Mumbi Moody as they unpack the importance of creativity in building a business and brand and get a first look at the new launches. The virtual keynote stream will be free to watch at 1PM PST.
🔗https://www.canva.com/canva-create/?pageFlow=url-registration#speakers
🔴 MAY 24 · 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
This is the end of the free section. There are 61 more authortunities from May 25 to June 8 just beyond. The authortunities past this point will become available in the coming weeks.
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