A chance to get a Short Story or Poem in an Anthology and get paid for it... :D

Hello Friends,

It's been a long time since I've blogged and I know that. I have a couple of really good books I'm reading, and I'm also way far behind on posting book reviews... I plan to get some of those up in the near future. :D

However, I thought that perhaps some of you might be interested in an opportunity now available through MEP. You read about it in the title of this blog post... yep, the one that says you could be published in an anthology and paid to be?

Well, here's the deal.  I have been collaborating with some of my writing and publishing friends about ways to get Magpie Eclectic Press off the ground and into the publishing world with some standing.  The idea was posed to me by a dear friend to try for an anthology... a sort of experiment to give writers a chance to see what we are looking for in Speculative fiction, work with us, see what we are really about... while at the same time putting out quality work so that readers will know to look out for us in the future.

Really, if we can pull this off, it will be win/win.

But before we can publish an anthology, we need authors who are interested in contributing to this anthology.

Now, I've looked around at other houses putting out anthologies right now.  The really really high end publishers (I mean the ones that are - like - in the big 6 and making ridiculous amounts of money, or even just really good money) can pay a very fancy one-time sum for a short story that they want to put in an anthology.  (Usually short stories don't bring in royalties, but are instead bought one at a time for use in magazines and anthologies... therefor the contract agreements are different than agreements made over novels and novellas.)

Currently, I can't afford to pay a high-end sum of money to multiple authors for an anthology.

Other, smaller but still reputable independent houses that I'm following online offer much smaller amounts of money per short story, or even no money at all.  Some houses, instead of money, offer a complimentary copy of the anthology as payment.  All of these houses are still getting submissions.

Well, seeing as I can't afford to pay a high-end sum per story, I thought why not try for a low-end one?

So here's how it is: Currently the "Write for Us" page on the Magpie Eclectic Press website is undergoing a slight edit and hopefully will be completely updated within a few weeks.  In the mean time, I'm going to post what we are accepting (short story wise) here in the blog for any of you readers who are interested in it. :)

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Magpie Eclectic Press is currently accepting Short stories and poetry for a possible anthology.  Short stories are to be Approx. 3k – 6k in length and follow the regular formatting guide.

For poetry, please center the text.

Please use Times New Roman as your font, size 12. 

To submit your short story or poetry, fill out the submission form as it requests.  For poetry submissions you may type the words “Poetry Submission” in the boxes that ask for your novel premise and synopsis.  However, I would ask that you leave a brief description or “hook” for your poem in the box that asks for your novel’s hook.

Authors submitting short stories to the anthology will receive a one-time payment of $5.00 per story accepted upon the time of publication.  Authors submitting poetry will receive a one-time payment of $2.00 - $3.00 per poem accepted (depending on the length of the poem in question) upon publication.

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If any of you are interested in submitting, hop on over to www.magpie-eclectic-press.com to find out more about our submission process, and to submit your story. ^_^

Blogging with a New Perspective

I have been reading a book by John Locke recently about online marketing titled "How I sold 1 Million Ebooks in 5 Months".   One of the things that this book highlights is the importance of blogging and how it effects you as a writer, a reader, a businessman, and basically a person.    I've found it very eye opening.

Since starting the book, I've gone back over some of the blog posts I've written in the past, and there's one thing I've noticed about these posts that remains consistent.  They all scream "off the cuff"... as if I didn't spend much time thinking about what I was going to write about.  I don't like that thought... not at all. Several of these posts seem chaotic and disorganized... a rambling mess of thoughts thrown out in no particular order.  Other posts appear more thought through and consistent, but perhaps they are too long (I seem to like posts that sit somewhere over 1,000 words at least. :P) or maybe they shy off topic near the end.

No more.  It's time I start blogging with a new perspective... a more thoughtful perspective.  It's time that my blog lives up to the passion I hold for my craft.  No more rambling posts; no more halfhearted attempts to update the P&P with small, uninteresting facts about my life that don't pertain to anything in particular.

As a writer, I know that I should be doing better than this.  In fact, I know that I could be doing better than this, and all of you deserve better.

As a writer who is also an avid reader, I know what others who are like me or who share my interests might find engaging.  I know all of this... and it's time I start putting this knowledge to work.  The way things are around here will be changing in the near future, hopefully for the better.  It's time that I made the change.

Thank you, John Locke, for the inspiration your book provided me.  I may not have read any of your other works, but I will hand you this: you sure know how to write!  Every writer I know should get this book and study it thoroughly. It's well worth the price, I'll tell you that!

Nichole
"Blue Moon" by Nichole White


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