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Sime~Gen Perspectives Newsletter
December 2000
Cold-curl up-and-read-a-book-nights are coming. Fireplace, hot tea, coverlet, Rocketreader or Palm or the new eBookman -- and good Science Fiction or Romance ... nothin' better. Have you bought an ebook yet? We have over fifty titles to check out and release four titles each month. Regencies, Inspirational romance, teen reading, paranormal...something for everyone at Awe-Struck! <www.awe-struck.net>
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Contents:
FEATURE ARTICLES
NEWS
SITES TO REMEMBER
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS
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***** Feature Articles *****
** Paying Market for Articles on E-publishing
Jean Lorrah brings this to our attention.
The Kudlicka Publishing Newsletter is an e-based publication owned by the Kudlicka Publishing Company. They cover all aspects of e-book publishing. To subscribe, please visit < www.egroups.com/group/kudlickapublishing>.
They are a paying market, currently looking for articles on e-based publishing. They pay .03 cents per word upon publication. Please send queries to kudlickapublishing@hotmail.com.
Visit their web site at http://www.kudlicka.com.
** Read a Good Story, Do a Good Deed
This site offers stories and graphics for downloading. These are available on an honour system. We ask that you send donations to people in need for downloading them. All necessary information for making the donations is available at the site <www.simegen.com/simecenter>.
For December, we are pleased to announce three new stories and two new pieces of art.
"The Vanillamint Tapestry" by Jacqueline Lichtenberg is donated in support of Karen MacLeod. It's is an outer space adventure in which symbiont spies chase after a tapestry that stimulates the olfactory senses.
Celia Ann Leaman has donated her artwork "Peach Rose" to support Karen. It is sized to fit most screens as wallpaper.
E. L. Noel donated "Father's Hands" to support Tracey Palmer Laird. Her tale tells a story of an old man and a young girl who has befriended him in his dying days.
Lois June Wickstrom has donated "Phlogiston" which revisits Lavoisier's laboratory where the guillotine is sharper than Occam's razor and phlogiston was never disproved.
Tracey Palmer Laird has donated artwork on her own behalf. Her "Three Skulls" shows three desert parched skulls decked out as war bonnets.
** Useful Site for Writers
Jean Lorrah found (< http://www.simegen.com/school/business/manuscriptpreparation/taketioff.html>) "Take It All Off" by Elizabeth Burton. It is an article about how to stop your word processor from being too helpful and dribbling code you don't want all over your pages. Publishers, especially electronic publishers, require plain vanilla text.
** Publishing Opportunity
Jean Lorrah also brings to our attention the following publishing opportunities.
-- Athina Publishing is creating an anthology in celebration of women. They are seeking women-based short stories (1000-3000 words) written by women only. ALL proceeds will be donated to the Breast Cancer Fund.
-- Classics Unleashed is now accepting manuscripts for its March 2001 launch. Please visit the site for more info.
http://www.classicsunleashed.com
** Read a Novel in Progress
In S~G Fandom, we have posted Part III of the huge novel by Doreen Dabinette and added a handy feedback form so people can tell the author immediately what they think of the story so far. Since she's still writing it -- that gives readers power over what's included in the rest of the story.
< www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/cz/> -- cz13 and 14 have A NEW BEGINNING Parts 1-3. Part 4 may be up by January.
** Growing Reviews Area
The Reviews area, <www.simegen.com/reviews/>, is growing! Recently we launched Mystery Reviews with Beverly Rearick. She has big plans for the new Mystery area including author chats. In the last two months, Gatemasters also launched Horror Reviews with Gillian Fitzgerald, Historical Reviews with Kim Murphy, and Vampire Reviews with Carol Castellenos. These areas are receiving wonderful comments! Coming soon are Inspirational Reviews with Nancy Toback and Fantasy Reviews with Sharon McGinty. Plans are also in the works for Mainstream and Young Adult/Children. Keep a close eye on the reviews area as our growth continues to explode! Anyone interested in becoming a Reviews Gatemaster or a Book Reviewer should contact reviews@simegen.com.
** Showcasing Our Staff
Jean Lorrah has set up a page with works by simegen.com staff at <ourstaff>.
However, only a few people are represented so far. Everyone who reviews for us can promote his or her work on this special page.
** Erma Bombeck Writing Competition
Jean Lorrah brings the following to our attention.
5th Annual Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. Adults and high school students are encouraged to enter. There is no entry fee for this national competition.
The contest pays tribute to Erma Bombeck, one of America's greatest humorists, and is run by the Washington-Centerville Public Library in conjunction with the University of Dayton. (Erma's career began in her garage in Centerville, Ohio. She graduated from the University of Dayton in 1949.)
Writers are encouraged to enter their previously unpublished personal essays of 450 words or less by January 12, 2001. Winners will be published in the Centerville-Bellbrook TIMES, the Dayton DAILY NEWS and on the Internet. Cash prizes will also be awarded for the winning entries. The winners will be honored at an awards presentation on March 29, 2001.
For more information, go to: < http://alumni.udayton.edu/rd.asp?cd=erma&rf=131>. This Web site also includes content from last year's Erma Bombeck Writing Conference, including transcripts of online chats with Matt Bombeck (Erma's son) and Lee Salem (executive vice president of Universal Press Syndicate) and news articles about the conference, including one about Art Buchwald's keynote speech.
** Open Market
Tracie Clark, Director of Marketing for Romance Foretold, Inc. and Starlight Writer Publications d would like to offer an invitation to submit your unpublished novel to Starlight Writer Publications, Dark Star Publications, and Pulsar Books.
Starlight Writer Publications is actively looking for Gothic (Gothic Mansion Imprint), Regency (StarSapphire Imprint), Historical (StarDust Imprint), Historical Mystery (BlazingStar Imprint), Romantic Comedy (Sunlight Imprint), Romantic Thrillers (DeadlyKisses Imprint), Romantic Mystery (MoonShadow Imprint), Fantasy (MoonStar Imprint), Romantic Science Fiction (StarFarer Imprint), Paranormal and Time Travel (StarryNight Imprint), AND our two new Imprints of StarShine - Older heroine love story and our new Anthology group — Tales of the Spirit and Hope, Love and Redemption.
Authors can send a detailed query letter and synopsis to subs@starpublications.com for any of the above Imprints at Starlight Writer Publications.
Pulsar Books is open for submissions for all of its General Fiction genres of Action, Espionage, Military, History, Western, Horror, Fantasy, Mystery and Suspense, and Thriller. All submissions to Pulsar Books are to be sent to subs@pulsarbooks.com. Please include a detailed query letter and synopsis.
Dark Star Publications is looking for submissions in the following categories: Dark Science Fiction/Fantasy (includes Sword & Sorcery), Dark Futuristic/Fantasy (SFR’S--Includes Dark Romantic Futuristic/Fantasy), Dark Romantic (Includes Romantic Paranormal and Romantic Time Travel), and Thriller/Suspense Horror Anthologies
Please send all submissions with a detailed query letter, synopsis and the first chapter of your submission in the body of the email to publisher@darkstarpublications.com.
Our current guidelines for books being submitted are:
MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING GUIDELINES/SUBMISSION FORMATTING GUIDELINES
Single spaced
No page numbers
No Footer
ONLY THE TITLE OF THE BOOK in the header
ALL underlined words or phrases changed to ITALICS
Cover page to include in the Upper Left Hand Corner:
Author's Name
Author's Address
Author's Phone Number
Author's FAX Number, if available
Author's E-mail Address
Cover Page to include
Centered vertically and horizontally:
Title of Manuscript
By-Line
Genre -- VERY IMPORTANT!
Word Count
In addition, there should be no white space at the top of the first page of each chapter. It's not needed in e-publishing. CHAPTER (NUMBER) should be centered at the top of the first page of each chapter. A hard page break should be at the bottom of the last page of each chapter. For ease of reading, use TIMES NEW ROMAN 12.
Please do not use HTML.
Word 6.0/95 or above
Word Perfect 6.0 or above
Rich Text Format
We prefer that the book not be too gory or have graphic violence. We especially loathe books which victimize women and children or feature cruelty to animals.
We ask that the level of sexuality be appropriate to the material. SWP/DSP and Pulsar rates its books for its readers, following the classic motion picture scale from G to R. We do not do X-rated books or erotica. This is not to say that an author can't get fairly steamy, but it must be appropriate for the material, not forced into the narrative just to make the book more saleable. It won't. At least, not here it won't.
Write the kind of love scenes you feel comfortable with -- anywhere on that G to R scale and the odds are we'll be fine with it, too!
We break a lot of rules about content and theme and plotting here at SWP/DSP and Pulsar, but we still believe in love, happy endings, and the triumph of good over evil. And that is what we want to see!
Because of the greater freedom with enovels, our word count is generally 50,000-150,000 words, though we will look at longer books when the story warrants the length. The MINIMUM length is 50,000. The exception being for young adult and middle reader books.
You may pass this email on to anyone that would be interested. Please contact me with any questions.
***** News *****
* Vampire Author Spotlight
Carol Castellanos has announced that the first Vampire Author spotlight, highlighting Margaret Carter -- vampire and romance author, is up at her new Vampire Reviews Column at Sime~Gen ( http://www.simegen.com/reviews/vampires/carpathian/spotlight.html).
Her second spotlight is on Howard Hopkins at http://www.simegen.com/reviews/vampires/carpathian/spotlights/1000/hopkins.html.
Future spotlights will include those on Elaine Bergstrom, Nancy Kilpatrick, Lois Tilton, and Sherry Gottlieb.
There are also frequent chats with various authors. These are usually announced with little lead time, so check the site.
* Vampire Page
Margaret L. Carter has posted an overview of all the best (in her opinion) examples of the vampire genre. It is reprinted from NIEKAS. Go to <"Realm of the Vampires"> and click on "Gravedigger's Dozen."
* Romance Articles
Carol Castellanos has launched a Romance Articles section <Romance Articles>. The articles include one by Joan Bramsch on "Romance Writer Bashing."
She has also just launched author spotlights for J.C. Wilder (including a photo of Lisa, J.C., and me at the NJRW2000) and Nancy Gideon < http://www.simegen.com/romance/spotlights/spotlight.html>.
She has quite a few authors lined up for spotlights in the near future -- Joan Bramsch, Barbara Sheridan, Denise Agnew, Shirley Hailstock, and Lee Greenwood.
* Dream Realm Finalists
Margaret Carter is a finalist in the horror category for DARK CHANGELING, and Lois Wickstrom and Jean Lorrah are finalists in the children's books category for NESSIE AND THE LIVING STONE.
Dream Realm is an industry-wide award, with the manuscripts judged "blind," stripped of the names of the authors or publishers.
* New Sections of simegen.com
REVIEW COLUMNS: http://www.simegen.com/reviews/ Writing Textbooks, Horror, Historical -- and more to come.
Part 3 of Doreen Dabinett's A NEW BEGINNING -- a Sime~Gen fan novel is now posted at: < www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/cz/> (Parts 4&5 are in the works)
We have spent some of the last few weeks expanding our Reviews Department and the Marketplace -- as well as focusing on funding your education.
You are all on scholarship here -- lessons and textbook materials are mostly free. We fund this with advertising, and we've just deployed a number of new and carefully selected ads throughout simegen.com.
* New Sites
The Sime~Gen site now has a bookstore http://www.simegen.com/marketplace/keybooks/ and Jean Lorrah's gift shop http://www.simegen.com/marketplace/keygifts/. Shopping these sites will help promote our site.
* Founding 400
Karen Litman reports that as of 21 November, the count for founding 400 is 329 hardcover orders, 210 for paperback, and 39 for paperback only.
She needs help to update and correct the records ... PLEASE REPLY TO ZeorWel@juno.com.
Sixteen people who ordered did NOT specify paperback or hardcover. Last names are:
Alton
Brown
Cooper
de Leeuw-Ferridge
DeLong
Dillon
Duncan
Elliott
Hilderbrand
Jirsa
McCue
Morgan
Moynier
Titner
Westphal
Yuni
Fifty-two have not selected your Founding 400 name. You are ----
Aab
Allen
Anderson
Barba
Bornstein
Bowles
Briggs
Bruckenstein
Campbell
Coady
Cowan
Drayer
Franklin
Giroux
Guy
Hall
Harter
Hufford
Hyler
Johnson
Kimmel
King
Kulick
Lehr
Lettierei
Lindeman-Schaefer
Madden
Mederos
Morgan
Morgan-Henley
New
Petrino-Schaad
Pfeifer
Plowman
Priest
Ren
Roth
Sage
Shapero
Snyder
Sorrell
Steffanie
Steinhoff
Tartaglio, Lois
Taylor
Thompson
Tuck
Turner
Tushnet
Weigl
White
Zajac
* Site Stats
Jean Lorrah reports we passed a milestone on 2 December: we moved out of the top 8% of the most popular sites on the WorldWideWeb and into the top 7%. That's the entire WWW, not just a particular kind of site -- we are now in the top 7% of ALL the sites on the Internet!
You can go to <websmostlinked> to check this statistic. The popularity is measured by the very best kind of publicity web sites can get: links from other web sites.
***** Sites to Remember *****
Sound files of Jacqueline Lichtenberg pronouncing Sime~Gen vocabulary words can be found at < http://www.simegen.com/jl/nivetsoundfiles/index.html>.
To sign up for classes, go to <SchoolForms>.
To volunteer, go to <helpwanted> for the latest openings.
*Please Note all material posted on Official Virtual Tecton is copyright (c) by Sime~Gen Inc. and all rights are reserved. To get your Sime~Gen(tm) material sanctioned for web posting or to get permission to repost from official materials e-mail ambrovzeor@aol.com, contact simegen@simegen.com. Sime~Gen (tm) is the trademark of a fictional universe) copyright (c) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986 and Sime~Gen Inc. 1999, 2000.
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