Your Story = $500 ... maybe

The Sarasota Fiction Writers is sponsoring a Short Story Competition that is open to anyone, whether or not you're a member of SFW. The competition is also open to any genre: literary, mystery, romance, science fiction, 'slice of life,' whatever. It MUST, however, be FICTION. No memoirs or non-fiction articles will be accepted. And there is a limit of 2,500 words. The stories will be professionally judged by published authors.

Your name, address, word count, and email address should appear on the TITLE PAGE ONLY. On the rest of the manuscript pages there should be a header with ONLY the title and page number on each page.

Mutiple submissions are permitted but please submit only your absolute best stuff. There is a $10 reading/submission fee for each entry. Checks or money orders should be payable to: Sarasota Fiction Writers. Deadline for submissions is March 31st, 2008.

The Winner-Take-All Grand Prize is $500!

Mail your entries to: Joanne Lally, 15040 Faulkner Avenue, Port Charlotte, FL, 33953. Check www.myspace.com/sarasotafictionwriters for any updates. If additional information is needed contact Joanne Lally at sfwnewsletter@hotmail.com.

The winner will be announced at the July 2nd, 2008, meeting of the Sarasota Fiction Writers and will be posted on the SFW blog and on the SFW MySpace page on July 3rd. International fame and unbelievable riches SHOULD follow shortly thereafter ... maybe.

Russ Heitz
www.russheitz.com

Simon & Schuster Seeks Rights Forever -- Is This A Sign of Things To Come?

(The following article excerpt was taken from the SCBWI BULLETIN. The statement was originally released by the Author's Guild. The SCBWI is the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.)

"Simon & Schuster has changed its standard contract language in an attempt to retain exclusive control of books even after they have gone out of print. Until now, Simon & Schuster, like all other major trade publishers, has followed the traditional practice in which rights to a work revert to the author if the book falls out of print or if its sales are low.

"The publisher is signaling that it will no longer include minimum sales requirements for a work to be considered in print. Simon & Schuster is apparently seeking nothing less than an exclusive grant of rights in perpetuity. Effectively, the publisher would co-own your copyright.

"The new contract would allow Simon & Schuster to consider a book in print, and under its exclusive control, so long as it's available in any form, including through its own in-house database -- even if no copies are available to be ordered by traditional bookstores.

"Other major trade publishers are not seeking a similar perpetual grant of rights."

(To which I might add, "Yet." -- Ed.)

"The Author's Guild puts it bluntly: 'Your book will live and die with this particular conglomerate.' Until an agreement can be reached, the Author's Guild advises authors to proceed with caution."

Russ Heitz
www.russheitz.com
www.crimespace.ning.com/profile/1essej

New Story Published by Madeline

Madeline Mora-Summonte's humorous new story, THE WEDDING CRASHERS, has recently been published by http://www.everydayfiction.com/ and is now available to the whole country. Nay, to the WHOLE WORLD! (Thanks to the wonderful Internet.) When you go to the everydayfiction site, just check out the December Table of Contents. The publication of this cute little story is another step upward in Madeline's writing career and a step we are all pleased to see. She has also updated her website, http://www.madelinemora-summonte.com/ so check that out, too. And keep your fingers crossed. Madeline has been shopping around for an agent and one of these days one of them is going to wake up and see the potential. Keep the faith, Madeline! As the barber said when he shaved Britney's head, it won't be long now.

Russ Heitz,
http://www.russheitz.com/