Parting Potpourri

As our newsletter readers already know, I'm about to leave for a writing residency. So in all likelihood, I'll be taking a complete break from the blog for the next month. But I'll leave you with a virtual grab bag of items to keep you busy for at least a little while. And don't forget to check our links, archives, Web site, and e-books while we're gone.

Have a great October!

* National Endowment for the Arts Announces International Literary Exchanges: This press release details a new program "to initiate literary translation projects and publications between the United States and other countries."

*No-cost (no entry fee) contest: Genealogy Essay Competition (via PayingWriterJobs)

* Profile of new magazine, Sherman's Travel, over at Bacon's The Navigator.

*And finally, from PoetryFoundation.org:

"How To (and How Not To) Write Poetry"
Selections from Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska's Polish newspaper column.

"Rejection Slip? What Rejection Slip?"
Daniel Nester's profile of Lyn Lifshin, "who might be one of the most prolific poets in the universe."

Editorial Internship: American Horticultural Society (Pays: $9/hr.)

In my latest Web wanderings I ran across this (paying) internship program with the American Horticultural Society. It's open to "any college-level student of journalism, English, horticulture or related fields, and to adults with relevant experience who are making a career change or seeking additional training."

Interns work with the staff of The American Gardener magazine, gaining experience "in all facets of the editorial and production processes for a national, four-color magazine. Primary duties include researching and writing short articles, proofreading and fact-checking, and coordinating author and photographer submissions."

Internships run for 3-6 months in spring, summer and fall. "Internas are paid $9.00 per hour and work a 37.5 hour week." Application deadlines are November 1 for winter/spring; March 1 for summer; and August 1 for fall.

For more information and application materials, click here.

New Magazine Seeks Inspirational Stories (Pays: $100)

Pure Inspiration, a new magazine published four times each year, will feature "personal stories of inspiration" in each issue. "We can all benefit from hearing about someone's life-changing experience. If you have had an incident, encounter, or moment of inspiration inyour life that has significantly affected you (your health, family, spiritual life, happiness, beliefs) and would like to share it, we would love to hear from you."

Pays $100 for selected stories. Submission information here.

Health/Fitness Writers Sought (Pays: $25-$150/article)

Saw this announcement calling for health and fitness writers over at AbsoluteWrite.com and thought some of you might be interested. (Looks like you can send reprints in, too.)

Highlighting Historical Fiction

Here's a quick, interesting article from USA Today on some historical fiction to look out for this fall. (via Historical Novel Society newsletter)

On the Eve of Rosh Hashanah

There's a blog I often appreciate for its concrete and practical information for book reviewers. I used to link to it right here.

But this summer I removed that link. Why? Because that blog, maintained by the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle (an organization I joined just this past summer), too often takes an anti-Israel stance, both in its choice of links and in its summaries/introductions of that material. I simply can't condone such a practice, however implicitly.

I've taken my share of attacks on that blog for my protests within "comments." But I'm not sorry I said what I said there this summer, when the posts proliferated (as it happened, right after my membership application was processed). Yes, my open disagreement may have damaged my own career, now or in the future. (How "smart" is it to alienate members--including the president, the chief anti-Israel poster [he struck yet again yesterday]--of the National Book Critics Circle?)

But some things are too important. Sometimes, you can't just ignore what others say or "be nice," as my mom has always urged. As Sanford Pinsker's new essay at JBooks.com has reminded me, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

Happy New Year. See you back here next week.

Attention, North Carolina Fiction Writers!

It's that time of year again--time to submit your work for the NC State/Brenda Smart Short Story Contests (for short fiction and short-short story). This year's guest judge is Shannon Ravenel, co-founder of Algonquin Books. Unpublished stories only, from North Carolina residents (professors in the UNC system may not submit; "TAs, grad students, lecturers and adjuncts are okay, however." Grand Prize for the short fiction category is $500; prize for short-short story is $250. No entry fee. Deadline: October 16, 2006. More information/submission instructions here.

Paying Markets for Book Reviewers

Posted over at AbsoluteWrite this week you'll find Betty Winslow's review of an e-book on book reviewing (it's not our e-book). But I was happy to see that our e-book avoids one weakness Winslow found in the book she reviewed (and that I've noticed elsewhere, too): an overemphasis on online markets/review outlets.

As Winslow writes:

[M]ost of [the other author's] information is geared to online markets and reviews. This didn't surprise me--it is an e-book, after all--but it does give the reader the impression that the most important review markets are online. It's true that many (probably most) websites depend on volunteered reviews and are always in the market for more. However, if you want to make any money at reviewing, you will need to look for better-paying markets (which are mainly print markets); at the most, what you'll get from a majority of the online markets is a free book.

Too true. Which is why our e-book of paying markets (and only paying markets) for book reviewers includes more than 80 listings, with 65 of them belonging to the print market category. And it's updated (and typically expanded) twice each year, before I begin working with the new semester's batch of book reviewing students from the Lesley University low-residency MFA program in creative writing. My students, whether they're in the Lesley program or they sign up to study with me on their own via an e-mail course, get a free copy. But even if you have to pay for it, it's one of the least expensive market e-books out there (just $4.95). You can download a free preview (with sample listings) here.

AOL Travel Seeks Writers (Pays: $300/600-1,000- word article

AOL Travel, which describes itself as "one of the leading online travel portals," is looking for freelancers to cover domestic and international destinations "as well as seasonal and holiday travel features. Your writing should be crisp, clear and timely and your literary voice strong. Please note that our audience is Disney and Vegas, not backpacking and Rough Guides!"

Pays $300 for each 600-1,000-word article. For more information, and application instructions, see the announcement at JournalismJobs.com.

C.V. Help for M.F.A.'s

If you're the proud possessor of an M.F.A. degree--but right now you're looking for tips to translate your experience into a c.v. for teaching job applications--you might want to peruse this helpful article from the archives of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Primary Day

Blogging time today is going to voting (it's primary day here in Massachusetts!). See you back here tomorrow.

Grant Program: The Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers ($1,000)

Honoring the memory of writer Ellen Meloy (1946-2004), this program offers an annual award (currently $1,000) to an individual who shares Ellen Meloy's passion "to write about the desert from the desert." The grant is intended to assist "with expenses related to spending creative time in a desert environment." There's no fee to apply, and the next application deadline is December 31, 2006. Visit http://www.ellenmeloy.com to find out more about Ellen Meloy, her writing, and the award.

Ways to Lose a Poetry Contest

Hopefully you'll find the things-to-avoid highlighted in Bern Mulvey's "5 Easy Ways to Lose a Poetry Contest" over at The Missouri Review pretty familiar. Hopefully you'd never do any of these things. But sometimes it doesn't hurt to be reminded.

Always Read the Fine Print

No fewer than five of the writing and/or publishing sites/newsletters I read daily mentioned a certain splashy new literary contest yesterday; the one I think most worth referring you to is the one that seems most skeptical about it. You'll see why when you read what the Literary Saloon had to say.

Contributors Sought for Encyclopedia of the Caribbean

The editor of the forthcoming Facts on File Encyclopedia of the Caribbean is looking for contributors--scholars, graduate students, and/or freelance writers. "In print, this will be a three-volume reference work, but it will also be integrated into the Facts On File World History reference database, available electronically to institutional subscribers. High school and college undergraduates are the intended reading audience." Content will include "key figures, topics and events in history, society and popular culture, religion, literature, politics, geography, and economics," and honoraria will be issued to writers who contribute more than 1,000 words.

For more information, including contact details, see the announcement at H-Net.

From My Bookshelf: Recent (and Current) Reads

Sometimes it seems I spend so much of my reading time "working"--reading books in order to review them--that I'm not reading much for "fun" (which isn't to say that writing reviews isn't fun!). Luckily, I've had the pleasure of reading two excellent "non-assigned" novels within the past couple of weeks: Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children (I wanted to read it before going to hear Messud read last night at the Harvard Book Store--a terrific event), and Ken Kalfus's A Disorder Peculiar To This Country.

Right now I'm in the middle of two other books: Mavis Gallant's Paris Stories, which I should have read a long time ago (I'm quite serious about that--in my family we often inscribe the books we give one another and judging from what's written inside this one it seems that my sister and brother-in-law gave it to me way back in December 2002), and Adam Harmon's Lonely Soldier, a memoir of an American-born man's experience serving in the Israeli army. (The title alludes to the Hebrew term, chayal boded ["lone soldier"], referring to someone without family in Israel. I just learned that reading two nights ago.)

What are other practicing writers reading these days?

New Literary Project: Dzanc Books

Yesterday I received an e-mail from the ever-energetic Dan Wickett (founder of the Emerging Writers Network) announcing that he and author Steve Gillis (founder of 826michigan) are launching Dzanc Books, a not-for-profit literary venture.

From the press release:

Dzanc Books is a 501(c)3 organization set up to operate exclusively for charitable, literary, and educational purposes. Our mission at Dzanc is 3-pronged: To assist literary journals in reaching the largest reader base possible; to develop educational programs within the schools in the areas of reading and writing; and, beginning in 2007, to publish two excellent works of literary fiction per year.

As Publishers, Dzanc's mission is to provide a home for some of the amazing, talented authors out there. Both Steve and Dan are intimately aware of the current state of publishing, which finds well-intended presses unable to offer their authors the necessary editorial or marketing support, particularly when a manuscript doesn't fit neatly into a clear market. We at Dzanc have no such fears. If the manuscript is excellent, we will provide editing guidance and do whatever it takes to find the audience a work deserves. We aren't concerned about a Dzanc book falling into some special niche to market towards as our strategy is far more expansive. Everyone at Dzanc is well connected and aligned with editors, distributors and public relations folks who have years of experience working with literary fiction on a national scale. While Dzanc operates as a non-profit, our authors will receive full payment just as any for profit house. More about submitting can be found at www.dzancbooks.org/excerptsubmissions.html.

Beyond publishing, Dzanc Books will assist literary journals with the promotion of their publications. Dzanc Books believes literary journals constitute an invaluable venue for authors to gain exposure for their work. With this in mind, Dzanc plans to provide financial and networking aid in order to assist literary journals in their subscriptions, distribution, fundraising, and overall exposure to the reading community. Dzanc has no interest in influencing any of the editorial decisions of these literary journals. We only want to help journals succeed in achieving their missions, and hopefully relieve some of the stresses that go with doing so. All of our services to literary journals are 100% free, provided as part of our ongoing commitment to bring greater exposure of fantastic writing to the public.

Third, it is the mindset of Dzanc Books that bringing literary fiction into the schools is extremely important. We plan on developing workshops and Writer-in-Residency programs in middle and high schools - having an author spend weekly class time with students throughout an entire school year, teaching and developing their creative writing talents, with the end result being a self-contained anthology. Dzanc Books also plans on furthering current relationships with college professors in order to get literary journals taught at that level, as well as continuing to develop partnerships with some of the wonderful programs currently operating in the schools. While located in Michigan, it is Dzanc's ambition to extend its educational outreach to other schools who wish to participate. As with our other programs, author workshops and Writer-in-Residency programs are 100% free.

Dzanc Books is a culmination of a dream Dan and Steve have had for some time. It is the vision of Dzanc to do all it can to assist writers, journals, and students to continue to experience literature on the highest scale. We are a well-organized, fully-funded and well-oiled machine and we look forward to working with all of you in the future.

Thanks, Dan and Steve!

New No-Cost Contest: (Prizes: £200-£1,000)

The University of Hertfordshire (UK) Writing Award, seeking short stories (up to 3,500 words) on the theme of "vision," caught my attention for three reasons:

First, it's another no-cost contest, with no entry fee charged.

Second, it offers pretty impressive prizes: £1,000, £500, £300, and £200 for the top four entries, respectively.

And third, if eligible (meaning s/he has applied for and been accepted at the University of Hertfordshire for full-time study commencing in 2007), it seems that the top winner also wins a UH Writing Award Scholarship, valued at £3,000 per year for three years, and applicable to all UH undergraduate degree programs.

But you don't have to be applying for university admission to enter the writing contest, and even better, the award "is international and open to anyone regardless of country of origin or nationality." The top twenty stories will be published in an anthology by the University of Hertfordshire Press; all writers with a story in the book will receive two free copies; winners will receive their prizes at a special event at the University of Hertfordshire next June.

Deadline: January 15, 2007 (received)

For lots more information, including rules/forms, click here.

(via the Society of Authors Noticeboard)

Agent, Anyone?

I'm meeting an old friend for lunch today. He's a fellow historian-by-training now looking for some tips on finding an agent for his dissertation-turned-general nonfiction book. So I've been reviewing my resources on the topic and found some new ones. Thought some of you might appreciate this recent advice from Victoria Strauss.

Insights into Book Reviewing

For some behind-the-scenes insights into how book reviewing works at The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer, read this post and links from the ever-excellent Literary Saloon (linked to the right).

Newsletter Note

Subscribers to our fantastic, FREE monthly newsletter have already had quite awhile to follow up on the market leads and other information we provided in the latest (September) issue. You'll find this current issue republished at FreelanceWriting.com; all our archived issues, however, are available only to subscribers. And why not be sure that you receive the next issue nice and early like our 1450+ subscribers? Sign up today if you need to--you'll also get a bonus guide e-book contest guide! (Don't worry--your e-mail address will remain confidential!)

Attention, Seattle-area Writers and Readers!

If you're looking for a way to get to the Richard Hugo House's "Inquiry" program next month (this year on the theme of "Telling Childhood") but find you're short on money here's some news: I've just learned that they're looking for volunteers to help out.

"Telling Childhood" includes two days of "stories, panel discussions, classes and author readings that explore the strange country of childhood. This year's evening programs feature readings by Deb Caletti, Rebecca Brown, Greil Marcus, Ryan Boudinot, Stacey Levine, Charles D'Ambrosio and David Rakoff." According to the organizers, "Your volunteer shift may give you the opportunity to meet a writer whom you admire, enjoy a reading or ask your burning question during one of the panel discussions."

Volunteer assignments are available Friday, October 13 from 6-10:30PM, and Saturday, October 14 from 8:30AM-10:30PM (shifts last 3.5-4 hours). They'll need help checking tickets, answering questions, making sandwiches (for this, food handler permits are required), selling beer or wine (for this, alcohol server permits are required), helping out in the theater, directing parking, and "keeping the writers happy." If you have a day shift, you get complimentary tickets to any daytime event (except classes). If you have an evening shift, you get complimentary tickets to the reading. Note that there's alos a volunteer training session Wednesday, October 11, at 5:30PM.

For more information on volunteering, call (206)322-7030, or email volunteer(at)hugohouse(dot)org. For more information about the program, click here.

Practicing Poet Sought

Colby College in Waterville, Maine, is looking for a Faculty Fellow in Creative Writing (Poetry). This is a one-year sabbatical replacement position for "a practicing poet with publications and an MFA or equivalent, beginning September 1, 2007. Responsibilities include teaching four sections of poetry writing, likely including beginning and advanced levels." For more information and application instructions, see the announcement at HigherEdJobs.com.

Time to Vote!

JBooks.com readers nominated more than 115 works of Jewish fiction (dating from the past ten years) for the 2006 JBooks.com People's Choice Award. The three-person judging panel has chosen its top six choices from that group. Now it's time to vote for the winner--and by voting you're eligible to win one of 8 Amazon Shopping Spree Gift Cards (value ranges from $25-$250).

The author of the winning title will receive $5,000 and will be honored at the Koret International Jewish Book Awards prize ceremony in San Francisco on November 15.

The finalist titles:

Ravelstein, by Saul Bellow

Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer

In the Image, by Dara Horn

The Puttermesser Papers, by Cynthia Ozick

The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth

The Wedding Jester, by Steve Stern

I've voted! Now it's your turn!

Calling All Expatriate Writers for a No-Cost Contest

There's a new (as far as I know) writing contest in town: TransitionsAbroad.com's 2007 Expatriate Writing Contest:

Professionals, freelancers and aspiring writers are invited to write articles which describe their experience living abroad. Making the move to live abroad is for many the ultimate transition -- often the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, in other cases the result of chance and circumstance. We are seeking inspiring articles which also provide in-depth practical descriptions of your experience moving and living abroad, including discussions of immigration, personal and family life abroad, housing, work, social interactions with the natives, food, culture, and potential prejudices encountered.

Apart from practical considerations what were the most important physical, psychological, and social adjustments necessary to integrate into the local communities? Feel free to include anecdotes about locals who may have aided in your adjustment to the physical conditions and social mores of the host community, as well as the role of expats in providing information and support.

A listing or reference to the most important websites, publications, and other resources which have aided you in the cultural adjustment process or enhanced your current life abroad is encouraged to help others who may find themselves in similar situations or even similar locations.

In sum, we do not seek diaries or personal blogs, but your own perspective in which the host country remains the primary focus, such that the color and taste of the people and land remain in the foreground.

The top three entries will be published on TransitionsAbroad.com. Their authors will win $250, $100, and $75, respectively. And there's NO ENTRY FEE.

Payment for other entries chosen for publication on TransitionsAbroad.com will be $50.

Deadline: December 31, 2006.

Read the complete announcement and guidelines here.

Notes on a New Web Site

Check out the nifty new Web site over at The Chattahoochee Review (where I'm a contributing editor). And if you have a moment, go ahead and read my review of Camus at Combat (it's now online).

E-book Updates

It may have been a holiday weekend here, but I was working nonetheless! Just updated two of our e-books: our primer on low-residency MFA programs and our oh-so-cleverly titled Writers' Markets: Where To Sell What You Write When You Write About Writing. Check them out (and download the free previews!).

Creative Writing on String Theory Sought for Anthology (Pays: $20 plus two books)

If string theory is your thing, you might want to look into the call for submissions for an anthology of creative writing inspired by it. The editor is looking for poems, short stories, and essays (previously unpublished in the United States). Authors of selected pieces will receive $20 for each work, plus two copies of the anthology. Submission deadline: May 31, 2007. More information and submission instructions here. (via placesforwriters.com)

Get to Know Her: Kate Marsh, Managing Editor, The New Republic

Thinking about pitching The New Republic? Take a few moments to read this profile of Kate Marsh, the magazine's new managing editor, courtesy of Bacon's The Navigator. Note: Marsh is particularly interested in "more strongly written pitches on domestic stories," rather than foreign policy material.