{"id":12178,"date":"2010-06-24T22:21:07","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T02:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=12178"},"modified":"2010-06-24T22:21:07","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T02:21:07","slug":"an-international-list-of-writing-organizations-and-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/24\/an-international-list-of-writing-organizations-and-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"An International List of Writing Organizations and Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laura Popp<\/a> (Mie-ken, 2009-Present)<\/em><\/strong> is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright\/film maker.\u00a0 Her short work includes a short story titled \u201cIn theShadow Realm<\/strong><\/a>\u201d and a documentary<\/a> she made in Malawi.\u00a0 To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, go to her blog at laurajanepopp.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is a practical list of organizations, market guides, and networking opportunities for jump starting your writing career.\u00a0 My apologies that it is heavy on the America and Speculative Fiction side, but that is who I am and what I write, so that is what I know best.\u00a0 But hopefully everyone can find something useful from this list:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Your best friend for meeting publishers and agents is writers\u2019 and fan conferences<\/strong>, especially if you can get one-on-one consultations!\u00a0 Every state in America has at least one per year.\u00a0 The one I always attend is the Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc.<\/strong> conference the first weekend in May (http:\/\/www.owfi.org\/<\/a>).\u00a0 Next year it will be May 5th<\/sup>-7th<\/sup>.\u00a0 It`s one of the best in America.\u00a0 If you happen to live near the Oklahoma area, there is also Tulsa Nightwriters, CrossRoads Writers Critique Group, Oklahoma Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers, Fellowship of Christian Writers, and the Conestoga conference, all of which can be googled.\u00a0 If you live in other areas, simply google \u201c(your state\/province\/country) writers\u201d and you will no doubt come up with a host of organizations, conferences, and events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are some groups in Japan:<\/p>\n

Osaka<\/strong> Readers and Writer`s Club: Meets every Saturday to read and critique:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/topic.php?uid=84878668917&topic=13137#!\/group.php?gid=35793654598&ref=search<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Nagoya<\/strong> Writers: http:\/\/nagoyawrites.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Tokyo<\/strong> Writers Salon: http:\/\/ja-jp.facebook.com\/posted.php?id=16353897846<\/a><\/p>\n

Japan Writers Conference:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.japanwritersconference.org\/<\/a> (This year being held in Tokyo October 10th<\/sup>-11.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The best writing reference, in my humble opinion, is Writers` Market.<\/strong>\u00a0 It comes out every September and you can get it at almost any bookstore (where English is the main spoke language; and where not, you can buy it online). \u00a0It features over 8,000 book, magazine, script, and poetry editors and agents to buy your writing. You have to get the latest one because it becomes totally obsolete in six months. For a more fluid, long-lasting reference, you can subscribe to www.writersmarket.com<\/a>.\u00a0 There`s a similar one for Christian Writers called Christian Writers<\/strong>` Market<\/strong> Guide:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.stuartmarket.com\/<\/a> and for kids and teens called Children`s Writers <\/strong>and Illustrators Market<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.cwim.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Libraries <\/strong>often host events for writers and contests.\u00a0 By winning a number of these contests, I\u2019ve gained some really useful contacts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A really prestigious sci-fi\/fantasy writers group is Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America- commonly called SFWA. http:\/\/www.sfwa.org\/<\/a><\/strong> \u00a0In order to join you must have sold three short stories, a novel, or a screenplay in one of those genres to be in it, but it`s really worth it. \u00a0Even for non-members they are a vast resource for markets and other information.<\/p>\n

This is a link to Australian Speculative Fiction<\/strong> markets: http:\/\/www.cs.cmu.edu\/~mslee\/mag.html<\/a>.\u00a0 And this one is international<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.sff.net\/people\/julia.west\/markets.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Fangs, Fur, and Fey<\/strong> (http:\/\/community.livejournal.com\/fangs_fur_fey) is an online community for urban fantasy\/paranormal authors.\u00a0 They\u2019re great for networking and critiquing. \u00a0The Absolute Write<\/strong> is another great online group of critiquers for any writer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some agents with very helpful blogs<\/strong> about the industry are Nathan Bransford<\/strong>, Miss Snark<\/strong>, and Kristin Nelson<\/strong>.\u00a0 They actually tell step by step how to submit your work and write a professional query letter, including examples, along with other essential writing, selling, and marketing tools.\u00a0 The Guide to Literary Agents<\/strong> blog is my personal favorite, especially the new agent alerts! http:\/\/www.guidetoliteraryagents.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The international Writers of the Future Contest<\/strong> is how a lot of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers are getting started these days.\u00a0 If you win (hard, but doable) they really promote your work and send you to a week-long conference with dozens of agents and editors present.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.writersofthefuture.com\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more general genres, there is the international Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest <\/strong>held in February every year.\u00a0 The odds at winning (with 5,000 entrants in both adult and young adult categories) are very low, but even making it to the quarterfinalist round is something you could put on a resume or a query letter to a publisher\/agent.\u00a0 That goes for all contests, actually.<\/p>\n

Four small to medium press publishers interested in fantasy, science fiction and horror are Zumaya Publications, Yard Dog press<\/strong>, Double Dragon<\/strong>, and Baen Books.\u00a0 <\/strong>They don\u2019t require an agent to submit work to them.<\/p>\n

Society of Children`s Book Writers and Illustrators <\/strong>is one of the most prestigious international writing groups in the world and is for authors of work for toddlers to teens. There are three levels of membership depending on your level of publication. They host events, critique groups, and conferences all over the world.\u00a0 I am a member of both the Tokyo and Oklahoma chapters.\u00a0 Here is their website: http:\/\/www.scbwi.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For freelance writing opportunities<\/strong>, try checking caigslist<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.craigslist.org\/about\/sites<\/a>.\u00a0 I`ve had a number of friends who got gigs this way. Here`s a link to an interesting submission request for science fiction writing out of Osaka: http:\/\/osaka.craigslist.jp\/wrg\/1780784902.html<\/a>. Elance is another one that looks to be quite useful to us writer sorts.<\/p>\n

And hopefully that will keep you busy for awhile!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laura Popp (Mie-ken, 2009-Present) is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright\/film maker.\u00a0 Her short work includes a short story titled \u201cIn theShadow Realm\u201d and a documentary she made in Malawi.\u00a0 To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, go to her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[73,4,7,40,10,53,3,45,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advice","category-articlejournalism","category-blogs","category-books","category-career","category-events","category-jobs","category-networking","category-writers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-3aq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12179,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12178\/revisions\/12179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}