Thursday, June 23, 2011

Blog Me Baby and Call for Entries from Voices Anthology

On this lovely June morning I would like to give a "blog me baby" welcome to the two latest followers of Donna's Book Pub:

Beth, from Beth's Banter She also contributes to Sleuth's Ink, a mystery writers' group out of Springfield, Missouri.

Karen Fisher-Alaniz has a blog called Write Now. Karen lives in Washington State.

I hope Beth and Karen visit often and join the conversations. They have pretty cool blogs of their own, so check them out when you get a chance.

Next, I want to share an e-mail reminder I received from one of the editors of the Voices Anthology of Short Stories Contest (Volume IV). The deadline is fast approaching--July 1--so I need to get busy and submit.

Here are the Contest Guidelines:
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Unpublished short stories only to 3,000 words.

No essays or poetry.

Standard manuscript format, with cover sheet attached.



Times New Roman, 12-point font

Mail two copies of each entry, along with entry fee of $10 (check or money order). Make check out to Delois McGrew.

Mail to: Voices, P.O. Box 9076, Fayetteville, AR 72703.

Submissions not following the guidelines may be rejected.

You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry must be accompanied by a $10 entry fee. No SASE required, manuscripts will be destroyed after the contest.

First North American Rights. Rights revert to author 30 days after publication.

No simultaneous entries.

Include a cover letter with all contact information, including e-mail address, and a 50-word bio, attached to each of the two copies of your entry.

Accept all genres, except erotica. No gratuitous sex or violence in your entries.

Winner receives $200 and publication for Best Short Story. Possible nomination for the Pushcart Prize.

Other winners will be published in the anthology and receive one contributor’s copy.

All winners may make a one-time purchase of the anthology at a discount price.

By submitting your manuscript to this contest, you are allowing it to be edited and considered for publication. If your work is chosen, you understand and agree with the conditions for publication. By submitting to this contest, you are giving permission to publish your work in Voices, An Anthology of Short Stories, Volume Four. No other contract will be required.

Deadline for entries: July 1, 2011.

Winners will be notified 60 days after submissions close.

For more information, contact deloism@gmail.com or louturn@aol.com.

**

Good luck if you enter!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Donna. Thanks for the info. This reminded me that I need to get something written for the "storm" anthology!

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  2. Hi Becky,
    You're welcome. I read my Storm Country anthology at critique group on Tuesday and submitted it the same night. I'll give a reminder about the Storm Country anthology at SW on Saturday.
    Hope your writing retreat was fruitful--and fun!
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  3. Make that Storm Country anthology submission...duh.

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  4. I seemed to have lost my comment so I will try again!

    Thanks for the reminder, Donna. I need to check the files because I know I can't produce something new right now.

    I have a writer question for you. Almost every source asks for unpublished material. If your story/poem is used in an anthology or on a blog, doesn't this narrow or shorten its life? Is there a tip or rule on how best to maximize the use of your work? I know you mentioned reusing a piece of ficiton by rewriting it some...again, how much change keeps a story from having been "published" already?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Bookie (Claudia),

    Good questions.

    As far as how much rewriting or revision of a piece consitites a new story, I don't think there is a magic number--it depends. While the short story I submitted to Storm Country anthology had already been published and I kept the same title, I rewrote it with more than minor revisions--and owned the rights to the story. And the guidelines stated previously published works would be accepted.

    To gain a better understanding of what constitutes an unpublished work for purposes of the Voices anthology, I asked Lou Turner, one of the editors of Voices.

    Here's a synopsis of what she had to say:

    If the essay, story, poem, etc has appeared on an indivual's blog or website--it is unpublished.

    If it is included in a print or an electronic anthology, even if the writer wasn't paid for it, but the anthology is available for purchase somewhere--it is considered published.

    If the work is included in an organization's professional print or online newsletter, even if you weren't paid--it is published.

    Hope this helps!

    If anyone else wants to chime in, please do!

    Donna

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  6. Thanks for the shout out, Donna. I appreciate it. You do a fabulous job with your blog. Since we're back in town and have three major activities behind us, I plan to post more regularly.

    http://www.banterwithbeth.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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