Call for Submissions

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Sarah

Submissions are now open for an as-yet untitled character-based Sleeping Cat Books anthology to be published in the fall of 2012. This anthology will be a black and white paperback edition and an ebook edition of short fiction. We will consider any genre, as long as the submission includes the subject character depicted below, and described in the downloadable character profile on our website. No pornographic content, or any material that would not make it into a rated R movie.

Please include a bio paragraph written in third person in the cover letter of your submission. Submissions will only be accepted through the button on our website.

Fiction: no more than 5,000 words.

Deadline for submission: 1 July 2012

Theme: Character (cover image below and character profile on our website)
We have tried to include enough detail to give you a reasonable idea of who this character is without restricting you to any particular location or time. We will entertain any type of submission (sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, mystery, etc.) as long as Cherie is clearly the character we’ve created. She does not have to be the main character in your submission, but she must have a prominent role. You do not have to stick strictly to the character traits we’ve included, but again, she must be recognizable as the same character. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Submission fee: Free

Contributor compensation: Those whose work is chosen for inclusion will receive one complimentary copy of the anthology, and will also be eligible to purchase up to 10 copies at production cost plus S&H, rather than retail.

Cover for as-yet untitled character anthology

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Pre-order “The Storm is Coming” anthology

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Sarah

Storms can come in many forms, but they’re all terribly destructive. From a tornado or hurricane that can destroy all your belongings, to an abusive spouse who can destroy your sense of well-being, to human actions that can destroy an entire society.

This collection of short stories, poetry, non-fiction, and images covers the range of approaching storms, and the range of emotions involved in such cataclysmic events.

Your pre-order of this anthology will help defray the production costs, including supplying each of the talented authors with a complimentary author’s copy. Please see the Reward levels on the pre-order site to select the package that’s right for you.

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Win a $100 Amazon gift card!

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Sarah

We’re looking for supporters for our upcoming spring anthology. To that end, for every $5 you donate through the PayPal donation widget on the anthology page, you’ll receive one chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. See the page for complete details.

Submissions for the anthology will be accepted through 31 December 2011. We still have plenty of room for fiction, essays, images, and poetry meeting the theme “The Storm is Coming” and the image on the submission page.

Our online short story workshop is also up and running. Please visit the website for more information.

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New online short story workshop!

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Sarah

Sleeping Cat Books is proud to announce that we’ve just opened the doors of a new workshop! This online self-paced course will walk you through the creation of a short story (up to 5,000 words) in 10 lessons, with personalized email feedback on the exercises that accompany each lesson. We’ll help you each step of the way with valuable guidance and assistance after each lesson. When you reach the end of the course, you should have a new, complete work of fiction ready to submit to a publication. As part of your course fee, we’ll also review this short story and provide you a full written critique (a $70+ value).

Please visit our workshop page to sign up for this workshop, and to see everything else Sleeping Cat Books has to offer. The first two lessons and the personal feedback that comes with them are provided absolutely free of charge. While you’re there, don’t forget to check out the Anthology submission guidelines. The deadline is 31 December for this spring anthology!

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Open call for submissions

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Sarah

Submissions are now open for the Sleeping Cat Books anthology to be published in the spring of 2012. This anthology will be a black and white paperback, and may include essays, short fiction, poetry, B&W photography, or B&W graphic images. We will consider any genre, as long as the submission relates to or typifies the theme and cover artwork. We’re looking for submissions that clearly portray the tension of an approaching storm, whether actual or metaphorical. No pornographic content, or any material that would not make it into a rated R movie.

Please include a bio paragraph in the cover letter of your submission. Submissions will only be accepted through the button on our website.

Fiction/essays should be no more than 5,000 words.

Photos/images will be printed full page (full bleed) and must be exactly 5.125″ by 8.25″, at least 300 dpi, and may be either landscape or portrait. Keep in mind that the left side of a portrait image or the top of a landscape image will run completely into the binding of the book and should not contain critical elements of the image.

Deadline for submission: 31 December 2011
Theme: The Storm is Coming (cover below)
Submission fee: Free
Contributor compensation: Those whose work is chosen for inclusion will receive one complimentary copy of the anthology, and will also be eligible to purchase up to 10 copies at production cost plus S&H, rather than retail.

Anthology cover
Potential cover for upcoming anthology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Driving Website Traffic

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Sarah

You’ve published a book and set up a website or blog to get the word out, but you’re just not seeing the traffic you’d hoped for. What to do? One answer is to start commenting on internet forums and other blogs. Find the most popular blogs in your genre and become a regular commenter. Find writing and publishing forums and try to help other writers with their questions or problems. Try to position yourself as an expert in your field, or just as very helpful and sharing. And always, ALWAYS include your own link in your signature line. That’s the key.

Does this actually work? Yes, it does. I’d been in a slump as far as internet traffic to my website went, with no visits at all for several days in a row. This past weekend I decided that I was going to be proactive and become a regular visitor and commenter on a POD publishing forum. I tried to answer any questions I felt I had the knowledge for, and participated in discussions. The result? My website link has been clicked many times in my signature line in those posts. It’s gratifying to view my increased web stats after such a small amount of effort. I intend to keep it up and continue to be active on this forum, and perhaps find others.

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Breaking Through the Block

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Sarah

In 2008 I participated in National Novel Writing Month and “won” by writing 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. The trouble was, my story wasn’t finished. I continued to work on it beyond NaNoWriMo, but stalled out around October 2009, only adding more on two days after that.

Until today. You see, I’d grown a bit bored with where I was in the story. I’d mapped out nearly the entire plot before NaNo started, using the phase outline approach I’ve discussed in a previous post, but at the point where my committment flagged, it was starting to feel too repetitive. I told myself that I was afraid of the prospect of having to revise, and that’s why I’ve never finished a novel.

I’ve been reading Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones lately and it seems to have given me some inspiration. I opened up my novel files today, reviewed where I was in the narrative, reviewed my phase outline…and decided to cut out an entire chapter of phases. Just gone. Out the window. And the next chapter in my outline was the climax of the plot, which is what I’d been wanting to get to, apparently, because I had no problem setting to work once I’d skipped the boring part that had been staring me in the face. A little summarizing and I was off and running again. That’s not to say some of the cut phases won’t wind up in the revisions. But bypassing them now has allowed me to move forward, and that’s the important thing. You can’t publish without a finished manuscript, and you can’t have a finished manuscript without having a draft to revise.

So if you’re facing “the wall” in your work, think about skipping the part that’s giving you trouble and writing a scene that you can see clearly in your head—the scene that’s just been dying to get out and on the paper. Sometimes what we call writer’s block is really just our subconscious telling us that this part that’s holding us back isn’t really important to the story.

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Audiobook Month

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Sarah

June is Audiobook Month. The Audio Publishers Association (APA) will be doing lots of promotion this month of audiobooks through social media like Facebook,Twitter, and YouTube with the help of famous authors like Deepak Chopra, Judy Blume, and Sue Grafton. Many people find audiobooks a great substitute to reading a physical book, especially when commuting to and from work or travelling.

Personally, I find that my comprehension of any material is much lower if I listen to someone read it to me than if I see the printed words myself. I’ve never actually tried to listen to an audiobook, but I can’t imagine that it would be much different than having someone read a piece of a news article to me. I just can’t seem to grasp the full content without seeing the text myself. Perhaps the type imprints itself and imparts its meaning more directly to my conscious thought than sounds coming through my auditory system can. I’m interested in others’ experiences with audiobooks or having someone read anything to you. Perhaps it could be related to the right brain/left brain differences?

That said, I recently read an article in The Writer magazine (“Writing out loud” by Randall Silvis, May 2011) about listening to your own work in draft form. The article points out that “Reading is an aural experience. …When we read, we hear the words.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. When I read, I can hear characters’ voices in my head. I can hear the poetry in particularly well-written prose. We’ve all read works where the words have their own lilt, their own music in your head.

In order to achieve this music in their own work, Silvis and others recommend that writers either have someone read their draft back them, or record themselves reading the draft and then play it back. This allows the author to note any awkward phrases or stumbling blocks in their phrasing, as well as dialogue that doesn’t ring true.

So in the spirit of Audiobook Month, why don’t you try creating an audiobook of your draft, even if it’s just for your own editing use?

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Author Websites

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Sarah

As an author, should you have your own website? Short answer: yes. Absolutely. Every author needs a platform from which to sell their work, and a website is an integral part of that platform. Whether you’ve been published by a traditional publishing house or have self-published, you and your work need that web presence in order to reach your readers, and to find new ones. In fact, having a platform (and website) already in place when you query or submit to an agent or editor is a vital part of gaining acceptance. In addition to solid writing, publishers want to see that you are dedicated to marketing your own work, as they generally have very little time, money, and staff to do it all for you. If you can show that you have an audience and marketing in place in your query or submission letter, you’re that much closer to gaining a contract.

Do you need to pay for web hosting and register your own domain name? Not necessarily. Your author web presence can certainly be at your own name, or your book’s name, but you can just as easily build your platform on one of the blogging sites, such as this one. Many authors have done exactly that. Blogging is a great way to keep in touch and connect with your readers, as well as gain new ones if your content is interesting to them. In addition, many blogging sites allow you to add other pages to your blog, and plug-ins, that can give you the opportunity to create an actual web “store” from which to sell your work. Some authors even share previously unpublished work for free on their sites in the form of serial blogs, posting one chapter at a time, to keep their readers engaged.

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Free First Page Critique

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Sarah

I’ve subscribed to The Writer magazine for a few years now, and I always find helpful information between its covers. In the March issue, I found something particularly intriguing that I thought I’d share. It was a new bi-monthly column by author Peter Selgin (2007 Flannery O’Connor Award winner for Fiction) based on his blog Your First Page. In this blog, and the column, Selgin critiques the anonymous first page of a novel (up to 350 words). His goal with The Writer column is to use both good and bad first pages, and to point out exactly what does and doesn’t work with each. With the blog, Selgin provides his critique of the page, then readers are invited to add their own critiques in the comments.

Submission of your own first page is free. The guidelines for submission are on the blog, with the understanding that submitting your work grants Selgin the right to quote from it (anonymously) in other forms, including using the page in its entirety in The Writer column.

I’ve got two works-in-progress that I’m tempted to submit…but I’m not sure if my skin is quite thick enough for the potentially harsh critique. Selgin certainly doesn’t pull any punches if he thinks the work needs…well, work.

But this first page exercise has an immense amount of value to a hopeful writer. The first page is the face your work shows the world. If this page doesn’t shine for all it’s worth, how can you expect an agent or editor to turn to the next one? So risking a potentially harsh review of your baby’s face may be just the thing you need if you think it’s ready to go out into the world.

If you do send Your First Page in and receive a critique on it…do comment here and let us know how it went! If I can work up the courage to send either of mine in, I’ll be sure to post a bit about my results, too.

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