Friday Find: Paying Markets for Book Reviewers

This week closes with yet another e-book update, this time for The Practicing Writer's Directory of Paying Markets for Book Reviewers.

I'll tell you frankly that this wasn't an easy update. Usually I'm able to expand the number of listings each time I update one of our guides. But this time, so many existing listings had to go "off-list," because they don't seem to be active, or they don't seem to be paying, or they aren't posting their guidelines and pay rates online. Still, I managed to locate enough new possibilities to offset the losses.

The new version profiles 90 print and online markets for book reviewers, all of which pay their reviewers, and all of which publish their pay rates and guidelines online.

Intrigued? You'll find the guide here, complete with a complimentary preview (featuring sample listings).

Does Duotrope Have a Downside?

If you read this blog regularly you know that I am a true fan of Duotrope.com. I am, in fact, one of those users who actually does donate to the site in an effort to keep it accessible to all. I love the frequent market updates, the theme calendar, the information on new markets, the free newsletters. For the most part, I think Duotrope's just peachy.

But if I do have a problem with Duotrope, here it is: Sometimes, the site is just a little too generous, as far as its submission response records are concerned. Too ample for this practicing writer's own good, anyway.

Perhaps some of you can empathize. Maybe you've sent a story or a set of poems out. Maybe you've seen, on Duotrope, a series of responses coming back--rejections AND acceptances--for others who evidently submitted work to the same litmag(s) after you sent yours.

So maybe you also go back through your own records and log onto the particular litmag's online system. Maybe you discover that your work is STILL being considered (or so the system says). You e-mail the litmag's editors (after rechecking to verify that you've waited out an appropriate interval). Nothing. What's going on?

You check Duotrope again. And again. That's the "problem" with Duotrope. Sometimes, it's a little TOO accessible.

Am I alone in this mini-obsession? Or can any of you identify?

The Wednesday Web Browser: Book Groups, Lit Mags, and the New Yorker's New Blog

Joshua Henkin (our interview is here) has written up some reflections on interactions with book groups.
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Tons of content is available in the new issue of Luna Park (look over on the left side of the screen for the quarterly features on "little and literary magazines"). Learn more about Hobart, Five Points, Gettysburg Review, and others.
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And if you're looking for yet another literary blog to keep track of, the New Yorker is at your service, with the new Book Bench.

Another Poetry Practice Update

I'm proud to share with you two poems now online at New Vilna Review. Titled "Mannheim" and "Diaspora," they emerged during my two Gotham Writers Workshop sessions, both of which were led by Matthew Lippman. I hope you enjoy them.

Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

Now that my computer is working again, I've been able to complete the semiannual update of our popular Directory of Paying Essay Markets. This updated guide profiles more than 140 markets for essayists, each and every one of them providing guidelines and their pay rates online. Check it out and read the free preview (complete with sample listings--and a glitch that's causing an extraneous final image to appear).
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The next deadline for the Amy Award competition is coming up on June 1. "The Amy Award is presented to women poets age 30 and under living in the New York City metropolitan area or on Long Island. Winners receive an honorarium and a reading in New York City. The award was established in 1995 by Paula Trachtman and Edward Butscher of East Hampton, New York in memory of Ms. Trachtman’s daughter, Amy Rothholz, an actor and poet." There is no application fee indicated. Click here for more information.
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June 1 is also the submission deadline for Poets Eleven, a citywide poetry contest that will feature readings at branch libraries throughout San Francisco. "Local poets are encouraged to submit up to three poems for review. [Former San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack] Hirschman is particularly interested in submissions which reflect San Francisco's diversity of language and culture." Note that "all poets whose work is chosen will receive fifty dollars for their readings." Once again, there's no application fee indicated. Find out more by clicking here. (via CRWROPPS-B)
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According to the AWP Web site, editorial guidelines for the Association's Writer's Chronicle have been updated. Click here to read them.
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Do you have some unpublished fiction set in the American Old West (before 1914)? Great Western Fiction may be interested. This new magazine indicates that it will pay $50 for a short story, $250 for a "short novel," and $500 for a "long novel." Find out more here. (via Duotrope.com)
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And just a few jobs this week:
Writing Faculty, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith
Managing Editor, University of Wyoming
Women Writers Project Manager/Textbase Editor, Brown University (Rhode Island)

Friday Find: A Helpful Hint

You know how we're always told to back up our work?

You know how some of us (throat-clearing here) don't always follow that advice?

Well, last weekend my computer's hard drive sputtered to its demise. And for a few days, it seemed unlikely that my files--and please, for a moment, just imagine all the files I had stored--would be recovered.

The ever-brilliant BJ Epstein offered more than her sympathies. She shared with me one of her data-preserving secrets: sending copies of your files to your own e-mail (let's say, gmail) account.

I like it. I hope you do, too.

From My Bookshelf: Unaccustomed Earth

Last weekend I finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's new story collection, Unaccustomed Earth. Yes, I remembered several of the stories from their first appearances in the New Yorker. Still, there's enough new here to warrant additional attention. Plus, reading the assembled collection yields a different experience than does reading each story months or even years apart. And frankly, Lahiri's stories are not infrequently worth rereading.

So I recommmend the book heartily. Here are just a few elements that impressed me:

1) Story endings. It's no secret that endings are the bane of my life as a fiction writer. I could quote a concluding paragraph from one of the book's eight stories to try to illuminate why I'm so envious of her talent, but honestly (and I think this is one of the reasons why endings are so hard to teach or analyze), the conclusions grow so well from all that precedes them that I'm not sure a brief snippet would do them justice. Suffice to say that Lahiri knows how to write an ending.

2) Linked stories. The final three stories ("Once in a Lifetime," "Year's End," and "Going Ashore") are linked by two recurring characters and their families. Each story's first-person narrator is speaking to the other character (with subtle "you"'s sprinkled throughout each story). Interesting approach.

3) I've now read my share of "9/11 stories" and "Katrina stories." But this collection presents the first literary allusion to/treatment of the 2004 tsunami that I've found.

For more about Lahiri and her new book (and a brief excerpt), see this NPR feature.

The Wednesday Web Browser: Agent Queries, Creative Writing in Israel, and Julianna Baggott Interview

Looks as though there's a new resource available for writers seeking guidance on agent query letters. (via Guide to Literary Agents)
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Joan Leegant offers a glimpse into the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
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Julianna Baggott fans will be pleased to see this interview on Poetic Asides.

Department of Congratulations

Congratulations to Marc Fitten, Chattahoochee Review editor, on the forthcoming publication of his novel, Valeria's Last Stand. Way to go, Marc! Can't wait to read the book.
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Congratulations to Practicing Writing reader Kelly, who has won a residency at the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Kelly was kind enough to leave a comment with her news at the Practicing Writing post where she learned about the opportunity. Thank you, Kelly! This is what the blog is all about!
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And now for my own moment in the virtual sun: this weekend I received my contributor's copies of TriQuarterly 130, containing my story, "Matrilineal Descent." It looks good in print!

Monday Morning Markets/Jobs/Opportunities

Over on The Missouri Review's blog, associate editor Evelyn Somers writes: "While we have stacks of submissions waiting to be read, we're once again short in the interview department. If you have an unpublished interview with an established author, please query me...." She adds: "We're also looking for good, sharp essays that deal with current trends in literature to complement our recently revamped book review feature. No scholarship please--but smart essays that take on literary issues or controversies are very welcome." Read the full post here.
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Oregon Humanities has posted a call for submissions for its Fall/Winter 2008 issue, which will focus on the theme of "Civility." Note that the magazine welcomes "all forms of nonfiction writing, including scholarly essays, journalistic articles, and personal essays." The deadline is June 16, 2008. Payment for personal essays is $100-$300; for features, the magazine pays $400-$800. Read the guidelines and download the call here.
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The latest Mid-American Review newsletter arrived in my e-mailbox last week, reminding me "we do read work all through the year, and in general we're actually faster in the summer. So feel free to send your poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, and reviews...." Visit the journal's Web site here.
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"Lake Forest College, in conjunction with the &NOW Festival, invites applications for an emerging poet under forty years old, with no major book publication to spend two months (February-March or March-April 2009) in residence at our campus in Chicago's northern suburbs on the shore of Lake Michigan. There are no formal teaching duties attached to the residency. Time is to be spent completing a manuscript, participating in the Lake Forest Literary Festival, and offering two public presentations. The completed manuscript will be published (upon approval) by the new Lake Forest College Press &NOW Books imprint. The stipend is $10,000, with a housing suite and campus meals provided by the college." Hurry if you're interested in this one: manuscript review will begin on May 15. See the announcement here for application instructions.
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Attention, Wyoming fiction writers: The deadline for 2009 creative writing fellowships from the Wyoming Arts Council is coming up (it's June 20, 2008). Awards include $3,000, plus a $500 honorarium for presenting your work at a reading in Casper in September. Find out more here.
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And the weekly batch of college/university jobs for writers:

Assistant Professor in Creative Writing-Fiction, University of Akron (Ohio)
Assistant Professor of English-Generalist, Ferris State University (Michigan)
Lecturer in Business Writing, Santa Clara University (California)
Writing Program Coordinator, New York University (School of Continuing and Professional Studies; part-time position)
Writing Programs Coordinator, Washington University (Missouri)
Senior Web Editor, Rice University (Texas)