Parisian Phoenix Publishing

I recently had someone mention to me that its hard to find resources for beginning writers, or writers who don’t have experience seeking out opportunities. It’s a skill that writers and authors develop over time— finding resources. If I had to make a recommendation on the fly, here are some resources I’d recommend:

• Submittable. Submittable is a database of artistic opportunities that can be sorted by genre, deadline, or even if it costs money. It allows you to find publications, track the status of your work, and compare entrance fees. Plus, the way the database works, it links to the publication’s web site so you can peruse it and decide if it’s a good fit.
• Facebook special interest groups. Now, as with anything on social media, don’t believe everything you read. I join a lot of these groups on lurk on 90% of them 99% of the time. It allows me to spot trends, see what other people are doing, and learn to spot opportunities versus scams.
• Poets & Writers. Poets & Writers (pw.org) is a nonprofit organization with one of the densest magazines you’ll ever see. I used to say that new writers read Writer’s Digest, and then graduated to The Writer (www.writermag.com) before leveling up again to Poets & Writers.
• Websites. The oldie but goodie on this list is Writer Beware. I get a newsletter from Author Publish magazine that seems to offer a different genre every issue. Write or Die Magazine has cool emails with lots of workshop opportunities and hats that say… you guessed it… “Write or Die.”
• Reedsy. Reedsy offers a catalog of professionals and a lot of free introductory workshops. I attend a lot of them— just to make see what other professionals are saying and doing.

I will be adding more as I think of them to my homepage on Substack.