Spotlight on Loose Id, new anthology calls, writing contest and more

“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.”
– Edgar Rice Burroughs

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This week I’m continuing my look at publisher spotlights from the RWA National Convention in San Antonio, with Loose Id books. The Spotlight on Loose Id was presented by editor-in-chief Treva Harte and marketing and information officer Allie McKnight. Loose Id (pronounced Lucid) is a digital first company. They have been in business for ten years and have been profitable for all of that time.

Loose Id publishes primarily erotic romance. They don’t mean erotica – they want hot and sensual books with explicit sex scenes, but the conflict arises from character and there is a romantic arc to the story. Sex is important to the story, but it doesn’t have to be kink. Kink works in some stories, but what Harte is looking for is sex that’s important to the stories and important to the characters. Every story should have a definite romance hook.

Under the banner of erotic romance, Loose Id publishes a variety of stories – both heterosexual and GLBT romances. They welcome historical and contemporary stories, paranormal, fantasy, mystery and science fiction under that erotic romance umbrella.

They publish stories 20,000 to 120,000 words. Stories 55,000 to 70,000 words receive an advance and are eligible to print as well as e-release.  They pay 40% royalties (on gross sales) and retain electronic rights for three years.

Harte talked about the submission process. They sometimes ask for revisions from authors before they agree to buy the manuscript. They provide an assessment letter, which points out strengths and weaknesses, with the goal of helping authors to improve. They offer talks and online classes to help educate and inform authors. And they have an author development program, where an editor works with an author to improve a promising story.

Right now, they’ve issued some special calls for upcoming anthologies:

Christmas Menage – 20,000 to 30,000 word Christmas-theme manage stories, XXX rated. Deadline – Oct. 15.

Baby, What a Big Surprise! – Holiday novellas – any holiday between December and March, 20,000 to 35,000 words. The deadline for Christmas stories is past, but they’re still open to holidays after the new year.

Find all of Loose Id’s submission guidelines, contract terms, etc. here. 

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Liz McMullen Show Publications is assembling a Valentine’s anthology on the theme of “appetite.” Send your 3,000 to 4,000 word short story on this theme — any genre, although Editor Ila Goyane prefers that all stories have some element of romance or erotica. Payment is $30 plus two copies. The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2015. Get all the details here.

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Young adult magazine Cicada has issued a call for stories, poems and comics on the theme of Tricksters and Thieves. Send your stories of pirates, charlatans, illusions, deceptions and trickery to editor Marianne Carus. Stories may be up to 9,000 words. Payment is 25 cents a word.  The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2104. Find more details here.

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New York based small press Black Balloon Publishing offers the Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize for an unpublished novel of 50,000 words or more. The novel may be of any genre, and they welcome cross-genre and hard-to-define fiction. First prize is $5,000 and a publication contract. There is no fee to enter. They will accept submissions beginning October 1 to October 31. Find more details here.

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As always, feel free to share this information with others. All I ask is that you credit me as the source and provide a link to this blog. If you want to know more about me and my books, check out my websites here or here and like me on Facebook here. 

 

 

Markets for essays, shorts stories and more

“The writer’s genetic inheritance and her or his experiences shape the writer into a unique individual, and it is this uniqueness that is the writer’s only stuff for sale” .- James Gunn

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Thought not strictly related to fiction writing, I wanted to point out a few essay calls/contests that came to my attention this week, as I believe many of the readers of this blog might find them of interest.

Real Simple Magazine is sponsoring its Sixth Annual Life Lessons Essay Contest. Submit your essay of no more than 1,500 words about a time you took a risk and the lesson you learned from this. The deadline for entries is September 19, 2013. The first place winner wins $3,000, second place gets $750 and third place nets $500. Find all the details here.

Ladies Home Journal is interested in the story behind a special recipe. This could be a favorite family dish, something handed down through your family, or a new creation, as long as it has an interesting story to go with it. You can read some examples of these stories here. Send your story to recipestory@lhj.com

Ladies Home Journal also accepts submissions for its Your Story Feature. Check out their tips for writing an essay for them here. Send your submissions to yourstories@lhj.com

Redbook Magazine accepts first-person essays about “a dramatic, pivotal moment in a woman’s life.” Send to Articles Department
REDBOOK
300 West 57th Street, 22nd Floor
New York,  NY 10019

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Another cover reveal this week. This one is of a Christmas Anthology I’m privileged to be in with Fern Michaels, Marie Bostick,

and Laura Levine. Secret Santa will be in stores October 29, 2013, but you can preorder online now.

The Mountain Between Us also goes on sale October 29, and is available for preorder now.

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Crimson Romance is looking for romance short stories of between 5,000 and 10,000 words for some upcoming themed collections. Submit your Christmas or New Years’ stories by June 1, 2013, and Valentine’s Day stories by August 1, 2013. The editors are also interested in stories featuring professional athletes. Send these in by July 31, 2013. Any heat level is welcome. Stories will be published digitally. Find all the details here.

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Samhain Publishing is looking for horror novels between 12,000 and 120,000 words. All works are published digitally, and works between 60,000 and 120,000 words are eligible for print publication also. The editors are looking for “exciting, dramatic and frightening” stories or all types, with a fresh premise, three-dimensional characters and suspenseful writing. Find the details here.

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As always, feel free to share the information in this blog — repost, retweet, reprint. All I ask is that you give me credit as the source, and include a link to the blog. Thanks!  Cindi

 

 

 

More Short Story Markets — Christian Magazines

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.”  Barbara Kingsolver

This week I’m looking at publications for those of the Christian faith that publish short fiction. Some of these magazines publish very short fiction — really, flash fiction. Payments vary widely, but all do pay something, and provide details when I know them.

Alive Now  focuses on how contemporary issues impact one’s faith. Both lay people and church professionals read the magazine.250-400 word inspirational stories and meditations. Pays $35.

Devozine is a devotional magazine for Christian teens. Publishes fiction of 150-250 words — adventure, historical or multi-cultural. Pays $100

 Liguorian is a general interest magazine for Catholics. The editors accept inspirational fiction to 2,000 words. Pays 12 to 15 cents a word.

Live is a take-home paper for adult Sunday School students. The magazine publishes 300 to 1,100 word inspirational stories. Pays 10 cents a word.

 Mature Living is a magazine for Christians ages 55 and over. The magazine publishes 800 to 1,200 word short stories that emphasize a Biblical truth. Payment varies.

St. Anthony Messenger is a magazine for Catholics that focuses on family life. They publish inspirational fiction to 2,500 words. Pays 20 cents a word.

U.S. Catholic is a magazine for Catholics in the United States. The editors will consider inspirational fiction to 2,500 words. Payment varies.

 Vista is a Christian Sunday School paper that publishes 500-550 word inspirational fiction. Pays $15-$35.

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Here’s the cover for my upcoming release from Harlequin Heartwarming. Look for Her Cowboy Soldier in July.   

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Harlequin has made some editorial changes. Brenda Chin, a longtime editor with Harlequin, has left the company. Kathleen Schiebling now oversees Harlequin Blaze. Angela James has a new title: Editorial Direction, Carina Press. Charles Griemsman and Adrienne Macintosh have both been promoted to Editor — Adrienne is an editor of Harlequin Series and Charles is Editor of Desire.

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New York Times Bestselling author Gemma Halliday is sponsoring the Femme Fatale Mystery Writing Contest. You could win a Kindle Paperwhite or a year of mentoring from Gemma.  Submit the first 2,000 words of a mystery/suspense story by June 30. There’s no fee to enter. Find all the deatils here.

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As always, feel free to share the information in this blog with others. All I ask is that you give me credit as the source, and include a link to this blog. Thanks!  Cindi

 

Mystery novel contest, opportunity for memoir writers and more

“Actors are good liars; writers are good liars with good memories.” Daniel Keys Moran

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If you’re a woman and you’re writing a memoir, check out the Cheryl Strayed/VIDA Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat Scholarship. The scholarship will provide the full registration fee for the Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, March 15-17, 2013 to one female writer of literary promise and demonstrated financial need. If you’re interested, you’ll need to submit an application, along with 10 pages of your writing, by February 14, 2013. Find all the details here.

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Once again, St. Martin’s Press is joining with Wordharvest and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference to sponsor the Tony Hillerman Prize for best first mystery novel. Any author, published or unpublished, who has never had a mystery novel published, may enter the contest. Submit your manuscript of at least 60,000 words, in which a murder or other serious crime takes place. The emphasis of the story should be on solving the crime, and the story must be set in Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma or Utah. The winner will be awarded a publishing contract with St. Martin’s Press and a $10,000 advance against royalties. The deadline for entries is June 1, 2013. Find all the details here.

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February 28 is the deadline to enter the Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers. First prize is $1,500. The contest is open to any writer whose work has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation of over 4,000. Submit your story, 1,500 to 12,000 words. $15 reading fee. Find the details here.

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As always, feel free to share, repost and reprint the information in this blog. Please credit me as the source, and include a link to the blog. Thank you. Cindi Myers

 

Spotlight on Bethany Books and more

“Writing gives you the illusion of control, and  then you realize it’s just an illusion, that people are going to bring their own stuff into it.”   David Sedaris

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Senior Aquisitions Editor David Long of Bethany House present this look at inspirational publisher Bethany House. Bethany House began publishing romance fiction in 1979, with Janette Oke’s “Love Comes Softly.” They currently publish more than 40 novels a year, 90 percent of which are aimed at women, and 90 percent of those are romances. They publish in many sub-genres, though they are best known for their historical romances. Stories ranges from sweet and light “Little House on the Prairie” type stories, to darker themed tales with more action and adventure. They welcome humor in their books. They want plot-driven stories with strong characters, not necessarily issue-driven stories. Most of the books are set in America, and most take place prior to 1900, though they will consider stories that take place through World War II.  Early twentieth century stories are become more popular, and they do some stories that take place in Biblical times.

 They are actively seeking more romantic suspense stories for their list. Long defined these as “strong romantic stories with elements of suspense.” They also welcome historical romantic suspense. They also publish women’s fiction, which may or may not include romance. Next summer they’re putting out their first contemporary romance. 

They also publish a number of very popular “bonnet books” that take place in religious communities such as the Amish and Mennonites.

Another area where they’re open to submissions is Christian fantasy. These stories are aimed primarily at the YA market and have romantic elements. They also publish some straight suspense titles.

They don’t want vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, and aren’t interested in Apocalyptic stories or tales of spiritual warfare. No angels or demons.

The two most common reasons they reject a manuscript are no strong voice and lack of originality. Most submissions come from agents, but if you pitch to them at a conference and they request a manuscript, send a query and a couple of chapters. Their books all come in at around 85,000 words.

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Harper Collins and Create Space are holding a contest for women’s fiction writers. The prize is a critique by women’s fiction novelist Claudia Carroll and a copy of her new novel, Will You Still Love Me, Tomorrow?

Send your novel’s pitch to Pitch.Competition@harpercollins.co.uk. Claudia will choose the strongest pitch and invite the author to send in their opening chapters. Pitches should be no longer than 225 words, but you might want to consider splitting it up into a short (25 words) and a long section (200). Entrants can submit as many entries as they like, but only one pitch per novel. Closing date for entry is August 1.

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As  always, feel free to pass along the info in this blog to others. Forward it, link it, reprint it — all I ask is that you give me credit and include the link to this page. Thank you. Cindi