HELP! I HATE MY BOOK COVER!

IMAGINE
WRITE
PUBLISH

Take a BITE out of

FOOD WRITING
63 What your
WRITING website needs
CONTESTS to succeed
HAPPENING
RIGHT NOW Protect your
writing from
a computer
Overcome emergency
your fear of
pitching How to create
a salable
Learn to write anthology
for the web proposal

+
Kate Bolick
Elissa Altman
Liz Moore
Regina Brooks
OUR
DARKEST
HOURS
Write a 2,000-word ictional short
story using any nuance, deinition or
understanding of the word dark:
After dark
Deep, dark secrets
A dark horse
The dark side of the moon
The lines gone dark
Dont leave me in the dark

DEADLINE:
November 15th, 2016

GRAND PRIZE:
$1,000 and publication
in our magazine

LEARN MORE AT:

writermag.com/contests CONTEST
IMAGINE
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November 2016 Volume 129 Number 11

FEATURES
16
Take a bite out of food
writing
Food journalism has never been hotter. How can
new writers find a place at the table?
BY JULIA RAPPAPORT

20
The writing that eats
away at you
Everyone told Elissa Altman no one would read
long-form food narratives online. Two memoirs
and a James Beard Award later, Altman can finally
say: Everyone was wrong.
BY MEGAN KAPLON

24
Ctrl + alt + del
Dont lose your novel to a computer crash.
Heres a plan for a technical emergency.
BY TRIONA GUIDRY

26
Seriously single
Kate Bolick challenges the spinster stereotype as
well as the boundaries of first-person narratives.
BY SUE HERTZ

32
A website of ones own
In a world of social media and digital platform,
do you still need an authors website? Absolutely.
BY DONNA TALARICO
 DEPARTMENTS IN EVERY ISSUE
8 OFF THE CUFF
Love story 4 From the Editor
Good journalism skills can
pay off in the unlikeliest of 5 Take Note
settings including online Candy Schulman, Liz Moore,
dating. and more.
BY JULIA RAPPAPORT
42 Markets

10 BREAKTHROUGH
Pitchophobia
47 Classified advertising
How one writer overcame
48 How I Write
her fear of querying and
Regina Brooks: Sometimes au-
ended up in the pages of our
thors try so hard to show, not tell
magazine.
24 BY SUSAN ITO
that they wind up over-describing
and writing really long, unwieldy
sentences.
12 WRITER AT WORK
A book by its cover
How to advocate for your
cover design without
infuriating everyone in the
process.
BY REBECCA STRONG

14 MARKET FOCUS
Speaking volumes
A writers guide to crafting a
salable anthology proposal.
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE

26 36 CLASS ACTION
The tangled web ON THE WEB:
Writing for blogs and social www.writermag.com
media is a whole different
animal than print. Heres
Put our free e-mail newsletter
what you need to know.
to work: Check out our weekly
BY JEFF TAMARKIN
newsletter, which offers highlights
from our website and the
38 CONFERENCE
San Fran-tastic
INSIDER
magazine, and directs you to more
articles about craft from The
Meet agents, talk shop, and
Writers vast archive. Find the
do real work at the San
Francisco Writers Conference. Newsletter Signup box on our
BY MELISSA HART home page, enter your e-mail
address, and youre in business.

40 LITERARY SPOTLIGHT
Mother of invention LIKE
Motherwell explores the TheWriterMagazine
modern perils and joys of FOLLOW
parenting. @TheWriterMag
Cover: komkrit Preechachanwate/Shutterstock;
38 BY MELISSA HART
Teri Virbickis/Shutterstock
writermag.com The Writer | 3
FROM THE EDITOR
W
hen the going gets tough, I get takeout.
When the going gets really tough, I roll up my
sleeves and start cooking.
Perhaps my mothers meatballs or my grandfathers
marinara cant heal a broken heart, but they can sure as hell keep my
hands busy.
Food is so much more than fuel for our bodies; its a tool we use to
explain our origins, our family, our values. Its also the closest thing we
mortals have to time travel: In a single lick of a rainbow-sprinkled ice
cream cone, youre a third grader once again, sitting on the curb by the
ice cream truck. It can be a memory-jogger for memoirists, a scene-
setter for novelists, a focal point for essayists. Food is universal and yet
wholly specific: We all eat, but no one has eaten quite like you.
And luckily for wordsmiths, the market for food writing has never
been hotter. For instruction, head straight for Julia Rappaports guide
to finding a seat at the food-writing table on page 16; for inspiration,
turn to the lovely words of James Beard Award-winning memoirist/
food blogger Elissa Altman on page 20.
But even in this month of November, when so many of us pay hom-
age to tradition with our family feasts and giant turkeys, we cannot and
should not forsake the modern world in the spirit of steadfastly main-
taining whats Always Been Done. The writing world, it is a-changin,
and savvy scribes need keep up. So the other theme we meditate on
this month is the ever-rising digital world for writers: Fine-tuning your
authors website, writing for the web, and a must-read guide for pro-
tecting your digital files imagine if wed lost Olive Kitteridge or The
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to a computer virus.
So, writers, as we officially bid warm weather adieu and open the
holiday season, a few warm wishes from us here at The Writer: May
your turkeys (or tofurkeys) be burnished. May your pies remain
unburnt, unsodden, and uneaten by the family dog. May your table
conversations not be dominated by politics, taxes, or weather. But may
also your tweets be well-received, your eBooks well-downloaded, and
your manuscript well-protected from ransomware and hackers.
And may you find nay, make time for some real writing this month.
Go on, burn the stuffing. If they really love you, theyll understand.
Keep writing,
Nicki Porter
Senior Editor
4 | The Writer November 2016
IMAGINE
WRITE
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 Cut your manuscript ruthlessly but never throw anything away:
it's amazing how often a discarded scene or description, which
wouldn't it in one place, will work perfectly later. Robert Harris

COMPILED BY NICKI PORTER

PRODUCING MANUSCRIPTS
IN SENSIBLE SHOES
Sometimes parents are thrilled when their children want
to become writers. Others are less enthusiastic.
BY CANDY SCHULMAN

im going to major in journalism, I announced to my surreptitiously while pretending to do homework. I was a

mother the summer before my junior year in college.
Her response: Im not paying tuition unless you major
in something more sensible.
Her reasons were complicated. Growing up in an
orphanage from the age of 2 to 15, she was the daughter of a
poverty-stricken, widowed Russian immigrant in Jersey
City. Moms fantasy of becoming a physical edu-
cation teacher was derailed when she had to
get a job right after high school.
Sensible. Id hated that word ever since
Mom insisted on buying me hideous
brown lace-up oxfords in seventh grade.
In the orphanage I had to wear shoes that
were too tight, she said. Im saving you
from ruining your feet. I know now it was
an act of love, born out of her own deprived
childhood, but back then it seemed unforgiv-
able. My classmates would ridicule me in their
trendy penny loafers. I sobbed so hard in the parking
lot, Mom threw the shopping bag out the car window.
Momentarily relieved, I stopped hyperventilating. Immedi-
ately, Mom reconsidered. Shed never had the privilege of
throwing away expensive footwear.
Go pick them up, she said, and I obeyed.
I had no choice but to please my mother in college, reluc-
tantly majoring in education. Even though Id dreamed of
being an author since my fourth-grade teacher showed off
my first and self-illustrated novel, The Mystery in the
Old Mansion.
Joyce Carol Oates described scribbling tomes in note-
books; when she ran out of blank paper, shed turn the spiral
pad upside down and continue in the other direction. I, too,
filled loose-leaf pages with my narratives throughout junior
high. I crafted my own teen gang-filled version of West Side
Story (which Id seen six times) and peppered the prose with
Mariart_i/Shutterstock
closet scribe, unable to stop.
In college, I tried to join the newspaper staff, but it was
open only to journalism majors. You dont have talent any-
way, my mother said. It would take decades to understand
that, having grown up with an absentee mother, she never
learned how to encourage me. And she wanted me to
live the life shed been denied.
Burnt out after teaching special ed for five
years, I searched for a writing mentor. Thats
when I found Hayes B. Jacobs, the first per-
son I ever met with an initial in his name.
Hayes was a legendary professor whod cat-
apulted the New School program to
national recognition, pioneering the con-
cept that wordsmiths should teach craft, not
academics. The first time I entered his class-
room, he terrified me. A 6-foot-2, gray-mus-
tached, whiskey-drinking chain smoker, he was
born in Yakima, Washington, migrated east to Har-
vard, and broke into The New Yorker. He wore thick glasses
because he had no peripheral vision and became apoplectic if
someone wrote standing on line rather than in line.
Between you and I? he scrawled in red ink in the margin of
my manuscripts until I wrote between you and me as auto-
matically as spelling my name. If a student asked him how to
be prolific, hed bang on the desk with his fist and bark, Pro-
duce manuscript! He typed every critique on a manual
Swiss-made typewriter, inspiring me to rethink and revise,
but not reconsider my relentless drive to become a profes-
sional writer. Two years passed before he endorsed my first
essay as publishable. Seventy-eight rejections later, my
bylines began to appear next to luminaries like Russell Baker.
Why didnt I flee from Hayess brusque and sometimes
heartless remarks? (Dear Hayes: What do you think of these
possible titles for my book?Not much!) His tough love was

steamy romance, gratuitous violence, and a plethora of four-
letter words.
Aghast, my mother found it, read it, and decreed it as
trash. She forbade me from writing, so I spun my yarns
his way of pushing me forward, to write more eloquently.
When I asked him for a teaching position, he turned me
down. Eventually he did offer me a job, confessing, I hesi-
tated because it would interfere with your writing.
writermag.com The Writer | 5
 I came to know Hayes as a devoted
husband to Gretchen, whose larynx had
been removed due to throat cancer. He
sent lilting postcards from summers in La
Rochelle, taught me how to baste a tur-
key, and introduced me to wonderful
southern women writers: OConnor,
Welty, McCullers. The most articulate
man Id ever met believed in me without
ever saying the actual words.
Now I am a mentor to aspiring writers
in the classes I teach and as a volunteer.
When my mentee found out I had
selected her to work on her memoir, she
cried. I understood: I know how it feels to
have someone care about your worth and
future as a writer.
I developed a teaching style softer
than Hayess, yet occasionally I still
exude, Produce manuscript! Hayes
claimed there wasnt any hope of publica-
tion if an essay was in your desk drawer; I
verbalize the same thing, updating file
cabinet for hard drive. Im thrilled lawyer. I didnt apologize for not becoming
when my students publish, against great
odds. Leslie, a former actress, sold an
essay about her transition from theater to
written prose. Why did she want to be a
writer? One form of rejection wasnt
enough, she wrote.
The most stinging rejection of my life,
however, was from my mother. My moti-
vation to write was stronger than her lack
of praise. Or perhaps I spent my entire
career trying to prove her wrong. When
she was in her 80s, she presented me with
a folder of article clips Id sent her over
the years. Do you want these back? she
asked. I dont have room, and I was
going to throw them out.
She held out a thin file in her large
apartment. I didnt have the voice to tell
her how much shed hurt me. I could
compose anything, but couldnt manage
face-to-face confrontation.
When I began studying with Hayes,
my mother kept suspiciously asking,
What page am I on? Im sure you have
lots to reveal about me.
One afternoon, I purposely left out the
first draft of a sweet essay that described
6 | The Writer November 2016
how shed instilled a love of literature in
me even though shed never gone to col-
lege by reading to me every night before
bed. The first time I read a book to her all
on my own, she sat back, joyful tears in
her eyes, a proud moment as indelible as
Hayess typewriter ribbons.
Knowing shed snoop into my essay, I
left to do errands. When I returned, the
pages were slightly ruffled. Afterward,
she stopped asking if I were maligning
her in print. Once she complained when I
published a piece citing her age as 78. Her
neighbor called and said, Why Sylvia, I
thought you were 74. Shed lied about her
birth date, uncovered by her journalist
daughter. It made us both laugh.
When she died at 96, I wrote a eulogy
about her life as a mother, a competitive
golfer, a survivor of the Great Depression.
Delivering my speech in the sensible shoes
I now favored, I didnt say I was the disap-
pointing younger sister to a dentist and a
that every characters voice sounds the
the gym teacher Mom hoped would fill
the void inside of her. I refrained from
revealing that despite my accomplish-
ments, Ill always wonder how I perse-
vered in spite of her discouragement.
Perhaps its this quote from Barbara Tuch-
man thats pasted above my computer: I
have always been in a condition in which I
cannot not write.
In a eulogy there are always more omis-
sions than truths told. Yet my words
touched family and friends. I was a writer
whether Mom approved or not. I still
hoped that deep inside of her, she found a
tiny place of pride in my work.
Cleaning out her apartment a month
later, I found an envelope in the bottom
of her dresser, underneath rumpled old
clothes, discovering several more clip-
pings of my essays. She didnt throw all of
me away, after all.
Candy Schulman is a creative writing professor
at The New School in New York City. Her work has
appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post,
Chicago Tribune, Creative Nonfiction, Parents, and
Salon.com.
C A R E E R
C H O P S
How to receive critical
feedback on your writing
Youve written, drafted, and redrafted
your novel. Youve shared it with your
writing group, your parents, and your
best friend. Youre now ready to take the
plunge and submit it professionally
but are you ready to receive critical
feedback?
Whether you get the criticism from
an agent, an editor at a publishing
house, or an editor who you hire,
learning to receive it is an important
step on your writers journey.
And the very first thing to do is
nothing. Dont react, begin drafting a
rebuttal, get upset, or fire off a hasty
email. Allow the feedback to sink in.
Sleep on it. Remember that every writer
gets something wrong, so if your editor
feels your dialogue isnt snappy or
same, this isnt a criticism of you, its a
critical analysis of your work and how to
improve it. (Note: Constructive criticism
should always be positive, practical,
useful, and valuable, and any profes-
sional editor will deliver it as such.)
Do your homework. If your editor
says the inciting incident happens too
late in the plot and you dont know
what that means, research it. (For the
record, its the main event that sets your
plot into motion.) Consult one of the
many excellent craft books out there.
This knowledge will be invaluable to you
throughout your career.
Finally, ask questions. If theres
something you dont understand, ask for
a specific clarification. You dont instant-
ly need to know how to fix the problem;
you just need to understand it.
But remember, this is your work,
your vision. You dont need to change
everything your editor or agent sug-
gests. If you can make a solid case for
why your main character should die in
Act III or your book should open with a
flashback, chances are your editor will
agreeor, at least, agree to disagree.
Dionne McCulloch, Cornerstones
Literary Consultancy,
cornerstonesUS.com
 The life of the professional writer like that of any freelance, whether
she be a plumber or a podiatrist is predicated on willpower. Without
it there simply wouldn't be any remuneration, period. Will Self
I want to start freelancing, but I dont have any clips. What should I do?
Its a common problem that comes up in the adult-educa-
tion classes I teach: What do you do when you dont have
any clips? Dont worry, I assure my students no one was
born with clips, and editors know this. The most effective
way to overcome a lack of writing credentials, I tell them, is
to write the story that would not be written if not for you.
Story proposals such as these, based on a writers per-
sonal experience or professional expertise, have a far greater
rate of success. Why? These stories offer a unique point of
view that wont be found anywhere else. They are personal,
so they are original. And perhaps most important, they offer
a compelling reason to buy the idea from you regardless of
whether youve been published before.
SOME CASES IN POINT:
Rick, a world traveler and baseball enthusiast, sold his
story on watching major-league stars play winter base-
ball in the Caribbean to the Boston Herald. It was later
resold to the Christian Science Monitor.
Richard, a retired fire chief, sold his story on public
speaking for fire officials to a magazine called Fire Engi-
neering. Written as a service article, it offered tips for
WRITERS ON WRITING
Liz Moore
Of the various literary accolades novelist Liz Moore has
received, perhaps the most enviable is the Rome Prize in
Literature, which allowed her to spend a year in Rome
finishing her third novel. This novel, The Unseen World,
was published this year by W.W. Norton to critical acclaim
from publications including the Boston Globe, the
Washington Post, and the New York Times. It follows a
daughters attempts to piece together the truth about her
fathers past. Moores first novel, The Words of Every Song,
was about a fictional record company and her second, Heft,
was a portrait of a man who weighs 550 pounds and the
woman he loves from afar. Heft was long-listed for the
IMPAC Literary Award, and Moore is also a recipient of the
Medici Book Club Prize and Philadelphias Athenaeum
Literary Award. She lives in Philadelphia, where she is
assistant professor of writing at Holy Family University.
WHATS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOUVE
LEARNED ABOUT WRITING?
When I was writing my first novel, at a certain point I had
the feeling that I had written myself into a corner there
was a central problem that I couldnt solve, and so I
thought the book was a lost cause, that I would have to
abandon it. I stopped work on it and turned to something
else. And then when I wasnt expecting it an idea occurred
to me, and I tentatively restarted work on the novel and
eventually finished it. Since then Ive learned that, rather
firefighters involved in community outreach.
Susan, the owner of a gardening business, sold her story
on plants that thrive in an urban environment to Fine
Gardening. The layout included a pictorial guide to rec-
ommended varieties.
Elizabeth, a mother of two young children, sold her story
on how her sons serious vision impairment went undi-
agnosed to a magazine called Western New York Family.
It was a cautionary tale to which any parent could relate.
Melanie, a freelance chef, sold her article on the history of
Central European pastries to Pastry Art & Design maga-
zine. The story included recipes for readers to make.
All of these writers were previously unpublished, and, as
you can see, followed a similar path to writing success even
though their subject matter varied greatly. By following
their example, perhaps you can achieve similar results. So
ask yourself: What story do you have to tell? Thats the one
that you should try to sell.
M.T. Schwartzman covers Alaska tourism and the cruise industry for con-
sumer and industry publications. He also teaches adult-education classes
on writing and publishing.
than being an anomaly, this feeling that a novel is
irreparably broken occurs every time I write one.
HOW HAS THAT HELPED YOU AS A WRITER?
This realization has allowed me to recognize this moment for
what it is: a necessary, even useful, part of the process. When
it arrives, I know that Ill be incredibly frustrated for a while as
I try to adopt a new vision for the novel it sometimes seems
like the novel is asking me to see it in an entirely new way and
often requires a drastic change such as a different point of
view or the elimination or addition of a central character but
I also know that, when the right idea finally presents itself,
the work it brings with it will be worth it.
Gabriel Packards debut novel, The Painted Ocean, will be published by
Hachette in October 2016.
writermag.com The Writer | 7
OFF THE CUFF
BY JULIA RAPPAPORT

Love story
Good journalism skills can pay off in the unlikeliest of settings
including online dating.

A
few weeks ago, my phone
lit up with the familiar
flash of an incoming text.
OK. I have a date,
came the message from a friend who
was just in the beginning stages of get-
ting over a bad breakup. Attached was
a screenshot of a cute, 30-something
womans Bumble profile: A few smiling
photos, both solo and with pals, and
those key, short but cryptic lines of
self-description.
My phone pinged again: So can
you do your recon thing?
Dating in the modern era is terri-
ble: An endless string of high hopes
and dashed expectations, countless
hours spent browsing profiles on vari-
ous sites, and recurring nightmares of
winding up alone while all your
friends, it seems, have paired off and
are creating families of their own. So
what is a modern person to do? Well,
while I cant speak to the situation of
all modern people, I can speak to the musicals. Writing up to eight stories in attendance. There was the restau-
situation of modern writers, whose per week, work left little time for love, rant owner who I met one night over a
job it is to literally find out everything and in such a small town, the pickings plate of perfect French fries. There was
they can about a person, place, or were slim to begin with. When I that other bartender the one who
thing, and then create a story, hope- moved to Boston to start a gig at a big worked at the same place as my best
fully a compelling one, out of what city daily, leaving behind both a sim- friend who took me out for drinks at
they uncover. pler way of life and an unrequited a dive bar, then to a five-star restaurant
And so I texted my friend, a non- crush on a tall and bumbling British just before midnight to split a full tast-
writer, back three short words: Im colleague, I found myself in a new ing menu. My foray into online dating
on it. place, with more free time but no net- started soon afterward, first with a
I didnt start to date in earnest until work of friends. And so I started to brief dabble on JDate, where I man-
after Id finished my first-ever job in date. At first I went out with men I met aged to find perhaps the sites only red-
journalism. For two years Id worked as in real life, as I now call it. There was headed Irish man, and later on
a cub reporter at a very small-town the bartender who asked for my num- OkCupid, where I met the man I
Zubada/Shutterstock

weekly newspaper, covering everything
from farming and agriculture to select-
mens meetings (picture any scene
from Parks & Rec) and high school
8 | The Writer November 2016
ber when I came in on a below-zero thought I was going to marry. It was
night in search of a stiff drink before a only after that breakup that apps like
party where my college ex-boyfriend Tinder and Bumble and Hinge entered
the first to break my heart would be the picture.
 Whether I met these men online or
in real life, I realized right away that
even awful dates with seemingly ill-fated
matches (dont get me started on the
archeology professor who was arrested
on a field trip for making a bomb threat
in a cave), there was always the challenge
of figuring out the facts about a person
and uncovering a good story in the pro-
cess. It was this challenge, this discovery,
that first drew me to writing, too. Only
later on in my career did I come to
appreciate the construction of a strong
sentence, the beauty in a perfectly placed
word, the beat of cadence; at first, I just
fell in love with narrative.
And so, what I unintentionally
found myself doing again and again
was recreating my work life in my
romantic one (to both good and bad
effects), and utilizing the skills I had
picked up interviewing sources, getting
scoops, and finding material in the
uncanniest of places.
WHERE REPORTING AND
DATING COLLIDE
Do your research but know when
to stop.
While it is possible for good interviews
to happen on the fly, going into one
prepared is usually a key step to suc-
cess. In journalism, that often means
reading up on a source and researching
small biographical details like where
they went to school or grew up. While
it can feel pretty creepy, doing a little
bit of digging before a date can be help-
ful, too, especially in an era with over-
flowing options to swipe left or right.
Knowing a few details about a person
before meeting them can better prepare
you to really listen to the good stuff, to
ask the right questions, or to feel com-
fortable sharing your own story. At the
same time, theres definitely a risk of
doing too much research, both in writ-
ing and in dating so if you find your-
self at 2 a.m. going down an Instagram
rabbit hole of a potential date, power
down and walk away.
Ask questions.
While writers arent the only ones friend with good judgment).
who can ask questions, Ive found
that my writer friends are particularly
adept at it in social settings. And
when they do it, I see people shop
clerks, strangers at cocktail parties,
Uber drivers relax around them
and open up. Writers know that ask-
ing questions and creating an atmo-
sphere of interest and trust is crucial
to getting a source to talk. But this
also requires balance part of earn-
ing that trust with someone youre
interviewing or writing about
involves not just listening but also
offering tidbits about yourself; asking
questions, yes, but also knowing
when to share. Its in that sweet spot
that connection begins. The same is
true on a date be interested, ask; be
vulnerable, share.
Stay until the end you never know
when your story might present itself.
In my first newspaper job, my editor
used to make me stay till the very end
of any meeting I covered. Ideally, she
would say, be the last one to walk out.
You never know when your story
might present itself, was her motto.
This came true one night when I was
thinking about skipping out early on
a meeting that included things like
shellfish licenses and stone wall regu-
lations on the agenda. I decided to
stay, and just as the meeting was
about to wrap up, one of those mun-
dane issues sparked outrage in an
attendee, who began to toss chairs
around the small room. There was
my lede. On dates, I usually apply
this rule. People are rarely at their
best or most authentic in a first meet-
ing or in the first hour of a meeting.
You never know when or where your
lede might come from, so stay for
that second drink, walk that extra
block, or go for that next date. If
theres no story after that, move on.
At least you tried.
Find an editor you trust (or just a
My first stab at online dating was a
three-month stint on JDate. I hated it.
After an unsuccessful date with that
Irish man (in which he pulled nail clip-
pers out of his pocket after coming up to
my apartment for the first time), I went
out with only one other man a sweet
guy, but there was no spark. I took a
break from online dating for a while,
which translated into a full-on dating
rut. Enter my friend and dating editor,
Molly. One night, shed had enough of
my rut, just as any good editor will have
enough of their reporters writing block.
Come over, she said one day. Im
going to cook, were going to get drunk,
and Im going to write your OkCupid
profile. Over the past several years,
Molly, a fellow writer and editor, has
continued to be my sounding board, lis-
tening to the stories Ive told about dat-
ing and giving her thoughts on which
material has legs. When she met the
man she would ultimately marry, they
became something of an editing team
for me, with her now-husband offering
his male take on my profile, dates, or
current partners. Like any good writer, I
dont let my editor make my decisions or
change my piece so that it no longer
sounds like me. But it helps to have
someone who can look at a bunch of
details and see a picture emerge, a narra-
tive that just might be worth telling.
A few minutes after receiving that text
from my friend, I responded with my
editors opinion: The gal from Bumble
was definitely cute and smart infor-
mation deduced from a LinkedIn page I
tracked down and a few articles and
she seemed to care about some of the
same issues that my friend did.
Wow, came the return text. You
should be in the CIA.
Julia Rappaport is the managing editor of a
Northeast food and cooking magazine. You can
follow her at @Julia_Rappaport.
writermag.com The Writer | 9
BREAKTHROUGH
BY SUSAN ITO

Pitchophobia
How one writer overcame her fear of querying and ended up in
the pages of our magazine.

W
hen I was a kid on the
athletic field, people
used to call me
Chicken Ito. If a ball
of any size was lobbed my way
whether it was dodgeball, softball, or
volleyball my first instinct was to
cower and hide my face. The ball
would roll idly away as my teammates
screamed in frustration. Frankly, it
didnt go much better when it was my
turn to throw I was awful at pitching
as well.
Maybe it was that early trauma,
that dreaded association with the
word pitching, that led to my deep
phobia of approaching editors with
story ideas. Somehow I managed to
publish dozens of both fiction and
nonfiction works over the course of a
few decades without once sending out half-finished essay languish in my lap- Yorker as well as lesser-known publica-
a query. To me, pitching consisted of top for eons, and thered be no gentle tions. Then we passed around our own
making a promise I wasnt sure I nudging from anyone to actually finish attempts and discussed them. Anisse
could keep. It meant selling an idea to the piece. was encouraging but also honest when
an editor and then being held Early last year, I heard about a advising what we could do better. She
accountable for being as brilliant as Id freelancing boot camp being offered told us that it started with doing our
made myself out to be. at the San Francisco Writers Grotto, homework; that knowing a particular
I was comfortable with the simple which promised to demystify the publication was a good fit for our work
process of writing a piece and then pitching process. I signed up, deter- was a key element. Just because wed
sending it out into the world, either to mined to get over my fear of pitching love to have our work appear in The
be accepted (hooray) or rejected (oh or querying. Atlantic or O magazine doesnt mean
well). Here it is: take it or leave it, or The instructor, freelance journalist that it makes sense for our piece.
tell me you want to work with me on Anisse Gross, broke it down in ways It is essential, she said, to present a
it. And for decades, that worked well. that were reassuringly straightforward fresh, unique story angle, rather than a
Or well enough. and simple (see Tips from Pitching vague idea. Its good to read multiple
But there were limitations to that Boot Camp). The most important issues of the publication to make sure
Cartoonresource/Shutterstock

method. For one, nobody out there
really cared if I sent them work or not.
I could procrastinate for months or
years before sending a piece of work
out for consideration. I could let a
10 | The Writer November 2016
thing, she reminded us, was that pitch-
ing was all about making relationships.
In the class, we had the opportunity
to read some stellar queries that had
resulted in contracts with The New
they havent recently covered that same
topic. And its good to practice. Just
like many baseball pitches dont land
where theyre intended a little high, a
little outside the same is true with
 TIPS FROM PITCHING BOOT CAMP
Anisse Gross one-day boot camp on freelance pitching helped me demystify the pro-
cess and get over my phobia. These are some of the invaluable things she taught us
at the San Francisco Writers Grotto.

DOs DONTs

editorial queries. Sometimes a story
idea just doesnt find the right place at
the right time. The only thing to do is
to shrug and pick up another ball.
After taking the pitching class, Id
heard from a friend of a friend of a
friend that The Writer was planning an
issue dedicated to writers conferences.
I knew I had so much to say on this
topic, so I gathered my courage, care-
fully crafted a pitch, and sent it off. To
my surprise, my pitch landed: my piece
my very first query! was accepted
for the July 2016 issue.
Later, I sought out The Writers
booth at the Association of Writers &
Writing Programs (AWP) book fair in
the spring. I picked up the magazine
and leafed through its pages, excited
that my own words would soon be
appearing in them. Senior editor
Nicki Porter happened to be at the
table, so I introduced myself. I love
your work! she said.
Really? I blushed. Im so glad.
That was my first pitch.
I described my longtime fear of
pitching, and how Id waited so long to
attempt it. What a great story, she
said. Want to write about it for us?
Wait, I said. Are you pitching me
now? It made me laugh. I held out my
hand and plunk, the story fell into my
palm. Since then, Ive practiced send-
ing stories out into the world. Some of
them land in a sweet spot, others not.
At the end of the day, its just about
showing up for the game.
Susan Ito writes and teaches at the San Fran-
cisco Writers Grotto.
1. Seek out a good fit. Think about
what you like reading and writing
what publications feature similar
work?
2. Always, always read the publi-
cation before pitching. See if
theyve published anything similar
recently. Nothing is worse than
pitching a story and having them
respond, We just ran that story
two weeks ago.
3. Pitch a story, not a topic. Be as
specific as possible. Offer a fresh
and interesting angle. A pitch is a
story idea, not a vague topic like
parenting.
4. Keep the pitch under a page in
length. Editors are busy people.
5. Include sources. Give the names,
locations, and other sources and
experts you plan to cite. Confirm
that you can actually speak with
these people.
6. Include a catchy title. It helps
paint a story for the editor and can
serve as a hook.
7. Follow up after a week if you
dont hear back. Sometimes que-
ries get filtered into spam, so it
doesnt hurt to follow up. Let it go if
you dont hear back.
8. Revise the query if you send it
out and get back no response or a
rejection. Look for a fresh angle.
Or look around for a more appro-
priate fit.
These tips are about making the experience smooth and accessible for an editor.
Remember that editors are people, too. In the end, you want to establish a relation-
ship, hopefully one that is mutually positive and that will lead to writing and pub-
lishing many stories together.
Here are some common mistakes writers
make when sending pitches. Avoid these!
1. Send your pitch to a general
mailbox. Assigning editors should
be approached directly. It shows
youve done your homework.
2. Beat around the bush. Get right to
it. Dont delay in getting to the point
of your story.
3. Undersell yourself. Never talk
about what you cant do or how
inexperienced you are. Just high-
light what you can do, and write the
best pitch possible. Let the editor
decide if you are up to the job.
4. Neglect to tell the editor if the
piece is timely. If a pitch is time-
sensitive, you MUST say that in your
query, along with a date you need to
hear from them.
5. Bug the editor. Dont check in too
soon (earlier than a week, unless
time-sensitive) or too often (more
than once).
6. Refuse to take no for an
answer. If an editor says no, do not
try to get them to change their minds.
If your pitch is rejected, do not
approach another editor at the same
publication with that same pitch.
7. Cut and paste a pitch without
changing editor/publication
name. Oops! It looks terrible to
pitch Wired when your email says
this would be perfect for Elle, or
to call an editor by the wrong name.

writermag.com The Writer | 11

WRITER AT WORK
BY REBECCA STRONG

A book by its cover

How to advocate for your cover design without infuriating
everyone in the process.

L
ess than three months before my release date, I was
getting nervous. Not because come June 22nd my
debut novel would be out in the world, six years
after I started writing it. Not because Id have to do
a live reading at my launch party, a feat that for now Id only
accomplished in front of the mirror with all doors firmly
shut. Not because readers might hate it, the FSB (KGBs suc-
cessor) might go after me, and I may have to spend a few
years hiding a la Salman Rushdie.
Not because of any of that.
I was nervous because I still didnt have a cover.
My publishers designer was running late. After sending
an email to inquire, I got a laconic dont worry. We still
have plenty of time, the publisher wrote. Two more weeks
passed, but despite obsessive refreshing my mailbox stayed
empty. When I reached out again a month after the cover
was due I no longer had any fingernails. Hold tight, they
replied this time. Were just about ready to send it to you.
I live in Spain. My publisher is based in the U.S. By the
time a .jpg file arrived later that day, the clock on my bed-
room wall had moved way past midnight. And while I often
stay up late, this was the first time I regretted checking
email at one oclock in the morning. Because when I saw the
proposed cover, there was no sleeping for me that night.
Furious, I spent the hours drafting a reply in my head.
My cover wasnt just late it was, I thought, completely off
track. It took Russian clich to the extreme, with rows and
rows of red matryoshkas, or Russian nesting dolls; worse, it
emphasized a secondary male character instead of showcas-
ing the protagonist a quirky female. Big mistake.
Good design goes beyond just indicating what some- Sleep on your cover designs, says Casalino. When you
thing is, says Catherine Casalino, an art director and first get them, take a day or so to live with them and think
designer who has worked with Hachette, Random House, about it. Print them out and put them on actual books so
and Simon & Schuster. Maybe it hints at the ideas in the you can see how they look in reality (or ask your publisher
book. Maybe it makes you wonder what the book is about. to do this).
Maybe you cant even put your finger on why you Anxious, annoyed, and eager to fix the problem, Id shared
areattracted to that particular book. the cover with my fellow writers and included their sugges-
My cover didnt do any of this. It didnt hint at the story tions Photoshopped images among them in that email.
J. Helgason/Shutterstock

or the characters or the nature of the book. The only thing it
screamed was Russia. The next day, my eyes bleary, I did
what every impatient author would have done in my situa-
tion I fired back an email.
12 | The Writer November 2016
Another big mistake.
When advocating for changes, point out what you do and
dont like and most importantly WHY, but resist the urge to
solve the problem thats the designers job, says Casalino.
During the next several weeks,
my cover went from looking like
Russia exploded all over the page
to channeling Danielle Steel to
impersonating Agatha Christies
famous works.

Asking for specific changes or trying to
solve the problem yourself (I just Pho-
toshopped a few things onto the cover
to show you what I want) will just frus-
trate the process and all those involved.
Frustrate it did. During the next sev-
eral weeks, my cover went from looking
like Russia exploded all over the page to
channeling Danielle Steel to imperson-
ating Agatha Christies famous works. A
novel that contained very little romance
and just a pinch of mystery now looked
like a disastrous mesh of both. Terrified
that my publisher would lose patience
and begin ignoring protests over every
new version, each a bigger disappoint-
ment than the last, I shuddered at the
thought of a disastrous start to my nov-
elist career with a subpar cover. Not to
mention an empty table with no books
to sign: With only one month left before
the launch, how would they be able to
ship the books to me in time?
In the end, the final version of my
cover turned out to be just a small
tweak away from the original one. By
giving one of the matryoshkas a side-
eye, the designer achieved what I
wanted all along a hint at a novel with
a quirky female protagonist, humor,
mystery, and fun all in one image.
And the books made it to my
launch with one day to spare.
Five tips from Catherine I wish
I had known when advocating
for my cover:
1 Keep an open mind and trust
your designer. You may have an
idea about what you want for your
cover, but a professional designer
can come up with something you
never even thought of thats perfect
for your book.
2 Tell your designer the mood and
audience instead of specific
images and fonts. Saying that you
want a melancholy cover that
appeals to teenagers is much more
helpful than saying you want a girl
with a blue dress sitting on a porch.
3 Look at what else is out there.
Familiarizing yourself with other
covers will help you better articu-
late what you do and dont want for
your book.
4 Think about your audience and
not your personal taste. Maybe
you love Andy Warhols work, but
putting a Warhol on your cover
might confuse the audience for
your sci-fi novel (Is this a book
about Andy Warhol in space?).

Rebecca Strong is a writer living in Madrid,

Spain. Her debut novel, Who is Mr. Plutin?, came
out in 2015, and her other work has appeared in
Quartz, Writers Digest, and Publishers Weekly,
among others.
5 Dont look at a million options.
After a while, the more you see,
the more confusing it gets. Pick the
design you like the most and work
with the designer to perfect it.
writermag.com The Writer | 13
MARKET FOCUS
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE
Speaking volumes
A writers guide to crafting a salable anthology proposal.
I
was just a typical
graduate student try-
ing unsuccessfully to
get my own books
published when I struck
gold with an edited
anthology, American Dias-
pora: Poetry of Displace-
ment. It was my first book,
and its publication
through the University of
Iowa Press helped launch
my writing career.
Realistically, though, I
got lucky. I stumbled onto a good idea as well as a press that
liked poetry, anthologies, and issues of identity/ethnicity.
Fortunately, you dont need luck like mine to get your own
anthology under contract a terrific idea and some insider
knowledge is enough.
Lets be clear, however: publishers are flooded with ill-
considered ideas, such as 101 Poems from Left-handed Writ-
ers, Deli Belly: Stories Against Sandwiches, or Meta: Essays
on the Meta of Meta, etc. So its no surprise that a truly ter-
rific idea (such as Neil Astleys Staying Alive: Real Poems for
Unreal Times or Isaac Asimovs Microcosmic Tales: 100 Won-
drous Science Fiction Short-Short Stories) will stand out. But
even having a timely, cool, and/or compelling whiz-bang
idea isnt enough. Heres what else you need to know.
1 Propose first. Dont create the entire anthology manu-
script and then look to find a publisher for it. Thats like
a chef making an entire meal and then hoping to wander
across some eager diners who want exactly whats already
been made. Propose your meal your anthology and create
buy-in before doing any more of the work than you have to.
2 Make the idea razor-sharp. And unique. Dont
settle on your first idea, suggests UNLV professor Jarret
Keene, the co-editor of Dead Neon: Tales of Near-Future Las
Vegas. Keep in mind that a viable antho idea is very often
one element in terms of genre, plot, setting, universe,
character away from being attractive to a publisher. For
14 | The Writer November 2016
example: Most days youre hankering to put together a ste-
ampunk antho, but at other times you want to get your
Edgar Rice Burroughs on and convene an assortment of
jungle adventures or Martian battle yarns. Well, maybe you
should smash the two themes together! Make your idea
memorable, he urges.
Joel Allegretti, the editor of Rabbit Ears: TV Poems, says
that long before he put out his first call for submissions, he
did his research to make sure no one else had edited an
anthology of TV poetry. Why?
He explains, Keep in mind
you have to convince a pub-
lisher to invest time and
resources into your project.
For even a small print run and
a tiny advance to you, it can
still cost a New York publisher
$30,000. With that kind of
price tag, do you think pitch-
ing yet another anthology of
cat poems will promise them
any type of return on that
investment?
3 Bring in help. My first anthology was co-edited by
Virgil Surez, a very successful author and professor of
creative writing. Youd be surprised how many successful
authors are open to partnering if you bring them one of
those terrific ideas mentioned above and/or offer to do the
lions share of the work as a learning experience for you.
4 Sell, sell, sell. Create a clear and unique selling prop-
osition that tells potential publishers what they need to
know. Who is this book for? What will they get out of it?
How will this book deliver it? In short, why is this book ful-
filling the needs of a sizable group of potential book buyers
vs. just catering to your personal whims and interests?
To explain the selling proposition of Rabbit Ears, Alle-
gretti says, Its the first anthology of poetry about televi-
sion, a medium that has influenced our politics, opinions,
language, and lifestyles. TV is near and dear to peoples
hearts. We reminisce about the programs we grew up
watching and talk passionately about the shows were
hooked on now. No wonder that critically acclaimed book
has done so well.
5 Let dynamite samples wow editors. Its not
enough to pitch a terrific idea. Youre going to have to
show some of the goods 10 to 20 pages is often enough to
seal the deal if you choose first-rate samples. Keene warns
not to accept a weak piece by a famous author for the mar-
quee value alone. It might bite you in your proverbial rear
end in the form of a negative write-up in Publishers Weekly.
If youre having a hard time getting bigger-name folks to
submit, offer incentives beyond a contributor copy to
encourage talented writers to come on board. But please
dont secure permission to use more works than you need for
the sample especially if youre paying for it (see #1 above).
6 Plot actionable marketing plans. Well-written
books on cool topics dont always sell well at major
publishing houses. At a small, indie, or university press
(where many anthologies are published)? They have fewer
marketing dollars and a teensier PR staff than Random
House or St. Martins, so the task of selling falls even more
upon the author. So what can YOU promise and deliver
that will help sales?
Look anthologies are awesome. You get to write love
notes to writers whose work you admire and offer to bring
their work to new audiences. You get to finally have the
publishing juice to decide what gets into a published book
(and what doesnt). You get to create a book-length manu-
script without writing every single page of it yourself. You
can brag about the book when its published because hey,
its really just bragging about the writing of others versus
your own writing, which doesnt seem so self-serving.
Youre also networking the whole time famous writers
have communicated with you and might fondly recall your
name! W00t!
Beyond that, the best reason of all to edit an anthology is
this its good literary karma for everyone involved. And
thats something we all need a bit more of, no?
Ryan G. Van Cleave is the author of 20 books, and he runs the Ringling
College of Art + Design creative writing program.
writermag.com The Writer | 15
 Take a
BITE
out of
FOOD
WRITING
Food journalism has never been hotter.
How can new writers find a place at the table?
By Julia Rappaport

Teri Virbickis/Shutterstock; Oksana Tysovska/Shutterstock; vata/Shutterstock

 hen Devra First started out in journal-
ism, the coveted beat was rock n roll.
This was the 90s, after all, before
food blogs (or any blogs, really), Yelp, Instagram,
or Top Chef.
It was before chefs were the new rock stars.
Food journalism was barely even a thing
then, says First, food editor for the Boston
Globe, who started her career covering the arts.
But I always loved food, and at some point I
started wanting to write about food.
After joining the Globe on the arts beat, she
befriended the papers food editor and started
writing for her as much as she could. It really
was a write what you love thing, says First, who
grew up in what she describes as a food house.
Food was a big part of my life, and through
that, I saw that food could be a lens on many
facets of society on family. I started to want to
write more and more about eating and cooking
and restaurants.
First did what many successful writers do
and what she herself recommends that new
writers trying to break into media do: She
wrote about what she found interesting, and
she made herself indispensable to an editor,
pitching constantly and about whatever the edi-
tor wanted her to. First also got lucky: She
broke in on the ground floor of what today has
become a booming some may say saturated
market: food journalism.
It would be impossible to count the number
of food blogs, cookbooks, and food memoirs in
existence today, not to mention the magazines
devoted to the way we eat, newspaper sections
detailing the latest food trends, and websites
constantly covering the best breakfast sand-
wiches, five new takes on nachos, and what well
find in Tom Bradys fridge. Its pretty safe to say
that food has never been trendier.
Its a trend thats visible in print and online, in
restaurants and on Facebook feeds, even in the
classroom. Enrollment in our program grew
quickly starting around 2010 and has held steady
for a number of years now, Barbara Rotger, aca-
demic program manager at Boston Universitys
Gastronomy Program, wrote in an email. Started
by acclaimed chefs Jacques Pepin and Julia Child
in the 90s, it was one of the first food studies
programs in the country. Today the program
offers courses on food marketing, history, and
anthropology (Archeology of Food in Ancient
Times, anyone?), as well as a popular food writ-
ing course, which Rotger says always fills up.
And the program isnt the only kid on the block
anymore. The Association for the Study of Food
and Society counts 40 food studies programs
worldwide on its website.
But just because food journalism is having a
moment doesnt mean its impossible to do what
First did and break in.
Its a fertile time, the food editor says. The
market is saturated, but at the same time, theres
more demand for the content.
Courtney Hollands, editor at the bimonthly,
cheese-focused Culture magazine, agrees.
Today, if you have a special interest or a pas-
sion, theres a publication for that, Hollands
says. She can easily rattle off a lengthy list of
magazine and website titles similarly devoted to
niche food trends, from whiskey to beer, break-
fast to gluten-free diets. If you just read the
headlines, it can be daunting to get into the
field, she says. But I like to be positive. There
are so many different entry points now.
Her words of advice are to start with the fun-
damentals: You need a solid foundation in writ-
ing and journalism no matter what youre
covering, says Hollands, who began her own
career covering hard news for the Patriot Ledger
in Quincy, Massachusetts, and has done stints in
virtually every aspect of media (producing digi-
tal news, covering fashion, and working as an
editor at Boston magazine). She didnt land in
food journalism until her 30s, when she took the
job at Culture. In addition to getting a reporting/
writing foundation, Hollands also stresses the
importance of networking to anyone hoping to
get a foot into the food journalism (or any jour-
nalism) world. Talk to people who have differ-
ent jobs in the field. Get a sense of where you
might be a good fit, she says. If you have some-
one whose work you admire, call them and ask
to meet for lunch or coffee. Nine times out of 10,
theyll say yes.
It was thanks to networking that Keith Pan-
dolfi, former senior features editor at the mega-
popular website Serious Eats, found himself in
his 40s with an assignment for his first piece of
food writing. While an editor at This Old House
writermag.com The Writer | 17
 As long as you can put a
story together, know
about narrative structure,
you can be a food writer.
magazine, Pandolfi found himself chatting with
a guest at a cocktail party about the way his dad
had cooked adamantly alone, and with gusto
while Pandolfi was growing up. Write that for
me, the guest, an editor at Saveur, said. Two
years after the resulting essay came out, an edito-
rial position opened at the magazine and Pan-
dolfi made the switch.
I came to food writing very accidentally, but
what I realized through that is that you dont
have to be a food writer to write about food, he
says. Food writing is just storytelling. It doesnt
matter what your background is. As long as you
can put a story together, know about narrative
structure, you can be a food writer.
What does matter, according to the New York-
based Pandolfi, is the ability to pitch well. (See
Tips for pitching food stories.) Show me you
can write well in your pitch, he says, emphasiz-
ing that this is especially true for new writers
who may not have a body of published clips.
The worst thing is when I get a pitch that is just,
I want to write about xyz. I need an outline. I
want to know how the story will look and what I
will be able to take away from it.
After three years at Saveur, Pandolfi made
the switch to digital. And though he still loves
print, he is grateful for all of the opportunities
working on the web opened up both for him-
self and for those looking to break into the field.
Before, he says, referencing the days when
magazines like Gourmet (which shuttered
amidst much public dismay in 2009) still
existed, there were only a handful of magazines
to write for. Now, there are so many markets.
Thats one thing that digital did.
Take, for example, Cooks Science, the first
web-only magazine from Americas Test Kitchen
(known for its cookbooks, public television and
radio shows, and popular food magazines Cooks
Illustrated and Cooks Country). The site, which
launched in July and is accepting pitches, com-
bines narrative, scientific journalism with
18 | The Writer November 2016
recipes that are accessible to home cooks. And,
in a significant departure from other Americas
Test Kitchen publications, all of its articles, vid-
eos, and recipes are entirely free for readers.
When I started my career, the epitome of
food writing was print. In college, I plastered
the walls of my kitchen with pages ripped out of
Gourmet. I taped them to the wall, says the sites
executive editor, Molly Birnbaum, who has also
written books about the science of cooking for
Americas Test Kitchen and a food memoir
about her love of food and a car accident that
left her without a sense of smell. Over the past
10 years, things have gone increasingly digital.
At the same time, what falls under the umbrella
of food writing has expanded pretty signifi-
cantly. Its not just recipes and journalistic pieces
and essays any longer. There are interactive
multimedia pieces, pieces that capture experi-
ences with food, pieces about the world of celeb-
rity chefs. There is so much more content now,
and so many more ways to read and interact
with that content. And this, Birnbaum says, is
an opportunity for anyone interested in writing
about food.
There are just so many outlets to write for,
says Birnbaum, whose own memoir grew out of
a personal blog. You can always create an
opportunity to write about what you want to
write about.
And that is just what worked for Marian
Bull, a full-time, New York City-based free-
lancer whose writing has appeared in publica-
tions like Time Inc.s new breakfast-focused site
Extra Crispy, the David Chang-created quar-
terly Lucky Peach, and Cherry Bomb, a biannual
magazine that focuses on women and food. Bull
credits her entry into food journalism to a blog
she started while working as an IT consultant
in North Carolina after graduating college in
2010. It was just as unsexy as it sounds, she
says of the gig. Miserable at work, Bull spent
much of her time in the office secretly browsing

food blogs. An avid home cook, she decided to
start her own, though she figured her only
readers would be friends and family. Eventually
she quit her job and took seven months to
travel across India, southeast Asia, and western
Europe, blogging the whole way about what she
saw and ate. The trip opened Bulls eyes to her
love of writing and, after returning to the
States, she applied for an internship at Food52,
the website started by well-known former New
York Times food writers Amanda Hesser and
Merrill Stubbs. Without any traditional pub-
lished clips to her name, Bull used her blog
posts as writing samples and landed the intern-
ship, which then led to a full-time job at the
company. She later went to work on the digital
side at Saveur before leaving to go freelance in
order to focus more on her writing.
Bull says that for new writers, its helpful to
be able to pitch digital outlets. Its not as easy
to get print work, she admits. I started in the
digital world, like a lot of people my age. And
theres more space there. Though digital is
often where the work is, Bull still does love
placing her work on the actual page. With
print, it can feel like you have more time to pro-
duce what youre working on, and often there is
a more thorough editing process, she says.
Then again, there is something to the instant
gratification of writing a piece and seeing it live
a week later.
At the end of the day, no matter your interest
(cheese, science, food, or travel), there is likely a
publication somewhere looking for a good story
to run. Sometimes the best thing to do is just
start. Sure the market is saturated, says the
Globes First, but it doesnt matter. If writing is thats important.
something you really want to do, youll find a
way to do it.
Julia Rappaport is the managing editor of a Northeast
food and cooking magazine. You can follow her at
@Julia_Rappaport.
TIPS FOR PITCHING
FOOD STORIES
Think multiplatform: People who are pitching
should use every tool that is available to them,
First says. That means video, online, print,
graphs, sidebars, and photos. Think about the
various aspects that could be presented. Tell me
what medium you see your piece lending itself to
and why.
Take time to read: When I find myself lacking
inspiration, I will go back to a 1992 issue of Gour-
met and say, Thats a story that hasnt been told
for awhile! or Theres something that needs an
update, says Pandolfi, who keeps stacks of old
food magazines around his apartment for refer-
ence and for finding ideas to pitch.
Include an element of surprise: I want some-
thing that is concise, to the point, and has some-
thing about the story that surprises me,
Birnbaum says. What I really want is to be
intrigued and surprised by a pitch.
Make it topical: I want a story that stands out,
and I want great writing, First says. I want the
quirky and the offbeat. I want really great stories
that happen to be about food. If its topical, if it
dovetails with a national conversation were
having now, all the better. Give me a story of
what its like being transgender and working in a
restaurant kitchen.
Get your name out there: If someone sends me
a pitch and they have no published clips, I proba-
bly wont accept it, Hollands says. And if you
dont have clips, start a blog, or find a blog to
contribute to, and publish a few times a week. As
an editor, Im always looking for new ideas and
new voices, so if you can post three times a
week on a blog, and continue to push out new
ideas and interesting content, even if its short,
Dont let the nos get you down: The biggest
piece of advice I have is not to give up after
rejection. Just keep on pitching, Birnbaum says.
Dont give up if things are slow to start.
 The
writing that
eats away
at you
Everyone told Elissa Altman no one would
read long-form food narratives online.
Two memoirs and a James Beard Award
later, Altman can finally say:
Everyone was wrong.
BY MEGAN KAPLON
 E
lissa Altman began her wordsmith career as an
editor of cookbooks, but today Altman is better
known as the proprietor of the blog Poor Mans
Feast and the author of two memoirs, Poor Mans Feast: A
Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cook-
ing and Treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw, which
was released in September.
Poor Mans Feast began as a food blog, but Altmans
thoughtful and often lengthy posts helped the site grow
into something else entirely. Food is about so much more
than just the table and eating and assembling ones plate,
Altman says.
We spoke with the James Beard Award winner about the
evolution of her writing, what its like to open up online,
and writing about food without always posting a recipe.

Your blog is generally designated a
food blog but its about so much more
than food the topics you writeon
seem to have evolved over the years.
Were you worried about losing readers
when you started exploring other top-
ics? How did that evolution happen?
When I started to write Poor Mans
Feast [the blog] back in 2007 or so, I
launched it for two reasons: first, I
had been and still am, from time to
time an editor focusing primarily on
food, but also on narrative. Until
2012, I was editor-at-large at Rodale
Books and previously had been at
HarperCollins for almost a decade. I
had been following narrative blogs for
a while when I began to wonder if
there was any room online for long-
form narrative food blogging. Would
people read it? Would they spend the
time? Would they engage? Who,
exactly, would come to it and who
adehoidar/Shutterstock
directly rather than anecdotally.
Everyone at meetings like IACP
[International Association of Culinary
Professionals] and elsewhere said Oh
NO. NO ONE will read long-form.
Who do you think you are? I had a
hunch that they werent right that
there was room if the writing hit a
nerve. There will always be room if
the writing hits a nerve. And I was
(mostly) right.
The second reason: I was in a stop-
gap-measure, non-traditional editorial
job at a now-defunct company. It was
so mind-bogglingly hideous like the
beginning scenes in Joe Versus the Vol-
cano, right down to the buzzing over-
head fluorescent lights that I found I
could do a solid weeks worth of work
in two days, which meant that I had a
lot of extra creative time on my hands.
So I closed my door and wrote. It was
like being shot out of a cannon, cre-
something these were the early days
of 101 Cookbooks and Leites Culi-
naria and Orangette; all of them were
very well-written, beautiful, and well-
produced, and all of them offered
trustworthy and engaging food con-
tent and so I endeavored to (almost)
always give readers an inexpensive,
easy-to-prepare recipe at the end of a
post. I thought it was a requirement.
Sometimes the recipe was my own;
sometimes it was attributed else-
where. I made no bones about the
fact that I was not (and am not) a
food photographer: I leave that to the
experts. Sometimes I posted a nice
food image, and sometimes if what
I was writing about was more arcane
and difficult to capture I included
an image from an excellent stock
house (and said so, upfront). I was
inadvertently building a brand. I
didnt set out to build a brand, per se;

would stay?
I launched Poor Mans Feast early
on as an experiment; I wanted to
know the answers to these questions
atively. I was writing constantly liter-
ally, all the time.
All of this said, I also knew that
Poor Mans Feast had to provide
I set out to create a landing place for
long-form narrative, and so I knew
that I would run the risk of alienating
some of my readers as the blog
writermag.com The Writer | 21
changed narratively. Most of them
came along with me, I am happy to
say. A few left, but thats understand-
able. Some people dont like change.
Im comfortable with that.
Eventually, though, all of this
evolved. I began to get a little bit
bored doing the same thing all the
time, and I found myself wanting to
experiment with other kinds of con-
tent, in different narrative forms. I
was reading fewer and fewer cook-
books, and more and more memoir
and other kinds of creative nonfiction
(and fiction and a lot of poetry), and I
realized that food is simply a neces-
sary sliver of life, like air and water.
We live in a world that is carnal of
the body. Not always sexual but that
too, and very much of the mind and
memory, as well as the table. Ours is a
constantly changing, often violent and
divisive place where art and history
and time impact every one of us
whether we choose to recognize it or
not. The creative impulse the pro-
found need for people to write, to pro-
duce, to paint, to compose in order
to capture the world around us (at the
table but also very far beyond), to tell
its story and keep it alive, comes from
this place, I think. Paula Wolfert wrote
about Egypt; so did Elizabeth David
and [Constantine] Cavafy and
Michael Ondaatje and E.M. Forster
and Lawrence Durrell. Look at Syria.
The written memories of Aleppo the
food, the culture, the art, the literature
are all we have left. The creative
impulse, however it manifests itself,
keeps the world living and breathing;
it keeps memory alive. Food is simply
a fragment of that world.
What makes blogging different from all
the various types ofwritingand editing
youve done?
22 | The Writer November 2016
This is the editor in me speaking: the
most jarring, immediate difference
between blogging and writing books
or essays or newspaper columns is
that one is unedited, unless one goes
out and hires an editor. This is a very
serious thing. Bloggers can press the
PUBLISH button without ever hav-
ing run their content through the
editorial process. A lot of people say
to me, Oh, but youre also an editor:
you probably dont need one.
WRONG. We all need an editor, and
the better and stron-
ger the editor is, the
better off the writer
and reader are. Im
not sure who in the
blogosphere first
began dropping the
preposition of (as in
I ate a couple apples
as opposed to I ate a
couple of apples),
but it makes me want
to tear my face off
both as editor and
reader. I see it every-
where and it tortures
me. Its careless. Its also not collo-
quial, as some people argue. Its not
cute. Its just wrong.
Substantively (and personally)
speaking, blogging can be as experi-
mental or not as I want it to be. I
tend to write in a far more brazen
manner on Poor Mans Feast, both
food-related and not. I can be more
opinionated, or not.
But the primary difference is prac-
tical: mistakes can be changed. Posts
can be pulled. Comments can be
opened or closed. On the upside, you
get to hear from your readers imme-
diately, which is (usually) a good
thing. You can begin an exchange
with them mere moments
post-publication. Not so with books,
or other kinds of publications.
Did your approach to blogging change at
all after going through the process
ofwritingyour memoir?
Without question, and its been unset-
tling for some. We live in a narrative
culture where weve been trained to
expect all the ends of a story to be
tied up in a neat little package: . . . and
they all lived happily every after. But
what I learned as I wrote Poor Mans
Feast the memoir (and
even more so in my
new book, Treyf,
which is a memoir
about the forbidden) is
that life is not really
this way: we dont all
live happily ever after.
Thats fantasy; thats
fairy tale. Reality is
steeped in the
unknown, the discom-
fiting, the ambiguous.
And heres a shock: its
OK to say that, to
imply it, to leave the
reader hanging a little bit, because
this is life. I learned that in my writ-
ing blog, essay, book, short fiction,
whatever its not only OK to leave
threads a little untied; its utterly
human. Try as we might to shoehorn
it into some sort of tidiness, life at
the table, away from the table, every-
where in between is ambiguous.
And my blogging started to reflect
that realization after the first book
came out. Some folks write to me and
say, Hey, but you didnt finish your
story. Ah, but I did.
How have you found the confidence
towriteabout your personal life on
the internet for all to read? Is there
anything you dont feel comfort-
ablewritingabout? Where do you
draw the line?
Early on, I knew in my heart that Id
be writing a lot of memoir both
online (in the blog) and off. But how
does anyone have the confidence to
write about their personal life in such
a public sphere? Like most memoir
writers, I have a compulsion to tell
my story if for no one else than
myself to try to understand my life
better. Elie Wiesel said, I write to
understand as much as to be under-
stood. I think thats true for all of us.
When I write about my personal life,
I do so because I want to understand
what motivates me, but also the peo-
ple around me the ones I love and
the ones I dont. I want to understand
the people who have meant the most
to me (my parents, my family, my
friends) through the prism of time,
distance, and experience. Its a two-
edged sword, for sure: When my first
book came out, I related a story that
was deeply personal. It was about
something that happened to my
father when he was a child; he fed
that story to me like pabulum, and it
impacted me throughout my life at
the most visceral level. But what I
didnt know was that some of my
cousins didnt even know about it
until the book came out, because my
aunt, unlike my father, had chosen to
hide it from them. I have lost many
of those people, even though the
incident was almost a century old. So
if you must write about something
that eats away at you, thats part of
who you are like the color of your
eyes, do so. But be aware that there
are often consequences.
Are there limits? Absolutely. I try,
very hard, to never write in an
unkind or cruel way. Cruelty is a
cheap shot, steeped in envy and
shame. Writing about people cruelly
is wholly unacceptable.
Many food bloggers feel the need to
ALWAYS post a recipe. Why dont you
feel this pressure, or if you do, how do
you resist it?
Because food is about so much more
than just the table, and eating, and
I learned that in
my writing blog,
essay, book, short
fiction, whatever its
not only OK to leave
threads a little untied;
its utterly human.
assembling ones plate. Its about culture
and history and time. I think of it as
essence rather than fuel. Moreover,
when I do write about process the
actual process of cooking I usually do
it in a narrative manner, and I embed
that process narrative within the body
of the text. There are some truly won-
derful places to go for traditional reci-
pes: Food52, Serious Eats, Epicurious,
Orangette, 101 Cookbooks. Some
marry story to recipe, and theyre ter-
rific: I have tremendous respect for
these people. But were about as differ-
ent from each other as night and day,
and thats fine.
How did your life change after winning
the James Beard Award for your blog?
Certainly, it was an acknowledgement
of time, effort, and narrative quality,
and I was and remain deeply honored
to have received it. Oddly enough, my
readership didnt change that much. I
also knew that the blog, even at the
time I won the award, was already
morphing, and that that would be a
challenge. There were a lot of folks
who tried to keep me within the
parameters of what they deemed [a]
proper food writer and were some-
times disappointed to find me writing
about other things that involved the
table, but not specifically. With every
passing year, the Beard nominees
become more and more diverse and
far-reaching in their style and scope,
and I, for one, applaud that fact loudly.
I also applaud the James Beard folks
for allowing that to happen and recog-
nizing that we live in a world where
nothing stays the same.
How do you avoid sounding preachy
whenwritingabout issues about which
you have very strong opinions?
My goal isnt to change readers minds,
or to browbeat them into believing or
thinking a certain way; I try, when Im
attempting to get a point across, to do
it within the strata of narrative and sto-
rytelling. My readers can make up
their own minds; their opinions are
their own, as are mine. Just the fact
that they are willing to read my work
means to me that theres room for dis-
cussion. And thats invaluable.
Megan Kaplon is a frequent contributor to
The Writer.
writermag.com The Writer | 23
 Ctrl + alt + del
Dont lose your novel to a
computer crash. Heres a plan
for a technical emergency.
BY TRIONA GUIDRY
to continue _
Press any key
ALL WRITERS KNOW THAT SINKING FEELING when
our computers display error messages or,
worse, blank screens. But with a few tricks
up your sleeve, you can restore both your
computer and your writing in a crisis.
Backing up your files
There are two kinds of backups: file backups and system
backups. For files, you may choose between copying to a
physical device, such as a flash or hard drive, or backing up
to the cloud (e.g. internet).
Your computer should have an internal file backup soft-
ware already installed. A Mac computer will have Time
24 | The Writer November 2016
Machine, while Windows users have either Backup and
Restore or File History. These programs are a good choice
for up-to-the-minute backups, but bear in mind that they
back up your files, not your entire system.
Many people prefer the convenience of cloud backups,
which are great for accessing files quickly. Unfortunately,
however, the cloud isnt a replacement for traditional backups.
Your cloud provider could fail, go out of business, or be com-
promised by hackers. And if your internet connection goes
blackstroke/Shutterstock
down, you cant back up or restore your work. Cloud backups
should always be supplemented by a physical backup method.
Its also crucial to test your backups. I cant tell you the
number of times Ive been called out to fix a computer,
only to find the backups blank or
unreadable. To test them, try restor-
ing a few files using your backup solu-
tions recovery feature, but be careful
not to overwrite your original files.
Most backup programs allow you to
redirect to another location, such as
an empty folder.
Backing up your system
But what if your computer wont start?
Your file backups can restore your data,
but not your system. Therefore, its also
essential to know how to recover your
computer in an emergency.
When you first buy your computer,
youll receive recovery disks in physical
form or as a recovery partition on your
hard drive. If you dont have the physi-
cal disks, you should make them with
your computers recovery utility. You
may need them down the road if you
have to reinstall because of a computer
crash or virus infection.
But a faster way to recover your sys-
tem is to use a drive imaging program,
or disk cloner. Disk cloners make
snapshots of your entire computer. You
can even restore a cloned image to
another computer.
Windows 10 allows you to make
drive images, as does Mac via Disk
Utility. Some third-party cloners
include Acronis True Image for Win-
dows and Mac, and Carbon Copy
Cloner or SuperDuper for Mac. These
utilities function at the system level, so
you should back up your data by other
means before using them.
Because it takes a long time to clone
a disk, you can make periodic disk
images for system recovery purposes
and then perform regular file backups
by another (faster) method.
Preventing data loss
For maximum protection perhaps
for that novel manuscript youve been
slaving over for three years use mul-
tiple backup solutions. Always keep
extras in secure offsite locations in
case of fire, flood, or other disasters.
For long-term storage, CDs and DVDs
are considered more resilient than
flash or hard drives, as they are less
susceptible to differences in tempera-
ture and humidity.
Ransomware is another reason you
should have a clean backup. Ransom-
ware is a nasty form of computer virus
that encrypts your data, holding it
hostage unless you pay a ransom for
the encryption key. If you are infected,
your limited options include paying
the ransom or reinstalling from unin-
fected backups. Ransomware can
infect both Windows and Mac com-
puters, and it spreads across networks
like wildfire. It can even take out net-
work-based backups, which is why an
offline backup, like a disconnected
hard drive, is vital.
Accessing your files in a
crisis
What if time is a factor and you need
to access your files now? One method
is to restore your files to another com-
puter. If you have an older computer,
reconfigure it as an emergency work-
station. It should contain the software
you need with access to any file back-
ups you have. While it might not be
speedy, itll keep you going in a
crunch. Dont forget to update its soft-
ware regularly so its ready to go when
you need it.
You can also keep copies of your
files online, making them accessible
from any computer, tablet, or phone.
Try internet-based services like iCloud,
Microsoft OneDrive, DropBox, or
Google Docs. But remember that any-
thing you put online has the potential
to be revealed, whether through a
hackers breach or an accidentally mis-
configured server.
Safeguarding your computer
Maintenance tools can save you time
and frustration. Rigorous antivirus utili-
ties like Malwarebytes for Windows and
Sophos Antivirus for Mac are a must.
Free versions are available for you to try
before committing. Some computer
manufacturers also offer hardware diag-
nostic programs; check the support site
for your specific computer.
RESOURCES FOR
COMPUTER EMERGENCIES
Drive imagers/disk cloners
Acronis True Image for Windows
and Mac
acronis.com/en-us/personal
Carbon Copy Cloner for Mac
bombich.com
SuperDuper! for Mac
shirt-pocket.com/superduper
Recovery and maintenance utilities
Malwarebytes for Windows
malwarebytes.com
Sophos Antivirus for Mac
secure2.sophos.com/en-us/
products/free-tools
CCleaner for Windows
piriform.com/ccleaner
El Capitan Cache Cleaner for Mac
northernsoftworks.com
Install updates for your system and
applications on a regular basis, and
scan for viruses using a reputable anti-
virus program. If your computer seems
slow, try a cleaner like CCleaner for
Windows or El Capitan Cache Cleaner
for Mac (which also works with other
versions). But beware of viruses mas-
querading as cleaning programs or
antivirus apps.
Dont forget printer maintenance as
well. Most printers have a cleaning
option you can access from the control
panel or through the printers software
utility. A spritz or two with a can of
compressed air is all you need to clean
out dust and debris.
Youve worked too hard on your
manuscripts to watch them vanish in a
computer crash. Take the precaution to
secure your files today or risk losing
them tomorrow.
Triona Guidry is a freelance writer and com-
puter specialist based in Chicago.
writermag.com The Writer | 25
 Kate Bolick challenges the spinster
stereotype as well as the boundaries of
first-person narratives.

By Sue Hertz

he assignment from The Atlantic was vague:

what do mens worsening economic prospects
mean for the future of dating, family, and mar-
riage? The editor encouraged the writer, Kate
Bolick, to draw on her personal observations and relation-
ships to supplement the research, which struck Bolick as a
grand idea. For years, shed used her own experiences to
explore larger issues, such as what it means to be an aunt
and the impact of Facebook voyeurism. But this was much
bigger, and the more she researched, the more she reflected,
and the more complex the story became. In her late 30s,
shed had more boyfriends than she could count, and no
burning desire to marry. But why? She talked to sociolo-
gists and psychologists and anthropologists. She flew to
Amsterdam to an all-woman collective. She drove to Bos-
ton to talk to college-aged women about romance and com-
mitment. All the Single Ladies, her resulting 13,000-word
essay, dominated the November 2011 issue, which featured
Bolick on the cover, arms crossed, eyes outlined in thick
black liner, staring defiantly at the camera. What, Me

writermag.com The Writer | 27

Marry? it said. Inside, she was fea-
tured again, this time in profile, ele-
gantly coiffed and bejeweled, a
champagne glass in her hand and a
bridal bouquet flying over her head.
Her expression is thoughtful.
The text, too, was ruminative rather
than rebellious, a thoroughly reported
exploration of why more women are
choosing to stay single, using her own
experiences to form the narratives
framework. Immediately, the media
was calling, and Bolick was featured on
morning talk shows, in panel discus-
sions, on multiple NPR interviews.
Everyone, it seemed, wanted to know
more about her conclusions that
women no longer needed a man to feel
complete, that they could work, own
homes, bear children, form partner-
ships all without a marriage license.
They wanted her thoughts on the
hook-up culture, about successful
men and women avoiding commit-
ment, and the contrasting trajectories
of earning power: How is that as
women ascend to more lucrative and
responsible roles in the workforce,
employment prospects, educational
attainment, and income for many men
are on the decline? Is it possible to
have autonomy and intimacy?
New York publishers called. How
about a book? But Bolick wasnt inter-
ested in stretching out the magazine
piece for 250 pages. Instead, she used
her overnight celebrity to propose a
project she had mulled for eons.
Rather than rehash why contemporary
women opt to live solo, she would ana-
lyze the unconventional choices of five
women, long dead, who in no small
way served as Bolicks lifestyle models.
Bolick had discovered columnist Neith
Boyce, essayist Maeve Brennan, poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay, novelist Edith
Wharton, and social visionary Char-
lotte Perkins Gilman in the rocky years
after her mother died of breast cancer,
when she sought the guidance about
men and career that she no longer
received from her mom.
Spinster: Making a Life of Ones
Ownwas a smash. Living up to
28 | The Writer November 2016
theGoodreads prediction that it would
inspire fanatical devotion and ignite
debate, Spinsterhas been called bold,
moving, and, by Kirkus, a sexy, elo-
quent, well-written and researched
study/memoir. It was one of Publishers
Weeklys Top Ten Social Science Titles
of 2015, one of Newsdays 10 Books
Not to Miss, and one of Flavorwires 10
Books That WillDefine the Conversa-
tion in 2015. Recently published in
paperback, Spinster is making its sec-
ond round on the U.S. book tour cir-
cuit as well as abroad. An
off-Broadway play of the same name
has been based on the book.
Bolick had done more than craft a
memoir about how her choices led her
to living single in her 40s. Shed done
more than analyze a culture that coined
the term spinster for unmarried
women. And shed done more than
write a love letter to her literary men-
tors. The resulting combination was a
new hybrid: part memoir, part cultural
criticism, part literary valentine.
Blending the personal with the
global is Bolicks signature style. You
will find it in her New York Times book
reviews and in her essays in Slate,
Vogue, Elle, and The New Yorker. At
New York University, she teaches a
graduate course on merging memoir
and social issues. In a rambling con-
versation over salad and seltzer, Bolick
talked about the challenges and
rewards of balancing theeye of
research with theI of personal narra-
tive, of finding a fresh approach to
writing about an age-old topic, and
how to reconcile conflicting reviews.
Lets start by talking about how you
arrived at the idea behind Spinster.
All the Single Ladies had come out
and gone viral. Theres so much interest
in this new demographic of unmarried
women. Publishers wanted me to
change that article into a book. But I
didnt want to do that. It felt boring and
redundant. Id approached it in a spe-
cific way for the purpose of the article
and didnt want to continue that for two
years. If Im going to do a book, I want
to do something literary and historical,
something that challenges me in a new
way. I pitched a book proposal that said,
Here are these women I have talked to
in my head for 10 to 15 years. I want to
tell their stories. I will be their linking
glue. They form a random group of
women, and the only thing they have in
common is that I became interested in
them. I thought that this would be an
unusual way to approach this conversa-
tion of singlehood and marriage. I
thought it would be more personal for
readers. I thought if Im telling stories
and going into the historical context of
these questions, and put my own expe-
rience into the story, the reader will
engage with the material in the book,
not unlike the way I engaged with the
women while I was reading and writing
about them. That process, I thought,
would create alchemy inside the reader
that would recreate on the page the
internal conversation that Id carried on
with these dead women for many years.
The reader would engage with you and
not the characters?
The reader would engage with all of us.
I put myself on the page to compare
and contrast with the lives of these
women to show how things have and
havent changed. By making myself
present in the narrative, I would be giv-
I carry around stories
in my head, but I dont
know the larger theme
for a while. Then it
will click, and Ill see
what it is and how it
will develop.
ing more for the reader to hold on to. I
didnt want the women to be mistaken
for heroines. I used the Edith Wharton
term awakeners because I wanted to
make a distinction. These are not hero-
ines. They are not my favorite writers.
These are women whose lives capti-
vated me, their work captivated me,
and through this, my engagement with
them, they influenced how I thought of
this specific question of should I get
married or not.
Aside from Edith Wharton and Edna St.
Vincent Millay, the women are not well
known.
That was strategic. I didnt want it to
make it all obscure women or all
famous women. Readers are more
inclined to read about someone they
know but I also wanted to introduce
them to women they may not know.
How did you know when to stop
researching these women and the his-
tory of women in America, both subjects
that could go to the moon and back?
Its a matter of time and space. It could
have gone on forever. I stopped when I
had enough to tell each womans story.
I had Neith Boyce speaking to the
question of work in womens lives.
Edna St. Vincent Millay spoke about
sex and romance. Maeve Brennan was
a little more vague but she represented
autonomy. The 1950s were the worst to
be a single woman. Edith Wharton was
about living alone to do it well you
have to do it with intention. Charlotte
Perkins Gilman drew all of those
themes together.
How much research ended up on the
cutting room floor?
Tons and tons. I was also keeping up
with contemporary conversation about
marriage, but I didnt put any of that
on the page. Most of the research is on
the floor.
How did you arrive at the books struc-
ture that wove together the multiple
threads of you, your mother, these five
women, and feminist history?
I always knew that the structure would
be chronological. I thought it would be
a book about my 30s. I spent the first
nine months researching and reread-
ing. When I started writing I realized
that if I was going to write about my
adult life I had to start with my moms
death because that is when I think of
my adult life beginning. I had not
intended for her to be part of the book.
I was a little annoyed. Move on
already, Kate, I told myself. Stop
making everything about your mom.
But it was.
I decided to place the five womens
stories in the order in which I found
them and not their chronological birth
order. I knew that might make it con-
fusing, but the only way to make their
narratives hang together as a book was
to show why I was drawn to them.
I made a big chart on an adhesive
chalkboard with the womens names
on left. On top were their biographical
moments on which I would focus. And
then I plotted what part of my life
intersected, what themes they
addressed, what historical moment
they spoke to.
Many writers and readers would
argue that personal essays are just that:
personal, dependent on the writers
experience and reflections. But you
break that mold by inserting context into
the most intimate of your ruminations.
What would you say is the role of
research in personal narrative?
I dont have the desire to write a
straight-up personal story. It doesnt
interest me. I was working at the Atlan-
tic, first as a personal assistant and
then as an editor, during the height of
the memoir boom. All these memoirs
were coming into the office all the
time. I didnt like them. They were too
self-involved. I didnt feel that I was
learning anything. I wanted to write
out about my own experiences, but
didnt like the way contemporary peo-
ple were doing it. Instead, writers at
mid-century, such as Maeve Brennan
and M.F.K. Fisher, were my guiding
lights. They wrote about themselves at
the intersection of something else.
M.F.K. Fisher was doing herself and
food, and Maeve Brennan was doing
herself as a woman in New York City. I
was drawn to the history. The best per-
sonal writing [occurs] when you have
your eye on the larger story and find-
ing the intersections, and doing the
research to find them. The research
always enriches the narrative.
I carry around stories in my head,
but I dont know the larger theme for a
while. Then it will click, and Ill see
what it is and how it will develop.
writermag.com The Writer | 29
If it happens to an individual it happens
to others?
Totally. I always think of myself as a
stand-in for other people. You can call
it solipsistic but Id rather not. Im very
aware of my subjective experience, and
so I trust it. Writers are like everyone
else; they are just better at articulating
the things that happen to everybody. If
I write a story that is highly subjective
but Im getting the details down and
linking to something larger, then Im
delivering a larger story.
In the authors note you say, In writing
about my life and the lives of others, I
sought to be personal without being
confessional. Where is the line
between personal and engaging, and
confessional and self-absorbed?
Every story about myself I put into that
book was there because I thought it
would illustrate a larger point. It was
clear to me that I could write a confes-
sional memoir, but I had no interest in
doing that. A) I didnt feel like it. B)
The world didnt need another confes-
sional memoir about being a single
woman. I set myself a challenge of a
different way of having this conversa-
tion that put it in a context that
showed womens long history. Im the
messenger, a foil in a way for these
women Im writing about. I revealed
what I felt comfortable revealing.
If I were writing a confessional
memoir, I would be airing other peo-
ples laundry, telling stories. I didnt
want to do that. Once I finished the
manuscript, I contacted everyone who
appeared in it in a significant degree
and asked if they wanted to read their
part. I didnt want to drag people into
the story if they didnt want to be in it.
Your essays and book are filled with
background and numbers. Do you have
any tricks to share about how to weave
stats and facts into a narrative so that
the reader doesnt choke on them?
I tell my students to live with informa-
tion long enough to incorporate those
stats and facts with authority and orig-
inality, and to do it as conversationally
as possible. Dont let statistics stand for
only themselves. Every number, every
anecdote, every piece of history should
relate to something else.
Throughout the book you offer insights
into not only your experiences, the
experiences of the five women, but also
feminist history. How did you arrive at
some of your conclusions?
Ive been teaching, at New York Uni-
versity, a graduate class on how to
write like this. The students write one
5,000-word essay in first person about
an issue they are invested in using con-
temporary reporting and historical
research. The first half of the semester,
they develop the idea, research, and
write a research memo. The second
half, they write a series of three drafts.
One of the things I tell them is that
they should take notes while reading
and researching. What do they think
and how they feel? It is these offhand
thoughts, what you write in the mar-
gins, where ideas become insights.
Many of your reviews were mixed. Some
said they loved the memoir but not the
feminist history while others said they
wanted more feminist theory and history
and less personal anecdote. How does a
writer balance conflicting reactions?
I was trying to create a new book about
a popular conversation. I didnt want it
to be a book of feminist theory that
only feminists would read. I didnt want
it to be a book of memoir; there are
way too many memoirs on this topic.
As a writer I was doing what I wanted
to do and what the subject needed to
bring it to life, even if it meant that
some readers would be annoyed. They
could skim the parts they didnt like. I
had a bunch of friends read it before it
came out. I paid special attention to my
sister-in-law, who is not a writer but a
voracious reader. She preferred the
memoir parts, which, she said, pulled
her through the history, the parts she
wouldnt necessarily read.
You have said that you had a hard time
with the end. Could you please explain
how you arrived at the conclusion that
spinster is a frame of mind, that a
woman can live independently in a mar-
riage as well as solo?
All five awakeners were married at
some point in their lives. I structured
the book so that Im intersecting with
each of them when they are single. I
look like Im contradicting myself by
being pure to the idea of singleness.
But saying Im single and I want to
be single forever is just as boring as
saying I must find a husband. These
are just claims and wishes we make
for ourselves, but we dont know how
well change. We turn the corner and
fall in love. We turn the corner and
fall out of love.
I didnt know how it would end. I got
the book deal when I was single and not
dating anyone. While working on the
book, I met Seth. I wondered: If he
sticks around, how would I deal with it
in this book? If I were going to be pure
about presenting a single womans nar-
rative, I wouldnt mention him. But I
then realized he doesnt contradict what
Im saying. Im not saying that I will
never marry. Hes a person in my life,
and he deserves to be mentioned and
the reader needs to know that Im in
love again. But the romance and white
wedding is not the books end. Instead, I
end with an imaginary trip scene in
which Seth and a friend and I go to
Edna St. Vincent Millays Maine island.
I wanted to end on the social, that in
this day and age it is about the constel-
lation of people in our lives.
Sue Hertz, an associate professor of nonfic-
tion writing at the University of New Hamp-
shire, is the author of Write Choices: Elements
of Nonfiction Storytelling and Caught in the
Crossfire: A Year on Abortions Front Line.Her
essays and stories have appeared in numerous
national and regional publications, including
Redbook, House Beautiful, Walking, New Eng-
land Monthly Magazine, Boston Magazine, the
Boston Globe Magazine, and Parenting. Before
she began the double life of teacher-writer, she
was a feature writer for the Hartford Courant,
the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the Herald in
Everett, Washington.
writermag.com The Writer | 31
 MENU

A WEBSITE OF
ONES OWN
In a world of social media and digital platform,
do you still need an authors website?
Absolutely.

BY DONNA TALARICO

Bloomicon/Shutterstock

32 | The Writer November 2016

T
odays writers are expected to
be both entrepreneurs and
marketers, yet many academic
programs, writing workshops, and
craft books only scrape the surface of
this complex world. How, then, does a
professional writer learn the skills
beyond craft that are necessary to
thrive in the current literary land-
scape? Usually, we learn by observing,
by doing, by reading. By trial and
error. The author website is one of
those areas in which many of us could
use some TLC.
I straddle two worlds: Im a writer
and literary magazine publisher with a
background in ecommerce and con-
tent marketing. Its perhaps because of
this perspective Ive discovered the
dire need for many writers to pay
more attention to their web presence.
Over the past few years, as social plat-
forms exploded in popularity, Ive
overheard and read online conversa-
tions in which people say authors no
longer need websites. I argue, strongly,
that is not the case. Authors who
choose not to create an online space
they can completely control are miss-
ing an ideal opportunity to promote
themselves and connect with their
audience. Authors who have created a
website but havent touched it in years
also are hurting their brand because a
website cant merely exist in cyber-
space it needs to be current in infor-
mation and best practices.
Why an author website matters
Whether youre applying for a job,
pitching a freelance article, or query-
ing an agent, the person on the receiv-
ing end of your information will likely
look you up online. Or perhaps some-
one read one of your articles, essays, or
books or heard you speak at a con-
ference or read a media interview in
which you were featured and then
wanted to learn more about you and
your work. One of the most effective
ways to improve your chances of
showing up on the top position, or at
least somewhere on first page of the
search results when someone searches
for your name, is to have a website.
Sabrina Clark, director of market-
ing at Brand Yourself, a company that
offers tools for online branding and
monitoring, agrees.
When people want to find infor-
mation about a prominent figure, such
as an author, they are going to look for
[that persons] website, she says.
Eric Smith, an agent with P.S. Lit-
erary, explains that buy-in is the
most important reason to have an
author website, and that starts with
being found.
A potential reader can Google you,
find your site, and learn about you, the
author. Your current book. Your previ-
ous book. Your short stories and
essays. Theyll check out those other
works. Theyll follow you on social
media, he says. All kinds of fun stuff
can happen, and thats delightful.
Search engine algorithms are
complex and ever-changing, so no
one can ever be guaranteed a top
position, but there are certainly ele-
ments of your website that will help
improve your search ranking, such as
quality of on-page content, fre-
quency of updates (blog posts, for
example), website structure/coding,
load time, and proper metadata.
Clark suggests writing your bio in
the third person. This indicates to
Google that the website is about
you, she says, adding that a custom
domain not a free one, such as
YourName.BlogSpot.com or Your-
Name.Wordpress.org is important
for recognition and ranking.
Bottom line: When you own your
search results, you own your brand.
A hub of activity
A website should serve as the founda-
tion for your brand. Clark says that an
author website can serve as the author-
itative link to all other web-based
properties about you, and you can also
use social media to send people to
your website for more information
they work hand-in-hand. In fact, being
active on other platforms helps
increase your search engine ranking
and overall visibility online, but a web-
site is one of the only properties we
can fully control.
I once heard at a web conference
that we rent social media, but we
own our permanent web presence.
Theres no personal visual branding
opportunities on social media, save for
a custom profile or header image. On a
personal website, however, you control
the look and feel. Your personality can
shine through with the color palette,
layout and vibe and that helps the
notion of buy-in Smith mentioned.
The buy-in happens with the
media. With librarians. With booksell-
ers. They look you up. They see what
kind of author you are. Maybe you blog.
Maybe you come off as a delightful per-
son they want to have in their story or
library, or interview for their website,
magazine, he says. [A] publisher is
likely mostly concerned with selling
your book. You should be concerned
with selling yourself as an author. A
website helps with that in a big way.
Content matters
The key to keeping your online home
up to date with minimal effort is to
understand how different content
types can work together.
Evergreen content static pages:
Evergreen content includes static
pages, such as About, Bio, Contact,
Awards, etc. Youll no doubt have
writermag.com The Writer | 33
updates to your bio or your list of pub-
lished works, but the pages themselves
do not change. Another way to look at
evergreen content is how you write it:
A dated blog post is expected to be
timely, but a static page should have
timeless information. An example:
Dated content: Last year, Margaret
Petty won the All-Star Writer
Award, and shes looking forward
to teaching at several writing con-
ferences this summer.
Evergreen content (better): Marga-
ret Petty won the 2015 All-Star
Writer Award, and in the summer
of 2016, she taught at various writ-
ing conferences.
Do you see how the latter example
would be relevant whether I visit the
page today or six years from now?
Dont let static content get stale.
Timely content communicating
new information:
Search engines reward websites that
are updated frequently, so a blog ele-
ment to your website is important.
Blogging once a week or so not only
encourages you to keep writing new
things, but it also improves your abil-
ity to be found online. When your
site goes stagnant, your rankings
could drop.
Smith agrees wholeheartedly that
blogging should be part of content
strategy.
[Updating regularly] shows that
you are active and busy. If youre one of
those writers who make the excuse,
Oh, that takes away from my writing,
then Ive got nothing left to say to you.
Sorry! he says, adding that a bio, book
details, social links, and event listings
are also must-haves.
Dynamic elements:
You can update your website without
even logging into your content man-
agement system. Link your Twitter or
Instagram feed to your homepage, add
a Flickr album to your footer, embed
your YouTube playlist the ideas are
only as endless as the social platforms
on which youre active. When you
34 | The Writer November 2016
Blogging once a week or
so not only encourages
you to keep writing new
things, but it also
improves your ability to
be found online.
update these outlets, your website will
update, too with the right plug-ins
and set-up, of course. These feeds add
some visuals and movement to your
website while providing valuable infor-
mation about what youre up to.
Conversational and contact elements:
You want people to be able to reach you.
Provide contact information or create a
simple contact form (limit fields to
name, email address, and comment);
this is especially helpful if youre using
the website to find work. Also, activate
comments on your blog so that you can
engage with your readers. The key here
is to monitor for new activity; its useless
to allow people to comment if youre
not going to respond, even if its a sim-
ple Thanks for reading! post. Finally,
if youre linking off to your social media
accounts, make sure youre active there
too: No one wants to be sent to a Twit-
ter account you havent used in two
years. Smith, who is also an author, uses
his website (and social media accounts)
as a literary citizenship platform as
often as he can. No one wants to hang
out with the person who only talks
about themselves. Dish often, talk about
other people, he says. Youll have more
friends and followers that way.
Remember: You will have new and
repeat visitors. Make sure youre con-
sidering both with quality evergreen
content with information about you as
well as fresh updates to keep loyal fans
coming back.
Design matters, too
Some might say that an unattractive
book cover can still be fantastically
written (if only youd just read it!), but
many others wont give it a chance if
theyre turned away by the design. The
same can be said about websites. You
might have great content, but you only
have seconds to capture someones
attention before they click away. If its
too busy, too drab, too hard to read,
too whatever-your-web-pet-peeve-is,
theyre gone.
Ive seen many online versions of lit-
erary magazines with websites designed
to mimic print. When I worked in
higher education, I witnessed many
academics slapping up a PDF online
instead of creating actual on-page con-
tent. Neither of these is a best practice.
People read differently on the screen.
Joel G. Goodman, principal of Bravery
Media, an Austin-based design and web
strategy agency, agrees.
Folks who are used to thinking
print-first a lot of times end up with
tiny type on their websites. I see this
with print designers moving to digital
all the time. Larger font sizes are a lot
easier to read on a screen than small
ones, and since screens are a bit
harsher on the eyes in general, its help-
ful to your readers if you think about
their comfort, he says.
Typography is an important element
consider a larger font, with more
leading (the space between lines).
White space is always good. And a
visual hierarchy is also helpful to move
the reader through a web page head-
lines, sub headlines, body content and
pull quotes (or other text features)
help, and they should be consistent
throughout the website. Many design
websites suggest that sans serif fonts
(the ones without the little feet) are
best for headlines and are easier to
read online.
Colors and other visual elements are
important to consider, too. Its easier
than ever for people with little to no
design or programming skills to build a
website and make graphics, thanks to
free or low-cost tools. But Goodman
warns that with so many options avail-
able, it can be easy to go overboard on
colors, fonts, and imagery.
This is where print and digital
design best practices overlap: your
website is going to look better if you
keep it simple, he explains. There are
some old standard rules you can apply
here pretty easily, like making sure
your type color is readable against
your background color, not using
more than two different fonts, and
making sure your colors dont clash.
Its important to remember accessi-
bility, too. Remember that people
with vision impairments or limited
mobility are part of your audience.
For example, not everyone uses a
mouse, and many people use screen
readers. Your site should conform to
W3C standards in how a website
looks and functions.
Think across devices
Just as your readers interact with your
work in different ways a printed
magazine or newspaper, a paper book,
an e-reader, or through an app peo-
ple visit your site on different devices:
desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones.
A lot has changed in the ways peo-
ple use the web, explains Goodman,
adding that its important to meet the
audience where they are, which is
often on a small screen. If your web-
site isnt mobile-friendly . . . youre put-
ting a giant barrier to enjoyment in
front of your audience, not to mention
telling the search engines you just
dont care about your visitors. AUTHOR WEBSITE
Goodmans last point, with which CHECKLIST
Clark agrees, is in reference to search
engines favoring sites that are designed Own your URL and hosting
for mobile. (In fact, if someone is (vs. a free, third-party host)
Googling from a smartphone, the Invest in a customizable
search results might likely contain only template (or hire a designer)
mobile-friendly sites.)
Mix evergreen and timely
content (pages AND blog
Mind your metrics
posts)
Install Google Analytics (its free).
Its important to understand how Implement dynamic ele-
your website performs and how users ments to keep content fresh
are interacting with it in order to Find compelling imagery to
either keep up the good work or to complement your words
make improvements as you go. Also,
Include contact information
learning how people find your web-
(or method of contact, such
site will help you determine if paid
as a simple form)
or organic marketing and promotion
efforts are effective. Consider accessibility and
search engine optimization
Thanks to todays tools and technol- Remember the medium:
ogy, most everyone is able to create write for the web, not for
and maintain their own websites the printed page
and, if not, there are plenty of design-
Use analytics tools to mea-
ers within your budget range, many
sure your success or find
with experience in the publishing
ways to improve
industry, who can help. No matter who
makes them, though, we must think of
websites as the cost-effective and valu-
able marketing tools that they are and
treat them with as much care and
respect as the work we produce. Per-
haps Goodman says it best:
The bottom line is to think about
your readers. Theyre the ones sup-
porting you and your writing. If you
make them feel cared for on your web-
site, theyll continue to support you, Full name
he says. Make your words easy for
them to read and your website lovely
Email
enough for them to want to share it
with their friends.
Donna Talarico is a writer, speaker, and con-
tent and branding consultant, and the founder/
publisher of Hippocampus Magazine. Shes had Comment(s)
careers in marketing, communications, and edi-
torial capacities in higher education, ecom-
merce, and radio. Talarico earned an MFA in
creative writing from Wilkes University and an
MBA from Elizabethtown College. She lives in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
writermag.com The Writer | 35
CLASS ACTION
BY JEFF TAMARKIN
The tangled web
Writing for blogs and social media is a whole different animal than print.
Heres what you need to know.
F
or many users of social media, the usual rules of
writing are suspended. A tweet caps out at 140
characters, not exactly allowing for much nuance
or depth, and a Facebook conversation might be
reduced to a sentence or two, accompanied by a link to a
YouTube video of cats playing the piano. But to the profes-
sional, for whom social media and blogging can be power-
ful communication and promotional tools, Good writing
still counts, says Mo Krochmal, who teaches the craft of
writing for the web.
Writing is much more informal in the digital world, but
its still important: storytelling, being grammatically correct.
Your headlines have to be enticing. But you have to be more
concise and get to the point because youre competing for
peoples attention. Fifteen seconds is basically what you
have; people will go to something else, says Krochmal,
executive editor and founder of the consultancy/strategy
firm Social Media News NY and an instructor at Gotham
Writers Workshop.
Krochmal himself came out of old-school journalism,
starting as a sportswriter for small newspapers in North
Carolina. He attended the Graduate School of Journalism
at Columbia University and, in the early 90s, became
36 | The Writer November 2016
interested in computers and digital photography. He even-
tually found himself working as a technology journalist. I
decided thats where my future lay, he says. When social
media began to take off following the turn of the century,
Krochmal stayed on top of developments and decided to
teach other writers how to utilize these new digital tools to
their advantage.
Its a marriage of text and media, he says about creating
content for todays electronic devices.
Its that latter part the technology, especially the
how-tos of incorporating multimedia (graphics, photos,
videos, etc.) that might scare off writers who just want
to write or who may be technophobes. Its important,
Krochmal says, for the writer to understand what differ-
entiates an online post from a book or magazine article,
but also he tells his students not to sweat that aspect too
much. Yes, he says, you must have multimedia, he says.
When you include multimedia in your post or your
social, it has a better chance of being read. I call them
Magnia/Shutterstock
thumbstoppers. Most of the traffic now is going mobile;
people are looking at your content on their phones. You
want to keep them from swiping to the next thing. Multi-
media does that.
 But, he adds, That doesnt mean
that text is dead. Text is very much
alive. When I teach my blogging class, I
tell them its not a technical class. Its
really about craft and understanding.
And the most important thing is to
understand the audience. In fact, I
make students do a persona; they have
to tell me a little story of who their ideal
audience is and write to that audience.
Knowing ones audience should be
the determining factor in how to focus
ones writing for the internet, Kroch-
mal adds. In a world where there are
currently millions of new blog posts
every day, where more than a billion
people use Facebook alone, the only
way to get noticed is to niche down,
which he describes as fine-tuning ones
subject matter as narrowly as possible.
In other words, dont create a blog
about the entirety of classical music;
instead, write about the Romantic
period or the use of one instrument in
the classical orchestra. Most blogs
have an audience of one, he says,
bluntly. Its hard to get found. If you
can get 1,000 real fans, there may be a
business there. When you write a blog,
youre really creating a conversation. It
doesnt do any good to yell nobody
cares. If you can create a conversation,
your chances fare much higher.
One other important piece of advice
Krochmal shares with his students
In a world where there are currently
millions of new blog posts every day,
the only way to get noticed is to niche
down, or fine-tune ones subject matter
as narrowly as possible.
might seem obvious but isnt always: What are they using? How do they get
Dont try to seek out a hole in the blog- their news and information? You defi-
ging or social media world and fill it if nitely need Facebook a page, not
its something you dont know or care your profile. I dont advise people to
about. Passion is really important, and post like mad on Twitter but its a
that will be clear to your readers, he great platform. If youre talking to
says. You should pick something millennials, Snapchat is one of the
youre passionate about. You want to places to be seen.
be comfortable in social media; des- Dynamic change is a hallmark of
peration is not very attractive. the digital media world, and Krochmal
As far as deciding which social says its wise to keep up, but a writer
media platforms a writer should use, doesnt need to become an expert on
Krochmal lays out the basics in a one- digital developments. My job is to
day intensive on social media. We go keep up on it, but that doesnt mean
through seven platforms in six hours, everybody has to do that, he says.
teaching people how to present them- You dont have to be on the front end
selves on social, how to understand of the curve but you dont want to be
search engines and social media, on the back end either, going, Hey,
sharing and how to pick a platform, maybe I should be on MySpace!
and how to put their best foot for-
ward. Again, he says, the most Jeff Tarmarkin is a freelance writer/editor. He
important factor in determining how lives in Hoboken, NJ, with his wife, novelist
to proceed is to know your audience. Caroline Leavitt.
writermag.com The Writer | 37
CONFERENCE INSIDER
BY MELISSA HART

San Fran-tastic
Meet agents, talk shop, and do real work
at the San Francisco Writers Conference.

S
an Francisco is the best place
in the world to be a writer,
says Michael Larsen, co-
director of the San Francisco
Writers Conference, held each Presi-
dents Day weekend on Nob Hill. Its
gorgeous, the weathers good, and
were the No. 2 publishing center in
the country. Technologys the air we
registration fee includes a gala welcome
party, breakfast and keynote luncheons,
hosted open mics, and pitch contests.
Theres an organized host-free dinner at
a different local restaurant every night,
so that attendees can continue net-
working with one another. We dont
want writers sitting in their room,
ordering room service, not knowing
opportunities that exist for writers.
Over the next three days, presenter
sessions cover all genres, from poetry to
literary fiction, thrillers to graphic nov-
els. Participants can also learn how to do
a successful author reading, how to cre-
ate a compelling blog, how to promote
oneself online, and how to produce and
distribute self-published books. The Ask
Rostislav Glinsky/Shutterstock; Ivan Marc/Shutterstock

breathe here on the bay, he adds,
noting that its crucial for a writer
traditionally or independently pub-
lished to learn how to market
content online via social media.
Now in its 13th year, the conference
takes place over four days at the his-
toric Mark Hopkins Hotel, within
walking distance of Union Square, Chi-
natown, and the Financial District. The
38 | The Writer November 2016
what else do to, says Larsen. We want
to create community.
What youll learn
The conference begins on Thursday
with Larsens pre-conference session.
Working from the 10 commandments
hes developed over the years as an
author and literary coach, he delivers a
comic overview of the challenges and
a Pro session allows attendees to talk
one-on-one with editors, agents, and
publishers. You can ask questions or
pitch a book or talk with self-published
authors, Larsen says.
Author and journalist Sarah How-
ery Hart drives up from Southern Cali-
fornia almost annually for the
conference. Theres something for
every level of writer beginner,
intermediate, and advanced, she says.
They give you the opportunity to do
some real work. Such real work
includes the manuscript she revised
with the help of agent Donald Maass
during a four-hour post-conference
workshop based on his best-selling
Writing the Breakout Novel. I got some
of the best advice Ive ever been given
during his session, she says, about
how to create the unexpected in a
dynamic work of fiction.
Featured presenters
Keynote speakers at the 2017 confer-
ence include bestselling authors Heather
Graham, William Bernhardt, and John
Perkins. A roster of more than 100 pre-
senters includes experts on platform
building, social media, self-publishing,
and book promotion, as well as authors,
editors, publishers, and literary agents
from New York, Los Angeles, and the
Bay area. Rusty Shelton, co-author of
Mastering the New Media Landscape,
will talk about book promotion, and
Carla King will give a presentation
based on her book, Self-Publishing Boot
Camp Guide for Authors.
Attendees can meet and interview
dozens of literary agents face-to-face
during Speed Dating for Agents, which
allows them to pitch their book individu-
ally to more than 20 agents. Its a micro-
cosm of the literary world, says Howery
Hart. You get to meet with New York
agents from huge literary firms, agents
from two-person firms in California, and
everything in between. Each agent brings
something to the table that you need to
know as a well-rounded writer.
Advice for first-timers
Larsen encourages attendees to
approach editors, publishers, and agents
whenever they see them at the confer-
ence. Agents attend the SFWC to meet
clients, he notes. You dont have to
wait until Speed Dating to talk to him
or her at lunch or in the hallway.
He emphasizes the importance of
researching the speakers and the week-
ends schedule, posted and updated
regularly on the conference website,
Conference:
SAN FRANCISCO
WRITERS CONFERENCE
Dates:
Feb. 1619
Cost:
$650850
Location:
San Francisco, California
Contact:
Conference co-directors Michael
Larsen and Barbara Santos,
Sfwriterscon@aol.com
well ahead of time. If there are only
two things you want to attend every
hour, he quips, Ive failed.
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the
author of the middle-grade novel Avenging the
Owl and the memoirs Wild Within and Gringa: A
Contradictory Girlhood. Web: melissahart.com.
writermag.com The Writer | 39
LITERARY SPOTLIGHT INSIDE LITERARY MAGAZINES
BY MELISSA HART

Mother of invention
Motherwell explores the modern perils and joys of parenting.

S
ometimes its Painful to be a Gay Parent in Public.
What We Tell our Daughters About Body Hair.
Parenting in the Shadow of PTSD.
These are just a few of the article titles from
Motherwell, a new online magazine founded and edited by
Lauren Apfel and Randi Olin. While Olin lives in Connecti-
cut and Apfel resides in Scotland, theyre united by their
desire to provide a literary forum for mothers and fathers
interested in more than just planning the perfect birthday
party for a third-grader.
Were aiming to help parents navigate the complexities
of modern parenting by publishing pieces on the most rele-
vant issues, they note. We want to acknowledge the valid-
ity of different perspectives and that theres no single right
answer to the many questions parents face.

Tone, editorial content

Motherwell is comprised of four departments. The Essays
department includes first-person narratives that offer
unique insight into any topic related to parenting. Send your
topical, issue-driven pieces to the Opinions department.
The Dialogues department runs work that represents vari-
ous perspectives on an open-ended question; it can look like
an article with two or morecontrasting opinions, a back-
and-forth discussion, or a Q&A. Finally, the Dilemmas
department asks writers to present a parenting predicament We feature pieces on Motherwell
and invite reader feedback.
We feature pieces on Motherwell that take a provocative that take a provocative stance on,
stance on, or offer an evocative slice of, the parenting expe- or offer an evocative slice of, the
rience, the editors explain.
Nina Badzins Dilemmas piece, Call Me Mrs. Badzin, parenting experience.
examines the authors decision to ask her childrens
friends to stop referring to her by first name. Call me they like to publish. Ann writes about a couples household
Nina was on the tip of my tongue, but I realized that this division of labor and weaves anecdote with analysis to set
little boy calling me Mrs. Badzin was not about me, she forth her well-argued point of view, they note of the essay,
writes. It was about his parents wish for their child to which explores the authors current role as a stay-at-home
demonstrate respect, and there was no question those mother and her husbands position as breadwinner.
parents had succeeded. For now, Cinzar writes, what I hope my kids see is
that family life is a team effort. We may run different plays
Contributors than other families, but were only interested in the home
Apfel and Olin point to Ann Cinzars opinion piece Call field win.
our division of labor old-fashioned, I call it practical (July Amy Kleins lyrical essay Mom after miscarriage (July 12,
5, 2016) as an example of the type of candid, lively work 2016) caught the editors eyes because of her unique, evocative
40 | The Writer November 2016
voice. I swam through all my miscar-
riages, Klein writes, hoping the waters
silence would drown out the horror of
the bruising shots and endless tests and
screaming hormonal vicissitudes.
Its a beautiful and poignant first-
person narrative on infertility and par-
enthood after multiple miscarriages,
Motherwells editors explain.
Advice for potential contributors
Apfel and Olin look for a strong voice
and tight construction when evaluat-
ing submissions for Motherwell.
Theyre open to lyrical and humorous
pieces, as well as topical writing on a
current social and/or political issue.
Most parenting topics have been
written about ad nauseam, they note.
And while its difficult to find a truly
novel topic these days, what we are
fiction nonfiction poetry reviews opinions art
A literary magazine written by teens
Subscribe at TeenInk.com or call 800-363-1986
interested in is an original take or
unique perspective on an issue or ques- Showcasing a full spectrum
tion that speaks deeply to a particular of parenting experiences.
writer. In that sense, the writers voice
ONLINE.
matters as much as the topic itself.
Genres: Essays, commentary, Q&A.
The editors involve themselves in
every stage of the publishing process, Reading period: Year-round.
from submission to publication. We Length: Up to 1,200 words.
want our writers to have a wholly Submission format: Online through
positive experience publishing on website.
Motherwell and to be proud of the
Payment: Varies
finished product, they explain. Its a
collaborative effort, not just between Contact: Lauren Apfel and Randi Olin,
us as editors but also with our writers. editors, motherwellmag@gmail.com.
We give each essay our utmost atten- www.motherwellmag.com.
tion and TLC.
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the
author of Avenging the Owl and Wild Within:
How Rescuing Owls Inspired a Family. Web:
melissahart.com.
Our
The New Yorker for teens th
Year
For just $ 5 a year,
receive the most exciting
magazine written entirely
by teens for teens
writermag.com The Writer | 41
 MARKETS
COMPILED BY NICKI PORTER
WriterMag.com
Subscribers to The Writer have online
access to information on publishers, publi-
cations, conferences, contests and agents.
Go to WriterMag.com and click on Writing
Resources.
Information in this section is provided to
The Writer by the individual markets and
events; for more information, contact those
entities directly.
F = Fiction N = Nonfiction P = Poetry
C = Childrens Y = Young adult O = Other
$ = Offers payment
CONTESTS
F The Big Moose Prize Submit unpublished
novel through online submission manager only.
Manuscripts should be 90-1,000 pages in length.
Open to new, emerging and established writers.
Deadline: Jan. 31. Entry fee: $25. Prizes: $1,000
and publication. Contact: Black Lawrence Press.
editors@blacklawrencepress.com
blacklawrence.com
F N P The Briar Cliff Review Annual
Contest Submit one short story or creative non-
fiction piece, max 5,000 words, or up to three
poems. All entrants receive a copy of the 2017
edition of The Briar Cliff Review. Deadline: Nov.
1. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: $1,000 in each of the
three categories and publication in the 2017 issue
of The Briar Cliff Review. Contact: The Briar Cliff
Review, 3303 Rebecca St., Sioux City, IA 51104.
712-279-1651. Email from website. bcreview.org
F Bristol Short Story Prize International
short story competition for publication in an
annual anthology. Open to all writers over the age
of 16. Maximum 4,000 words. Stories can be on
any theme, subject or style including graphic,
verse or genre-based (crime, science fiction, fan-
tasy, historical, romance, childrens, etc.) Enter via
online form or regular mail. Deadline: See web-
site. Entry fee: 8 per story. Prizes: See website.
Contact: Bristol Short Story Prize, Unit 5.16,
Paintworks, Bath Road, Bristol BS4 3EH, UK.
enquiries@bristolprize.co.uk bristolprize.co.uk
F Cabell First Novelist Award Recognizes
a rising talent who has published a first novel in
2016 in the U.S. Self-published novels and books
available in e-formats only are not eligible. Sub-
mit three copies by regular mail only. Deadline:
Books published July through December 2016:
Jan. 14, 2017. Prizes: $5,000 and travel to Virginia
Commonwealth University for a reading and
reception. Contact: VCU Cabell First Novelist
42 | The Writer November 2016
Take a chance
Writing contests keep your mind fresh, your writing skills sharp and
your creativity pumping. And winning could score you new readers,
notoriety and even some extra cash. The biggest thing to keep in mind
before submitting your work to a contest is following the rules. Here
are some deal breakers to keep an eye out for:
1. Deadline. Research when the submission period both opens and
closes and send your work within those dates.
2. Word count. If a word limit is set, follow it. Even one or two words
over could mean automatic elimination.
3. Theme. Be sure that your submission meets the requested
subject matter. If you have any doubts, the submission readers
may as well.
4. Identification. Many contests work on blind submissions, so if you
are asked not to put your name and other identifying information
on your actual submission dont.
The following contests are a small sampling of what the industry has
to offer. Find more listings at writermag.com.
Award, Department of English,900 Park Ave., Books, Unit #6, 477 Martin St., Penticton, BC
Hibbs Hall, Room 306, P.O. Box 842005, Rich- V2A 5L2. 778-476-5750. redtuquebooks.ca
mond, VA 23284. 804-828-0593. F Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fic-
firstnovelist@gmail.com firstnovelist.vcu.edu tion Prize Open to any U.S. writer in English
F The Caledonia Novel Award Interna- with at least three books of fiction published who
tional competition for unpublished and self-pub- has not published with Fiction Collective Two.
lished debut novels. Submit the first 20 pages of a Seeks fiction considered by Americas largest
novel (at least 50,000 words) with a 200-word publishers too challenging, innovative or hetero-
synopsis. Shortlist judge is Richard Pike, literary dox for the commercial milieu. Submissions may
agent at Curtis Brown. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry include a collection of short stories, one or more
fee: 20. Prizes: 1,000 and trophy. Contact: The novellas or a novel of any length. Works that have
Caledonia Novel Award, 22 Hillpark Grove, previously appeared in magazines or in antholo-
Edinburgh, EH4 7AP, Scotland. gies may be included. Translations and previously
caledoniaaward@gmail.com published or self-published novels and collections
caledonianovelaward.com are ineligible. Electronic submissions only. Dead-
line: Nov. 1. Entry fee: $25. Prizes: $15,000 and
F Canadian Tales of the Fantastic Short
publication by FC2. Contact: University of Ala-
Story Competition Submit original, unpub-
bama Press, P.O. Box 870380, Tuscaloosa, AL
lished fiction, 1,500-5,000 words. Story must con-
35487. 773-702-7000. fc2.org
tain an element of the fantastic and must be
written by a Canadian or about Canadians or F Chris OMalley Prize in Fiction Submit
take place in Canada. Submit by postal mail only. one short story, max 30 pages, through online
Deadline: Dec. 31. Entry fee: $15 for one manu- submission manager. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry
script; $25 for two; $30 for three. Prizes: fee: $2. Prizes: $1,000 and publication in The
$500/$150/$100, plus 10 honorable mentions of Madison Review. Contact: The Madison Review.
$25. All winners will be published in anthology. Email from website.
Contact: Short Story Competition, Red Tuque english.wisc.edu/madisonreview

F The Clarion Short Story Prize Submit
unpublished works of fiction no longer than
2,400 words. Writers should be under the age of
30 or enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate
program; or have completed such a program
within the last two years. Submit through online
submission manager or regular mail. Deadline:
Dec. 31. Entry fee: $15. Prizes: At least $150 and
publishing consultation. Contact: Clarion, c/o
Pen & Anvil Press, P.O. Box 15274, Boston, MA
02215. bu.edu/clarion
P Coal Hill Review Annual Poetry
Chapbook Contest Submit 12-20 pages of
poetry by email or regular mail. Final judge of the
competition is Michael Simms, founder and edi-
tor-in-chief of Autumn House Press. Deadline:
Nov. 1. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: Publication and
$1,000. Contact: Autumn House Press, Coal Hill
Review Chapbook Contest, P.O. Box 60100, Pitts-
burgh, PA 15211. cstroud@autumnhouse.org
coalhillreview.com
F N P Crazyhorse Literary Prizes Submit
up to three poems or a short story or essay (maxi-
mum 25 pages) during the month of January.
Submit through online submission manager.
Deadline: Jan. 31. Entry fee: $20 (includes sub-
scription to Crazyhorse). Prizes: Publication and
$2,000 awarded in each genre. Contact: Crazy-
horse, Department of English, College of
Charleston, 66 George St., Charleston, SC 29424.
843-953-4470. crazyhorse@cofc.edu
crazyhorse.cofc.edu
F P Dana Awards Literary Competition
Awards prizes in the categories of novel, short fic-
tion and poetry. Submit unpublished work by
postal mail. Submit only the first 40 pages of a
novel, one short story (max 10,000 words) or five
poems. Deadline: Oct. 31. Entry fee: $15 per five
poems; $15 per short story; $30 per novel. Prizes:
Publication and $2,000 for the novel award,
$1000 for short fiction, $1000 for poetry.
Contact: Mary Elizabeth Parker, Chair, Dana
Awards, 200 Fosseway Drive, Greensboro, NC
27455. danaawards@gmail.com danaawards.com
F The Danahy Fiction Prize Prefers manu-
scripts between 500 and 5,000 words, but stories
falling slightly outside this range will also be con-
sidered. Submit by online submissions manager
or regular mail. Deadline: Dec. 31. Entry fee:
$20. Prizes: $1,000 and publication in Tampa
Review. Contact: Tampa Review, Danahy Fiction
Prize, The University of Tampa, 401 W. Kennedy
Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606. 813-253-6266.
utpress@ut.edu ut.edu/tampareview
F N P december Awards Submit one short
story or essay, maximum 8,000 words, or up to
three poems. Send through online submission
manager or regular mail. Prizes: $1,500 first
place and $500 honorable mention in each cate-
gory. Winners will also receive publication.
Deadline: See website. Entry fee: $20.
Contact: Gianna Jacobson, Editor. december,
P.O. Box 16130, St. Louis, MO 63105. Email from
website. decembermag.org/december-awards
F Doris Betts Fiction Prize Submit unpub-
lished story up to 6,000 words via online submis-
sion manager or regular mail. Open to legal
residents of North Carolina or members of the
North Carolina Writers Network and North Car-
olina Literary Review subscribers with North
Carolina connections. Deadline: Feb. 15. Entry
fee: $20; $10 for subscribers or members of the
North Carolina Writers Network. Prizes: $250
and publication in North Carolina Literary
Review. Contact: Ed Southern, P.O. Box 21591,
Winston-Salem, NC 27120. Margaret Bauer, edi-
tor. bauerm@ecu.edu ncwriters.org
P Dorset Prize Submit a previously unpub-
lished, full-length poetry manuscript. No manda-
tory page count. 48 to 88 pages suggested. Submit
by online submission manager or regular mail.
Deadline: Dec. 31. Entry fee: $28 per submis-
sion. Prizes: $3,000 plus publication by Tupelo
Press, 20 copies of the winning title, a week-long
residency at MASS MoCA, a book launch, and
national distribution. Contact: Tupelo Press Dor-
set Prize, P.O. Box 1767, North Adams, MA
01247. 413-664-9611. Email from website.
tupelopress.org/dorset.php
P Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry
Prize for Poets of Color Awarded to poets
of color who have not previously published a
book-length volume of poetry. Submit 25-35
page manuscript through regular mail. Deadline:
Dec. 31. Entry fee: $15. Prizes: $350, publication
by Northwestern University Press, 15 copies of
the book and a featured reading.
Contact: Northwestern University Poetry and
Poetics Colloquium and Workshop, Drinking
Gourd Prize Chapbook Series, University Hall,
Room 215, 1897 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL
60208. Attn: Susannah Young-ah Gottlieb.
poetry.northwestern.edu/drinking-gourd-chap-
book-contest
P The Edna Meudt Memorial Award
and Florence Kahn Memorial Award
Open to college undergraduates only. Submit
manuscript of 10 original, unpublished poems.
Each poem must be no more than 80 lines. Sub-
mit via online submission portal; special requests
for alternative submission methods will be deter-
mined on a case-by-case basis. Deadline: Jan. 31.
Entry fee: None. Prizes: Both winners will
receive $300 travel stipend for convention, chap-
Get up-to-date information on
markets at writermag.com
book publication and 75 copies of chapbook.
Contact: Shirley Blackwell, CUP Chair, P.O. Box
1352, Los Lunas, NM 87031.
sonneteer@earthlink.net nfsps.com/CUP.htm
N The Edna Staebler Personal Essay
Contest Open to Canadians or current Cana-
dian residents only. Seeks essays of any length or
topic in which the writers personal engagement
with the topic provides the frame or through-
line. Submit through online submission man-
ager. Deadline: March 28. Entry fee: $40.
Includes a one-year subscription to The New
Quarterly. Prizes: $1,000. All submissions con-
sidered for paid publication ($250) in magazine.
Contact: The New Quarterly, c/o St. Jeromes,
290 Westmount Road N., Waterloo, ON N2L
3G3. info@tnq.ca tnq.ca
F Emerging Tribal Writer Award Honors
tribal writers in the early phases of their writing
lives. Open to tribally-enrolled writers from the
Dakotas, Nebraska and Minnesota who have not
yet published a book of creative writing. Submit
by regular mail or email. Deadline: Check web-
site. Entry fee: None. Prizes: $500 and invitation
to read at the Great Plains Writers Conference.
Contact: Emerging Tribal Writers Award, Eng-
lish Department, South Dakota State University,
Pugsley Center 301/Campus Box 2218, Brook-
ings, SD 57007. april.myrick@sdstate.edu
greatplainswritersconference.com
F Eric Hoffer Book Award Offers one grand
prize for general excellence in addition to awards
for thought-provoking books and debut authors.
Books must be from an academic, small, or
micro press or self-published. Nominate by mail
only. Deadline: Jan. 21. Entry fee: $55. Prizes:
$2000 grand prize. Contact: Hopewell Publica-
tions, P.O. Box 11, Titusville, NJ 08560.
info@hofferaward.com hofferaward.com
F The FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative
Fiction Contest Seeks fiction considered by
Americas largest publishers too challenging,
innovative or heterodox for the commercial
milieu. Submit a collection of short stories, one
or more novellas or a novel of any length. Works
that have previously appeared in magazines or in
anthologies may be included. Translations and
previously published or self-published novels and
collections are not eligible. Electronic submis-
sions only. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry fee: $25.
Prizes: $1,500 and publication by FC2.
Contact: University of Alabama Press, P.O. Box
870380, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. 773-702-7000.
fc2.org
C First Edition Childrens Book Writing
Contest Seeking submissions of childrens book
manuscripts in the First Edition Childrens Book
writermag.com The Writer | 43
 MARKETS
Contest. Original, unpublished manuscripts
appropriate for infants through five-year-olds will
be considered. Works must be 600 words or less.
Deadline: Sept. 30. Entry fee: $50 before Aug. 31.
$75 from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15. $100 after
Sept. 15. Prizes: The author of the winning man-
uscript will have his or her book professionally
illustrated, published and promoted by Southwest
Human Development. $1,000 advance and 8%
royalties on book sales. Contact: Leslie Croy.
602-633-8376. lcroy@swhd.org
firsteditionproject.com
N Fourth Genre Steinberg Essay Prize
Seeks the best creative nonfiction essay for annual
prize. Max 6,000 words. Submit by online sub-
mission portal. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee:
$22. Prizes: $1,000 and publication in Fourth
Genre. Contact: Fourth Genre Steinberg Essay
Prize, 434 Farm Lane, Room 235, Dept. of Writ-
ing, Rhetoric & American Cultures, Michigan
State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. 517-
355-9543. msupress.org/journals/fg
F P Freefall Annual Prose & Poetry
Contest Submit maximum 3,000 words of
prose or five poems per entry. Guest judge Susan
Musgrave. Electronic and mailed entries
accepted. Deadline: Dec. 31. Entry fee: $25
(includes one year subscription). Prizes: Publica-
tion in Freefall and $500/$250/$75/$25 in both
poetry and fiction categories. Contact: FreeFall
Contest 922 9 Ave. SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0S4,
Canada. editors@freefallmagazine.ca
freefallmagazine.ca
F N Geist Literal Literary Postcard
Story Contest Submit a postcard with an
original story up to 500 words that relates to the
image. Fiction or nonfiction accepted. Submit by
mail or online submission manager. Deadline:
See website. Entry fee: $20 for first entry; $5 each
additional entry. Includes 1-year subscription to
Geist. Prizes: $500/$250/$150 and publication in
Geist and online. Contact: Geist Literal Literary
Postcard Story Contest, #210- 111 W. Hastings
St., Vancouver, BC V6B 1H4, Canada. 604-681-
9161. geist@geist.com
geist.com/contests/postcard-contest
F Glimmer Train Contests Fiction contests
held all year round with various themes. Word
counts 1,500-20,000 and categories include fam-
ily matters, open fiction and short story award for
new writers. Deadline: Varies. Entry fee: Up to
$20. Prizes: Range from $700 to $3000. Contact:
Glimmer Train Press, 4763 SW Maplewood, P.O.
Box 80430, Portland, OR 97280. 503-221-0836.
editors@glimmertrain.org glimmertrain.com
F N P Iowa Review Awards Submit up to
25 pages of prose or 10 pages of poetry. All man-
44 | The Writer November 2016
uscripts are considered for publication. Submit 7051 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028.
through online submission manager only during Joni Labaqui, contest director. 323-466-3310 ext
the month of January. Deadline: Jan. 31. Entry 1200. Email via website. writersofthefuture.com
fee: $20. Prizes: Winners receive $1,500. First
F N The Lamar York Prizes for Fiction
runners-up receive $750. Also includes publica-
and Nonfiction Submit stories or essays of up
tion. Contact: The Iowa Review, 308 EPB, Uni-
to 5,000 words via online submission manager.
versity of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.
Deadline: Jan. 31. Entry fee: $15 (includes one-
319-335-0462. iowa-review@uiowa.edu
year subscription). Prizes: $1,000 in each cate-
iowareview.org
gory and publication in The Chattahoochee
F James Jones First Novel Fellowship Review. Contact: The Chattahoochee Review.
Awarded annually to an American author of a gpccr@gpc.edu thechattahoocheereview.gpc.edu
first novel-in-progress. Submit via regular mail or
P Literal Latt Food Verse Contest Sub-
online submission form. Submit a two-page
mit 1-10 unpublished poems up to 2,000 words
(maximum) outline of the entire novel and the
total, with food as an ingredient. All styles wel-
first 50 pages. Deadline: See website. Entry fee:
come. Submit via regular mail or online submis-
$30 check or money order, payable to Wilkes
sion manager. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee:
University. Add $3 processing fee for online sub-
$10 for 1-6 poems; $15 for 10 poems. Prizes:
missions. Prizes: $10,000 first place, $1,000 for
$500. All entries considered for publication. Con-
second place, one honorable mention. Contact:
tact: Literal Latt Food Verse Contest, 200 E. 10th
James Jones First Novel Fellowship, c/o MA/MFA
St., Ste. 240, New York, NY 10003. 212-260-5532.
in Creative Writing, Wilkes University, 84 W.
Email from website. literal-latte.com
South Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766.
jamesjonesfirstnovel@wilkes.edu wilkes.edu P Long Poem Prize Submit a single poem or
cycle of poems, 10-20 pages. A page is up to 36
F The James Wright Poetry Prize Submit
lines (or fewer), including breaks between stan-
up to three unpublished poems online or by reg-
zas. Submit by email or regular mail. Deadline:
ular mail. Deadline: Check website. Entry fee:
Feb. 1. Entry fee: $35 CAD for Canadian entries,
$10. All entrants receive a copy of Mid-American
$40 U.S. for American entries. Includes one-year
Review. Prizes: $1,000 and publication in Mid-
subscription to The Malahat Review. Prizes: Two
American Review. Contact: Mid-American
awards of $1,000 CAD and publication. Contact:
Review, Department of English, Bowling Green
The Malahat Review, University of Victoria, P.O.
State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403.
Box 1700, Stn CSC, Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y2,
mar@bgsu.edu
Canada. 250-721-8524. longpoem@uvic.ca
casit.bgsu.edu/midamericanreview
malahatreview.ca
F K. Margaret Grossman Fiction
F P The Mississippi Review Prize Submit
Awards Submit an unpublished story, max
fiction, 1,000 to 8,000 words, or 3-5 poems total-
10,000 words, by regular mail or online submis-
ing 10 pages or fewer by regular mail or online
sion manager. All subjects and styles welcome.
submission manager. Deadline: Jan. 1. Entry fee:
Deadline: Jan. 15. Entry fee: $10 per story or $15
$16 (includes a copy of the prize issue). Prizes:
for two stories. Prizes: $1,000 for first prize, $300
$1,000 in both categories and publication in The
for second, $200 for third. All entries considered
Mississippi Review. Contact: Mississippi Review
for publication. Contact: Literal Latt Awards,
Prize, 118 College Drive #5144, Hattiesburg, Mis-
200 E. 10th St., Suite 240, New York, NY 10003.
sissippi 39406. 601-266-4321.
212-260-5532. Email from website.
msreview@usm.edu usm.edu/mississippi-review
literal-latte.com
P New Issues Poetry Prize Submit a poetry
F L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future
manuscript of at least 40 pages by regular mail or
Contest Awards short fiction up to 17,000
submission manager. Open to poets writing in
words written by emerging sci-fi, fantasy and
English who have not previously published or
dark fantasy writers. The contest is open only to
self-published a full-length collection (40+ pages)
those who have not professionally published a
of poems. This years judge is David Rivard.
novel or short novel, or more than one novelette,
Deadline: Nov. 30. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: $2,000
or more than three short stories, in any medium.
and publication. Contact: The New Issues Poetry
Submit by regular mail or online. Deadline:
Prize, New Issues Poetry & Prose, Western Mich-
Quarterly. Entry fee: None. Prizes: $1,000 first
igan University, 1903 W. Michigan Ave., Kalama-
prize awarded each quarter; one of these winners
zoo, MI 49008. 269-387-8185.
also receives the $5,000 annual Gold Award
new-issues@wmich.edu wmich.edu/newissues
grand prize. Each quarter, second place receives
$750 and third place receives $500. Contact: L. F N P New Millennium Writings Semi-
Ron Hubbards Writers of the Future Contest, Annual Writing Contests Submit entries to

the writing contests in fiction, flash fiction,
poetry and nonfiction. Fiction and nonfiction:
submit up to 6,000 words; flash fiction up to
1,000 words. Poetry: submit one to three poems,
up to a total of five pages. Submit from website or
post mail. Deadline: Check website. Entry fee:
$20 per submission. Prizes: $1,000 in each cate-
gory and publication. Contact: New Millennium
Writings, 4021 New Garden Drive, Knoxville, TN
37918. newmillenniumwritings.com
P The Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse
Contest Submit previously unpublished poems
of any length that make an occasion of some-
thing or simply mark one. Open to Canadians or
current residents of Canada. Submit from web-
site. Deadline: Feb. 28. Entry fee: $40 for two
poems; additional poems, $5 each (includes sub-
scription to The New Quarterly). Prizes: $1,000
first prize; an additional $1,000 will be distributed
at the judges discretion. All submissions consid-
ered for paid publication. Contact: The Nick
Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest, The New
Quarterly, c/o St. Jeromes, 290 Westmount Road
N., Waterloo, ON N2L 3G3. 519-884-8111
x28290. contests@tnq.ca tnq.ca/contests
F Nilsen Literary Prize for a First Novel
Submit previously unpublished novel, novella or
collection of closely linked short stories by regu-
lar mail. Open to English-writing, U.S. residents
who have not yet published a novel. No self-pub-
lished manuscripts. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry fee:
$25. Prizes: $2,000 and publication by Southeast
Missouri State University Press and an invitation
to present a reading at the university. Contact:
Southeast Missouri State University Press, Nilsen
Literary Prize for a First Novel, One University
Plaza, MS 2650, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701.
upress@semo.edu semopress.com
F Northern Colorado Writers Short Fic-
tion Contest Submit short story, max 5,000
words in any genre or style with broad appeal.
Submit online or via email. Deadline: Check web-
site. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: $1,000/$250/$100.
Winners, honorable mentions and editors picks
will be published the annual winners anthology.
Contact: Northern Colorado Writers. 970-556-
0908. jenniferjoytop@gmail.com
northerncoloradowriters.com
P Omnidawn Open (Poetry Book Con-
test) Open for all writers with no limitations on
the amount of poetry a writer has published.
Maximum 120 pages. Most manuscripts are
40-80 pages long. Submissions open Nov.1 by
regular mail or online submission manager.
Judged by Terrance Hayes. Deadline: Dec. 31.
Entry fee: $27. Prizes: $3,000 and publication.
Contact: Omnidawn Open (Poetry Book Con-
test), Omnidawn Publishing, 1632 Elm Ave.,
Richmond, CA 94805. 510-237-5472.
submissions@omnidawn.com omnidawn.com
F N P Open Season Awards Submit up to
three poems (100 lines max for each poem),
short fiction or creative nonfiction (max 2,500
words). Send entries by email or regular mail.
Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry fee: $40 for U.S. entries,
$35 CAD for Canadian entries. Entrants receive a
one-year subscription to The Malahat Review.
Prizes: $1,500 in each category and publication
in The Malahat Review. Contact: The Malahat
Review, Open Season Awards, University of Vic-
toria, P.O. Box 1700, Stn CSC, Victoria, B.C.
V8W 2Y2, Canada. 250-721-8524.
season@uvic.ca malahatreview.ca
P Phyllis Smart-Young Prize in Poetry
Submit three previously unpublished poems, max
15 pages total, through online submission man-
ager. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry fee: $2. Prizes:
$1,000 and publication in The Madison Review.
Contact: The Madison Review. Email from web-
site. english.wisc.edu/madisonreview
F N P Ploughshares Emerging Writers
Contest Open to writers who have yet to pub-
lish a book, including chapbooks, eBooks and
self-published works. Fiction or nonfiction under
6,000 words or between 3-5 pages of poetry
accepted. Submit via online submission form
starting March 1. Deadline: May 15. Entry fee:
$24, includes a years subscription to Plough-
shares. Current subscribers may submit for free.
Prizes: The winner of each category will receive
$1,000 and publication in the winter issue of
Ploughshares. Contact: Ploughshares, Emerson
College, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116.
617-824-3757. pshares@pshares.org pshares.org
F N P Prairie Fire Contests Submit short
fiction up to 10,000 words, creative nonfiction up
to 5,000 words or 1-3 poems up to a maximum of
150 lines. Submit by postal mail only. Deadline:
Nov. 30. Entry fee: $32 per submission. Includes
one-year subscription. Prizes: $1,250/$500/$250
in each genre and publication. Contact: Prairie
Fire Contests, 423-100 Arthur St., Winnipeg, MB
R3B 1H3, Canada. 204-943-9066.
prfire@prairiefire.ca prairiefire.ca
N PRISM International Creative Non-
Fiction Contest Submit one piece of creative
nonfiction up to 6,000 words through online sub-
mission manager or by regular mail. Deadline:
Check website. Entry fee: $40 U.S. entries, $35
Canadian entries. Entry fee includes a one-year
subscription to PRISM international. Prizes:
$1,500 grand prize, $600 runner-up, $400 second
runner-up and possible publication. Contact:
Curtis LeBlanc, PRISM international, Creative
Writing Program, UBC, Buch. E462 1866 Main
Get up-to-date information on
markets at writermag.com
Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada.
promotions@prismmagazine.ca
prismmagazine.ca
F P PRISM International Jacob Zilber
Prize for Short Fiction Submit one piece of
fiction up to 6,000 words. Send through online
submission manager or by regular mail. Dead-
line: Jan. 15. Entry fee: $40 U.S. entries, $35
Canadian entries. $5 each additional entry. Entry
fee includes a one-year subscription to PRISM
international. Prizes: $1,500 grand prize, $600
runner-up, $400 second runner-up and possible
publication. Contact: Curtis LeBlanc, PRISM
international, Creative Writing Program, UBC,
Buch. E462 1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC,
V6T 1Z1, Canada.
promotions@prismmagazine.ca
prismmagazine.ca
N Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Con-
test Seeks nonfiction outside realm of conven-
tional journalism and relevant to North
Carolinians. Open to legal residents of North
Carolina or members of the NC Writers Net-
work. Subjects may include reviews, travel arti-
cles, profiles, interviews, historical pieces or
culture criticism. Submit by regular mail or
through online submission manager. Deadline:
Jan. 15. Entry fee: $10 for NC Writers Network
members, $12 for nonmembers. Prizes:
$1,000/$300/$200. The winning entry will be
considered for publication by Southern Cultures
magazine. Contact: North Carolina Writers Net-
work, ATTN: Rose Post, P.O. Box 21591, Win-
ston-Salem, NC 27120. 336-293-8844.
mail@ncwriters.org ncwriters.org
F N Santa Fe Writers Project Literary
Awards Program An annual contest looking
for works of fiction and nonfiction of any genre
that may be flying under the radar. Judged by
Benjamin Percy. Deadline: check website. Entry
fee: $30. Prizes: 1st prize: $1,500; 1st runner-up
$1,000; 2nd runner-up $1,000. Plus an offer of a
book contract with SFWP. Contact: SFWP.
Andrew Gifford, Director. 369 Montezuma Ave.
#350, Santa Fe, NM 87501.
info@sfwp.com sfwp.com
F N P Sequestrum New Writer Awards
Over $500 will be awarded to up-and-coming
writers and poets. The contest will accept both
prose (fiction & creative nonfiction up to 12,000
words) and poetry (under 40 lines) submissions,
with first-prize winners selected in each genre.
Up to three poems per submission. Submit via
online submission manager. Deadline: Oct. 15,
but dependent on submission volume. Entry fee:
$15. Prizes: Two first prize winners (one fiction,
one poetry) will win $200 each. Minimum of two
runners-up per genre will win between $25 and
writermag.com The Writer | 45
MARKETS
$50. Contact: sequr.info@gmail.com
sequestrum.org/contests
F The Sherwood Anderson Fiction
Award Submit one fiction story up to 6,000
words online or by regular mail. Deadline: Nov.
15. Entry fee: $10. All entrants receive a copy of
Mid-American Review. Prizes: $1,000 and publi-
cation in Mid-American Review. Contact: Mid-
American Review, Department of English,
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green,
OH 43403. casit.bgsu.edu/midamericanreview
F Short Fiction Contest for Emerging
Writers Open to writers who have not yet pub-
lished a book of fiction, poetry or creative nonfic-
tion with a nationally distributed press. Submit
fiction story up to 8,000 words through online
submission manager or regular mail. Deadline:
Dec. 31. Entry fee: $16 and includes a one-year
subscription to Boulevard. Prizes: $1,500 and
publication in Boulevard. Contact: Boulevard
Emerging Writers Contest, PMB 325, 6614 Clay-
ton Road, Richmond Heights, MO 63117. 314-
862-2643. editors@boulevardmagazine.org
boulevardmagazine.org
P Split This Rock Poetry Contest Seeks
socially engaged poems, poems that reach
beyond the self to connect with the larger com-
munity or world; poems that bear witness to
injustice and provoke change. Submit up to three
previously unpublished poems, no more than six
pages total, through online submission manager.
Judged by Sheila Black. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry
fee: $20. Prizes: First place $500; second and
third place, $250 each. Winning poems will be
published on Split This Rocks website and in The
Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database. Win-
ners will receive free festival registration, and the
first place winner will be invited to read the win-
ning poem at the Split This Rock Poetry Festival.
Contact: Split This Rock, 1112 16th St. NW, Suite
600 Washington, DC 20036. 202-787-5210.
info@splitthisrock.org splitthisrock.org
F Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Lit-
erary Festival Fiction Contest Submit one
original short story up to 7,000 words. Open only
to writers who have not yet published or self-
published a book of fiction. Online submissions
preferred. This years judge is Dorothy Allison.
Deadline: Nov. 30. Entry fee: $25. Prizes: Grand
prize is $1,500, domestic airfare (up to $500) and
accommodations to attend the festival in New
Orleans, VIP all-access festival pass for the next
festival, public reading at a literary panel at the
next festival and publication in Louisiana Litera-
ture. Contact: Fiction Contest, 938 Lafayette St.,
Suite 514, New Orleans, LA 70113. 504-581-
1144. contests@tennesseewilliams.net
contests.tennesseewilliams.net
46 | The Writer November 2016
O Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Lit-
erary Festival One-Act Play Contest
Submit a one-act play that runs no more than
one hour in length (one act). Plays must not
have been previously produced, published, per-
formed or patronized in any way. Online sub-
missions preferred. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry fee:
$25. Prizes: Grand prize is $1,500, professional
staged reading at the next festival, VIP all-access
festival pass for two years and publication in
Bayou. The top nine finalists will receive a panel
pass to the festival. Contact: One-Act Play Con-
test, Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary
Festival, 938 Lafayette St., Suite 514, New
Orleans, LA 70113. 504-581-1144.
contests@tennesseewilliams.net
contests.tennesseewilliams.net
F P Third Coast Poetry and Fiction Con-
test Send up to three poems in one file or a
short story of up to 9,000 words. Submit previ-
ously unpublished work through online submis-
sion manager. Deadline: Jan. 15. Entry fee: $16
(includes subscription to Third Coast). Prizes:
$1,000 in each genre and publication.
Contact: Third Coast Contests, Western Michi-
gan University, English Department, Kalamazoo,
MI 49008. editors@thirdcoastmagazine.com
thirdcoastmagazine.com
F Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize Open to all
writers. Submit two copies of an unpublished fic-
tion manuscript up to 3000 words. Deadline: Jan.
30. Entry fee: $25; $15 for North Carolina Writ-
ers Network members. Prizes: $1,000 and possi-
ble publication in The Thomas Wolfe Review.
Contact: Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, Great
email. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $5 for
Smokies Writing Program, Attn: Nancy Williams,
CPO #1860, UNC Asheville, NC 28805.
mail@ncwriters.org ncwriters.org
F P The Vancouver Writers Fest Poetry
& Short Story Contest Submit poetry, any
style, up to 500 words. Submit short fiction up to
1,500 words. Open to all writers. Submit online.
Deadline: Oct. 23. Entry fee: $15 CAD for each
story or poem. Prizes: $500 and publication for
poetry; $350, publication, and tuition for an UBC
online fiction writing course for fiction.
Contact: Vancouver Writers Fest, 2021398
Cartwright St., Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8.
poets who have not published a book of poetry.
604-681-6330. info@writersfest.bc.ca
writersfest.bc.ca
F P Vine Leaves Vignette Collection
Award Submit a 50 to 60 page manuscript of
vignettes. Can be poetry, prose or a combination
of both. Maximum 60 poems. Prose should be
approximately 800 words per piece, maximum
20,000 words total. Submit through online sub-
mission manager. Guest judged by Jane Davis.
Deadline: Feb. 28. Entry fee: $20 until Oct. 31,
$30 from November to deadline. Prizes: $650
AUD and publication by Vine Leaves Press.
Contact: Vine Leaves Press.
vineleaves.editors@gmail.com
vineleavesliteraryjournal.com
P Walt Whitman Award Given to a poet
who has not published a book-length collection
of poems. Submit 48-100 pages of poems.
Judged by Juan Felipe Herrera. Online submis-
sions only. Deadline: Nov. 1. Entry fee: $35.
Prizes: $5,000, publication by Graywolf Press
and an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at
the Civitella Ranieri Center in the Umbrian
region of Italy. Contact: Academy of American
Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York,
NY 10038. Patricia Guzman, Programs Coordi-
nator. 212-274-0343, ext. 13. awards@poets.org
poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes
P Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Submit published or unpublished humor poem
with a maximum of 250 lines through online
submission manager. Judged by Jendi Reiter and
Lauren Singer. Deadline: April 1. Entry fee:
None. Prizes: $1,000 for first prize, $250 for sec-
ond prize and 10 honorable mention awards of
$100 each. Contact: Winning Writers, 351
Pleasant St., PMB 222, Northampton, MA
01060. 866-946-9748. Adam Cohen, President.
adam@winningwriters.com
winningwriters.com
F N P C Writers-Editors Network Inter-
national Writing Competition Submit to
one of four divisions: nonfiction, fiction, chil-
drens literature, or poetry. Enter by postal mail or
members of the Writers-Editors Network, $10 for
nonmembers for submissions under 3,000 words.
$10 for members, $20 nonmembers for submis-
sions between 3,000 and 5,000 words. $5 mem-
bers, $10 nonmembers for each poem entered.
Prizes: In each category: First place $150, second
$100, third $75.
Contact: Writers-Editors Contest, P.O. Box A,
North Stratford, NH 03590. 603-922-8338.
contestentry@writers-editors.com
writers-editors.com
P Yale Series of Younger Poets Open to
Submit a poetry manuscript, 48-64 pages. Elec-
tronic submissions preferred. This years judge is
Carl Phillips. Deadline: Nov. 15. Entry fee: $25.
Prizes: Publication with royalties. Winners of the
series will also receive one of the five writing fel-
lowships offered at The James Merrill House in
Stonington, Connecticut.
Contact: Yale Series of Younger Poets, P.O. Box
209040, New Haven, CT 06520.
ash.lago@yale.edu youngerpoets.yupnet.org
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writermag.com The Writer | 47
HOW I WRITE
BY ALLISON FUTTERMAN

Regina Brooks

A
s founder and president of Serendipity, a bou-
tique literary agency, Regina Brooks dedicates
her skills and years of experience to helping a
diverse client base get their work published.
Founded in 2000, her agency has represented numerous
authors in childrens fiction, young adult, and adult nonfic-
tion and fiction.
In addition to her proven success as an agent and busi-
ness owner, Brooks is the author of several books on writing
and publishing. An accomplished woman of many talents,
she is also a pilot, a former aerospace engineer, and the
founder of a line of teas for creative people called Possibil-
iteas. Brooks says her broad skill set is an asset to her writ-
ing because it allows her to have multiple perspectives, to
think outside the box, and provides a way to refresh when
I get stuck.
Here, she shares her insight both as an agent and a writer.

Effective queries
Just like ironing your slacks for that job interview, a good require. I particularly appreciate when someone has taken
query is really about etiquette, about demonstrating you the time to list competing titles on the same subject. It saves
know the rules of the game and are excited to play. It should me a lot of work and demonstrates the authors knowledge
go without saying that excessive grammar and spelling mis- of the market and publishing landscape.
takes spell doom. A winning query is concise, engaging, and
easy to follow. Too often I have to pass on a project because Appealing fiction
after reading the query several times Im still unsure of what As with nonfiction, what I notice first is the quality of the
its about. Particularly with fiction, many writers try so hard sentences. The characters may be compelling and wonder-
to not spoil their stories that they wind up saying nothing ful, but if the prose is clunky or the pacing plodding, I may
of substance about the book. not get far enough to find out. Sometimes authors try so
hard to show, not tell that they wind up over-describing
Nonfiction that stands out and writing really long, unwieldy sentences. This tendency
One of the most important considerations for nonfiction is usually shows itself early. As with queries, lack of proofread-
platform, even if the book is a memoir. It doesnt mean the ing is a huge turnoff.
author has to be famous, necessarily, but they should be That said, what Im looking for in the end is fresh story.
consistently putting themselves out there. Too often writers If I find something that has a real spark to it, I will often
are hesitant to pitch short pieces while theyre working on reach out to the writer even if their work is a little rough
the Big Book, and this is a shame. If I were to do an online around the edges.
audit of the authors credentials, I should find awards
theyve won, articles theyve published, talks theyve given, Time to write
surefire evidence that they are the ideal writer for the given We make time for what we love. I write in the early a.m.,
topic. It needs to be recent, too. with a cup of Possibiliteas. This is when all the delicious
If the author has a solid platform, the next consideration ideas flow through me.
is their proposal. A professional, well-developed proposal
tells me they are familiar with the expectations of the indus- Allison Futterman is a freelance writer who has been published in
try and are prepared to follow the formula that editors will several magazines.

48 | The Writer November 2016

 Writing never
felt so right.
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extra
You can't ind this in print.
INDEPENDENT AUTHORS ARE
STARTING TO OUTSELL THE BIG FIVE
Today, a six-figure income or at least a full-time writing
career is actually a possibility for independent authors.
BY PATRICK WALSH
C an self-publishing really become a lucrative full-time
endeavor? Can indie authors ever begin to rival the
income of traditionally published authors? A yes to either
of these questions seemed but fable a few years ago. But
today, a six-figure income or at leasta full-time writing
career is actually a possibility for independent authors.
Recently, an Ask Me Anything Q&A on Reddit caught
my attention. It was hosted by independent author Chris Fox.
Fox has been very successful in his career so much so that
he claimed to have earned $65,000 off his self-published
books in 2015, and hopes to triple that in 2016(meaning a
six-figure income based on his eBook sales alone). In fact, he
recently quit a six-figure salary in the software industry to
write full-time. For a few hours, he answered a variety of
questions from fellow writers and aspiring authors. So I won-
Credit:AuthorEarnings.com
dered: Is Fox an anomaly, or is this a rising trend?
AuthorEarnings.com has published a report on this very
subject, so I jumped into the data. TheirMay 2016
report(authorearnings.com/may-2016-report/) reports 1340
authors earn over $100,000 per year on Amazon.com. The
striking fact here: Half of them are indies and Amazon-
imprint authors.
Surely this is just for eBook sales, right? Brick-and-mortar
print sales from the Big Five will most certainly bridge the gap
and make up the loss in sales. Not true, Author Earnings finds.
The author earnings gap between publishing paths is so
wide among these six-figure-earning authors that once again
brick-and-mortar print sales and the like cannot significantly
alter the picture, the report says.
Interestingly, Big Five-published authors make up a signif-
icant portion of the 100k-earners if theyve debuted within
the last 100 years. But if you narrow the timelineto those
whove debuted within the last decade, indie authors make up
an overwhelming amount of the big earners.The amount of
high-earning, traditionally-published debuts dwindles as we
get closer and closer to the present day.
This trend is also true for authors earning over $250,000
per year and over $500,000 per year. The data shows it: Inde-
pendent authors are threatening the traditional model. Its
certainly an exciting time to be an independent author.
A bit about how these figures were discovered: Author Earnings
use a software spider that crawls across Amazons bestseller
lists, links to also-bought recommendations and through each
authors full catalog. This resulted in a million-title dataset. You
can download the raw data used to compile the statistics
atauthorearnings.com/may-2016-report/.
Patrick Walsh is a serial entrepreneur and the owner of
PublishingPush.com,which specializes in PR and book marketing.