iUniverse.com

Premier self-publishing company in America. Check out their prices; turnaround time is four weeks, but be sure you have an edited, clean copy, because they won't do your editing for you.

hourglassbooks.com

Hourglass Books produces anthologies of short fiction with royalties shared among contributing authors.

Anthology Chapbooks

Carnifex Press produces anthology chapbooks of four to six epic-fantasy tales. They pay 3 cents a word and a contributor copy 90 days after the release of the anthology. See angelfire.com/fl5/carnifex for
details.

Torquere Press

Torquere Press at torquerepress.com produces anthologies of short fiction with gay and lesbian characters. Pays within 60 days of publication.
Send complete ms by mail to P.O. Box 4531, Grand Junction, CO 81502. Stories should be between 1k to 10k words

Annual Writing Competition

Enter Writer's Digest 74th annual writing competition with grand prize of $2500 cash and paid trip to NYC to meet with editors and agents. Sponsored by Outskirts Press. Manuscripts accepted online with payment by CC
at www.writersdigest.com. Entry deadline is 5/16/05.

Short Stories Word Count

Short stories range from 1500 to 30k words; novellas from 30k to 50k, and novels from 55k to 300k words. For first-time authors stick to between 80k to 100k words which is the average novel length of 300 pages.

30-Second Sound Bite

The four components of a 30-second sound bite for pitching your book include: who you are, what you want, why you're the best choice, and a call to action.

The Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has helped uncover much research information for non-fiction and technical books. Remember to address you letter to the FOIA officer, specify the documents needed, why you're
entitled to a fee waiver, or the amount you're willing to pay per page if not entitled to fee waiver. The government has 20 days to reply to your request.

Writers Online Workshops

Writers online workshops are available from
www.WritersOnlineWorkshops.com

Best Fiction Triggers

Successful fiction must have: active heroes, crisis points, tension and/or energetic conflict. The best fiction triggers reader identification with the hero and a sense of participation.

Critique Groups

Beginning writers like to have an objective observer with writing knowledge who can critique their plot, pacing, character development, realism, book research, tension, etc. If you're unwilling to solicit informed opinions from successful writers then you won't grow as a writer or the growth process will take longer.

Using a tennis analogy, it's difficult to improve your tennis game if you play against mediocre players. Help yourself and your fellow writers and form critique groups. It's fun and you learn something as well. And best of all, your writing will improve.