Wednesday

10TH ANNUAL ZOETROPE: ALL-STORY SHORT FICTION CONTEST


Judged by: National Book Award-Finalist

First prize: $1,000
Second prize: $500
Third prize: $250

The winner and seven finalists will be considered for representation by the William Morris Agency, ICM, Regal Literary, the Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Inkwell Management, Sterling Lord Literistic, and the Georges Borchardt Literary Agency.

The entry deadline is October 2, 2006. The winners and finalists will be announced at the website December 1, 2006, and in the Spring 2007 issue of Zoetrope: All-Story.

Complete Contest Guidelines:We accept all genres of literary fiction. Entries must be: unpublished; 5,000 words or less; postmarked by October 2, 2006; clearly marked "Short Fiction Contest" on both the story and the outside of the envelope; accompanied by a $15 entry fee per story (make checks payable to AZX Publications). Please include name and address on first page or cover letter only.

We welcome multiple entries ($15/story) and entries from outside the U.S.; please send entry fee in U.S. currency or money order. While we cannot return manuscripts, we will forward a list of the winning stories to entrants who include an SASE. Entrants retain all rights to their stories.
Mail entries to:Zoetrope: All-StoryShort Fiction Contest916 Kearny StreetSan Francisco, CA 94133

Please e-mail us at contests@all-story.com with further questions.

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Heard of Zoetrope All-Story Writing Workshops?
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More research stuff for my latest super-manuscript:
Where do Jet Setters Put their Money?
The Best $$$ Can Buy
American Cultural History 1920 -1929
Media History
Gambling Magazine
Roaring 20's
An Internet WebQuest on
Reflections Of 1920's And 30's Street Life In The Music Of Bessie Smith
Haunted Places In Minnesota
The Jazz Age: Flappers
The Oyster: The Victorian Underground Magazine of Erotica Vol. 1

posted by Shalla at 1:18 PM

Sunday

SHALLA TIPS: Like to take an online Class? And Day in a Life of A Lit Agent

Remember Theresa Meyers? We did a Q&A with her a few months ago at the ShalladeGuzman Writers Group

Like to read the transcript?

"Learn the Writing Business: Public Relations " with Theresa Meyers

Still writing your novel? It's never too soon to learn how to sell
*read transcipt (Message #'s 1270-1294)


What's the latest on Theresa Meyers?

Online class: September 5-29, 2006

"Book Promotion: Insider Know-How"

Registration $25

www.WriterUniv.com/

Don't miss this opportunity for an inside look at: * promoting your novel * creating a budget * scheduling promotions * making every promotion do triple duty * the "rule of three" in advancing your career Before launching Blue Moon Communications in 2001, Theresa spent over ten years working in public relations, garnering millions of dollars in media coverage for her clients on national television and in daily newspapers.


For more: Free Online Seminar: "Learn the Business of Writing: Public Relations"










A Day in the Life: Literary Agent

The day in the life of a literary agent really varies. There are large and structured agencies, small independent operators and midsized firms. I work for a midsized work. We represent a lot of estates - the families of deceased authors. Our biggest is probably an award-winning author's estate. I also oversee all of our foreign rights. Some agents specialize in a genre, but all I specialize in is good writing.

9:30: I get into the office. I oversee all of my company's foreign rights. We often have foreign publishers requesting the right to publish something from an estate. I do about five foreign rights contracts a week, like giving a French publisher the right to republish a famous book. I usually spend at least part of my morning dealing with foreign publishers and drawing up contracts. This needs to happen in the morning because of the time difference.

11:00: I look at the rest of my e-mails that aren't from foreign publishers. I get a lot of e-mails from authors. Have you read the new draft? What about chapter 3? That kind of thing.

12:30: Time for a lunch meeting. I meet with an editor I know to try to sell her a manuscript. Whenever I get a new book, I sit down and think about which editor would want it. You can have the greatest book in the world, but it won't do you any good if you can't sell it. The agent usually makes the pitch right at the end of the main course; before that time, there's a lot of chitchat and catching up. The editors usually take the literary agents out to lunch - after all, they need to acquire new projects too.

2:00: I return to the office and return calls. One misconception of literary agents is that they spend their day reading. I never read in the office. I don't have time. I read at home in the evenings and on the weekends. I spend the afternoon negotiating deals with editors and talking to writers. One phone call can take an hour. Being an agent also means you have to be a therapist, especially when dealing with a writer. I have a lot of writers who live in California, and they tend to start calling about noon, when I'm usually out the door.

Editors can take a while to evaluate a project. But if I think a book is perfect for one particular publishing house, you can make an exclusive offer - you don't send it to any other houses - and tell them what you're looking for financially. The turnaround on exclusive offers is much faster.

7:00: After an afternoon of calls, I head out to a book party. In this new era of cost-cutting, only major authors at big publishing houses have parties thrown to launch their books. Some smaller houses will have a party to launch their fall line in its entirety, for example. And sometimes authors will have parties to celebrate their own books.

For more: Vault The Most Trusted Name in Career Information

***Need to Write a Cover Letter? Here are Samples***

Ahh, yes, more research... Can you guess what Chapter 2 is about?

Jazz Terminology
Latest Trends
e-online gossips
hollywood news

posted by Shalla at 6:33 AM

Wednesday

Editing Your Short Story or Your Novel? And SHALLA ANSWERS

Need the perfect words?
Checked a Virtual Thesaurus?

Blue Rider

Looking for funny words?

Quixotic and/or quaint lists of words

Writing the perfect dialogue?

Study Dialogues on TV at SHALLA GOES HOLLYWOOD TRANSCRIPTS





*******Got Blog?*******
Read about the literary agent who signed a writer because her site got a lot of hits?
Why do publisher's publish books?
$$$
Look at it as a business.
Show you have readers, blog, get your name out.
What to blog?
Well, Shalla started blogging about Project Runway
*

Check Let's Shalla Blog

***************
And did you know? SHALLA GOES HOLLYWOOD






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Have a question?





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Besides query letters and mailings, how do I get a literary agent to consider representing me?






How does a person with tangible writing talent, 18 clips, and no college degree get recognition in the field?
I need to know if there are any good literary agents out there that is willing to deal with an adult romance...
I am a published author. I am NOT with a major publishing house. Any tips on how to get my name out there?
Writing Workshops: Do you know a place on the net where I can develop my writing skills?


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I research more for my novel... can you guess what my novel's about?
Anti depressants Medications for Depression and Treatments for Depression
Schizoaffective Disorder Overview and Introduction - Schizophrenia and Paranoid Schizophrenia and From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Crazy meds like Risperdal, Zyprexa and Lithium
Then there are Strange Funny Inventions
Fashion History

posted by Shalla at 11:25 AM