Resources
From Category: Markets and Contests for Writers
The Great First Impression Book Proposal
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of five how-to books for writers, including 'The Frugal Book Promoter', has condensed her expertise into 'The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Book in 20 Minutes'. Check out other useful resources on her website.
The Muse’s Muse: Songwriting Contests
Jodi Krangle has done a great job of finding interesting songwriting contests and other resources for songwriters. Subscribe to her free newsletter, and enjoy articles and tools for both novices and professionals. We especially liked "Six Easy Steps to Writing Hit Lyrics".
The Practicing Writer
Very useful free monthly e-newsletter for writers of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, featuring articles, interviews, contests, calls for submissions, and more. Editor Erika Dreifus (Ed.M., M.F.A., Ph.D.) is a Massachusetts-based writer and writing instructor with many publication credits, who serves as contributing editor of The Chattahoochee Review. Dreifus says, "Our mission is to support the craft and business of excellent writing."
The Smart Approach to Contest Submissions
In this essay from May/June 2013, the staff of Poets & Writers Magazine gives seven simple steps to make your contest submission choices more efficient and well-targeted.
The Submission Grinder
The Submission Grinder is a donation-based tool for poetry and fiction writers to search for publications to submit their work; view anonymized response time statistics based on other writers' submissions; and track their submissions. It is a project of Diabolical Plots, an online journal of speculative and horror fiction.
The Teen Mag’s List of Literary Magazines Accepting Writing and Art from Teens
This 2023 article from The Teen Mag lists reputable journals and funding opportunities for teen authors and artists, including the YoungArts and Scholastic competitions.
The Whole 9
Free online job board features calls for artists, writers, performers, and graphic designers, plus contests and other opportunities for creative people.
The Write Life
The Write Life is a one-stop shop for information on how to make a living as a writer. Their annual "100 Best Websites for Writers" list showcases their favorite resources for freelancing, book marketing, blogging, literary craft advice, and inspiration for the long haul.
The Writer’s Workout
Launched in 2014, The Writer's Workout is a resource site with features including a discussion forum, submission calls, prompts, a newsletter, and a literary journal called WayWords. For $1/month you can use their Achievement Tracker to organize your submissions and drafts. The site's editors say, "It's designed and tested to help you measure all your literary progress: the Achievement Tracker shows your total word count, competition wins, reading, editing, publications, and more throughout the year as well as your daily and monthly average word count. Seeing these totals and averages helps you develop constructive writing habits, encourages you to try different things, and provides a clear visual of your growth."
The Writers’ Union of Canada: Awards & Competitions
Canadian writers should take note of these quality fiction and nonfiction contests. Prizes are awarded for individual pieces, collections, writing for children and short-shorts.
Top 100 Book Review Blogs for Readers and Authors
Feedspot, a site that aggregates content across the Web, compiled this list of book review blogs that have the highest visibility in terms of Google search ranking, social media presence, and consistent quality of posts. The list includes both general-interest and genre-specific sites such as romance, children's books, and fantasy.
Top Ten Topics for Writers
Basic information on submission etiquette, getting published, writers' conferences and degree programs, avoiding scams, and promoting your work. From the editors of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Trish Hopkinson Poetry Blog
Poet Trish Hopkinson is the author of the chapbooks Emissions and Pieced into Treetops, as well as many poems published in literary journals. On her blog, she shares interesting writing tips, articles, calls for submissions (no-fee only), and other information to help promote good writing.
Unbound
UK-based site applies the principle of "crowdfunding" to book publishing. Agent-recommended authors pitch their book ideas on the site. If you like their idea, you can pledge to support it. If they hit the target number of supporters, the author can go ahead and start writing. If the target isn't met, you can either get your pledge refunded in full or switch your pledge to another Unbound project. Pledging readers get backstage access to the creative process, including updates on the book’s progress, exclusive interviews, draft chapters, information about the author's backlist, and discussions with the author and other supporters.
What Editors Want: A Must-Read for Writers Submitting to Literary Magazines
In this essay from the online bulletin of the literary journal Glimmer Train, Lynne Barrett gives new writers an overview of the magazine editing process and offers tips to help your submission succeed. Barrett is the author of several short fiction collections and the editor of The Florida Book Review.
Where to Publish Flash Nonfiction and Micro-Essays
This 2021 article from the website of Erika Dreifus, poet and editor of the writers' resource newsletter The Practicing Writer, lists more than 50 reputable literary journals that publish short-form creative nonfiction.
Who Pays Writers?
Who Pays Writers? is an online directory of blogs, magazines, and literary journals that pay for accepted work, with information on their current pay rates. Some entries include more information about the difficulty of breaking in to that market, how it compares to other publications in its genre, and the amount of reporting required for a pitch or article.
Wikipedia List of Literary Awards
This page links to all of the literary awards that currently have Wikipedia page entries, sorted by geographic region, genre, and language. The individual award pages are a useful place to find past winners and contest history, though they may not indicate whether the contest is still active.
Working Writers Newsletter
Blog for writers and screenwriters features upcoming contests, calls for submissions, literary conferences and events, and the latest news from the publishing industry.
Writer Advice
Writer Advice is a resource site managed by B. Lynn Goodwin, author of Talent and You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers. The site includes links to markets and contests, craft essays, and quotes from famous authors. They also offer contests with modest prizes and fees.
Writer’s Relief: Literary Journals By And For Women Writers
Compiled in March 2012, this list features 20 literary journals with a focus on women's writing. Writer's Relief is an authors' submission service.
Writers Online Directory of Competitions
Writers Online, a British writing site, posts listings of writing competitions, workshops, and book publishing services in the UK. Their directories are searchable by keyword and by geographic region within the UK and Ireland.
Writers’ HQ List of Writing Competitions and Submission Opportunities
Writers' HQ is a UK-based writers' resource site with listings for workshops, retreats, and publication opportunities. Their policy is to list only those markets that are free or financially accessible, which they define as having reasonable costs and prize-fee ratios. This page on their site features UK and US submission calls with deadlines in the next few months.
WritersMarket.com
Contact information for thousands of editors and agents. Search by keyword and category. Monthly access is $2.99. Annual access is $29.95, with a 30-day money back guarantee. Includes advice on improving your query letters and answers to common questions. Daily industry updates.
Writing Contest Links at The Writer Magazine
The Writer is a monthly magazine with craft articles and publication opportunities for creative writers. Their website includes an up-to-date list of links to contests with upcoming deadlines, searchable by genre: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, journalism, and more.
Writing Maps
Writing Maps are illustrated fold-out posters with creative writing prompts. The story and memoir ideas on the posters can be used in writing workshops or on your own. The site offers monthly themed contests, with two winners each month. Prize is publication in the Writing Maps Journal plus free copies and posters. Entries may be prose, poems, graphic stories, or any hybrid thereof.
Writing Matters: 60 Places to Publish Formal Poetry
Updated for 2021 by poet Randal A. Burd Jr. (Memoirs of a Witness Tree, Kelsay Books) at the blog Writing Matters, this list originally compiled by formalist poet Annie Finch features reputable journals for emerging and established writers to send poetry in traditional styles. Some are general-interest and others have a specialty such as light verse, Christian, horror, or LGBTQ.
Writing-World.com
Concise tips and essays for writers of all kinds. Now offering a searchable contest database. Essays in the poetry section explore such themes as cowboy poetry, tips on translations, and the form of the triolet. Also provides selected links to poetry resources.
YesYes Books
YesYes Books publishes books of innovative contemporary poetry, prose, and visual art, as well as the online journal Vinyl Poetry. See website for their Pamet River Prize, for a first or second full-length book of poetry or prose by a female-identified or genderqueer author. Writers in their catalog include Rebecca Hazelton, Danez Smith, and Ocean Vuong.
