A Cappela Publishing How To Write and Get Published

A Cappela Newsletter for Writers May/June 2006

NEWS & VIEWS YOU CAN USE

Your monthly newsletter from Patrika, your Author’s Advocate™

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

Recipient of the
Certificate of Merit
Writer’s Digest
2001 Zine Publishing Competition

IN THIS ISSUE:

New Column: Word Trippers
*The Editor’s View
*Pat’s Picks
*Writing Tip
*Markets
*Contests
*Media Contacts
*Writing Q&A
*Wordplay
*Quote of the Month

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E-mail: writersdig@fwpubs.com with "101 Sites" in the subject line

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

It’s nearly summer, so let’s talk about Christmas. Sound wrong?

Well, not if you plan to submit magazine articles, because you need to submit on topics that are six months down the road if you hope for acceptance. That doesn’t apply to book-length submissions to publishing houses, of course. If that’s your path, then put spring cleaning on your agenda. And yes, I am talking about your manuscript!

In this age of computers and nano-second response times, we’re all on a fast track. That means we don’t have time for anything written with a drawl. From the first line of your book, you have to grab the reader’s attention and get to the point. And that means that you may have to do considerable paring of that first draft. Not sure what to cut or condense? Try reading it aloud to yourself. Your own voice will probably tell you. But if you need help, try the online course, Strip Tease Writing (Show, Don’t Tell), at www.acappela.com/classes

Whatever your goal, happy writing!

Patrika

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HELPING HAND NEEDED:

Given 5 years to live 20 years ago, She's beaten the odds and wants to share Her Journey to Live with others. Needs collaborator. Contact Bert, Briteyes4Life@aol.com

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Nominations are now being accepted for Writer's Digest's Top 101 Websites for Writers. To nominate A Cappela Publishing (www.acappela.com ) for the 2006 list, e-mail writersdig@fwpubs.com with "101 Sites" as the subject line.

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NEED HELP GETTING PUBLISHED?

For many writers, writing is the easiest part of getting published. After all, writers love writing, and they love words. But when it comes to the business of the publishing industry, they often need a hand. Here are some great new resources that will provide that much needed help:

Take the following self-quiz to help you figure out just where you are, and to point you toward where you want to go. The links following each question will lead you to some answers. For more information, email me: acappub@aol.com

Where are you?
1) have an idea but haven’t written anything (WP&M, Consult; Writing Coaching)
2) got started, but bogged down (Classes, WP&M, Writing Coaching)
3) have first draft, but don’t know if it’s any good (Critique)

Where do you want to go?
1) improve my writing skills (WP&M, audiobooks, Classes)
2) edit what I’ve got into something publishable (Editing, Book Doctoring)
3) have a great piece of writing, and need to get it published (Stalking the Markets; Book Promotion; Self-Pub; Selling to Ims; eLitAgent)
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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 ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Writers! Protect your original work and important documents in minutes! Instantly establish the date and time-of-creation of all your files, including screenplays, proposals, Web pages, treatments, inventions, lyrics and ideas. Register and protect your original work online at ProtectRite.com. ($18.95 (US dollars) for 10-year registration)Go to: http://www.protectrite.com/default.asp?SessID=318256989&AffID=9jlw0RTAF8

Also: Writers Guild of America, West online Registration Service - for concepts, documentaries, manuscripts, lyrics, etc. ($20)
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This newsletter is sent by subscription only. Please pass this newsletter along to people you feel may benefit by this information. This issue has been sent out to 630 writers. Won't you help this ezine grow? Tell your friends to subscribe at http://www.acappela.com

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WRITING TIPS

Not sure of a word’s spelling or usage? Check http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

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WORD TRIPPERS

Elicit/Illicit:

To “elicit” something is to draw it out or bring it forth, while “illicit” means something illegal or forbidden.

The police want to elicit a confession from the robber for his illicit behavior.

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Media Contacts

This new column is for those of you looking for ways to get your writings reviewed, to get a radio or TV interview, or in some other way promote your writing.

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Get an Agent

Check out The Writer’s Market, which has almost 30 pages of agents, with their genres listed. www.writersmarket.com

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Get Reviewed

Janine Warner, Syndicated Columnist - Miami Herald 1607 Stearns Drive, Los Angeles, ca 90035 P (323)935-0015 janine@jcwarner.com

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Get Interviewed

Alive & Well (Lifestyle show on American Life TV national cable network. Reaches 14million Baby Boomers) Interviews authors of books on natural health, natural beauty, natural foods, healthy travel, spas, environmentally friendly & sustainable living. Also healthy shopping and healthy recipes. Pitch by email only to Linda Flores, Booker, at media@aliveandwell.tv

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Enjoying this newsletter?

If you're benefitting from this newsletter, please forward it to three other writers who might find it helpful. (We'd like to hit 10,000 subscribers by this winter.) Thank you!

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How to Become an EXPERT in Your Field

Write a book! Here’s why:

* 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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Pat’s Picks

Maybe your next book shouldn’t be a book!

If you really want to make more money as an author/expert, you’re often better off packaging your expertise in another format which can be sold at a higher price than the typical bookstore book. Audio products and teleseminars are great types of info products for non-fiction authors. You could create a 6-hour audio CD album for a fraction of the time it takes to write a book, yet easily sell it for $99 to $495 (or more) per set – which means you profit margins are mich higher than for a trade book. Telephone seminars are easy to set up through your phone company and sell for $299 to $3,500 for a series. Want more info? Contact me at acappub@aol.com

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MARKETS

50PLUS ONLINE MAGAZINE 50plusMag.com is accepting articles about love, relationships and sex for possible distribution in syndicated newspapers throughout the country as well as in 50plus Online Magazine. Full credit offered in lieu of payment. Send to mailto: editor@50plusMag.com

13 MINUTES MAG http://13minutesmag.com/ A premier magazine for English-speaking, bi-cultural Asian and Pacific Islander readers. Offers unique views on culture, fashion, cuisine, entertainment, and human dramas that reflect the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. This magazine serves as a forum where the young and the young at heart come together to recognize and appreciate their own sense of identity and style. Seeking writers nationally, with concentration in metropolitan cities, NYC, LA, Atlanta, DC, Chicago, etc. preferred. Pays up to 30 cents/word.

THE GREAT AMERICAN POETRY SHOW ( www.tgaps.com ) Hardcover serial poetry anthology, open year-round to submissions. Any subject, any style and in any number. Email only from outside USA/Canada. Each contributor receives one free copy of the volume in which his/her work appears. Vol #2 now accepting. P.O. Box 69506, West Hollywood, CA 90069 or info@tgaps.com.

US AIRWAYS MAGAZINE http://usairwaysmag.com/contactus.asp

http://usairwaysmag.com/pdfs/USAWwriterguide.pdf Pays $1/word. Wants "smart, pithy copy." Light, humorous. Many diverse columns including book reviews, travel, interviews, site-seeing

THE GREETING CARD MARKET isn't just Hallmark, and it doesn't even stop with just greeting cards. This market is more appropriately labeled as the "slogan market" or"catchphrase market," because that's what it's all about--creating concise statements for money. Here are 2 such markets: ~Kate Harper Designs has been doing business since 1993. Freelancers write 100% of their material. The editors say, "We buy work from professional freelance writers, young 20-something writers, and children writers. Our subjects are mostly humor." They want unrhymed verse ideas only. kateharp@aol.com

~Koehler Companies, Inc., specializes in a line of decorative plaques. They bought 25 ideas/samples last year, and pay $125 per selected verse. In addition, they limit the use of the verse to allow writers the ability to resell their work for other uses. The editors say, "We combine art and message to create a product that a consumer will like enough to want to look at for a year or longer." bob@koehlercompanies.com . www.koehlercompanies.com

CHARISMA & CHRISTIAN LIFE MAGAZINE http://www.charismamag.com/guidelines.html The magazine about spirit-led living. More than half our readers are Christians who belong to independent charismatic churches, and numerous others participate in the charismatic renewal in mainline denominations. Enjoys seasonal material. Personal stories. Personality profiles. News. Trends. Pays up to $1,000 for up to 3,000 words.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS accepts queries by mail, e-mail and fax. This bimonthly magazine, covering issues affecting working women, pays $100 for every 500 words. Columns open to freelancers include Life After Business; It's Your Business; and Health Spot. Guidelines: abwa@abwa.org . Kathleen Isaacson, editor

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CONTESTS

INNOVATION GRANTS AND LEARNING & LEADERSHIP GRANTS

http://www.neafoundation.org/grants.htm The NEA Foundation provides $2,000 and $5,000 grants to public school teachers, public school education support professionals, and faculty and staff in public higher education institutions for the purpose of engaging in high-quality professional development or implementing project-based learning and break-the-mold innovations that raise student achievement. These grants are funded in part by Staples Recycle for Education.

Deadline: Midnight Friday weekly A weekly writing contest at Belinda’s Writing News ( http://belinda-y-hughes.tripod.com ) help others while you help yourself get published and build your platform! Portions of the $5.95 entry fee, will be shared between the winners in three categories and two funds integral to the rebirth of Louisiana. Themes will be declared in future issues. All submissions must be in the body of an email, with “Contest Submission” in the subject line.

No previously published submissions, but simultaneous submissions OK. Just kindly let us know.

Limit 3 entries per person, one page per entry. Include a cover letter with a short bio and all relevant contact information. - All submissions must be titled. Categories are: Poetry, Flash Fiction and Nonfiction/Essay. $5.95 fee, payable via http://www.paypal.com to Author_Belinda@yahoo.com. Prize is publication and a portion of proceeds. Authors will retain all rights, winning pieces will be published in one BWN issue and archived as part of that issue

Marilyn Haight, author of WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD BOSS (Infinity Publishing 2005), has a contest on her site in which contestants must answer the question, in 22 words or less, “Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Boss?” The prize is a mouse pad with a likeness of your big bad boss. http://www.bigbadboss.com . Click “Challenge!” Marilyn notes that her “rationale for choosing mouse pads was to give readers something useful that also has a chance of being seen by other potential readers in my audience (employees who report to a bad boss).”

Deadline May 15, 2006. ROOM OF ONE'S OWN FICTION AND POETRY CONTEST

http://www.roommagazine.com/news.html . ENTRY FEE $27 (CAN), $39 (USD) Each entry entitled the applicant to a year's subscription. Prizes in each category: $500 first place and $250 second place. Poetry - maximum 3 poems or 150 lines. Fiction - 4,000 words.

Deadline May 15, 2006. 75th Writer's Digest Writing Competition. We’re celebrating our milestone year by giving away more than $30,000 in cash and prizes! GRAND PRIZE: $3,000 cash and an all-expense paid trip to New York City to meet with editors or agents. Writer's Digest will fly you and a guest to The Big Apple, where you'll spend three days and two nights in the publishing capital of the world. While you're there, a Writer's Digest editor will escort you to meet and share your work with four editors or agents! Plus, you'll receive a free Diamond Publishing Package from Outskirts Press. For entrants paying with a credit card, we will accept manuscripts submitted online. Manuscripts in the script categories must be submitted via regular mail.

Entry Fee: Poems are $10 for the first entry; $5 for each additional poem submitted in the same online session. All other entries are $15 for the first manuscript; $10 for each additional manuscript submitted in the same online session.

Add $2 per manuscript to all entries postmarked after Monday, May 15, 2006. Entries postmarked after Thursday, June 01, 2006, will not be accepted.Further details: http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/annual/75th

Deadline May 15, 2006. HARD-BOILED SEX CONTEST. No Entry Fee. http://www.desdmona.com/contestsubmit.php You’ve read the stories and secretly loved them. Hard-boiled stories are everywhere: pulp magazines, noir movies, true crime books, and detective novels are just a few sources. Now we want to see hard-boiled sex stories. We’ll grant you broad leeway on the theme – dead bodies aren’t a requirement, nor are alcoholic private dicks. But we want tough, and we want edgy, and we want the story to be as hot as Hades. Desdmona’s 2006 Hard-Boiled Sex Contest is an erotic short story contest. First prize: $500. Second prize: $250.

Third prize: $125. Honorable mention prizes of $40 will be awarded at the discretion of desdmona.com and the judges.

Deadline May 15, 2006. MUSTARD MYSTERY CONTEST. No Entry Fee

http://www.mustardweb.com/mystery/rules1.htm The 2005-06 Mustard Mystery Contest is a writing contest. Chapter One of Murder at the Mustard Museum is complete and appears in the 2005-06 catalog of the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum and on this web site. Contestants will write their best Chapter 2 and a summary of how the story turns out for the opportunity to win the Grand Prize of $5,000. Open to all writers and aspiring writers. Entrants under the age of 18 must have the written consent of a parent or legal guardian. Only one entry per person. No purchase of mustard or products from the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum is necessary

Deadline May 31, 2006. FORBIDDEN PUBLICATIONS CONTEST - NEW EBOOK PUBLISHER

http://www.forbiddenpublications.com/contests.html . No Entry Fee. We are looking for stories that show thinking away from the tried and true. We're looking for any heat index and any genre in both erotic and non-erotic. The word count for the contest is 5,000 words and up. We're offering a standard one-year e-publishing contract for the top ten stories. Forbidden Publications is accepting submissions in all genres, both erotic and non-erotic.

Deadline: May 31 War Poetry Contest Now in its 5th year. $3,000 in prizes, including a top prize of $1,500. Submit 1-3 unpublished poems on the theme of war, up to 500 lines in all. Sponsored by Winning Writers, one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005). $12 entry fee, payable to Winning Writers. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Include cover sheet with contact information. No name on poems. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: War Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. For more information: http://www.winningwriters.com

Deadline May 31, 2006. Win a publishing contract! Enter your prose or poetry! First place receives 100 copies, second place receives 50 copies, in each category. Winning entries will have on-line sales exposure including Amazon.com. Visit www.taylor- dth.com/contest.html for full contest rules.

Deadline June 1, 2006 American Title III Dorchester is offering all unpublished authors a chance to participate in the American Title contest, co-sponsored by Romantic Times. This year we’re looking for contemporary romance: chick lit, romantic suspense, paranormals, romantic comedies and anything that falls in between. The finished manuscript should be 80,000-90,000 words, but to start we just need the first three chapters and a synopsis that summarizes the story from beginning to end.. Winners receive a publishing contract with Dorchester Publishing. .http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?ID=2097 American Title III, Dorchester Publishing, 200 Madison Ave., Suite 2000, New York, NY 10016

Deadline June 1, 1006 Dear Mom Writing Contest: The ancient art of letter writing acquires a new twist in a writing contest that remembers and celebrates the gifts of mothers. The Dear Mom writing contest, sponsored by Dee Dee Raap, author of Dear Mom: Remembering, Celebrating, Healing, and Dr. Caron Goode, of the Academy of Parent Coaching International (ACPI). The contest offers novice and professional writers alike the chance to express gratitude and love that honors their own mother through a 350 page letter. Prizes include a vacation package, cash and a scholarship to the Academy for Coaching Parents. The contest is open to anyone 16 years of age and older through our web site. Entry fee $15. www.academyforcoachingparents.com

Deadline June 7, 2006. ANTARCTIC ARTISTS AND WRITERS PROGRAM is the component

of the U.S. Antarctic Program that provides opportunities for scholars in the humanities (painting, photography, writing, history, and other liberal arts) to be in Antarctica or on the Southern Ocean--at research stations, camps, ships, and wilderness areas--to make observations needed to complete their proposed projects. The purpose of the program is to enable serious writings in the arts that increase understanding of the Antarctic and help document America's Antarctic heritage. On average, 22 proposals are received annually. In 2003 NSF received 33 proposals, the record.

Typically, up to six each year are found highly qualified and result in a working trip to the Antarctic. http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04558/nsf04558.htm

Deadline June 8, 2006. GLEN DIMPLEX NEW WRITERS AWARD. No Entry Fee . http://www.newwritersawards.ie/ Awards will be made to the best first book published by an author within each of the following four categories: Fiction, Poetry, Children’s literature and Biography/Nonfiction. A fifth special category will be The Irish Writers’ Centre Award for the best first book published in any genre in the Irish language. The Glen Dimplex New Writer of the Year 2006 will be chosen from the five category winners. Each category winner will receive a prize of €5,000. There will also be an overall award for the Glen Dimplex New Writer of the Year with a prize of €20,000.

Deadline June 15, 2006 Writing About Labyrinths--prose & poetry contest. $10 Entry. Cash prizes.. Details: http://www.labyrinthsociety.org ; SASE. LabyrinthSociety, P.O. Box 736, Trumansburg, NY 14886.

Deadline June 15, 2006 Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul (Trade Paperback 5.5 x 8.5, 286 pgs) and Daily Inspirations for Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul (Digest Paperback 5 x 7, 386 pgs). Publication date December, 2006. $200 paid upon publication if essay is chosen. 500-1500 words. Web site under construction, but bookmark

Deadline June 23, 2006. WRITING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM - WALT DISNEY AND ABC STUDIOS http://www.abctalentdevelopment.com ) ABC is looking for new writing talent, and has teamed up with Walt Disney Studios for a television and film writing fellowship program. Writers with experience in playwriting, screenwriting and television writing are encouraged to apply, especially women and minorities. Applications must include resume, autobiography and a writing sample of a screenplay, stage play, or television script. If accepted, candidates would be required to locate in the Los Angeles area during the fellowship. Applications will be accepted between May 1, 2006 and June 23, 2006. For more information, check out the website.

Deadline June 30, 2006. THE DIAMOND PEN AWARD FOR FICTION NOVEL-LENGTH MATERIAL http://www.echelonpress.com/diamondpen.htm ) $25 ENTRY FEE The Diamond Pen Award is established in recognition of outstanding talent in the fiction genre. One Grand Prize winner will receive:$250 cash, $250 Advance against royalties, Award certificate, Contract for print publication. Two Finalists will receive:$25 cash prize, Award certificate, Contract for electronic publication. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older as of January 1, 2006. Authors submitting materials must be US residents. The winner grants Echelon Press the right to edit, publish, promote, and otherwise use the work according to the terms and conditions of its standard publishing contract.

Deadline July 1, 2006 The Evil Genius Chapbook Series (www.platonic3waypress.com) Are you a rock god or a hair-band has-been? Do yo have the chops? Enter the first P3way chap contest and see if you are truly an Evil Genius. Entry fee: $12 (every entry gets a winning chap) First Place: $50 & 50 copies. Mail to: P.O. Box 644, Warsaw, IN 46581

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WRITING Q&A

Q. How long will my book stay on bookstore shelves?

A. It really makes a difference if the author is on radio or on television, or has an article in a local newspaper, or if an excerpt from the book appears in a magazine. But without that additional energy behind the book it unfortunately gets on the shelf, stays there for three months, nobody looks at it and it gets returned. Publicity is the key to keeping a book before the public.

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Wordplay

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are a few of this year's winners:

Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

Cashtration(n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high..

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Quote of the Month
(still more literary insults....there are so many of them!)

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure." -Jack E. Leonard

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." -Abraham Lincoln

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If you have received this mailing in error, or do not wish to receive any further newsletter mailings from us, simply email us. You will be automatically excluded from any future mailings including our Newsletter that shares tons of free writing and marketing tips, tricks and techniques: acappub@aol.com.

Don’t forget to send in your suggestions, feedback and your writing questions. And check out the writing resources page at http://www.acappela.com

Patrika

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