Monday Miscellany for March 15
March 15, 2010 by Mary Anne
Filed under Writing Contest News
Hello everyone!
During a recent routine visit, my doctor told me about new information she’d read about vitamin D. “They now think that it may not be a vitamin at all, but a hormone that the body produces,” she said. She went on to explain that this means vitamin D might not be something we can easily ingest; it needs to be produced via exposure to the sun, and that those of us living in northern latitudes have higher rates of vitamin D deficiency.
That hardly surprises me. When I finally came face to face with my own depression some years ago, it was during the winter months, a time of year when I’d long envied a bear’s ability to hibernate. Conversely as the hours of daylight slowly but surely lengthen, and after a stretch of consecutive sunny days like the one we just experienced in upstate New York, my mood lifts and my energy level soars. Naturally, my daily writing stints have become more fruitful as of late, and it has been easier for me to balance the various demands on my writing time.
Can you empathize? Or do you have other factors that kindle your energies and fuel your writing productivity? In any event, I recommend recognizing and leveraging whatever influences or circumstances cause you to be most prolific. In other words…ahem…make hay while the sun shines.
OK, onto this week’s list of writing contests. Here’s to your writing success.
Mary Anne
Multiple Categories
Writing It Real “Mothering & Fathering” Poetry & Essay Contest
Seeking creative non-fiction essays and poems about mothers and fathers and our own mothering and fathering. Work that honors parents, meditates on memories and losses, and/or examines successes and failures in parenting as well as the ways in which we find alternative parents is welcome. Essays and poems submitted must be previously unpublished. Send an essay up to six pages, double-spaced or up to three poems by June 15, 2010. We’ll announce our list of winners by the end of July.
Deadline: June 15, 2010
Entry fee: $15 for Writing it Real Subscribers; $45 includes one year subscription and the entry fee
Prizes: First Place: $100; Second Place: $50; Third Place: $25
2010 Open Issue for Writers over 50
Submit 3-5 poems (50 lines max. each) and/or fiction or memoir (4,000 words max.each).
Deadline: September 1, 2010
Entry fee: $20
Prizes: $300 top prize
http://www.ubalt.edu/passager/guidelines.htm
Women Who Write
Poetry and prose accepted. Open to women writers 18 or older. Women Who Write will
Prose limit 3,000 words. Winners’ work is published in Calliope, Women Who Write’s annual anthology.
Deadline: May 30, 2010
Entry fee: $10
Prizes: First Place-$150 and five copies of anthology; Second Place-$100 and five copies of anthology; Third Place-$75 and five copies of anthology
http://www.womenwhowrite.com/contests.html
Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest – Summer 2010
Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed, and/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting).
Deadline: July 31, 2010
Entry fee: $10
Prizes: Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100. Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50.
http://onmilwaukee.com/myOMC/blog/show/4007
Fiction
Meridian Short Story Contest
Will accept stories of up to 3,000 words, and is open to both published and unpublished writers.
Deadline: March 31, 2010
Entry fee: £5 GBP
Prizes: First Prize £100; Second Prize £50; Third Prize £25
http://www.meridian-writing.co.uk/competiton_2.html
The Al Blanchard Award Contest
Story must be a crime story by a New England author or with a New England setting. Story must be previously unpublished (in print or electronically), and no more than 5,000 words in length. Story may include the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, and horror.
Deadline: April 30, 2010
Entry fee: None
Prizes: $100
http://www.crimebake.org/Al.htm
Literary Database Flash Fiction Contest
Fill out the form to submit your flash fiction entry. Entries must be no more than 250 words.
Deadline: May 1, 2010
Entry fee: None
Prizes: $50
http://literarydatabase.com/contest.html
Screenwriting Contest
Scriptapalooza International Screenwriting Competition
12th annual screenwriting competition. Any genre considered. Submit one copy of an 80-140-page screenplay
Deadline: April 15, 2010
Entry fee: $55
Prizes: place $10,000, software and representation consideration. Second, third and ten runners-up receive software and representation consideration. Semifinalist and up receive one-year promotion by Scriptapalooza.
http://www.scriptapalooza.com/
Poetry Contests
Foley Poetry Contest
Each entrant is asked to submit only one typed, unpublished poem of 30 lines or fewer that is not under consideration elsewhere.
Deadline: March 31, 2010
Entry fee: None
Prizes: $1000
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=10540
Robert Watson Poetry Award
Submit a collection of poems not exceeding 24 pages–including title page, dedication,
epigraph, brief bio, and acknowledgments. Each page may contain a maximum of 30 lines of copy, including stanza spacing.
Deadline: April 2, 2010
Entry fee: $12
Prizes: $500
http://www.springgardenpress.com/spg/contests.html
Build Africa Poetry Contest
This poetry competition is in aid of Build Africa – a UK Charity which works exclusively in rural areas of Uganda and Kenya to help young people escape poverty through education and business enterprise. Poems may be on any subject, in English. Maximum 40 lines per poem. Build Africa will receive one third of the net entry fees.
Deadline April 25, 2010
Entry fee: £3 per poem / £12 for 5 poems
Prizes: First Prize: £150.00; Second Prize: £75.00; Third Prize: £35.00
http://www.easternlightepm.com/excelforcharity/build-africa-poetry-2010.html
Taking the Stress Out of Quoting Freelance Projects
March 12, 2010 by Mary Anne
Filed under Guest Articles
By Ed Gandia
For many freelancers, one of the most stressful aspects of their
business is quoting project fees to a new prospect. There’s a lot at
stake. Quote too high and you risk losing the project. Quote too low
and the prospect may wonder if you’re a newbie with little
experience.
The best solution to this dilemma involves the use of a “master fee
schedule,” which is nothing more than a list of the types of
projects you work on and an approximate fee range for each.
The beauty of a master fee schedule is that it takes the stress out
of the quoting process. That’s because when you’re confident that
the fees in your schedule are fair and reasonable (based on the value
you bring to the table and what other freelancers at your level are
charging), you no longer have to worry about quoting a fee that’s
going to scare the prospect away.
Sure, she may still decide that you’re too low or too high. But
that decision will be based on her budget — not your value.
How Do You Assemble a Master Fee Schedule?
#1: Ask fellow freelancers
Developing a reliable fee schedule takes time. You can start by
talking to fellow freelancers and asking them what they charge for
different types of projects. You should also factor in the feedback
you get from clients and prospects when you quote various projects.
#2: Scour the web
Many freelancers will also post their fees for a variety of projects
on their website. You can poke around and get a good feel for what
others are charging. However, be careful with those figures. There are
thousands of freelancers doing work for virtually nothing. That’s
not where you want to be.
#3: Consider the time and effort required
You should then compare this information with the time you spend on
projects. You’ll want to see if the fees you’re charging are
aligned with the time and effort you’ve been putting in. You’ll
also want to compare how your colleague’s fees compare to the
average time you’re investing in some of your projects. That can
reveal areas where you might be undercharging.
I use a tool called TraxTime to record the time I spend on every project
(For Mac users, you have other options. My friend and colleague Steve
Knapp uses “On The Job” from Stunt Software.
Every three months or so, I run reports in TraxTime to find out how
I’m trending in terms of time spent on different types of projects
and profitability levels with each of my clients. This information is
invaluable in helping me evaluate and update my master fee schedule.
#4: Books and Reports
Other good sources on fees are books and reports written by
professionals in your particular field. For instance, Steve
Slaunwhite’s Pricing Your Writing Services is an excellent resource
for freelance writers (Steve is a friend and co-founder of this blog,
so yes, I’m biased!).
So is Michael Stelzner’s White Paper Writer Industry Report. Also,
The Designer’s Guide To Marketing And Pricing: How To Win Clients and
What To Charge Them by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top, has been
recommended to me by several graphic designers.
Whatever your field, you will more than likely be able to locate a
book, article or report on pricing for your profession via a quick
Google search.
How to Use Your Master Fee Schedule
Here’s how I use my master fee schedule to qualify a lead. Say that
I get a call from a company looking for someone to write three case
studies. My fee range to write a two-page case study is $1,500 -
$2,000. This includes an interview and up to two rounds of edits.
Once I understand the full scope of the project, the work involved,
the prospect’s needs, degree of urgency and other miscellaneous
factors, I pull out my master fee schedule and quote a range.
But I don’t quote the full range. Instead, I usually quote from
somewhere around the midpoint to the high point. So I may quote $1,500
to $1,750. Why? Because, invariably, if you quote from the low point,
the low number is the only number many folks will remember. Quoting
from the middle up avoids this problem. It helps you set the right
expectations. Also, it gives you a cushion that can protect you should
the project be more difficult than you expected.
Once I quote the fee range, I’ll ask the prospect, “Is this range
within your budget?” I find that this two-step approach (asking
first if they have a budget and then quoting a fee range) is more
effective than the more abrasive “What’s your budget?” question.
This last question is important because getting the “money” issue
out of the way as early as possible will reveal if the prospect is
viable from a budget perspective. In many cases, it will keep you from
having to spend a lot of time thinking about the project, drafting a
proposal and following up three or four times with a prospect who was
only willing to pay half of what you’re asking.
Finally, if the fee range fits within the prospect’s budget, let
the prospect know when he or she can expect your proposal. Even if
they ask for one, never give prospects a firm number during the
initial call. A fee range is as far as you should go. You need some
time to think through all the factors and arrive at a number that
makes sense.
Is this a foolproof system? Not at all. But it takes a lot of the
stress out of the process. It also saves me a great deal of time. It
impresses many prospects who want straight answers (rather than a,
“Well, it depends, Mr. Prospect. I can’t really say.”). And,
above all, it enables me to land more profitable work.
—
Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle (Penguin, 2010). To grab a free copy of his “Freelancer’s Income Expander Kit” (a $126 value) visit http://www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com.
Free Teleclass for Writers: How to Use Twitter to Attract Writing Clients
March 9, 2010 by Mary Anne
Filed under WriteSuccess Resources
Announcing…our very first teleclass at the International Association of Professional Ghost Writers, “How to Use Twitter to Get Writing Clients.” While the class was developed for ghost writers, all writers are welcome to attend.
Twitter is something I’ve used extensively to promote my ghost writing services, my WriteSuccess blog (http://writesuccess.com ) and the IAPGW, by following some specific list building and “Twittiquette” guidelines, I believe you’ll find this social media site to be an immensely powerful online networking and promotional tool for your ghost writing business. I plan to give you a step by step guide on how to use it, spending 15 minutes a day or less!
The details for this event are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Time: 3 PM Eastern (2 PM Central, 1 PM Mountain, Noon Pacific)
Cost: Free!
To register for this class and receive an e-mail with call in information, go to http://iapgw.org/upcoming-events/.
