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 the best last line for novel or a short story.

The next contest starts at 9 am PST on Saturday.

The Winner:

Runner Up:

Editor’s Choice:

As an indie writer struggling build a career, it can be easy to lose sight of many things. Unless you’re fortunate enough to have friends in high places or you’re just plain lucky, you must devote a substantial amount of time to your career. It doesn’t take long to realize how frustrating and exhausting of a path you’ve chosen. The secret I’ve discovered after almost two decades in the writing business is there are two ways to approach a writing career, a really tough path and a much easier, rewarding, and more enjoyable one.

I’m embarrassed to admit that for the first sixteen years of my writing career I chose the tough path. The tough path is thinking that you can do it all yourself, being overly protective of your ideas, thinking you have nothing more to learn, and not taking the time to connect with others in the business. I’ve found that this tough path only leads to wasted time, frustration, exhaustion, and despair.

As I trudged down the tough path I eventually felt as though my career as a writer would never go anywhere. I was ripped off by vanity publishers who charged substantial fees to publish my books and then set the retail price so high that no one would buy them.  I also spent lots of money and energy on ineffective marketing and wasted years reading books that didn’t help my writing career one bit.

When I was entangled in the tough path I felt as though there was only a certain amount of success to be had in the writing business and if I shared my knowledge someone else would get my piece of it. If I only would have asked for the advice of other, more experienced, authors. Most of these costly mistakes could have been avoided. The tough path left me tired and unfulfilled.

I joke that it only took me a decade and a half to discover an easier and more effective way to find success as an author. I’m sure it wouldn’t take you as long to figure it out but let me share the big secret with you now so you don’t have to wait another second. The quicker, easier, and more pleasurable path to becoming a successful indie author is comprised of two parts. First you have admit to yourself that you don’t know it all and you must be open and receptive of ideas from others who have achieved greater success. Secondly, you must be willing to share what your knowledge with other authors who are not yet as successful. You must simply pay it forward.

It took me a long while to learn that an indie author’s level of success is a direct reflection of the breadth of their knowledge of this business. As an indie author, if you haven’t achieved the level of success you want for yourself, you’re not a bad writer. You simply have more to learn. It doesn’t matter what level of success you’ve achieved in your writing career, anyone can pay it forward. Even if you consider your success to be meager there are thousands of writers who are a few rungs lower on the ladder who could benefit from the knowledge you have accumulated. Sometimes when you help others they will be inspired to return the favor and teach you something as well.

A kind of magic occurs when you begin putting this simple philosophy into practice. What paying it forward encourages is an honest and organic form of networking, the sharing of ideas and relationships.  As human beings, we’re social by nature. This is how it’s meant to work. Paying it forward will benefit you in ways you can’t even anticipate.

I’ve found that sharing knowledge with other writers revitalizes my energy and optimism in my own career. Communicating with others in the business also serves as a sort of idea generator for all parties involved. In the process of sharing I’ve also developed a deeper appreciation and respect for the craft of writing as well as for other indie authors and their triumphs and struggles. We’re all sharing this arduous yet incredibly rewarding journey together so why shouldn’t we try to help one another?

Sometimes paying it forward can be as easy as sharing the fanbase you’ve worked so hard to build. Every week I run a promotion on my Facebook author page called, “Showcase Saturday”. Each Saturday I open up my page to other authors and encourage them to post their writing and links to where people can purchase and learn more about their work. This requires very little effort on my part but helps other authors reach a wider audience. I love reading these posts and the feeling I get from helping these writers is priceless.

I believe that good writing speaks for itself and sometimes lack of audience is an author’s only impediment to taking their careers to the next level. I’ve noticed authors who participate in this Showcase Saturday event also regularly share my posts on their pages which results in the potential for more likes and follows for my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I also regularly post motivational quotes and links to educational articles for indie authors on my social media sites. Since the publication of my novel, “Alarm Clock Dawn” in 2013, I’ve started receiving a steady stream of questions from others about self publishing and other areas of the writing business. Indie authors are hungry for knowledge, they’re tired of feeling as though their careers are “stuck”.  It’s not always easy to find the time to answer these questions but I know what they’re going through so it’s important to me that I make the time. This outpouring of questions was one of the main motivators for me to write my soon to be released book for Indie authors on how to build a successful writing career.

In the eighteen months since I’ve put the paying it forward philosophy into practice my, fanbase on social media doubled, then tripled and continues to grow. The benefits of following this pleasurable path are much greater than increased readership. I’ve also received paying jobs as well as practical knowledge. Through relationships I’ve made in the last year I’ve begun to receive regular freelance magazine work and soon hope to finally land a literary agent.

A fellow indie author who I assisted with some questions offered to promote my writing and new book launch on her blog. I discovered this same author also teaches college courses and is going to share the story of my career as part of her curriculum to other beginning writers. Another fellow indie author educated me about the importance of submitting to literary journals and how being published in them can grow your career. Shortly afterwards a senior editor of a literary journal that I submitted my poetry to agreed to publish a few of my poems, a short story, and even help promote my new book on writing.

This concept of paying it forward is not just some new age hippy mumbo jumbo but rather something that is measurable. If you’re feeling unfulfilled as a writer you can easily try this method yourself.  First you must, as objectively as possible, analyze the current approach you’re taking to building your writing career. This step takes guts and only works if you’re honest with yourself. If you find, like most of us do, that you’re still hanging on to some elements of the “tough path,” begin to change your course. Open your mind and start sharing your knowledge with others.  Also be receptive of other’s ideas and feedback and see what happens.

Even if you’re not totally convinced this concept will work, try paying it forward for a few months. Since most of us are utilizing Facebook and Twitter the number of likes and follows are a simple way to measure how your approach is working. Throughout this process take note of the changes you experience in yourself and your writing career. I assure that you’ll be pleased with the results.

Bio:

Eric Vance Walton invites you to follow his unfolding story by “liking” his Facebook author page at https://www.facebook.com/EricVanceWaltonAuthor for updates and promotions on his current and upcoming projects.

You can buy Eric’s new book One Word At A Time: Finding Your Way as an Indie Author, on Amazon in print or as an ebook.

Your prompt this week is to take the following phrases “Didn’t want to be your ghost, Didn’t want to be anyone’s ghost” from the song Anyone’s Ghost and turn these two lines into the foundation for a short story or a poem.

You can use an abbreviated version of the lyrics for the title, or you can embed part of the lyrics in the work your writing, or you can just incorporate the ideas contained in the lyrics in your short story or poem.

Have fun with this. Experiment with this idea. I think this prompt works best if you set a ten minute timer before starting. Happy writing!

Coffeeshop Blues Journal should have a quick turn around rate as they are open to submissions till the 26th of October and the issue is published by the end of November. This means that you should know relatively quickly if your work was accepted or not. Turnaround time that is this quick, is very unusual for a print journal

I am wary of the website and the publishing company, as both seem to be rather homegrown and associated with self publishing, however the literary journal does not seem to have any fees attached and their first issue is available on Amazon with a number of good reviews.

If you are just starting out as a writer this seems like a good place to start, a small journal with print issues and involved editors. If you are more focused on prestigious and established publications this might not be the right fit for you.

All submissions must be made via email. Prose submissions should 3-6 pages in length. Poetry submissions can include up to 6 poems.

To learn more or to submit visit their website at: http://www.coreopsis.gs/submissionscontactus.html

They also run a very popular blog in the book community called the Airship that draws a fair amount of readers in.

Black Balloon Publishing only has ten books out right now. Because of that small number of books it is easy to see they are rejecting a fair number of manuscripts. The books that they have published include an illustrated novel, a novel in translation, a collection of short fiction, and an anthology of writers writing about their favorite bars. It is good to look over what they have previously published to see if your work would fit in there.

To submit your work to them you use submittable, the submission manager used mostly by literary journals and a few small presses. There submittable has a separate category for the submission of illustrated novels, so clearly that is a sub-genre they are particularly interested in. You should include a cover letter with your manuscript submissions. They have no specific guidelines for what the cover letter should contain.

To learn more about Black Balloon Publishing you can visit their website here. They usually only read manuscripts twice a year. This year they plan to be open in August. They also host contests (but fees are involved).