MORE BITS & PIECES FOR Writers/Authors #114

REASONS TO KEEP WRITING - LEO ROSTEN, age 89, a teacher, academic and humorist best remembered for his stories about the night-school "prodigy" Hyman Kaplan (first published in The New Yorker in the 1930s) He is also well-known for his encyclopedic volume “The Joys of Yiddish” (1968), a guide to the Yiddish language and to Jewish culture (as well as a source for anecdotes and Jewish humor). It was followed by "O Kaplan! My Kaplan!" 1976, and Hooray for Yiddish! (1982) , a humorous lexicon of the American language as influenced by Jewish culture. A favorite “Carnival of Wit: From Aristotle to Woody Allen” (1996) was published when he was age 88.

BOATING MAGAZINE - for powerboat enthusiasts, owners, potential owners of powerboats who use boats for offshore or inland boating. Pay negotiated at assignment. All rights. Contact Randy Steele, Editor, for assignments at rsteele@hfmus.com Hachette Filipacchi Media US Inc, 1633 Broadway, 41st Floor, NY, NY 10019. Info: http://www.boatingmag.com Other Hachette Publications to Query: http://www.hfmus.com

HOW PUBLISHING REALLY WORKS – a great blog to bookmark. http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com

BONMARCHE [UK] - invites short romantic fiction 600/650/wds for their in-store magazine, 100# Query to: Romantic Fiction, Bonmarche, River Publishing, Victory House, 14 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BZ. URL: http://www.bonmarche.co.uk

BRITISH COLUMBIA MAGAZINE, Canada - inspiring profiles of B.C.'s beautiful places, intriguing journeys, remarkable people. Works with freelance writers using both assigned feature articles and manuscripts submitted on spec. Features: 1500/2500/wds. Shorter: 1000/1500/wds. Send original, one-page proposal that demonstrates your writing style. Queries by e-mail are welcome. All proposals on file are reviewed in April/May of each year. Spec manuscripts considered throughout the year. $0.50/wd. Suite 302 - 3939 Quadra Street, Victoria, BC, V8X 1J5, Canada. Bryan McGill, Editor editor@bcmag.ca (works a year or two in advance) Guidelines: http://www.bcmag.ca/guidelines

NATIONAL PUBLICITY SUMMIT - Don't miss your chance to have face-to-face meetings with over 100 editors, writers and producers from major national media outlets at the National Publicity Summit, April 22-25th, 2009, in New York City. Attendance is by application and only 100 attendees will be admitted to ensure everyone gets enough one-on-one time with the journalists and producers. Previous attendees have scored guest appearances or feature stories with ABC's The View, Today Show, Fox News, Time, Woman's World, O the Oprah magazine and other top publications and national TV shows. Info: http://www.NationalPublicitySummit.com/?11332

CABIN LIFE - welcomes queries and story ideas: Boating; Fishing; Home maintenance; Home repairs; Home design; Outdoor entertaining; Cooking; Outdoor activities. Initial contact by e-mail is fine to editor@cabinlife.com include published clips before the query turns into a story assignment. A very specific demographic market: people who own cabins, cottages or lake homes. Your own cabin experience will help immensely. Pay varies depending on the article, the writer and the amount of research involved. Guidelines: http://www.cabinlife.com/info/writer.html

CANTER MAGAZINE - aimed at equestrians and horse enthusiasts. Interested in articles that appeal to a horse person's literary interests: horse-related art, literature, historical, cultural, travel, collectibles, profiles, breed profiles, reviews of horse related books and movies, and some fiction and poetry. Up to $25 for articles. Guidelines: http://www.cantermagazine.com/guidelines.asp

CAPPER's – Nationally distributed monthly magazine, uses historical, inspirational, nostalgic, family-oriented, travel and human-interest stories; unusual accomplishments, collections, occupations, hobbies, etc. Pays $2.50/column inch. Pays $5 more if used on their web site. Guidelines: http://www.cappers.com/guidelines.aspx

COWBOYS & INDIANS - up to $1200/article. Cowboys and Indians Magazine focuses on the western US and its people, past, and places. Queries to: queries@cowboysindians.com Request Guidelines form: http://www.cowboysindians.com/contact/index.html

NEED AN AGENT? - Be very wary. Not all agents are good agents. The worst agents list: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html

2009 NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS - Calling all indie authors and publishers, including small and mid-size independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors. Enter the Next Generation Indie Book Awards™ now to have your book considered for cash prizes of $1,000, awards, exposure, and recognition as one of the top independently published books of the year. The top 70 books will be reviewed by NY literary agent Marilyn Allen or her co-agents for possible representation in areas such as distribution, foreign rights, and film rights. Ms. Allen has served as Senior Vice President of Harper Collins, directed sales and marketing teams for Simon & Schuster and Penguin Books, and worked with authors such as Stephen King, Ken Follett, and Barbara Kingsolver. Info: http://www.indiebookawards.com

5280.COM - Denver's premier guide to the arts, entertainment, dining, and lifestyle issues in the Mile-High City. The best places for new writers to break into the magazine are our Profiles 800/1000/wds), Getaways 1500/wds, or Neighborhoods 1500/wds. Query first with published clips. No telephone queries. $400/600 for departments and $1000/2500 for features. Guidelines: http://www.5280.com/about_guidelines.php

FRANK, France - international journal of contemporary writing and art. Published in Paris in English twice a year, distributed internationally. Original work that demonstrates excellence, innovation, vision, engagement, responds artistically to social, political, and global issues, or reveals original and passionate perspectives on the world, its cultures, traditions, languages. 15 printed pgs or less. For longer work, please query first. $10/printed pgs + two copies. David Applefield, Editor submissions@ReadFrank.com 32 rue Edouard Vaillant, 93100 Montreuil, France. Guidelines: http://www.readfrank.com/submissions/index.php

WRITERS LEAGUE OF TEXAS WRITING CONTEST - Deadline: April 30, 2009. We're offering a writing contest that has merged the Violet Crown and the Teddy Book Awards into The Writers' League of Texas Book Awards. The contest is for books published in 2008. For more information, contact: Kristy Bordine wlt@writersleague.org URL: http://writersleague.org

WERGLE FLOMP HUMOR POETRY CONTEST - Deadline: April 1, 2009. Find a vanity poetry contest, a contest with low standards whose main purpose is to entice poets to buy expensive products like anthologies, chapbooks, CDs, plaques and silver bowls. Vanity contests will often praise remarkably bad poems in their effort to sell as much stuff to as many people as possible. Make up a deliberately absurd, strange, laugh-out-loud humor poem. Submit your parody poem to a vanity contest as a joke. Then when you've submitted it to the vanity contest, submit it to us. Prize: $1,359 for first place. $3,336.40 in total prizes
Guidelines: http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/wergle/we_guidelines.php