The A Cappela Newsletter for Writers August 2000

NEWS & VIEWS YOU CAN USE

Your monthly newsletter from Patrika, your Author's Advocate

Visit her, send an email, at www.acappela.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

*Pat's Picks: Sell your works! See Advocate House and eLitAgent

*Markets: Fiction and nonfiction; traditional and website

*News You Can Use: King wins, Oprah's O, Register your e-book

*Trivia: Free internet phoning; dialogue from the 1950's

*Book gossip: Online readers pay, Happy Birthday Amazon, Hollywood news

*Contests: poetry, plays, short stories

*Writing Q&A: Can I get published without a traditional agent?

*Wordplay: glabrous, gongoozler, groak

*You can do it! Betty Rosian speaks

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PAT'S PICKS

BIG NEWS! Visit our new services for self-publishers (www.Advocate House.com) and authors looking for an agent (www.elitagent.com)

Classes: Featured this month: Selling to International Markets. In today's electronic world, your works can be sold to a global market. Find out how in this 8-week tutorial.(Sign up any time.)

Get Published:Read Greg Spence's book on how to search the Internet quicker and more efficiently is another outstanding reference book which can be used over and over. Every writer would definitely benefit using the outstanding information and techniques in Greg's book.

(www.getpub.com)

*****

MARKETS

Nonfiction

~ Articles

1) Earn $10-$20 by writing short articles about your hobbies, your interests or anything else you think others might be interested in! WriteForCash has a quick and easy system for approving your proposals and articles, and PAYS for all the articles. Http://destinationsite.com/c?c=115072.70663.0.226.0 (This will take you to the WriteForCash site.) For more info, go to http://destinationsite.com/c?c=115072.70663.0.226.1.

2) ~At-Home Mother Magazine (http://www.AtHomeMothers.com)

Quarterly magazine that provides support for at-home mothers. Up-beat articles reinforce their choice to stay at home with their children, and help them find maximum fulfillment in this most cherished profession. Through education and inspiration, we also help those mothers who want to stay at home find ways to make this goal a reality.Queries: editor@AtHomeMothers.com.

~Writers/Editors

1) GTS Publishing Services, a division of industry leader The GTS Companies, is seeking freelance writers and editors for grades K-12 textbooks and ancillaries in the Social Sciences, Reading, Science and Math. Background in textbook adoption requirements, curriculum development and teaching desirable. Send cover letter, resume, relevant samples to Karen Judd, The GTS Companies, 5650 Jillson St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90040.

2) Writer needed for manuscript updating of "Silent Spring" and "Our Stolen Future." Send resume to World Center for Environmental Health, 15 Ellery St., Suite 3, Cambridge, Mass. 02138.

E-Markets:

~Free Marketing: Write for New Web Site

A newly launched site is seeking writers in four different sections: Doctor's Corner, Nutrition Talk, Life-Skills Coach, and Business Advise. You need only write one short column and it can include your bio, Web site, and email address. This is a good way to get your content and name out there on the Internet as they are actively advertising their site on the Web and in regular magazines. Check it out at http://www.wellness4u.to (not ".com"). Then email Tricia Seymour at info@wellness4u.to.

~Freelance Writers

1) Expanding international Web publishing company seeks enthusiastic, sociable writers to produce reviews on major North American cities for a globally local news, information and community site. Please see our Website (http://www.wcities.com) for an idea of the work. No technical or Web design skills are needed.. Send a cover letter and resume to J. D. Meisner (kaos@iwon.com).

2)Homestore.com is seeking experienced Freelance Writers to write about home improvement, decorating and holiday decorating. We also need writers for promotions/trailers for a leading kids network. We are looking for people who can write promotions for children. Please send

writing samples to Summer Harrelson (summer@ffww.com).

Fiction

We need short stories for our entertainment lifestyle Website (http://www.adhocity.com), and to print in our pocket guides. Original fiction of any kind, 500 words only. Pays £200. E-mail

(500w@adhoc-guides.com) submissions or post to Colin Greenland, Fiction Editor, Adhoc, 35 Parkside, Cambridge CB1 1JE U.K.

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NEWS YOU CAN USE:

~REBEL AUTHOR

King fans are now able to download the first chapter of his latest serial novel, The Plant, off his own Website (http://stephenking.com) at a buck per download. King has made history of sorts by becoming the biggest author to bypass both publishers and retail outlets as he makes his new work available directly To readers. His reason for posting The Plant, he explains, is to "break some trail for all the midlist writers, literary writers, and just plain marginalized writers who see a future outside the mainstream." Few would argue that in recent years mainstream publishing has dissed some such writers, so King's act seems the expression of a righteous sentiment.

~OPRAH'S O

The debut issue of O sold out on newsstands with a distribution of 1.5 million copies. Effective with the September 2000 issue, the magazine will begin monthly frequency and will increase its circulation rate base to 900,000, an increase of 80 percent, from the initial 500,000 rate base.

~REGISTER YOUR E-BOOK

The International eBook Registry (http://www.eBookRegistry.com), a vendor-neutral site where authors can register their digital documents,recently launched.

~And Speaking of Harry Potter

The St. Mary's Island Church of England School has banned the J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" books for going against the teachings of the Bible.

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Trivia

~Free phoning

There is a way to make long distance telephone calls, through the internet, free - and it's legal.

Go to - www.dialpad.com and check it out. You will need a head set for your computer, but other than that nothing else. It works, is free, and the quality is really very good. It is not quite as clear as regular long distance, and is similar to a ship to shore call.

~Writing hints

More hints for writing about the 1950's. Check out these quotes from that era:

(1). "Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

(2). "The Government is wanting to get its hands on everything. Pretty soon it's going to be impossible to run a family business or farm."

(3). "If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."

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BOOK GOSSIP

DOWNLOADERS PAY KING

Stephen King says his $1-per-download of "episode 1" of the e-book novel, The Plant, is about to break even. After that, he'll be enjoying lots of green.

On his Web site (http://www.stephenking.com), he announces that there have been 152,132 downloads and some 116,200 of the people making those downloads have paid or promised to pay -- already 93,200 of them have coughed up their $1 through Amazon.com. This means some 76.38% of downloaders aren't freeloaders--and the show will go on. (King had threatened not to continue if fewer than 75% of downloaders paid.)

King estimates that if he does 10 or 11 installments altogether and the current downloaders continue downloading, he'll have total downloads of more than 1.6 million. Even if he doesn't raise the download fee to $2.50, as he says he may do, that makes for "pretty good math," as he puts it.

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG A!

Five years ago, in July 1995, Amazon.com set up shop as one of the first online-only book retailers in the world. The concept struck many as underwhelming. Few people had access to the Internet then, and if any products were suitable for sale on it, the accepted wisdom was that they

would be maybe some computer titles, and, of course, science fiction. Since last Friday, the company has sold more than 400,000 copies of Harry Potter IV, showing once again that it is a dominant force in book retailing in the U.S. and the world. It seems as though that's always been

the case, but not so, leading us to wonder where Amazon will be on its 10th birthday in 2005.

~HOLLYWOOD NEWS

Elmore Leonard has optioned the screen rights to his upcoming novel, "Pagan Babies," to Universal Pictures and Danny DeVito's production company, Jersey Films. Leonard received an upfront, six-figure fee, and will collect between $2.5 million to $3 million if the picture gets made

~$1 Million Advance!

Singer Patti LaBelle has sold her new book, "Patti's Pearls,'' to Warner Books for a $1 million advance.

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CONTESTS

1) Free Poetry Contest. International Library of Poetry's International Open Amateur Poetry Contest. 250 prizes totalling $58.000 Enter at www.poetry.com ~Deadline is Aug. 15.

2)Beyond the Proscenium Productions invites playwrights from California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona to submit one-act or full length plays for its New Voices Regional Playwrighting Competition and Festival. Deadline is Aug. 15, 2000 and winners will be announced on or before Dec. 15, 2000.

The winner(s) will receive $250 plus full production in April 2001. $15 reading fee must accompany thescript. Submit to Beyond the Proscenium Productions, 170 Southgate Road, Sacramento, Calif. 95815 or e-mail (beyondpro@aol.com).

~New Line Cinema (http://www.newline.com) and Fearsmag.com (http://www.fearsmag.com) invite you to help us celebrate the release of "The Cell" (http://www.cellmovie.com/). We dare you to chronicle your own personal journey into the dark recesses of a disturbed subconscious mind and enter... The Short Story Contest. Deadline is Aug.15 (http://www.fearsmag.com/contests/thecell/cellprose.htm).

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WRITER'S Q & A

Q. Can I get published without a traditional agent?

A. (The answer is YES. Since this newsletter is already lengthy, I refer you to "Why Us?" on eLitAgent for details.)

WEBSITES OF INTEREST

The U.S. government will consolidate 20,000 Websites into one umbrella site:

(http://www.firstgov.gov) this fall.

Get a 90-day free trial of your favorite magazines, from Writer's Digest to Oprah's new magazine, O. http://www.writerswrite.com/cgi-bin/wwad.pl?web=enews

Content Exchange (http://www.content-exchange.com), the digital marketplace for online content creators and publishers, has debuted its new online classified ads. Freelancers looking for paying markets can also set up the system to deliver ads.

Wordplay-L , an electronic discussion list dealing with the usage of words and phrases in the English language, including vocabulary, grammar, spelling and pronunciation. Participants will have a chance to debate wording or phrasing, explore the origins of English idioms and play with

the subtleties and nuances of verbal and written English.e-mail (Mailserv@levels.unisa.edu.au) and type "SUBSCRIBE WORDPLAY-L" in the body of the message.

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WORDPLAY

* glabrous -- a. Having a surface free from hair or other projections. "Honey, your legs are feeling quite glabrous today."

* gongoozler -- n. One who stares for hours at anything out of the ordinary.

* groak -- n. One who stands around while others eat, in the hope that he will be invited to join in.

*****

YOU CAN DO IT

Notable quotes from those who've done it:

"To be a writer, you don't have to be an authority on anything. You only have to know how to write with style." --Betty Rosian

Don't forget to send in your suggestions, feedback, and your writing questions and check our new website (www.acappela.com) for more website resources

Patrika