A Cappela Newsletter for Writers               EASTER 2003

Your newsletter from Patrika, your Author’s Advocate™

Visit her, send an email, at http://www.acappela.com

Recipient of the

Certificate of Merit

Zine Publishing Competition

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DON’T MAIL THAT MANUSCRIPT

without a professional review from A Cappela

Before you mail out that manuscript or query, make sure it’s as polished and professional as possible. Send your work to A Cappela Publishing and get the specific tailored advice you need to get an extra edge on the competition — and make all your manuscripts more marketable.

After a thorough evaluation of your submission, one of our published, professional staff writers will give you detailed feedback and recommendations. You’ll learn what is and isn’t working in your writing, and how to fix it.

Your Critique includes:

*Genre-specific Advice: Whether your writing is a novel or a nonfiction book, an article or short story, a query letter or book proposal, you can be sure that your work will be evaluated by a pro who has personal experience with the same kind of writing.

*Grammar and Style Suggestions: Your personal reviewer will evaluate your writing to point out common grammatical, structural and stylistic mistakes — mistakes that can mean the difference between a rejection and a sale.

*Market Recommendations: If your manuscript is marketable as is, or with slight revision, you’ll get recommendations for marketing your work — including how to identify the publishers which buy your kind of writing.

For complete information, including submission guidelines and rates, visit

http://www.acappela.com/critiques.htm

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Forward this issue to your writer friends NOW and tell them to subscribe. Forward the ENTIRE issue, not bits and pieces of it. This issue has been sent out to 480 writers. Won't you help this ezine grow? Tell your friends to subscribe at http://www.acappela.com

PAT’S PICKS:

This month’s Pick is for all of you who are too busy to shop for Mother’s Day — especially those who have been urging moms, aunts (dads and uncles too) to write down the story of their lives or the family’s history. MOTHER’S DAY SPECIAL: THE AUDIOBOOK, "How to Write Your Own Life Story (or Your Family’s Saga) $10 off list price for newsletter subscribers. Go to

Write Your Own Life Story   and order online, or email acappub@aol.com

How to Become an EXPERT in Your Field

The answer is obvious: write a book!

» Authoring a book will help you gain instant credibility and differentiates you from your competition.

» People will listen to you and respect you because a book proclaims you as an expert.

» Your book will introduce you to new, more affluent clients.

» It will open the door for interviews on radio, TV and in newspapers, and a book review gives you FREE advertising.

Need help writing your book? See http://www.acappela.com/AH.htm

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~ Starbright Magazine - reborn! (http://fidelity.presys.com/starbright) Short (3,500 words or less) family oriented fiction, prose, poetry of any kind, and line art for interior or digest size covers. To be issued quarterly, to start, and pays two contributor's copies. Mort Castle was my mentor so send your best. Submissions to mailto:starbright@presys.com -- text format in body of message or as attachment w/ brief bio for inclusion with piece. Editor: Robert (Bob) G. Howard

~ Black Warrior Review ( http://urlshortcut.com/r.php?id=250) Needs: Fiction, poetry, essays, interviews and reviews. Pays up to $75 for poems and $150 for stories. Query by e-mail or by post with SASE.

~ Meanjin (http://urlshortcut.com/r.php?id=244) Needs: Poetry, fiction, writing for performance, reflective and scholarly essays, commentary, review essays of recent Australian works, reviews of new Australian books, films or exhibition, interviews. Considers unsolicited mss from Australian and Australian-based writers, but also accepts subs by writers dealing with themes directly relevant to Australia and its region. Pays minumum $50 for poetry and minimum $100 for prose. Submit by post only, include SASA or IRC.

~ Westerley ( http://urlshortcut.com/r.php?id=243) Needs: Fiction and poetry. Pays $40-$60 for poems, $90 for stories/articles. Submit manuscripts by post, accompanied by SASE.

Nonfiction

~ WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN magazine is in search of Spring and Summer-themed articles to fill our upcoming issues.Do you have an inspiring story to share? All stories should involve some type of spiritual lesson. General themes included humanity, faith, prayer, and family. We typically pay $100-$200 per story. Submissions should be 800-1,200 words in length and focus on one particular event. All unused manuscripts will be returned. We purchase and retain the rights to stories once they've published. Story submissions due continuously. For guidelines e-mail:vsmitih@pubint.com Please send stories w/ SASE to: Vicki Smith, WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN, 7373 N. Cicero Ave., Lincolnwood, IL 60712. Fax: 847-329-5844 or vsmitih@pubint.com

~ Alice J. Wisler is seeking submissions for a new cookbook of memories to be published in 2003. "Down The Cereal Aisle" will be similar to "Slices of Sunlight" (Daniel's House Publications: 2000), a cookbook of food-related anecdotes, recipes and poetry for bereaved parents and siblings. Please send favorite recipes and remembrances in the body of an email to Daniel's House Publications at wisler@mindspring.com. For more information and guidelines, visit http://www.geocities.com/griefhope/index.html

~ newWitch (http://www.newwitch.com) is a magazine dedicated to, featuring, and partially written by young or beginning Witches, Wiccans, Neo-Pagans and other earth-based, ethnic, pre-Christian, shamanic and magical practitioners. Everyone from Traditional Wiccans to potion-makers to Asatruar to eco-Pagans can find something in these pages. The one thing we all have in common is a willingness to look at the world, our magical and spiritual paths, and ourselves in new ways. We hope to also reach the curious and completely new as well. newWitch gladly accepts essays, factual articles, fiction, poetry, column ideas, artwork, photographs, personal experiences and ranting feedback relevant to our subject matter, goals and readership. More in-depth guidelines can be requested from the Managing Editor.

All submissions must be the original work of the author or artist. If you collaborate, we must have permission from everyone involved or be assured you have the legal authority to assign rights to the work. newWitch supports, without reservation, the right of creative people to control their own material; plagiarism or copyright infringement will get you a visit from our pack of Attack Death Lawyers, so don't even go there. We offer a standard pay of $.01 per word for all works, excepting letters to the editor and pieces in The Rant.. We have a $10 minimum payment per item, so short pieces such as poems, submissions for our back page feature You, and reviews typically get a flat fee of either $10 or a year's subscription to newWitch, submitter's choice. This pay scale does not apply to columnists, whose payments will be handled individually on a case-by-case basis. . Send submissions via Microsoft Word file attachments e-mailed directly to the Managing Editor at dagonet_dewr@gmx.net, carbon copied to the Editor-in-Chief at editor@newwitch.com. Other acceptable file attachment formats include text files and commonly used word processor programs; you may also paste the text of your manuscript directly into an e-mail message, whereupon the Managing Editor shall faint with delight. Use a plain, legible font or typeface large enough to read easily; persons using Wingdings or Creepygirl will get smacked with a wet fish. Alternatively, you may send clearly labeled PC or Macintosh discs accompanied by hard copy with the contributor's name, address and other contact information. Clearly typed, double-spaced manuscripts are acceptable for short pieces and poetry. Send paper manuscripts or disks to the newWitch post office box below. Please include SASE if you want it back. The editor will try to respond promptly to your submission. Electronic submissions will enjoy a modest edge over hardcopy submissions because they're just easier to handle. Deadlines for nW run on a quarterly format, about three and a half months ahead of the issue publication date. newWitch - P.O. Box 641, Point Arena, CA 95468. Ph: (707) 882-2052, Fax: 707-882-2793

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CONTESTS