WordCrafter News

Posted: February 27, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Anthology, Books, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Kickstarter, Mythology and Legend, Poetry, Short Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Stories, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press | Tags: , , , , , , | 21 Comments

New Release

Delilah releases through book dostributors on March 21, but there’s still time to pre-order your copy of Delilah here:

The later half of March will be busy, with the release of Delilah and a five day WordCrafter Book Blog Tour to get the word out, March 20 – 24.

The tour will include a fun interview where author Sara Wesley McBride chats with my character, Delilah, excerpts from the book, and posts about the historic female figures who will appear in each book in the Women in the West adventure series, and character profiles for the two characters which top-level Kickstarter backers Tim Ward and Carol Fowler have earned the privilage of naming in book 2 of the series, Sarah.

Kickstarter Progress Update

Until then, I will be busy signing and shipping the print copies of Delilah to mid- and top-level Kickstarter backers. I should be ready to continue working on Sarah in May, and I hope to have it ready to publish by the beginning of 2024. I also plan to work with a professional cover designer to smooth and improve my book covers. I want to thank everyone who supported me in this project, not only financially, but through sharing and networking it as well. All support was greatly appreciated. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Poetry Treasures 3: Passions

I’m also excited as the compilation of Poetry Treasures 3: Passions gets under way. We had some fabulous guests on “Treasuring Poetry” in 2022 and I’m looking forward to including their works in this very special collection. In addition to works by the series host, Robbie Cheadle, works by the following author/poets may be included: Penny Wilson, Judy Mastrangelo, Yvette Prior, Patty Fletcher, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Willow, Yvette M. Calliero, Chris Hall, Abbie Taylor, and Smitha Vishwanath. I can’t wait to dig in to the poetry submitted for inclusion by these wonderful poets. Robbie and I are not very far into the process. In fact, I think we might still be waiting for all the submissions to get in. We had two previous anthologies, which both turned out quite well, and I’ve no doubt that this one will rival those.

You can still get a copy of these two wonderful anthologies from your favorite book distributors.

Poetry Treasures: https://books2read.com/u/3n7BDR

Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships: https://books2read.com/u/3kP8aK

2023 Short Fiction Contest & Anthology

Submissions have begun to come in for the 2023 Short Fiction Contest, as well as stories submitted by invitation for the anthology. It’s much too soon to talk about the contest entries, but I can tell you that we have invitational submissions from Chris Barili, Joseph Carrabis, Michaele Jordan, D.L. Mullan and Stevie Turner, with promises from many others. It’s still very early in the process.

You can find submission guidelines and enter the 2023 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest here.

You can get copies of last year’s WordCrafter Press anthologies: Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Myths & Fairy Tales; Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception; and Visions. Available through your favorite book distributors.

Once Upon an Ever After: https://books2read.com/u/mKdWGV

Refracted Reflections: https://books2read.com/u/3kPyxn

Visions: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28

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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

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Want exclusive content? Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. She won’t flood your inbox, she NEVER sells her list, and you might get a freebie occasionally. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, just for joining.

WordCrafter News

Posted: November 28, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Anthology, Book Covers, Books, Cover Art, Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Horror, Nonfiction, Poetry, Science Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Stories, Western, Women's Fiction, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A look back at 2022

Before we begin to look forward to the coming year, we must first look back to assess the successes and failures of the past year. It’s been a busy year, and we’ve accomplished much

For WordCrafter Press, we published 5 books in 2022.

In April, we released Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships, with an eight day blog tour, which did well enough that I’m looking forward to the release of Poetry Treasures 3 next year. Robbie Cheadle hasn’t shared with me what the theme will be for 2023, but I’m sure it will be a good one.

In May, we released Ask the Authors 2022: Writing Reference Anthology, with a ten week long blog promotion series. Seven of the contributing authors for this book, including me, editor Kaye Lynne Booth got together for a round table discussion on the Stark Reflections Podcast to share writing wisdom and promote the book, here. And it is still available in Kevin J. Anderson’s Writing Career Toolkit Bundle, which you can purchase here. The bundle is only available until December 1, so be sure to grab one while you can.

In July, I graduated from the Master’s program at Western State Colorado University with an M.A. in publishing, and I saw the publication of both my student projects, Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths & Shattered Fairy Tales, which I was on the editorial team for, and Weird Tales: Best of the Early Years 1926-27, which I compiled & edited with Weird Tales editor and award winning author, Jonathan Maberry.

In August, WordCrafter Press published the first of three short fiction anthologies, Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Myths & Fairy Tales, with a six day blog tour and giveaway. Featuring contemporary stories in the classic fairy tale tradition which I handpicked.myself, to create an exceptional by-invitation-only fantasy anthology. This anthology has been our biggest seller in 2022.

In September, the second of the three WordCrafter Press anthologies, Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception, with a five day blog tour. Also, by invitation only, these reflective tales may not be what they seem.

October was a big month, with the release of Visions, the 2023 annual WordCrafter Press anthology. In addition to contest entrries from the annual WordCrafter Press Short Fiction Contest, this year’s anthology had more contributions by invitation, making it the largest anthology WordCrafter Press has ever published. We ran an eight day blog tour with three days of double stops. It was quite a production. Then, we joined up with Sonoran Dawn Studios for the big Halloween book event, All Hallow’s Eve – The Web We Weave on Facebook, where we promoted all 2022 WordCrafter Press releases, with games and giveways, music and movies.

In November, I’ve been trying to do the NaNoWriMo thing with The Rock Star and the Outlaw, a time travel romance adventure novel, inspired by the music of The Pretty Reckless and other artists. It’s not finished until the last day of the month, so I’m still hard at it. I’ve written 28,940 words since the beginning of the month, so I’m not even close But I started with 21, 175 words already written, and I passed the 50,000 word mark this morning.

Also in the month of November, Ask the Authors 2022, is available in the Writer’s Career Toolkit Bundle currated by Kevin J. Anderson. Also included in this bundle are writing references by David Farland and Kevin J. Anderson, Joanna Penn, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, L. Jagi Lamplighter and Aisley Oliphant to name a few. You decide what price to pay for five core books and/or ten more bonus books, all valuable author references, and you can still get it for a few more days.

Preparations and plans for the year ahead

December is pretty much dedicated to the prepartions for the coming year, and I have some really cool things planned. This past year, WordCrafter Press published a total of five anthologies involving around 30 different authors, which was amazing. In 2023, I plan to focus more on my own writing, and I only plan to do the two annual anthologies WordCrafter Press publishes each year; one poetry and one short fiction. The poetry anthology features the guests of Robbie Cheadle’s “Treasuring Poetry” blog series, and she also acts as my co-editor of the Poetry Treasures anthology.

The short fiction anthology is connected with the annual WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest. However this last year, for Visions, I combined the contest entries with stories acquired by invitation, and the other two anthologies were by invitation only. I liked the results of including the invitations, and plan to do the same thing in 2023. The themes for these anthologies will be announced after the first of the year.

As for my own books, I have quite a few planned. I plan to re-release Delilah as a part of the Women in the West adventure series, to be launched with a Kickstarter with lots of cool stuff available for your support around the beginning of the year, so be sure and watch for that. If things go well, I may also be able to release Sarah before the end of 2023.

Also, of course, I will be launching my NaNoWriMo project, The Rock Star & the Outlaw, in the coming year. This western time-travel romance adventure will keep readers on their toes. Based on the music of The Pretty Reckless and other artists, it’s a wild ride that will keep readers guessing.

I’m also planning to put together a collection of my own poetry, which I think will appeal to all the poetry lovers out there, and I am working on several short stories which I hope to find homes for. As always, at least one will go into the annual WordCrafter short fiction anthology. And I’m planning to start a Patreon, and I’m thinking of serializing my science fantasy Playground for the Gods series for that.

2022 was a really good year, and 2023 promises to be just as good, if not better. I would love to hear your thoughts on any of my plans for the year to come. Which potential covers do you like or dislike and why? Which books will you look forward to? What would you like to see offered as rewards for my Kickstarter, or my Patreon? Let me know in the comments. Your feedback is appreciated.

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Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Readers’ Group for WordCrafter Press book & event news, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. Get a free digital copy of her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction, as a sampling of her works just for joining.

WordCrafter News

Posted: August 29, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Advertising, Anthology, Ask the Authors, Book Promotion, Book Release, Book Review, Books, essays, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Fiction, Giveaways, Mythology and Legend, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, Short Fiction, Stories, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter News, WordCrafter Press, Write it Right Editing, Writing, Writing Reference | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments
WordCrafter News

And the Winners Are….

I have an announcement to make.

We finished up the WordCrafter Once Upon an Ever After Book Blog Tour on Saturday, and I do hope you all joined in. It was a great tour and we held a giveaway for three digital copies of Once upon an Ever After, and every comment earned an entry.

Now, I am pleased to announce that the three winners of the anthology giveaway are Liz Gauffreau, Annette Rochel Aben, and Sara W. McBride!

(I need to make contact with each of you to find out which digital format you prefer. If you don’t hear from me, please contact me at Kayebooth@yahoo.com.)

You can get your copy of this wonderful anthology from your favorite book distributor here.

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Nice Reviews

Ask the Authors 2022 has received a lovely review from Alex Norton on the Likely Story blog.

” I found it to be both interesting and useful, answering questions I didn’t even know I had and giving me different perspectives to ponder as I move forward on my own writing journey.”

You can find Alex’s full review here. I hope you will check it out.

Get your copy of this unique writing reference anthology from your favorite book distributor here.

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.The first review is out on Goodreads, from Madelon’s Reviews. Madelon does a nice job of making a brief statement about each story, as well as a review of the overall anthology, which states in part:

“Overall, REFRACTED REFLECTIONS provides a glimpse into the writing styles of authors you may want to read again.” 

You can read Madelon’s review in full here.

Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deceptions

Refractions and Reflections…

A reflection can be revealing or deceptive. What stares back at you when you glance into the mirror?

A prison, designed to trap you and take away all that is dear to you?

A portal to another dimension? Another time?

An evil twin, luring you to the other side?

Your loved ones with a fond farewell?

A distorted version of yourself? A person you no longer even recognize?

A protective savior?

Do you dare to gaze into the looking glass?

Will what you see save you…, or haunt you forever?

If you liked Gilded Glass and Once Upon an Ever After, you’ll like Refracted Reflections: Tales of Duality & Deception.

Scheduled for release September 20, 2022. Now available for pre-order from your favorite book distributor here.

Don’t miss the WordCrafter Refracted Reflections Book Blog Tour September 19 – 23 for a deeper look into this unique anthology.

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Write it Right Quality Editing Services is currently open to new clients

See Write it Right‘s affordable rates and get a quote for your editing needs here.

Writer’s Corner: Where do I go from here?

Posted: May 16, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Anthology, Ask the Authors, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Fiction, Mythology and Legend, Nonfiction, Poetry, Promotion, Publishing, Stories, Women's Fiction, WordCrafter Press, Writer's Corner, Writing, Writing Contest, Writing Reference, Writing to be Read | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I just finished up the spring semester at Western State Colorado University. We completed our class project, the Gilded Glass anthology, and.my solo project, Weird Tales: The Best of the Early Years 1926-27, which was quite the learning experience, but also a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to the summer residency, where we will finish up our degrees and do a massive book launch party for the Gilded Glass anthology, and for each of our solo projects at the end of July.

Here is the release schedule for our cohort. Some of them are already out there. I’ve included the pre-order links in case you are interested in purchasing new renditions of any of these classic works. I think we all had fun bringing them back to life. And check out those fantastic covers!

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Today, I was listening to the last podcast episode of the Six Figure Authors podcast, and they were discussing their future plans now that the podcast is ending, (much to my dismay), and it made me start thinking about where I want to go with my writing career now that we’re wrapping things up and this chapter of my life is coming to an end. At the end of this summer, I will once again be on my own in my writing career. I hadn’t thought about it before, but summer’s end brings with it not only the book release event and graduation, but also the loss of access to my mentors Kevin J. Anderson and Allyson Languierra and the support and advice of my wonderful cohorts, and I have no idea what 2023 will bring. I need a plan.

This year, I’m set, with the release of the Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships poetry anthology this last semester, the launch of Ask the Authors 2022 writing reference anthology currently under way, and three short fiction anthologies planned for later in the year: Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Fairy Tales & Folklore an (August); Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception (September); and Visions (October). (Hmmm… It seems this is the year of anthologies for me.) But, I need a plan for what comes after that.

Hmmm… I’m revising Delilah to be a part of the Women in the West series with hopes of getting that out by the end of the year, but I keep adding ideas for the series, so I may wait to release until I have at least one more of the books ready to go, so that might be in the plan for next year, although it was originally a part of the plan for 2022. Also, I’ve been thinking a lot about my Playground of the Gods science fantasy series, and the first book is actually with a beta reader right now. But I’ve also been tossing the idea trying it as a serialization around. If anyone has experience on serialization, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Either way, those stories will be a part of the 2023 plan. In addition, I’ve been thinking on a time-travel romance adventure story that I started in 2021, “The Outlaw & the Rockstar”, and those characters have been teasing my brain, so I’ll probably add that to the 2023 agenda. That will give me between 2 and 5 releases of my own books for the year, which isn’t too bad if I can pull it off. Of course, I’ll also want to do an annual poetry anthology and the annual writing contest and anthology, so I can add two more book projects to the agenda.

I don’t think I will be lacking for projects once I’ve bade academia good-bye. In fact, I’m tired just thinking about the whirlwind schedule I just outlined. But you know, I think it will be worth it, if it can enable me to move my writing career to a full time level. The first thing you need to do if you want to sell books, is to write books, so I’m sitting pretty good on that plane. I’m working to revive my monthly newsletter, which I believe will be one of my most valuable marketing tools, and organizing a multi-genre newsletter swap group to help spread the word on releases. I’ve got good lists for possible reviewers built for all the anthologies planned for 2022, which will work for the annual anthologies, but will have to be created for my own books, and this blog is a book marketing tool, too. It’s a place where readers can come to learn about my latest projects, and my readership is growing, so I think I’m on the right track there.

Well…, would you look at that? Why was I worried? I have a plan…, and I think it’s a good one.

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Kaye Lynne Booth lives, works, and plays in the mountains of Colorado. With a dual emphasis M.F.A. in Creative Writing, writing is more than a passion. It’s a way of life. She’s a multi-genre author, who finds inspiration from the nature around her, and her love of the old west, and other odd and quirky things which might surprise you. She has short stories featured in the following anthologies: The Collapsar Directive (“If You’re Happy and You Know It”); Relationship Add Vice (“The Devil Made Her Do It”); Nightmareland (“The Haunting in Carol’s Woods”); Whispers of the Past (“The Woman in the Water”); Spirits of the West (“Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs”); and Where Spirits Linger (“The People Upstairs”). Her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets, and her short story collection, Last Call, are both available in both digital and print editions.

In her spare time, she keeps up her author’s blog, Writing to be Read, where she posts reflections on her own writing, author interviews and book reviews, along with writing tips and inspirational posts from fellow writers. In addition to creating her own imprint in WordCrafter Press, she offers quality author services, such as editing, social media & book promotion, and online writing courses through WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services. When not writing or editing, she is bird watching, or hiking, or just soaking up some of that Colorado sunshine.

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Sign up for the Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Newsletter for and book event news for WordCrafter Press books, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. Get a free digital copy of Kaye Lynne Booth’s paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets, just for subscribing.

Book News and Such

Posted: March 28, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Book Promotion, Book Release, Books, Newsletter, WordCrafter Press | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Looking for my 100 True Fans

The concept of 1,000 true fans was based on the theory of Wired editor, Kevin Kelly that a creator could make a descent living online with 1,000 truly invested fans, and it’s a concept that has been around for more than a decade. Today’s thinkers have revised that theory, and now it is believed that really, 100 true fans are all you need in this new “passion economy” which appears to be rising from within the new global internet communities, according to Aayushi Rachana, in her article “”100 True Fans” is All You Need in Passion Economy”, on Medium.com (March 11, 2021): https://medium.com/hapramp/all-you-need-to-know-about-100-true-fans-3fd72a35154f True fans are those who believe in you and want to support you in your creative endeavors; those fans who will buy everything that you write, just because you wrote it. And supposedly, we all have them – we just need to find them, or rather, we need to draw them to us.

That’s why I’ve decided to embark on a search for my own 100 true fans as I prepare to take my writing career to the full time level, but they aren’t going to just walk into my life and say, “Hi. I’m here to read everything you write, because I know how wonderful you are.” No, that’s not how it happens. True fans have to be earned; they have to be cultivated and grown from followers into fans, and a few will even mature into super fans, or true fans. But it doesn’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen on its own, and for me, it may be even more of a challenge as a multi-genre author who writes her heart instead of trying to write to market. So, I’ve developed a plan for drawing in followers, and hopefully, seducing them into fans, and then with luck it will turn into a long term relationship of super fans. Do I really have fans out there? We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

The first step is to offer a way for my followers to become fans by learning more about me and my books through my newsletter. I haven’t been as good as I should have been about my newsletter, I admit. In fact, I let it go to the wayside for two years and only primed it with a revival issue this past month, which gave a brief overview of upcoming releases and current projects, including a reminder of the approaching deadline for the 2022 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest (see submission guidelines here), and let my readers know that I’m still here. Newsletters also offer a way for followers to engage via email response, an opportunity for a connection to be made, which makes it more likely that they will become fans, or even superfans.

If you are reading this, then chances are good that you are at least a follower of mine. If you’d like to get to know me better or learn more about upcoming releases from myself or WordCrafter Press, you can join my newsletter and get a free digital copy of my paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets, here: https://mailchi.mp/64aa2261e702/klb-wc-newsletter. Go on and subscribe. It’s free and you never know, you may even become a fan of you like what you discover in my newsletter.

Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships – Cover reveal

Above, you see the fantastic cover designed by Teagan Geneveine. I’m pleased to announce that to celebrate National Poetry Month, Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships will be scheduled for release in April. This wonderful poetry anthology features the works of guests from last year’s “Treasuring Poetry” blog series right here on Writing to be Read, hosted by Robbie Cheadle. Contributors include Arthur Rosch, Elizabeth Merry, D. Avery, M.J. Mallon, Miriam Hurdle, Colleen M. Chesebro, Lauren Scott, Harmony Kent, JulesPaige, Lynda McKinney Lambert, and Robbie Cheadle. Keep watching here, because it will be up for preorder soon.

Gilded Glass Up for Pre-order

You’ve all heard me talk about the great new anthology I am helping to put together through my publishing course at Western State Colorado University. In addition to the fabulous stories chosen from a plethora of exceptional submissions, it features stories by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alan Dean Foster, Jonathan Maberry, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Michaelbrent Collings. I’m excited to tell you this amazing anthology is scheduled for release in July, but is now available for preorder and you can find it at your favorite retailer through books2read at the link below.

https://books2read.com/u/bwKZ8Y

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Sign up for the Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press Newsletter for and book event news for WordCrafter Press books, including the awesome releases of author Kaye Lynne Booth. Get a free digital copy of Kaye Lynne Booth’s paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets, just for subscribing.

Writer’s Corner: Lessons for submitting to short fiction markets

Posted: December 27, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Anthology, book marketing, Short Fiction, Stories, Writer's Corner, Writing | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments
Writer’s Corner

Short fiction doesn’t sell well. – That’s what I keep hearing. Anthologies are hard sells. So why would you even write short fiction, if it is so difficult to sell?

What many authors need to realize, is that while an anthology may be harder to sell than a novel, when you have work featured in an anthology, it is a project involving many authors, each with their own following which they bring to the table, creating a much bigger marketing network than you would have for a novel. Being a part of an anthology expands your marketing reach exponentially by the number of authors involved, which could actually make the marketing and promotion of the anthology easier and allow marketing to a much larger audience.

For the past few months I’ve been exploring short fiction and short fiction markets from the other side of things, as I worked to compile two separate anthologies. My solo project for my masters in publishing is The Best of Weird Tales 1926-27, which meant reading twenty-four issues of Weird Tales and selecting what I felt were the best stories to represent the publication, then compiling them into a single collection. It had to be a careful selection process, because much of what was socially acceptable in 1926 & 27, is far from acceptable in 2021.

The other project required for my degree involves being on the editorial team for the Mirror, Mirror anthology. You may have seen the call for submissions posted here on writing to be Read back in July. And there’s a chance that you even submitted to it, since we had over 600 submissions. That’s a lot of short stories to read. But I learned some valuable lessons from the experience:

  • It pays to get your submission in early. The early submissions get fresh eyes and open mind. But those submitted closer to the deadline, are seen by eyes that are tired by minds that have read so-o-o many stories, many of which are similar in theme or concept, if you wrote to the submission guidelines.
  • Follow the submission guidelines. This experience drove home to me how important this one really is. Going into this, my instructor and mentor, Kevin J. Anderson drilled in the importance of following the submission guidelines and took great care to make them clear in the call for submissions. It called for proper manuscript formatting, something every author should be familiar with, but just in case, he also included a link to a site that defined and explained what proper manuscript formatting is, and still we got manuscripts that were not formatted properly. Toward the end, I know improperly formatted manuscripts got set aside without a full read, because it hurt my tired old eyes too much, so this is really an important one, but many authors just didn’t get it. Publishers don’t want to work with authors who cannot follow simple instructions and format their manuscript properly or follow the guidelines, because this hints that they might be a pain to work with.
  • Only submit a story that fits what the call is looking for. I was surprised how many stories we got that didn’t have a mirror in them at all; not even a compact for the character to check their make-up. Who sends a story without mirrors to an anthology titled Mirror, Mirror that requests a mirror be central to the story. I’m told that last year someone submitted Christmas cards for the call for submissions for Unmasked, last year’s anthology, which may evoke a chuckle when you hear it, but for editors overwhelmed with submissions, reading through a story that doesn’t even come close to meeting the guidelines or match the theme, it feels like a big waste of time. Editors have feelings, too. Be kind and only submit stories that meet the theme and guidelines, instead of trying to cram your story into a frame that doesn’t really match.
  • In today’s market, busy editors are looking for something that is close to being publishable as is, so be sure your manuscript is polished. I feel like I shouldn’t have to state this one, but with as many seemingly unedited submissions, I guess it needs to be said. I was expecting it toward the end, when authors were rushing to meet the deadline, but even early on there were manuscripts that were riddled with misspellings and typos. Many of these may have been good stories, some even written to guidelines, but they were passed by because they would have required too much editing to ready them for publication. It would have required more time than my class of student editors would be able to give. So, I strongly urge having another set of eyes give a critical look over all stories prior to submission. Turning in a clean manuscript will strengthen the chances of your submission being accepted, or at least read clear through for a fair evaluation.
  • Choosing favorites is much harder than I thought it would be. We were cautioned that last year’s anthology received over 500 submissions, with more than 100 received in the last week of submissions. Mirror, Mirror received over 600 and so many of them were truly excellent stories that choosing the few that we had the budget for was really difficult, especially since not everyone had the same favorites. In the end, we ended up with a heck of a selection of stories for this anthology. I think it will be great!

Although all of my personal favorites couldn’t be included, I did find a way to make 2022 a great year for anthologies at WordCrafter Press, with two by invitation only anthologies in addition to the annual short fiction contest and anthology. I gave you a sneak preview for the submission call for the annual anthology, which will be titled Visions, here. The official call for submissions will be posted in January, so stay tuned.

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Updates & Reminders

Posted: August 30, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Anthology, book marketing, Book Promotion, Books, Fiction, Paranormal, Promotion, Stories, WordCrafter, WordCrafter Press, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments
Where Spirits Linger

Update – Where Spirits Linger

The 2021 WordCrafter paranormal anthology Where Spirits Linger is scheduled for release on September 20th, and is now available for pre-order. Featuring original paranormal tales by Kaye Lynne Booth, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Stevie Turner, Enid Holden S.L. Kretschmer, and Christa Planko, author of the winning story in the 2021 WordCrafter Paranormal Short Fiction Contest. It will be available in both print and digital formats, so be sure and order your copy today.

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Reminder – Open for Submissions

Submissions open today for the WordFire Press Mirror, Mirror anthology. This is a paid writing gig, so be sure to get your story in for consideration. For those of you who missed the submission call, you can learn more and read submission guidelines in my oroginal post.

To increase the chance of being accepted, I recommend reading the newly released, Slushpile Memories: How NOT to Get Rejected, by Kevin J. Anderson. It is written as a guide for authors submitting their work to publishers in the hopes that their work will be accepted and published, offering tips and advice to avoid the fateful rejection slip. The major points that came through were to me from this helpful guide were to be professional at all times, and to READ AND FOLLOW THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES. I know from the preparation that I’ve been given for being a slushpile reader that these can and will be crucial factors in submitting a story that will make the final cut, so take heed as you prepare your submission.

Submissions will be open through October, so there is plenty of time to write and polish your submission. Click on the link to the submission guidelines above and read them over. It’s a theme that you can have a lot of fun with. Send us your best stuff.

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Anthologies: An alternative path to publication

Posted: October 12, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Books, Fiction, Paranormal, Publishing, Stories, Western, Western Paranormal, WordCrafter, Writing, Writing Contest | Tags: , , , , , | 4 Comments

I’m seeing a lot of promotions for anthologies these days. This excites me because short fiction anthologies are a wonderful way for rising authors to gain new readers. If you look for them, there are plenty of opportunities for short fiction submissions and contest entries, and many of those hold the possibility of having your short story featured in a new anthology.

All authors want to see their work published, but full length novels take months or even years to craft and polish before being ready to consider publication. And if an author is considering the traditional route of pitching their work until they find an interested publisher, they could be looking at that manuscript gathering dust on the shelves for a very long time. Short fiction offers a chance for authors to get their names out there on multiple works in a much shorter period of time than it would take to write and publish multiple novels.

Even before I published Delilah, I had two short stories accepted for publication online. Then my story, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, was accepted by Zombie Pirate Publishing and it appeared in their The Collapsar Directive anthology. I learned very quickly that one difference in having short fiction published in an anthology, as opposed to being published online, was the spirit of comraderie among all the authors featured. The other cool perk of being published in an anthology was the invitation to submit to the next planned anthology. Hence, my story, “The Devil Made Her Do It”, appeared in the next anthology ZPP put out, Relationship Add Vice.

The trick to getting into an anthology is to read the submission guidelines and submit a story that meets them. Most of the time, that may mean writing a story specifically for that submission call or contest. When I was invited to submit a story for Dan Alatorre’s Nightmareland, the guidelines were pretty general, “horror”, and I happened to have a piece of flash fiction that fit into the genre. All it required was a bit of polishing and my story, “The Haunting of Carol’s Woods”, was ready for submission and acceptance. But, many submission calls are more specific.

For the above mentioned submission to ZPP for Relationship Add Vice, submission guidelines required a story that contained elements of romance and crime fiction. Chances are that you don’t have a story sitting in your files with those elements and you would need to create a new story to submit to meet these guidelines. I did have the beginnings of one, as it happened, but that certainly isn’t always the case.

The submission guidelines are important. Read and follow them carefully. Other than the type of story, they may include specific formatting requirements and other submission instructions. Many publishers are strict about their guidelines and will put down a story without finishing it, if the story doesn’t meet even one of the specifications. Of course, that doesn’t apply only to anthologies. Every submission you make should conform to the given submission guidelines, whether we’re talking about short fiction, novel manuscripts, articles or poetry. Why read something if the submitting author can’t even follow directions?

With each of these anthologies, I got that same feeling of comraderie and networking with my fellow authors. I love that feeling. Because anthologies, by definition, have several different authors, they also carry with them the advantage of widening the pool of possible readers. Each author promotes the anthology to their reader audience, so it is possible to extend your own reach beyond your own reader following and gain new readers who read your work in the anthology and want to read more. It’s a win-win for all authors involved.

Naturally, when I started WordCrafter Press in 2019, the first undertaking was to launch a short fiction contest and compile and publish the resulting anthology, Whispers of the Past. The submission guidelines required a paranormal stort story and the contest winner received a $25 Amazon gift card.

Spirits of the West

For 2020, the contest submission call requested a piece of short fiction with elements of both the paranormal and western genres. It may have seemed a weird combination to some, but to me, it seemed only natural. The old west is filled with ghosts and spirits, and my first novel was a western. I think it was the western genre that threw potential authors off, but what resulted from this genre combination were some very interesting stories, including two South African ‘westerns’ by WtbR team member Robbie Cheadle, “The Thirstyland Journey” and “The Ghost in the Mound”, and a science fiction ‘western’ by WtbR team member Art Rosch, “Clouds in the West”. This author of this year’s winning story is Enid Holden, and she has two stories included in the anthology: the winning story, “High Desert Rose” and another paranormal western, “The Queen of Spades”. And my contribution is a story I wrote specifically for the occassion, “Don’t Eat the Pickled Eggs”. “Wenekia”, by last year’s contest winner, Jeff Bowles and “Gunsmoke” by author Tom Johnson are also included. This unique collection of paranormal westerns have been compiled into the Spirits of the West anthology and scheduled for an October release.

Authors can find calls for submissions or short fiction contests all over the internet these days. If you just look for them, you’re sure to find one that works for your writing style and preferences, or maybe one that offers a challenge and takes you into writing realms where you’ve never before ventured. In January, I’ll be announcing the theme for the 2021 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, so be sure to watch for that, too. If you want to get your name out there, grow your audience and have people read your work, short fiction anthologies are a great start, or they can be a supplement to already published books. Find one that suits you and submit a story today.

Author Update: The Making of a Memoir On Hold Indefinitely

Posted: June 12, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Book Covers, Books, Editing, Fiction, His Name Was Michael, Memoir, Nonfiction, Paranormal, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Speculative Fiction, Stories, Western, WordCrafter, WordCrafter Press, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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I’m sorry to say that the obstacles and road blocks I mentioned in my April post have brought my memoir writing process to a screeching halt before it had truly begun, and thus, this bi-monthly blog series must come to a halt, as well, until I can find answers to the problems related to writing about real people and organizations which is necessary to telling my son Michael’s story, as well as my own. Losing Michael: Teen Suicide and a Mother’s Grief  has been shelved, at least for a while due to legalities. This book project is based from my personal experience and is dear to my heart, and it great saddness that I make this decision, but I’m not ready to face the trials that forging ahead with it would require.

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On the other hand, there are exciting things on the horizon. My efforts for the near future will turn to working on the issue of re-issuing Delilah, which Dusty Saddle Publishing has so graciously offered to do. Once this is completed, I plan to pick up where I left off on the drafting of the second book, Delilah: The Homecoming. I just got Delilah back on track in this story with considerable revisions and I’m a little sad to have to delay the completion of this book, but also confident that the story will be better for it.  

WordCrafter Logo

I will be getting the WordCrafter website up and running and ready for launch.  Get ready folks, because WordCrafter Writer & Author Services is coming soon. Services will include Editing and Copywriting services, online courses, and WordCrafter Press.

I’ll also be compiling and publishing the two great anthologies to be released by WordCrafter Press. The Ask the Authors anthology will feature the collaborative interviews from the 2018 “Ask the Authors” blog series right here on Writing to be Read. This book will be filled with writing tips and advice from authors who are out there doing it, a valuable writing reference for authors in all stages of the publishing journey.

WordCrafter Paranormal Anthology - smallThe other anthology, Whispers in the Dark, will be a short story collection harvested from the WordCrafter Paranormal Short Story Contest held at the beginning of 2019. It will feature several of the submissions from the contest, including the winning entry, “A Peaceful Life I’ve Never Had”, by Jeff Bowles. These anthologies are still in the preliminary stages, but I plan to have them both out by the end of the year. I have cover ideas for each one, but only Whispers has a final version at this time. I plan to release it in October.

 

 

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