Writing A Great Synopsis: The Key to Publishing Your Book

How many of you are like me?  You’re a first-time author, you’ve finished your manuscript and polished it to the best of your ability, and you’re convinced that it has the potential to do very well. But then you are faced with the requirement to write a synopsis of your work.  All of a sudden…

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The Top Five Journals That Have Re-opened to Submissions This Month

A lot of good and interesting literary journals have re-opened to submissions this April. Here are the five journals I am most excited about seeing open to submissions again.  They are not listed in any particular order. 1. Stoneboat Stoneboat is a print journal that tries to publish a mix of established and emerging writers….

Writing Prompt: Abandoned House

There is an abandoned house in your fictional neighborhood. It has been abandoned for decades under mysterious circumstances. No one knows where the owners went. But for some reason the house was never sold again and the city has never torn it down. The rest of your fictional neighborhood is up to you, the one…

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Announcing the Winners of the Six Word Biography Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

Alloy Entertainment: Accepting Manuscript Queries

Note: This article was initially published in April, 2014, updates were made in January and February 2015. I’m updating it on November 20th 2019 to say that they seem to be no longer open to submissions and serving a very different purpose, if they are around at all. Consider defunct. Alloy Entertainment is a large…

A Bad Penny Review: Now Accepting Submissions

A Bad Penny Review is a print and online magazine based in Georgia. Founded in 2011, this young journal is decidedly transgressive. Their aim is to emulate the idea of the bad penny: that which is considered unpleasant, disreputable, and unwanted. They prize experimental and conceptual work, and have a particular interest in work that…

8 Tips for Navigating Assisted Publishing

Standing before the publishing crossroads, at the completion of an edited manuscript, we are faced with two options: traditional or self publishing.  The problem is each choice then leads to more paths that only distort what we thought was a clear choice.  Suddenly small publishers, micro-publishers, printing presses, vanity presses, DIY options (bulk printing or…

Writing Prompt: Sonnet

There are many kinds of sonnets. Shakespeare’s sonnets are not the only option.  There are sonnets that stick to the Italian method. There are ones that are only concerned with iambic pentameter. One only contains the word watermelon over and over again for fourteen lines, and it is still technically a sonnet. Gerald Stern has…

The Six Word Memoir Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

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Under the Covers: advice about cover art for self-publishers

You know those designer beds in department stores all decked out with multi-layered sheets, patterned duvets, and heaps of pillows – don’t you want to just dive in and snuggle down?  It’s the same way with books.  What makes readers want to dive under the covers with you is a visual promise, an enticement that…

Dark Futures: Open To Submissions

Dark Futures is an established online journal that pays their writers a small token payment. They publish short stories and poetry.They are interested in work with post apocalyptic or cyber punk themes. They are also interested in science fiction and horror, or anything that would fit under the heading of Dark Futures. They are interested…

Black Warrior Review: Now Accepting Submissions

Black Warrior Review is a print magazine based at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Founded in 1974 by graduates of their MFA program for Creative Writing, this longstanding journal has become a respected publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by both established and emerging writers. Each issue also features a chapbook by a…