Sub Club Weekly Digest # 5
10/25/24 New interview series, more naming prizes, lots of content.
Lots of updates for today’s round-up so first thing’s first! We had over 150 recommendations for column names for our ‘Story Doctors’ (no longer called that) column. There were so many good ones, we had to pick 4 and let you all vote for the winner!
And this was such a better way to pick names for things (usually we just shout increasingly silly ones at each other until we find the bottom of the barrel). So! We want to try it again this week. Same deal. If we pick the name you suggest in the comments, we’ll pay you $50 and comp you a year of Sub Club! So, what is it this time?
A career-focused jobs-board style newsletter aggregating all of the employment opportunities in the writing and publishing world (including internships and volunteer work). The best way to learn in the writing world is to work in it, so we wanted to help folks find those opportunities. But geeeez, we cannot think of a name for this thing. So, who can help? It’ll be bi-weekly and no, I was told we can’t call it “Gatekeepers Wanted.”
So, yep. $50 + 1-year comp if we choose your name for this column. Sound off in the comments, no limits.
Also, if you're someone with a job for writers, we have a form you can fill out now.
→ List a job for Sub Club readers. ←
What we published this week!
Whew, it was a lot. So, the usual:
In Where to Query this Week we had a guest essay from Kolina Cicero along with 15 agents looking for literary fiction.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely either preparing for or are already entrenched in querying literary agents. When I was querying, I was unquenchably desirous for articles about other authors’ experiences. I lapped it all up, simultaneously feeling better and worse about myself in the process.
In Where to Pitch this Week with Amber Petty we had some great advice for pitching into the new year:
As the holidays get closer, people pitch a lot of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah stories. But a lot of writers sleep on New Year's Eve and New Year’s Day. Editors need lots of New Year’s stories. At least the first two weeks of January are filled with New Year spirit and they need to give readers some winter inspiration.
And we launched our latest series, “On Something with Somebody.” It is an interview series that will come out every other Tuesday. We’ll have two recurring columns in it. Subs & Chill with Kailey DelloRusso, and Pubs & Chill with David Mahaffey (more on those when they officially launch). You can read our first one with Kevin Wilson here.
Oh, yeah, it can be learned. Writing is craft-based. It’s a technical form. Talent is impossible to fully define, and it’s a shifting metric, so at the end of the day, you have to rely on the technical ability that allows you to simply make the thing you want to make.
And Bea came through with another bang-on Sub Club Special:
A submission list is never one magazine long (unless you're, like, George Saunders), so the least I can do is provide some sort of comps, on paper and (as best I can) in tone/style/vibe. I've pulled (loosely) from the Chill Subs lists of popular/competitive magazines to find the most beloved magazines that it might help to have other options for.
Reminder! We have segmented this whole newsletter so you can have the experience that fits your needs. All of our content is set into different series that you can turn on and off to avoid any unwanted inbox clutter. Just go to this link to find the toggles for each series: → Manage your subscription ←
Upcoming Events!
We’ve got some more Fuck it, Submit! Parties scheduled. These are one-hour events every week for folks to come and submit together. We will be there to answer any questions about the submission process and, you know, just be super awkward in the background. Here is where you can register:
October 28th at 9:00 AM EST » REGISTER HERE
November 7th at 12:00 PM EST » REGISTER HERE
Some new automated lists on Chill Subs
Our parent company (lol, parent…can toddlers parent? idk) has some new forever auto-updating lists for speculative fiction writers:
I know, I didn’t know The Sun published speculative fiction either. But they do. And it’s awesome.
OK, I think that’s it this week. If you love all we’re doing the best way to help is by sharing or signing up as a paid subscriber.
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