Perhaps your dog had puppies, or you had to babysit a stranger’s child for an hour. Nothing life changing. If you want it can even be pretty insignificant, like a description of your normal morning, or cooking dinner. Make sure you choose an event before you read the next part of the prompt.

Now that you know what you are going to write about, I don’t want you to write about it in a truthful way. I want you to make it exciting. I want you to write it as if it was part of a movie. It can be particularly helpful with this prompt, to pick a genre of movie first and than skew the writing in that direction. For example your story could now be part of a romantic comedy or an action movie.

I want you to set a timer and write for at least 15 minutes. I want you to have fun with this project. Happy writing!

They respond to most submissions in less than a week, but do not query unless 90 days has passed. They accept very little of the work submitted to them for consideration.

Each issue is posted online in an aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate way. It is worth reading a few pieces on the site to get a better feeling for what they publish. From what I read the poems they publish lean towards the  philosophical. The fiction is mostly pretty straightforward narrative.

The fiction and non-fiction they publish can be up to 7500 words in length. Flash fiction must be less than 1000. As for poetry they will consider up to three pieces at a time. If your work is rejected, please wait seven days before submitting again.

All submissions must be made through Submittable. They do not consider previously published pieces, and they consider any piece that has appeared online (including a personal blog) to be be previously published. They do allow simultaneous submissions.

They do not pay their writers, however they have an option to add a donation button under the piece that you have published with them. That way anyone who wants to can donate to you, directly through Paypal. It is an unusual idea and I have not seen it done by other journals. I have no idea if any of the writers actually receive money via this method.

If your work is accepted by them, they receive exclusive publication rights for three months.

To learn more to submit, visit their website at: http://www.onethrone.com/

If one is to be a writer, one has to write. In the age of the internet and busy schedules this can be a hard thing to do. A lot of people say they want to be a writer, but only after their children are in school, they retire, the summer comes, etc. . . .

This is not how writing works. You have to make time for writing, if you are going to become a writer. By creating a good, structured habit, it becomes easy to write every day and actually be rewarded by the process. So creating a good habit of daily writing is the best way to get a lot of writing done, even if you have a busy life.

A daily habit can take up to a month to establish, and sometimes more. It is best if you don’t take any days off during the early days of your new writing habit. It is also good if you keep track of everything on a calendar.

The way a habit works is very simple. MIT researchers have boiled down the habit loop to three components. The first is the cue, the second is the routine, and the third is the reward.

If something you do is a habit, the moment you encounter the cue, the routine starts and you experience the reward without even completing the task. You experience it right away.

For example, I have a faulty internet connection. Whenever it stops working I have trained myself to start writing a poem. It is my cue. The minute I start to write the poem, which is the routine I experience the reward: a satisfied and accomplished feeling. Instead of being frustrated by the weak internet connection, I use it as a way to maintain a writing habit.

The most important thing to do when establishing a habit is to pick a cue. A good way to do this is to pick something that happens every day. For example if you eat lunch every day and generally have ten minutes to spare afterwards, the end of lunch is a good cue to start writing.

It’s not ideal if your cue is something that happens most days but not all days. Pick a cue and stick to it for thirty days. The cue can be simpler and less fixed than a time of day. For my friend her cue is making a cup of tea, which she then drinks while writing.

Turning writing into a habit, and not just something you squeeze in when you have time, is one of the most important steps you can take towards becoming a professional writer. Even if you only have ten minutes a day. Remember what Ray Bradbury says “You only fail if you stop writing.”

Bio: Emily Harstone is the pen name of an author whose work has been published internationally by a number of respected journals. She is a professional submissions adviser. You can follow her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/emilyharstone/

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below.

But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner and the runner up are chosen by a voting system, and then the editors of Authors Publish will select several additional entries from the rest to be the Editor’s Choice winners.

Below are all the winners of this week’s contest. This week the challenge was to write a funny New Year’s Resolution.

Winner

Runner Up:

Editor’s Choice:

Congratulations to the winners of this weeks writing contest! They are listed below.

But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner and the runner up are chosen by a voting system, and then the editors of Authors Publish will select several additional entries from the rest to be the Editor’s Choice winners.

Below are all the winners of this week’s contest. This week the challenge was to describe a family member using only 10 words. There were a lot of great entries this week.

Next weeks contest will start at 9 am PST on Saturday.

Winner:

Runner Up:

Editor’s Choice:

BenBella is a niche publishing company run by Glen Yeffeth. Yeffeth has a marketing background but he is also a lover of books. They have a good distributor and are a marketing-oriented company. The editors receive high praise for their ability to edit books. They only publish works of non-fiction. They publish between 30-40 books a year. A number of their books have been number one on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

The books they publish cover a range of topics, including cookbooks for herbivores, self-help books, and books about pop culture. By focusing on niche topics they are able to successfully market books to the right audiences. If your non-fiction topic appeals to a wide audience and covers a broad topic, it is most likely not for BenBella. They are interested in books by entrepreneurs, celebrities, and by individuals that are knowledgeable about specific events or ideas.

They are interested in books focused on pop culture, not in a general way, but on a specific show, movie, or book that already has an established fan base. For example, their Smart Pop line has had a lot of success by publishing books like The Psychology of Harry Potter, and the Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook. For more ideas of what kind of authors and works they are looking for, visit their submission page and also browse through their catalog. As a marketing focused house they have a team of seven full-time marketers and they also work with a range of outside publicists. They work with each author to create an individual marketing plan.

They offer advances of between 5K-2oK dollars. But their focus is on paying high royalties either in the form of royalty escalators or profit-sharing. For all books they pay standard big-house royalties (10%) or better.

It is not that difficult to pitch a book to BenBella. In the pitch you have to convey that you have a clear understanding about what your book is about and how it distinguishes itself from other books. Also include a statement about why you are qualified to write this book. Make it clear why you think this book would sell.

To learn more visit their submission page here.