My Weekly

I got a sale from Maggie Seed at My Weekly yesterday. It's for a story she's been hanging on to for a while. I'd forgotten about it to tell the truth so it was a nice surprise. It'll be going in the 2012 Annual, available next October, I think. Seems a long way off but the good thing about My Weekly is that they pay on acceptance.



I do like the way MW has what they call their 'Inspiration Gem' at the end of the shorts. A simple 25 word note from the author on where the inspiration for the story came from. For some reason I always find this difficult. Probably because I want to waffle on. But anyway,this particular story was inspired by my addiction to watching TV make-over programmes. Which reminds me, I must set the Sky box to record 60 min Make-over this afternoon!

Click the link to buy from Amazon: My Weekly Annual 2011

A Hat Trick

I've had three magazine stories in print this past week. One in My Weekly called Will They Love Her More? - a twist in the tale (thank you Liz Smith for my contributor's copy).
The second is a mystery/cosy crime sale to The Weekly News called Caught (thank you Jill Finlay for my copy) and I've one in Fast Fiction, Australia with the same title...as yet no copy but it may be stuck in the post so thanks to Anthony Lambert in advance. I've also had two 'short-listed' replies but I never count on those as they often disappear into the void.

My Weekly like their writers to add a bit about the inspiration behind their story. I always find this difficult for some reason, especially in so few words. I never know whether to go for pithy, tongue-firmly-in-cheek or make some serious statement. Think I went for the latter on this one:


Probably shouldn't have posted my 'Word from the Author' because if you intended reading the story, I've given the twist away. Ah, well!

I've also been busy emailing submissions. Around 8 are whizzing around the world at this moment. If one hits the spot I'll be happy as I need to top up my 'Vegas Wedding Fund'.

What else has been happening? Oh yes, I went with family to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D on Monday. We NEVER usually venture out of the front door on any Bank Holiday - we once spent hours on a motorway only a few miles from home and said that would be the last time.

Anyway, we had a lovely carvery meal first at Treble Bobs pub, then off up the M1 to Cineworld, Sheffield, which on arrival looked like a mistake, especially as the showing was about to begin in 15 mins. BUT we found a parking space by chance and though we queued for about 10 mins for tickets, we got some great seats right in the middle towards the back of the theatre. The film was fun, though I'm already getting unimpressed with 3D.

Right, I'm off for a coffee and a read through my magazine copies.

A Million Womag Writers

Amanda Brittany has started to compile a list of womag writers on her blog. Boy does she have her work cut out! There must be thousands of us out there, all scribbling away hoping to please an editor. Which got me to thinking about when I first started out submitting back in 2001.

A sub to People's Friend would take approx a week to 10 days for a yay or nay answer. A sub to Woman's Weekly or My Weekly maybe three to four weeks. Take A Break usually got back to me within 4 to 5 weeks, 6 at the most. How times have changed!

The People's Friend still remains the quickest, with all the other mags taking up to 6 months and in some cases over a year for a decision. That's if they bother to answer at all. Increasingly, some are adopting the 'if you don't hear from us assume it's a rejection' attitude, which I find irksome (a bloody liberty). Yes, I know you're busy but how difficult would it be to hit the reply button on an email? If any editors who've adopted this stance are reading this then...um...ignore my comments - I don't want to be black-listed! Which, I suppose is exactly why they get away with it.

My pet hate is editors who don't EVER get in touch. Not even to say 'Stop sending me your pathetic drivel'. A certain overseas mag editor hasn't replied to me in years, though she accepted the first thing I ever sent her so she must like my writing. Maybe I should take it as a sign she's not interested but until she actually says so I'll keep sending. No, I wont get tired and disheartened, Missy. I'm made of sterner stuff! You don't get rid of me that easily.

Maybe she needs to take a leaf out of Fast Fiction Oz who have an automated reply system to acknowledge receipt of a submission which I think is a brilliant idea - but even that's hit and miss, especially following their (frequent) editor changes.

The nice people at My Weekly generally send a brief 'Got it, Sue' email as does Woman's Weekly. They may then take months and months to give a definitive answer, but at least I'm not left wondering if it ever arrived in their in-box.

But then never having been an editor I can't imagine what it must be like to open my in-box on a Monday morning to find it crammed to busting point with submissions. And not all of publishable quality at that!

I'm in the My Weekly Spring Special

Woop, woop! It's a super issue, too. 15 stories in all, some from my writing friends and a couple I don't know but am sure to come across at some time. Congratulations to all. Teresa, if you're reading this, I loved your story!
I always like My Weekly and Woman's Weekly's illustrations. The one accompanying mine has the Colosseum in the background (of course, because it's set in Italy)and a woman pointing at a Roman gladiator - though to me he looks oddly like a Viking with his flowing locks and beardy thing going on.

Not sure about my little author box comment. I always find them so difficult for some reason. And other writers' sound so much more interesting. This time, I had to supply a few words on my favourite flower and I don't really have one to be honest so I wrote that I like sweet William because when I smell them I know summer's not long in coming. Wish I could smell them now, because though the suns out here in Notts, it's blummin' chilly still. Hopefully, it's going to get up to 18 degrees at the weekend so I might save reading the rest of the stories until then when I'll sit out in the garden, swaying in my hammock, sipping a glass of pinot...I can dream can't I?

I'm currently putting a pitch together for a 3 part serial aimed at My Weekly. I've yet to be successful with a serial. They usually come back with 'We've carried a similar subject before'. Well, this one has a fairground as the backdrop. It's a mystery with a touch of romance and a splash of humour. Still only got a working title and I've only written the first episode and first episode synopsis which I might send off today. Then if I get a rejection, I haven't wasted my time. Not that one word will be wasted, I'll probably finish it at some point, but where can you place a 9000 word womag type story these days?

Latest My Weekly Guidelines

These have been out a week or two now and I can't recall who emailed asking if I knew what they were, so in the hope that whoever it was reads my blog, I'm posting here.

Remember, you can only sub one story per month now and they're no longer returning unsuccessful stories, so if you haven't heard back after 6 mths, presume it's a 'No thanks.' The upside means if you send via snail mail, you don't need to include a sae. I'd imagine most of us send by email anyway.

Have to say, I don't particularly like this new system but then I'm not the one drowning under submissions, am I? Let's just hope if we get a 'yes' we ARE informed within that 6 mths or the story might've been sent elsewhere and that could involve a messy email to withdraw it from some other editor's pile.

Don't forget that anything you send now should be aimed at the January/February issues and they're specifically looking for:

1400-1600 words Twist in the Tail - Light hearted or very moving themes.
700 word Coffee Break - Again, light hearted or moving.
1200 or 2000 word Romance stories - Light hearted themes.
2500-3000 Long Reads - I'm guessing this can be any theme as they don't specify.





My Weekly Pocket Novels
I think I'm right in saying you can send in your ideas for these at any time. NOT the whole thing, mind. Send only a synopsis and the first three chapters in manuscript form or via email...I'd go with email seeing as the post here in the UK is a bit 'iffy' at the moment!
If the editor likes your proposal and wishes to proceed, she'll ask you to send in the full novel electronically - use Rich Text or Word document(I'd go for compatibility mode if you're using the latest version of Word to avoid sending them pages of gobbledy-gook!)

Word count: around 30,000 words, no more than 32,000. Love, passion, romance and adventure being the key words. Female viewpoint. Contemporary or historical, they can be set anywhere in the world.

'We look for stories with a strong, developing romance between two identifiable characters. Within the time it takes to read one of the novels, we would like the reader to share and experience the breathless/breath-taking excitement of a growing relationship.'

Word of warning: Before you embark on a pocket novel, you should know the fee isn't huge! It's approx £200 and there aren't any Royalties. Plus you can wait up to a year before you know whether or not they're going to publish, and that's AFTER you've submitted the whole thing. Okay, you could maybe condense it to suit other mags but it's a lot of work. When you consider what Take A Break will pay for a 1000 worder...well, don't know about you but I don't write for fun. Having said this, I'd still like to crack the market. Can't resist a challenge!

So if you're up for it, it's the usual address: myweekly@dcthomson.co.uk
and mark it for the attention of Maggie Seed.

Good luck!

Subs

I sent my allowed monthly story off to My Weekly today. The editors have put a 'one a month' restriction on submissions until they make some headway through their slushpile. The one I chose to send is a 1600 word twist with a touch of romance. Trouble is, by the time they get to reading it, they'll have changed their requirements!

I've also took a risk and sent a spooky one off to a market that I don't think runs this type. It does have a romantic undertone so maybe they'll make an exception.

Ireland's Own's editor, Sean Nolan, hasn't bought anything from me recently despite having said he'd short-listed a bunch...then nothing. I know he's inundated with submissions so maybe something better came up he preferred to publish. Anyway, today I've sent him a story I think he might like, but I won't hold my breath!