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WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
I have always said, "A writer must write!" And I still believe this to be true, for this is a natural part of who the writer is. This almost obsessive desire--nay need--for self-expression via the written word is firmly embedded in the deepest recesses of the writer's being--insistently spurring each of us on to share our innermost thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and insights with the world around us. It's as natural as breathing.
Sometimes this may take the form of poetry, as in my own personal poetic glimpse into emotional growth:
Vistas
by Jeanne Dininni
Gazing down the corridor of time, I see a memory.
I strain to touch the innocence of youth, with fleeting ecstasy.
For lurking not so far beyond that realm of sweet naivety
The tears and pain wait silently...so patiently...majestically...
Hanging in my consciousness, like strains of haunting melody,
The image slowly dissipates and drifts into eternity.
And through the mists of joy and pain, the dawning of maturity
Breaks forth on near horizons in a blaze of gentle agony.
Or, it could take the form of prose--either lofty or utilitarian, fiction or fact. It could be mere musings, or it might be critically important concepts which could one day save the world! But, whatever it is, it is inherently ours--or rather inherently us! And this is what makes it special...unique...irreplaceable!
This post is dedicated to all my fellow writers, who pursue their craft with the fierce loyalty born of a passion for self-expression, who faithfully follow their life's calling, their heart's dream, with perseverance wherever it may lead--despite all odds, despite all disappointments, despite all setbacks--knowing deep in their hearts that out there somewhere, at the end of their rainbow, awaits a pot of gold.
To this end, I promise to do my very best to provide you, over the coming months, with all the resources at my disposal to help make your dream come true! While these resources may, at times, be somewhat limited, or possibly somewhat inadequate or inappropriate to your particular needs, I hope you'll bear with me, as I seek the widest range of information possible.
Whatever may at any particular time be lacking in the hard data I am able to amass on your behalf will be more than compensated for by my firm belief in you and your ability to succeed at your craft if you are determined enough to do what it takes to follow your dream. And through encouragement, camaraderie, and a spirit of supportiveness, I hope to help you keep your belief in yourself alive and growing!
Fellow Writers, I salute you! Though as different from one another as night is from day, you are, every one, a special breed!
May many 'Vistas' open before you, and may the inner growth of which my poem speaks come to you gently, softly, providing a shining entry into everything that you can be!
And as you gaze out over the horizon of life, may your future break forth before you in a blaze of radiant glory!
Your friend in the writing art,
Jeanne
P.S. Here's a link to a website with many helps for freelance writers, including grant and contest info, a newsletter, links, and other resources. It also pays $35 per article ($10 for reprints) for work which helps other writers earn money writing. The site is called Funds for Writers...
And here's a link to a site seeking articles about writing and paying $15 per article. If you have any interest in this type of writing, check out Misti Sandefur's Call for Articles to find out what she's looking for. You'll also find some interesting writing-related info and resources on her site, as well.
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Have an itch to write a murder mystery? Or have one you've already written? Or perhaps your forte is penning highly suspenseful crime-related poetry. You might even be more the type who's into writing about crime writing (either the craft or the business.) If any of the above situations describes you, you might just want to check out MOUTH FULL OF BULLETS, a website and online mystery magazine that publishes crime-related non-fiction, poetry and short fiction by writers of all levels.
According to the info in their Submission Guidelines, in the area of fiction, they accept "Mystery/suspense of all types (police procedural, private eye, amateur sleuth, cozies, hardboiled, etc.)" They go on to say, " Basically, if it involves a crime, and it's within our guidelines, we'd love to consider it."
As for poetry, they seek "anything crime-related."
And in the area of non-fiction, they state, "We are open to articles and columns related to mystery writing, seeking representation, editing, writing in general, or anything else that grabs our attention."
They publish four times a year and welcome both new and established writers to submit their work--which, incidentally, must be submitted via e-mail.
While MOUTH FULL OF BULLETS is an extremely low-paying market--in fact, 'nominal' is the word they themselves use to refer to their payments--this market can offer you an opportunity to get your work out there before the public, get it read, and possibly earn you a reputation as a mystery writer, a crime genre poet, or an author of writing-related articles of the criminal variety. And this could be a very good thing!
Though I've never dealt with this website personally and so have no real experience to draw upon in giving advice to the aspiring crime writer where the site is concerned, I have more than once considered submitting work to them myself. However, due to one or another writing project--to be totally honest, coupled with the fact that they are one of the lowest-paying markets--I haven't yet gotten around to doing so.
Yet, there seems something fascinating about them. (Could it be the illustration that adorns the site of a spoon full of bullets being lifted toward a wide-open mouth?)
Whatever it is, I think MOUTH FULL OF BULLETS would definitely be worth looking into for the writer who has any interest at all in crime-related writing!
If you've dealt with this website in the past--or do so in the future--perhaps you would be so kind as to share your experience with the rest of us, via a comment. Your thoughts about the experience would be greatly appreciated by all of us!
This particular site does seem to have some fairly stringent manuscript formatting requirements that any writer who hopes to be published by them would probably do well to note--and follow. (The above links will take you directly to the site's Submission Guidelines page, which contains all the info you'll need to submit your work according to their specifications.)
Best of luck to you!
Jeanne
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If you're looking for a website where you can earn more for your work than at many other sites, give Constant-Content a try. Constant-Content doesn't actually buy your work; instead they sell it for you--in effect, acting as your online literary agent.
This site attracts many different people who are in the market for writing--much of it content for their websites or blogs--though, at times, you will even come across individuals who are looking to purchase writing for publication in various types of print media. At this site, the deal is simple: You provide the written material; they provide the customers. What could be easier? It's the proverbial 'marriage made in heaven'! With this arrangement, everybody wins! The writer earns money, Constant-Content earns money, and the customer gets the desired written material for his or her website or other project. Everybody's happy!
At Constant-Content, you, the writer, are the one who sets the price for your work. Of the price you charge, you will receive 65% each time your article is sold. (C-C receives 10% and their affiliates receive 25%.)
If you sell "usage'" rights, the buyer will be allowed to purchase your writing for a one-time use, which means you'll be free to sell and resell it over and over again. (If your work has appeared elsewhere in print or online, "usage" rights are the only rights Constant-Content will allow you to sell on their site, since they guarantee their customers that any work for which they sell "unique" or "full" rights has not previously appeared anywhere other than the Constant-Content website.)
"Unique" rights means that, after your article is sold, C-C will remove it from their site, because buyers who purchase unique rights want work that will appear only on their website. You will, however retain the rights to your work, and, as with 'usage' rights it will contain your byline (as long as you put your name on the article itself before submitting.)
When you sell "full" rights, which are often referred to in publishing as "all" rights, your work is likewise removed from the site, and the buyer may do whatever he or she desires with your piece--including modifying it, reselling it, and even removing your byline from it and taking credit for writing it.
Of course, depending on which rights you're planning to sell, you'll want to price your work accordingly. You'll also want to charge a reasonable amount for your articles, based on their quality, complexity, length, and nature--and possibly also on your writing and publishing experience, your expertise or credentials in your subject area, and/or your popularity as an author. Obviously, if you charge much more than the average buyer is willing to pay, you might very easily price yourself right out of the market, which will not help you to sell your work. (Of course, there's always the chance that you'll find just the right buyer who loves your writing so much that he or she will be willing to pay a higher price for it--but it may be just as likely that this individual will continue browsing the site for lower-priced content.)
Constant-Content pays authors at the beginning of each month for work sold during the previous month, and payment is made through PayPal. There is a $50 payment threshhold, however, which means that you will only be paid for work sold in the previous month(s) if, as of the date of payment, (generally the first of the month,) your balance has reached or exceeded $50.
The new site is great, and you'll find it very easy to input your work into their templates. (One nice feature of the new site is that you can go back and edit your articles after uploading right up until the time they've been posted to the site for sale. If you find any errors after that, you'll need to contact C-C's editors.)
If you haven't checked out Constant-Content now that their new site is up and running, drop by for a visit. You'll be pleased with the improvements they've made to the site! And if you've never visited Constant-Content, check them out. They're a first-rate marketplace for your work!
Good luck!
Jeanne
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Helium.com is a website where writing of all types and genres is welcome! From poetry to short stories, from research reports to how-to articles, and from book reviews to memoirs, at Helium you'll find an eager audience for your work!
Helium is free to join and, while they offer no up-front payment for your work, they do have a revenue sharing system in place whereby they give a portion of their profits gleaned through advertising to their writers. This, of course, doesn't add up to very much, but if you post a large amount of popular work to their site, it can build steadily over time. (You'll need to wait until you've amassed $25 in profits before you'll be allowed to claim your money, and you must do so via PayPal.)
This interesting site has a unique method of rating a writer's work, ranking all work by comparative review against the other writings within each particular category, or "title," as it is called on their site. (And I must say it is extremely rewarding to see one--or more than one--of your works reach the number one spot in its category!) Each time you post your work, as soon as you are finished posting, a screen will come up which will present you with two "articles" that have been written to the same "title" and you will be expected to rate them against one another, indicating which you like better and how much, or whether you like them both the same. Generally, several pairs of writings from within the same category will come up in a row before a new category will be presented. (Once you've tired of rating, you'll need to leave the rating screen yourself, going elsewhere on the site, since I, at least, have never seen rating end on its own.)
The interesting thing about Helium's rating system--which differs from most other writing sites--is that you can watch the ranking of your work perpetually evolve, moving either up or down as it is continuously rated by other Helium members. (You will be allowed to rate other works within the same categories in which your own work appears--and will be informed of the fact that your work appears in the category in question--but you will not, of course, be allowed to rate your own work.)
The only negative thing I would say about Helium is that, once you've posted an "article" to their site, you cannot edit or delete it, which can be fairly frustrating. Your only recourse for making changes to your work is to use one of a limited number of "leapfrogs" you are allowed, which enable you to repost a particular piece of writing after making changes to it. (And you may only "leapfrog" any "article'"once in a week's time.) Even then, your "leapfrog" will not become your "active" article unless and until other Helium members have rated it against your original article and voted it to be the better of the two. This takes a little getting used to, but once you have, your experience at Helium can be quite a positive one overall.
While payments at Helium are extremely modest, once you have enough good quality work posted to their site, you can potentially sit back, relax, and watch your profits increase without so much as lifting a finger--unless you count clicking on the "Earnings and Payments" button!
And who could complain about that!
Happy posting!
Jeanne
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Recently, I told you about four websites that accept poetry (as well as other forms of writing): AssociatedContent.com, Helium.com, Creative-Poems.com, and MoonTownCafe.com.
In an earlier post, I discussed Creative-Poems.com in greater detail--so you would have the info you need to more effectively utilize that site. Today, I'll do the same for MoonTownCafe.
MoonTownCafe is a great site, where you can post your work and receive feedback in the form of ratings (via a five-star rating system) and reviews (written by other members.) (This, of course, implies that you must join to post your poetry to the site, and this is true. However, membership is free--unless you choose premium membership. All you need to do is register to become part of the MoonTownCafe writing community.)
At MoonTownCafe, posting of your work is based on a points system, which determines how many posts you may make at any given time. All new members start out with 800 points, which are given to them at the time they join. These points are, as you might imagine, used up as poems are posted to the site.
The cost of posting one poem is 100 points for regular members or 50 points for premium (paid) members. Though points are used up when posting poems, they are also gained by reading and/or rating other members' work. This is the way your points are replenished--and you'd be surprised at how easy it is to gain back all your original points--and more!
This points system is the way MoonTownCafe encourages its members to read, rate, and review one another's work. Reading the work of another member will gain you 2 points each time if you're a basic member, or 5 points if you're a premium member. And if you rate another member's work, you'll gain 20 points (basic) or 40 (premium.) In addition, if you're the first member to rate a poem, you'll double your rating points, receiving either 20 or 40 bonus points, based on your membership type.
This system actually works quite well and is in no way cumbersome to use. Besides which, you'll have the opportunity to read a great deal of excellent work which you might normally tend to overlook!
One nice thing about this site is that you may go back and edit your poems as often as you like after posting by simply clicking on the 'edit' icon which is perpetually located above your posted works. Seeing that tiny pencil above each post is very reassuring, since there always seem to be those times when we've made a typo or a formatting error that went unnoticed prior to posting--or even, occasionally, those times when we've later thought of a change in wording that would immensely improve our poem!
Though this site offers no payment for your work, MoonTownCafe is a wonderful site where you'll have the opportunity to showcase your work to an appreciative audience of fellow poets, receive valuable feedback--as well as recognition for work well-done--and even enter periodic poetry contests.
What more could you ask of a non-paying market? Check out MoonTownCafe! I think you'll be glad you did!
Thanks for reading!
Jeanne
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Here are just a few examples of the types of articles the people at Associated Content accept for publication on their website--and pay the author for*--though they accept articles on many other subjects, as well. With the wide variety of content featured on their site, the opportunities for publication at AC are virtually endless!
[NOTE: To see a list of some of the article types Associated Content publishes, click the "Check Out My AC Content" tile below to be directed to my Content Producer page at AC, which lists all my work posted there. (I've removed the AC RSS feed, since it has not been functioning properly. My apologies!) If you check out the AC Home Page, you'll find many other topics, as well! Your choice of subject matter is limited only by your imagination and your knowledge of the topic!]
Why not join Associated Content? It's free. When you join, you'll be able to start writing immediately.
*AC generally doesn't pay for news items, poetry, or short stories (though they do publish them); nevertheless, their website is a great vehicle for your work to receive widespread internet exposure!
At this time, AC is unable to offer payment to writers outside the U.S. They will, however, publish their work. Their statement regarding this is, "We understand that PayPal facilitates international payments, but we cannot offer payment to non-citizens or non-legal residents of the United States due to the legal limitations of our Independent Contractor/License Agreement." Hopefully, this situation will change at some point in the near future! U.S. based writers must also be 18 years of age or older to receive payment for their work at AC.
UPDATE: Associated Content has just announced that, due to the success of their previous limited time offer of a payment of $5 for news stories, they have decided to continue it for the time being! Now that's good news! I'm not sure how long this payment offer will be in effect.
More info about Associated Content to come later!
Till next time,
Jeanne
Last time, I gave you four great websites where you can get your work published: Creative-Poems.com, MoonTownCafe.com, Helium.com, and AssociatedContent.com. A few helpful hints about each of these will make your experiences with them more pleasant, more productive, and less frustrating. In this post, we'll cover some of the idiosyncracies of Creative-Poems.com.
The Creative-Poems website is a wonderful site, where you can receive recognition for your work through member comments, weekly Featured Poetry Awards, and monthly Poetry Contests. They do not pay for the poems they post, though they do offer prizes in their monthly Poetry Contest.
At Creative-Poems, non-premium (free) members--as well as trial members--are allowed to place up to five posts on their site in a 24-hour period. (Premium members are allowed eight.) This is somewhat misleading, though, and requires a bit of clarification.
At first glance, it would appear that you'd be able to post up to five--or eight--poems to the site every 24 hours--and this can, indeed, be the case, provided you are very careful not to leave any typos or other errors in your poem, which might require its modification after it's been posted! The reason for this is that, should your poem require editing after posting, you will be resubmitting it after making your corrections--just as if it were a new poem--and thus you will be using another of the finite number of posts you are allowed daily. (This can be a bit frustrating.)
If you're anything like me, you could use an infinite number of posts to edit, modify, correct, and improve your poems to your satisfaction before final submission! But, alas, this is the real world, and every website is set up differently. So, always preview your work before submitting, to be sure your formatting is the way you want it and your work contains no typos. (Occasionally, you'll miss something and need to resubmit--we're all human--but at least you'll know that you aren't wasting most of your posts simply correcting errors!)
Another important point about formatting, while we're on the subject: At Creative-Poems, the default setting--for both poetry submissions and member comments--is centered. So, if you want your poem or comment to be left-margin justified (which is generally my personal preference) you'll need to select your text--if it's already been entered--and click the appropriate icon. (You can also simply click this icon before entering your text with the same effect.) Both regular and premium members may save, for later posting, up to five drafts in addition to the five--or eight--poems they may post in a 24-hour period, in case they aren't quite ready to post their work when they must leave the site.)
With a little prior knowledge of the workings of this great site and the obstacles you might encounter there, you can be well on your way to a long and fulfilling relationship with a dedicated group of site administrators and moderators who are friendly, helpful, responsive, and eager to showcase your work!
Creative-Poems.com is a fabulous forum for your work and a great community of friendly poets, who will help encourage you along the path of self-expression through that most magical of mediums: Poetry! (A very small word with a very big meaning!)*
If you are a poet and haven't yet visited this site, I would definitely--and without reservation--recommend that you check it out!
You'll be glad you did!
Till next time,
Jeanne
*I've written a short article on exactly this subject entitled "Why is Poetry So Difficult to Define?" Why not drop by AC and take a look?
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Now, for some websites--besides Orble--where you can post your work for all the world to see!
Are you an incurable poet? (Who would want to be cured of that 'malady'!) There are some great websites out there that are wonderful outlets for your poetic masterpieces! A few of these, where I have posted my own work, are Creative-Poems.com and MoonTownCafe.com.
These two sites don't pay you for your work, but they are great places to receive input from other poets, as well as enter contests to receive awards, recognition, and sometimes even money. You'll need to sign up as a member to use both sites, but this can be done free-of-charge. (Later, if desired, you can purchase a premium membership.) Creative-Poems allows members to comment on one another's work, and MoonTownCafe allows members to write reviews about other members' work and also rate it using a five-star rating system.
Helium.com is another good site for poetry, as well as many other types of writing--including short stories and articles of almost every description. While they offer no up-front payment for your work, they do have a revenue-sharing system in place, which provides writers with (very) modest monetary rewards for work appearing on the site, based on number of page views received, as well as peer rankings of each piece within its particular category.
(Realistically speaking, you can expect to rack up small change, as your works remain on the site after posting--though, in time, and with enough popular postings, this could probably grow somewhat.) Comparative peer review (which places two articles/poems/stories) side by side for ranking by other Helium members is the mechanism by which the best works rise to the top. (As with the two previously mentioned websites, you will need to join Helium in order to publish your work there.)
A site that actually pays writers something for their work (though even here, it isn't a large amount--and I believe you must live in the U.S. to receive payment) is AssociatedContent.com, also known as AC. (They do not, however, pay for poetry or short stories--and usually don't pay for news either, though they currently are running a special promotion where they are buying news articles. They generally only pay for articles--on a wide variety of subjects--that are over 400 words in length.)
Their rate of payment ranges anywhere from $4-20 per item purchased, based partly on whether exclusive or non-exclusive rights are purchased and partly on subject matter, as well as the popularity and ratings of an author's work previously published on AC. (Be certain that, if you want to sell or post your work again elsewhere, you choose the 'non-exclusive' option when you sell AC the rights to publish your work. This will bring lower offers for your work, but you will retain all rights to it.)
Associated Content reviews work submitted for publication quickly and is very prompt in paying for articles once an offer has been accepted by the writer. (Payment is made via PayPal.) Payment is generally made from 1-3 days after acceptance of their offer. (I have published about 20 pieces with them since the first of the year--10 of them paid for so far and one news item to be paid at the end of January--and three times my payments have been transferred into my PayPal account the same day I accepted the offers. This is quick! Of course, this does have something to do with the fact that there are certain days of the week on which their payments are processed.)
If you'd like to join AC, you may click on the tile below to be directed to the AC website to sign up. This is my personal invitation to you to join a great community of writers where your work will receive a professional presentation (as long as you enter it into the template carefully, proofreading and making any necessary corrections before publication.) AC is a great place to write!
Happy writing!
Jeanne
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