From Chip online:
You might also want to check out the free classbook and individual storybook production (we call “publishing”) offered to elementary and middle school classrooms at http://www.kidpub.com
Thanks Chuck! I checked out this site and it looks like a good possibility! It would be a fun and easy way for teachers and students to get their work in a book. There are also helpful, free tips and handouts about writing here. Visit the site! Liz
From Fatima, a student online:
There are some more places where teens’ and kids’ writings can get published that I think aren’t on this site which I thought would be interesting and fun.
1. Magic Dragon: This is a magazine which accepts writing and art http://www.magicdragonmagazine.com/index.htm
2. KidPub: This publishes your own book and sells copies of it on Amazon http://www.kidpub.com/publish-my-book
3. The Claremont Review: Annual contest for poetry and fiction http://www.theclaremontreview.ca/annual_contest.htm
4. Doodle 4 Google: contest to reinvent Google’s homepage logo. This accepts K-12 students’ art work http://www.google.com/doodle4google/index.html
****
Excellent suggestions, Fatima! Thank you! I didn’t know about any of these and I appreciate them very much. I will add them to my list.
Note that #2 costs money for publication of a book. Remember that “real” publishers NEVER ask writers for money to publish anything. However, if you would like a book of yours published for a fee, you are welcome to do this.
#3, The Claremont Review, is a contest that charges money as an entry fee to raise funds in order to hold the contest.
#4 has some fabulous prizes for student artists! Take a look at the site, because there are some amazing designs of the Google logo.
Thanks again for amazing opportunities for creativity! If anyone else finds more, send them in. And for other ideas, see the list at right.
A helpful Contra Costa Public Librarian (thank you Linda Phillips!) showed me another market for girls ages 13 – 19. You may submit your writing, art, or a description of your activism for publication in Teen Voices, an online publication. (see the link below) Visit the website for specific submission policy details. As in any market, study the website information, the past issues, and the guidelines very carefully before you submit.
Good luck!
http://www.teenvoices.com/issue_current/tvsubmit_form.php
When is the due date? Is there a link with additional information? Fatima
There is no set due date. They anticipate more publications so I assume if a ms. doesn’t make the editorial cut for on issue, it will be considered for the next, just like in other newspapers and magazines.
Just like you, when I found out about them, I wondered about a website but they don’t have one. They are full-time students so are concentrating on putting out the journal right now. You know how busy students are!
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to the opening party of Bread and Circuses, the lit journal from our very own Contra Costa County. The first issue was made possible by a grant from Youth Speaks. Although students from Miramonte High School are its editors, it is unaffiliated with the school.
Senior Annelyse Gelman, editor-in-chief, tells me they are open to submissions of poetry, prose, letters, recipes, reviews, interviews, manifestos, photos, scripts, confessions, paintings, collages, essays, cartoons, found art . . . all can be submitted by anyone . . . any age.
The second issue will be out this summer, so submit your best work to breadandcircuseszine (at) gmail (dot) com. Her note says to leave the email formatted like that so she doesn’t get spam. My question is how will the email get through like that? But then, this is from me, the most non-techno person blogging today . . .
Will you send a letter commenting or replying back on everybody else’s entry? When? Lauren
Good question! We have sent ONE letter to each person who entered. So if you entered FIVE pieces you will receive ONE letter. This is a contest, so we don’t provide a critique.
If you entered the contest and didn’t receive a letter, it means that you didn’t fill out a form or if you did we couldn’t read it!
I have a few names that do not have any addresses “attached” to them.
Honorable mentions were mailed to the schools or to the students. (I tried to send them to the schools when possible to save postage.)
Any teacher whose student won 1, 2, or 3 received a letter and an invitation to our banquet on May 9 along with the winning student.
Each student who entered our contest also received a list of what places are interested in publishing student poems, personal experience pieces and short stories. We encourage you to do this!
Students who don’t win our contest STILL can get published other places and win OTHER contests. And if you are in 6 or 7 grades this year, you can enter our contest again next year.
Tips:
1. If you didn’t win this year, and wonder why, remember that sometimes it’s just the competition and not your work.
2. Take your piece and ask your teacher or a writer what you could do to make it better. Or now that you’ve had some time away from it, maybe you know the answer to this question yourself. We adult writers ALWAYS let time pass by before we submit anything to publishers. Time is our friend. Time helps us see where we can make a story or poem have more sensory details, express more feeling, or make it more compelling to the reader.
3. My advice is to enter the contest AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN. Start writing NOW for next April. Really! We’ve discovered that the more you write, the better you get. And often the kids who have more entries have better odds of winning. In our past, we have had kids who have won MORE THAN ONE PRIZE.
4. If you have general writing questions – – go ahead and ask them here! Or attend our FREE writing workshops. Author Sarah Wilson (Susie) and I teach them through the Contra Costa Library system.
5. I’ll give more specific writing tips as time goes on. Stay tuned.
Bread & Circuses is a new zine produced by the members of the Orinda Poetry Project. We welcome submissions of original and unpublished poetry, prose, letters, recipes, reviews, interviews, manifestos, photos, scripts, confessions, paintings, collages, essays, cartoons, found art, and anything else you’d like to contribute. Experimental work is encouraged.
The first issue of Bread & Circuses will be published in March 2009. There is no formal submission deadline, but we will review submissions in the order they are received, so submitting sooner is to your advantage. We may accept work to be published in the April issue if you submit too late.
Submissions should be emailed to breadandcircuseszine(at)gmail(dot)com with “Submission” in the subject line and your full name and phone number in the body of the email.
Attach .doc, .rtf, or .txt files for written work, and .jpgs for artwork. You may include a bio if you like. Artwork should be reproducible in black and white, and nondigital work may be scanned at high resolution or photographed with good lighting and focus. To submit art or writing by postal mail, please email us for guidelines.
You may submit as many things as you like, but keep in mind that we are a small group of people with a relatively small amount of money and aren’t going to publish your 50-page love poem. On a similar note, by submitting to Bread & Circuses, you grant permission for us to publish your work in print and/or online, so do make sure your boyfriend won’t mind that love letter being printed before you send it.
In order to keep the zine free for everyone, we regret that we are unable to pay contributors at this time except with copies and adoration. If we ever start making money, we promise we’ll share it. For now, the printing costs of our first issue are subsidized by a generous grant from Youth Speaks.
Feel free to email us with questions, comments, interesting facts, your favorite kind of candy, and, of course, your submissions. Thanks for your interest!
What Makes a Winning Essay/Personal Narrative?
What is a personal narrative?
A personal narrative is a story about a memory.
What is an essay? An essay IS a personal narrative, or it can be a piece of writing about any topic you choose because you want to find the truth in that experience.
1. Determine if your essay/personal narrative is really nonfiction. Although you may use techniques of fiction, your piece must be your thoughts and experiences. (This is not a “made-up” story. Visit the short story page for more information about fiction.)
Examples of essays are:
Personal narrative—a story that happened to you! How has it changed you in some way?
Opinion Piece—your opinion and why you feel that way.
1. Make sure your essay/personal narrative has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
2. Engage your reader with an intriguing beginning. Introduce your experience with humor, action, or emotion; then take your reader along on a journey of self-discovery.
3. Concentrate on drama. Write scenes. Drop your reader right into what happened! Let your reader experience the event, moment by moment!
4. Use senses (sight, sound, taste, touch) to help readers feel they are in the scene. If you can’t remember the details from the event you’re recreating, imagine what they could have been.
5. Appeal to emotion to influence your readers if you are writing an opinion piece.
6. Use anecdotes to help strengthen your opinion. An anecdote is a short incident that really happened. Use storytelling techniques to make it real.
7. Show a universal truth or an insight you’ve gained from your experience. It doesn’t have to be a major drop-dead event or idea. It can be small but thoughtful. The best essay contains a fresh observation, which often is a surprise or unexpected.
8. Revise your work until you’re satisfied. Pay particular attention to the ending. Does the text build to that conclusion?
9. Write honestly and with passion. If you feel strongly about your topic, chances are so will your readers.
Bread & Circuses is a new zine produced by the members of the Orinda Poetry Project. We welcome submissions of original and unpublished poetry, prose, letters, recipes, reviews, interviews, manifestos, photos, scripts, confessions, paintings, collages, essays, cartoons, found art, and anything else you’d like to contribute. Experimental work is encouraged.
The first issue of Bread & Circuses will be published in March 2009. We review submissions in the order they are received, so submitting sooner is to your advantage.
Submissions should be emailed to breadandcircuseszine(at)gmail(dot)com with “Submission” in the subject line and your full name and phone number in the body of the email.
Attach .doc, .rtf, or .txt files for written work, and .jpgs for artwork. You may include a bio if you like. Artwork should be reproducible in black and white, and nondigital work may be scanned at high resolution or photographed with good lighting and focus. To submit art or writing by postal mail, please email us for guidelines.
You may submit as many things as you like, but keep in mind that we are a small group of people with a relatively small amount of money and aren’t going to publish your 50-page love poem. On a similar note, by submitting to Bread & Circuses, you grant permission for us to publish your work in print and/or online, so do make sure your boyfriend won’t mind that love letter being printed before you send it.
In order to keep the zine free for everyone, we regret that we are unable to pay contributors at this time except with copies and adoration. If we ever start making money, we promise we’ll share it. For now, the printing costs of our first issue are subsidized by a generous grant from Youth Speaks.
Feel free to email us with questions, comments, interesting facts, your favorite kind of candy, and, of course, your submissions. Thanks for your interest!
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