DENTON WRITERS LEAGUE
 FIRST EDITION
JANUARY 2004 VOL. 15 NUMBER 1

DWL Home Page: http://byjoni.com/dwl

If you would like a copy of the newsletter e-mailed to you instead of through the US post, please contact George Avera or Joni Latham.

WHERE WE MEET AND WHEN

The second Saturday of every month, at the

Denton Library-North Branch - click here for map 
3020 N. Locust St (corner of Windsor St & N. Locust St)
 Denton, TX

General Meeting 10:30 a.m.

Lunch at Noon at the
 Evergreen Super Buffet - click here for map 
1006 W. University Dr
Denton, TX 76201

NEXT MEETING - JANUARY 10, 2004

Guest Speakers

January - Mike & Susan Farris, Farris Literary Agency
February - Pamela Stone
March - Jim Cline of Timberwolf Press
April - Jeff Crilley - Reporter for Fox 4 News
May - Roxanne Conrad
June - Lillian Stewart Carl  

GUESTSPEAKER

Farris Literary Agency, Inc., is manned by attorneys Mike Farris and Susan Morgan Farris.  They represent fiction and non-fiction works.  You can learn more about them at www.farrisliterary.com.   They have been practicing attorneys in Dallas since graduating from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1983.  Mike is also a screenwriter, serving as President of the 100-plus-member Dallas Screenwriters Association. Susan has an English degree and has edited several non-fiction publications and has consulted to screenwriters, novelists and non-fiction authors. She has also taught college-level English.

Query letter submissions only will be accepted at the meeting. (see guidelines below)

DECEMBER MEETING RECAP 

There was no speaker for the December meeting.  We discussed possible speakers for 2004.  I tried to include a list of Short Story markets as promised but they are hard find in one place.  I finally found an article on the Writers Digest site that lists the top 30 markets for this last year.  There is also the Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen Magazines.

Submission Guidelines

Ferris Literary Agency is looking for the following:

      FICTION:  thrillers, suspense, mysteries, romance, mainstream, horror, action/adventure, literary, Christian, westerns

NON-FICTION:  how-to, self-help, law, true crime, current affairs, popular culture, women's issues, biography, history, travel, sports, politics, entertainment, spiritual and inspirational

We accept queries by e-mail or snail mail, but, please, no attachments to e-mail – we will not open attachments.

Your query should include the following (whether by e-mail or snail mail):

The title of the book

 

For fiction, tell the genre (e.g., romance, mystery, thriller, mainstream, etc.)

 

For non-fiction, tell the type of book (e.g., history, how-to, self-help, politics, etc.)

 

For novels, give the word count

 

Give a brief description of the project – this means tell us what it’s about.

 

Tell us a little about yourself, including whether you’ve been published before and/or awards you have won for your writing.  For non-fiction, tell why you’re qualified to write about the subject.

 

If sending your query by snail mail, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

For more information on writing a query letter, click here.

After reading your query, we may ask you for the following:

FICTION: A synopsis and the first fifty pages.  For more information on writing a synopsis, click here.

NON-FICTION: A completed book proposal. For more information on writing a non-fiction book proposal, click here.

Your submission should appear in the following format:

2003 Fiction 30 Listings
By Maria Witte

Best Bets for Beginners

Beginnings Publishing: A Magazine for Novice Writers (scbeginnings.com), Jenine Boisits, fiction editor, P.O. Box 92, Shirley NY 11967-1525. Tel: (631)205-5542. E-mail: Jenineb@optonline.net. NSSWM: 149. Semiannual magazine; does not read in January or April. Pays one contributor copy for first rights.

Mindprints: A Literary Journal (www.hancock.cc.ca.us/studentservices/learning_assistance/mindprints), Paul Fahey, editor, Learning Assistance Program, Allan Hancock College, 800 S. College Dr., Santa Maria CA 93454-6399. Tel: (805)992-6966, ext. 3274. E-mail: pafahey@hancock.cc.ca.us. E-submissions accepted only from non-U.S. residents. U.S. residents query by mail. NSSWM: 203. Annual magazine; reads September through May. Pays one contributor copy for one-time rights. Note: "Many famous writers have started their careers by publishing work in small literary magazines," Fahey says. "In our area of California, many well-known authors such as Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Pay It Forward, have graciously contributed to our magazine. What a high for a first-time writer to be published alongside such pros!"

Outsider Ink (outsiderink.com), Sean Meriwether, editor, Outsider Media, 201 W. 11th St., New York NY 10014. Tel: (212)691-4345. E-mail: editor@ outsidermedia.com. Submit via e-mail. NSSWM: 319. Quarterly e-zine. No payment; acquires e-rights. Note: "Publishing short fiction is incredibly important to the development of a new writer," Meriwether says. "You can test the markets, develop your own voice, gain experience in the submission process, and build name recognition."

Prose Ax: doses of prose, poetry, visual and audio art (www.proseax.com), J. Calma Salazar, editor, P.O. Box 22643, Honolulu HI 96823-2643. E-mail: prose_ax@att.net. Submit via e-mail. NSSWM: 298. Quarterly zine. Pays two contributor copies for one-time and e-rights.

The Unknown Writer (www.munno.net/unknownwriter), Rick Maffei, fiction editor, P.O. Box 698, Ramsey NJ 07446. E-mail: unknown_writer_ 2000@yahoo.com. NSSWM: 256. Quarterly magazine. Pays two contributor copies for first rights.

Internet Envy

Alternate Realities Webzine (www.alternaterealitieszine.com), Joan M. McCarty, editor, 26 N.E. 57th Ave., Portland OR 97218. Tel: (503)249-7125. E-mail: fanwrite@aol.com. NSSWM: 302. Bimonthly e-zine. Pays $5-15 for e-rights.

Big Country Peacock Chronicle (www.peacockchronicle.com), Audrey Yoeckel, owner/publisher, RR1 Box 89K-112, Aspermont TX 79502. Tel: (806)254-2322. E-mail: ayoeckel@ yahoo.com. NSSWM: 304. Monthly e-zine. No payment; acquires e-rights. Note: "If you are unsure of your writing skills and have a good story, we can work with you," Yoeckel says. "We have help and resources for marketing and skills development available for writers, poets, journalists and storytellers."

The Blue Moon Review (www.thebluemoon.com), Theron Montgomery, fiction editor, 14313 Winter Ridge Lane, Midlothian VA 23112. E-mail: fiction@theblue moon.com. Submit via e-mail only. NSSWM: 305. Quarterly e-zine. No payment; acquires first North American serial and one-time anthology rights.

The Cafe Irreal: International Imagination (www.cafeirreal.com), Alice Whittenburg and G.S. Evans, editors. E-mail: editors@cafeirreal.com. Submit via e-mail only. NSSWM: 306. Semiannual e-zine. Pays 1¢/word, $2 min., for first and one-time rights. Note: "Because the Internet is so readily accessible in so many parts of the world, an Internet publication such as The Cafe Irreal can help a writer reach a much wider audience than would have been possible in such a specialty publication 10 or more years ago," Evans and Wittenburg say, via an e-response.

PIF (www.pifmagazine.com), Rachel Sage, editor, 1426 Harvard Ave., #451, Seattle WA 98122-3813. Tel: (360)493-0596. E-mail: editor@pif magazine.com. Submit via e-mail only. NSSWM: 321. Monthly e-zine. Pays $20/printed page for first North American serial rights. Note: You must be a registered member to submit. Membership is free.

Genre Gems

Analog: Science Fiction and Fact (www.analogsf.com), Stanley Schmidt, editor, Dell Magazines, 475 Park Ave. S., New York NY 10016. Tel: (212)686-7188. E-mail: analog@ dellmagazines.com. NSSWM: 331. Magazine published 11 times/year. Pays 5-8¢/word and two contributor copies for first North American serial and nonexclusive foreign serial rights.

Asimov's Science Fiction (www.asimovs.com), Gardner Dozois, editor, 475 Park Ave. S., Floor 11, New York NY 10016-6901. Tel: (212) 686-7188. E-mail: asimovs@dellmagazines.com. NSSWM: 332. Magazine published 11 times/year. Pays 5-8¢/word for first world English serial and specified foreign rights, as explained in contract.

Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (www.sfsite.com/fsf), Gordon Van Gelder, editor, P.O. Box 3447, Hoboken NJ 07030. Tel: (201)876-2551. E-mail: sandsf@aol.com. NSSWM: 347. Monthly magazine. Pays 5-8¢/word for first North American and foreign serial rights, and an option on anthology if requested.

Millennium Science Fiction & Fantasy (www.jopoppub.com), Diana R. Moreland, fiction editor, P.O. Box 8118, Roswell NM 88202-8118. E-mail: jopoppub@jopoppub.com. Submit online or via e-mail only. NSSWM: 317. Monthly e-zine; reads January through October. Pays $5-20 for one-time rights. Note: Type "Story Submission" in subject line.

Scifi.com (www.scifi.com/scifiction), Ellen Datlow, editor, PMB 391, 511 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10011-8436. Tel: (212)989-3742. E-mail: datlow@www.scifi.com. Submit via standard mail only. NSSWM: 324. Weekly e-zine. Pays 20¢/word up to $3,500 for first (with a six-month exclusivity clause), anthology and e-rights. Note: "Publishing short fiction (if you're good at it) is a way to get your name out quickly and with less hassle than writing and publishing a novel," Datlow says. "This is only true for writers who have a talent for short fictionÑif it takes you as long to write a short story as it does to write a novel, this won't help."

Fame Without Fortune

Connecticut Review (www.ctstateu.edu/univrel/ctreview/index.htm), Dr. Vivian Shipley, editor, Connecticut State University System, SCSU 501 Crescent St., New Haven CT 06515. Tel: (203)392-6737. E-mail: ctreview @southernct.edu. Submit via standard mail only. NSSWM: 164. Semiannual magazine; reads September through May. Pays two contributor copies for first rights. Note: "I forward the agents' inquiries to the writers. Several of our stories have been reprinted by other magazines, and Weston Magazine is doing a feature article on a fiction writer as a result of a story published in Spring 2002."

The Literary Review: An International Journal of Contemporary Writing (www.webdelsol.com/tlr), Walter Cummins, editor in chief, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 285 Madison Ave., Madison NJ 07940. Tel: (973)443-8564. E-mail: tlr@fdu.edu. Submit via standard mail. NSSWM: 197. Quarterly magazine; reads September through May. Pays two contributor copies for first rights. Note: "We feel that publishing in fiction magazines helps writers to get their work out into the mainstream and add to their publishing credits," editors say.

Snake Nation Review (www.snakenationpress.org), Jean Arambula, editor, 110 W. Force St., Valdosta GA 31601. Tel: (912)244-0752. E-mail: jeana@snakenationpress.org. NSSWM: 240. Quarterly magazine. Pays two contributor copies for one-time rights.

StoryQuarterly (www.storyquarterly.com), fiction editors, 431 Sheridan Rd., Kenilworth IL 60043-1220. Tel: (847)256-6998. E-mail: storyquarterly@yahoo.com. Submit online only. NSSWM: 246. Annual magazine. Pays 10 contributor copies and a lifetime subscription ($200 value) for first North American serial rights. Note: You must be a registered member to submit. Membership is free.

Transition: An International Review, Michael Vasquez, executive editor, Duke University Press, 69 Dunster St., Cambridge MA 02138. Tel: (617)496-2845. E-mail: transition@fas.harvard.edu. NSSWM: 255. Quarterly magazine. Pays three contributor copies; rights negotiable.

You're in the Money

The Georgia Review (www.uga.edu/~garev), T.R. Hummer, editor, The University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602-3481. Tel: (706)542-3481. E-mail: garev@arches.uga.edu. NSSWM: 175. Quarterly journal; reads Aug. 16 through May 14. Pays $40/printed page, one contributor copy and a one-year subscription for first North American serial rights.

Glimmer Train Stories (www.glimmertrain.com), Susan Burmeister-Brown and Linda Swanson-Davies, editors, Glimmer Train Press, 710 S.W. Madison St., Suite 504, Portland OR 97205. Tel: (503)221-0836. E-mail: info@ glimmertrain.com. Submit online. NSSWM: 176. Quarterly magazine; reads in January, April, July, October. Pays $500 and 10 contributor copies for first rights.

Ploughshares (www.pshares.org), fiction editor, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116. Tel: (617)824-8753. E-mail: pshares@ emerson.edu. NSSWM: 227. Triquarterly magazine; reads mss postmarked between Aug. 1 and March 31. Pays $25/page ($50 min., $250 max.), contributor copies and one-year subscription for first North American serial rights.

The Southern Review (www.lsu.edu/thesouthernreview), John Easterly, associate editor, Louisiana State University, 43 Allen Hall, Baton Rouge LA 70803-5005. Tel: (225)578-5108. E-mail: jeaster@lsu.edu. NSSWM: 243. Quarterly magazine; reads September through May. Pays $12/printed page and two contributor copies for first North American serial rights.

Tin House (www.tinhouse.com), Rob Spillman and Elissa Schappell, fiction editors, P.O. Box 10500, Portland OR 97296-0500. Tel: (503)274-4393. E-mail: tinhouse@aol.com. NSSWM: 254. Quarterly magazine. Pays $100-800 for first North American serial and anthology rights.

Around the World

The Barcelona Review (www.barcelonareview.com), Jill Adams, editor, Correu Vell 12-2, 08002 Barcelona, Spain. Tel: (00)34 93 319 15 96. E-mail: editor@barcelona review.com. Submit via e-mail only. NSSWM: 304. Bimonthly e-zine. Sometimes pays in professional Spanish translation of story for e-rights. Note: "We always help with editing if a piece is accepted, but the majority of submissions we receive are just plain sloppy: misspellings, redundancies, awkward sentence structures," Adams says.

Event (event.douglas.bc.ca), Christine Dewar, fiction editor, Douglas College, Box 2503, New Westminster, British Columbia V3L 5B2 Canada. E-mail: event@douglas.bc.ca. NSSWM: 169. Triannual magazine. Pays $22/page and two contributor copies for first North American serial rights.

Grain Magazine (www.grainmagazine.ca), Marlis Wesseler, fiction editor, Saskatchewan Writers' Guild, P.O. Box 67, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 3K1, Canada. Tel: (306)244-2828. E-mail: grainmag@sasktel.net. NSSWM: 177. Quarterly magazine. Pays $40/page up to $175 and two contributor copies for first Canadian serial rights.

Prism International (prism.arts.ubc.ca), Billeh Nickerson, editor, Buch E462-1866 Main Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada. Tel: (604)822-2514. E-mail: prism@interchange.ubc.ca. NSSWM: 230. Quarterly magazine; does not read in August. Pays $20 (Canadian)/printed page and one-year subscription for first North American serial rights.

Storie, all write (www.storie.it), Gianluca Bassi, editor, Leconte, Via Suor Celestina Donati 13/E, Rome, Italy 00167. Tel: (39)06 614 8777. E-mail: storie@tiscali.it. NSSWM: 245. Bimonthly magazine. Pays $30-600 and two contributor copies for first English and Italian rights.

Texas Conferences and Events

February 15, 2004, Wimberley, Texas Writers Roundup, 3rd annual book fair benefiting Katherine Anne Porter School. See Roundup link on this website for details. Contact: Linda Bingham mailto:Linda@flamewriter.com .

February 28, 2004, Marble Falls, Reading, Writing and Such Conference. Contact: Roy Henley mailto:rah98@tstar.net

February or March of 2004, Date TBA, Tyler. Squatty Pines Storytelling Festival, phone: 817-308-1938 http://www.easttexastellers.homestead.com/squatty.html

March 3-6, 2004, Corpus Christi, Texas State Reading Association 32nd Annual State Literacy Conference, Omni Bayfront Hotel http://www.tsra.us/conference.html

March 17-20, 2004, San Antonio, TLA Conference, Texas Library Association http://www.txla.org/conference/conf.html

March 20, 2004, Plano, Plano Book Festival for Adult Literacy. Contact: Debbie Frick Phone: 972-839-9529 djfrick@comcast.net Authors may check out details about the book festival at http://www.planobookfestival.com/ Deadline for author registration is Dec. 31, 2003. Click here for application.

March 2004, Date TBA, Alpine. Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Contact J.J. Tucker at 915-837-1071 http://www.cowboypoetry.org/

April 17, 2004, Denton, Texas, 4th Annual North Texas Book Festival) from 9 am till 4 pm at the Civic Center. Visit the NTBF website www.ntbf.org for a registration form. Booth fees are slightly higher this year, but percentage of sales is being eliminated. Contact: mailto:cwood@tattersallpub.com

April 24-25, 2004 , Little Rock, Arkansas Literary Festival, http://arkansasliteracy.org/literary_fest.html

May 1-2, 2004, Houston, Houston Festival of Books. Location TBA in January 04

From the Texas Author’s Coalition, Inc website. URL in listing below.

On-Line Writers resources

Author's Network-for writers about writing based in Europe, but interesting- http://www.author-network.com/
Copyright Forms- http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/
Dallas Sceen Writers- http://www.dallasscreenwriters.com/
National Association of Women Writers - http://www.naww.org
New Writer's Market http://hge.members.atlantic.net/
Preditors and Editors-a resources to check out agents and publishers http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators http://www.scbwi.org/
Texas Coalition of Authors, Inc. http://www.texasauthors.org/
The Novelist's Workshop-essays and advice on how to publish your book- http://www.monash.com/writers.html
Writer's Exchange http://www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/
Writer's Market http://www.writersmarket.com/index_ns.asp
Writers Net-source for information for writers, editors, agents, and publishers- http://www.writers.net
The Zuzu's Petals Literary Resource Homepage-for both writers and poets- http://www.zuzu.com/

There are multitudes of writing resources available on the Internet. Go to any search engine and ask for writer's resources, writer's markets, writer's contests, writer's conferences, etc

DWL OFFICERS:

President       Joni Latham ( joni@verizon.net) - 940/243-5200
Vice President  June Powell - 940/565-1013
Treasurer       Joseph Marino
Newsletter      George Avera ( gavera@chatter.com) - 940/382-8161