Welcome back! Here’s part two of the monthly update, with a couple of ideas for those doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), contests, and places to submit, among others.
Kelly Notaras, who runs an agency offering editing and coaching services for writers, is offering a free download of her book, Three Classic Book Outlines. If you’re planning on attempting NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in November, it will probably help to be prepared, and this might help.

Need a virtual writing assistant? Jane Friedman drew my attention to a software program called Shortly. After setting up an account (free), you can input a sentence or two, click a button, and the AI will continue writing your story. Perhaps an alternative to staring at the wall or out the window when you experience writer’s block? Or when you’ve run out of NaNo steam…
Chat And Spin Radio is an Internet Radio Station based in the UK, broadcasting to half a million UK & International Listeners per week 24/7. They are looking for book authors, writers, etc, to carry out 10-minute live interviews for their Evening & Late Show. Email Ian Johnson at chatandspin@gmail.com for more information. Caveat: They may ask you for a donation after the interview, but one is not required.

Christopher Fielden (How to Write a Short Story) maintains a list of writing contests with links to them here. This particular link is for book and novel competitions, but he covers everything from short stories to flash fiction and more. They’re mainly British, which means that if you win, you can be an internationally award-winning writer. 🙂
Members looking for feedback on their writing can get it via Scribophile, where you’ll find thousands of other writers ready to critique work in your genre. You do the same for them.
Feedback is also available at FanStory. This is a paid subscription site, but it does offer helpful critiques for everything you write, and a lot of contests with cash prizes.  Some upcoming ones include Halloween flash fiction and poetry (deadline October 31), and dribble flash fiction (50 words), which closes November 4. You can try their one-week “worry-free” money-back guarantee to see if you like it.
Vellum is a beautiful book-formatting software program recommended by member Libby Waterford. Currently available for Mac only, and it costs around $250. Worth it if you’re planning to self-publish a number of books.
Libby also recommended BookSweeps, which is a particularly useful giveaway site if you’re trying to build your email list. She netted 600 new subscribers last time she did it. There’s a small fee to submit your giveaway, but since you’re giving away eBooks, it doesn’t cost you anything on the production end.
At the meeting, people were asking for places to submit humorous articles. Here are some of the suggestions made by members: Richard Seltzer likes humor print magazine American Bystander (submit to michaelgerber@gmail.com) and the online humor magazine Glossy News Satire. Alison McBain recommended Defenestration – a humorous literary magazine.
Authors Publish recently sent me a list of 27 publishers with good distribution, that accept unagented submissions.
And here’s a similar list of 30 publishing companies from Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur.
Creative Nonfiction is currently seeking submissions of new nonfiction work by older (60+) writers. They’re looking for personal essays/memoir, experimental work, science writing, profiles, historical nonfiction, lyric essays … any kind of lively fact-based writing. Your work need not address issues related to age/aging. Up to 4000 words, with a deadline of February 22. $3 convenience fee for online submissions. Submit your work here.
And finally, do you know the difference between literary fiction, upmarket fiction, and commercial fiction? I thought my novel was commercial fiction, but it might be upmarket. Either way, I found this infographic from literary agent Carly Watters useful.
Until next month, keep writing!