March 15, 2005
A JustMarkets Publication

Welcome, writers!

Today our feature article is about a market most writers haven't given thought to, even though it's instantly recognizable. I've made a little pact with myself to be just that much more observant – coffee cans, placemats, toilet paper – it's amazing where we might end up, eh?

As for this issue of JustMarkets, from escapee mice to wergle flomp and polymer, readers are out there waiting for you.

Good writing everyone!

Stephanie Olsen
Publisher/JustMarkets

Special Time-Limited Offer: When you purchase a six month subscription to Just Markets Daily, we'll throw in a four-week sample to the writer friend of your choice - absolutely free of charge! What nicer or more valuable gift can you give than that of time?

GUEST ARTICLE

Placemats - A Unique Way To Get Published

by  Suzan L. Wiener

Are you looking for a new market for your work? Here's one I think you'll like--that is, if you want to have fun, get paid and have the satisfaction of knowing the jokes, anecdotes and 4-line poems you wrote are being read every single day of the week. Also, it isn't a well-known way of getting work published, so you'll have a good chance of getting your fillers accepted.

What is this enticing and under-explored market? It's having short pieces, basically fillers, published on placemats which are produced locally for area restaurants. Actually, it was a sale that required little work since I had these fillers and poems already in my files. I pulled out my best, revised some and then found the ones I thought would be the most interesting to a wide variety of people.

Here are some tips that helped me make quick sales.

l. Make sure the jokes are original as buyers don't want recycled or old ones. If the person recognizes the joke, they won't want to buy it and they'll suspect your other jokes aren't original either.

2. Type the jokes, etc. on individual cards for easy and quick reading. This way, the buyer can go through them quickly, putting those of interest on the side.

3. Provide a sufficient quantity of material. If you don't have enough content available, it may not be worth it to the buyer to purchase any at all.

4. Know the price you're willing to accept for your work and be realistic about the amount.

5. Keep your jokes g-rated. Since most of these restaurants are family-oriented, clean jokes are what you should submit.

You'll be glad you did. This market had been right under my nose all the time, but I only realized it when a friend told me someone she knew needed jokes for his placemat business . He sold ads to local businesses and the ads were printed on placemats, which he gave to area restaurants. He liked to leave space between the ads for jokes and cute sayings to make the placemats more interesting. He had been finding these fillers himself, but really didn't want to spend the time looking for them. I was more than happy to help fill his need for this type of writing. It was right up my alley and I enjoyed doing them.

I thought it was an unusual place to have my work published, and told my friend I would certainly talk to him. He contacted me several days later and asked me to send him thirty jokes, and he would choose some from those. I did that immediately. To my delight and surprise, he bought twenty-four, using six each time a new set of placemats came out. He even sent me copies of the placemats, which I promptly framed.

I made $30 for every set of six jokes, each time I sold them. I think you can even get a higher rate if you negotiate more than I did. Again, don't be unrealistic with the payment. Being it was the first time I had done this, I didn't want him to reject my fillers because I was asking too high an amount.

You can sell your jokes this way too by going into your local restaurant when you're going out to eat. You don't even have to make a separate trip for this purpose. Just look at the placemat on your table and write down the name and phone number which is usually on the bottom of it. If it's not listed on the placemat, often the manager can tell you the contact person. I've also asked the hostess or host of the restaurant for a clean placemat that I can take home for reference and they're always happy to oblige.

I was quite pleased to see my jokes published . It was such a unique publishing idea - especially when my husband and I actually had our meals on those very placemats, and could read my jokes while we ate. I never thought a published piece of mine would be under someone's plate of food, but the idea was to make someone laugh with my writing.

I knew I'd accomplished that when a couple in the booth next to me were looking down at the placemats and laughing out loud. What a thrill it was to say to them, "You know, I wrote those jokes." They even asked me to autograph their placemats!

I'm happy knowing others are getting a chuckle from my work and I have the enjoyment of getting paid for it. You will too. When I see diners laughing, I always look to see if they're reading their placemats. Now, no one can say my jokes aren't worth the paper they're written on.

 

Markets

Virginia Wildlife

Monthly print covering conservation and outdoor sports, all with an emphasis on safety and ethical practices and all pertinent to Virginia.

Features run 1500-1800 words; SASE ms/query.
Editorial schedule 2 years in advance.
Pays to $350 on pub; separate pay for photos.
Buys first rights and reprint rights in their own publications.

PDF Guidelines
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/va-wildlife/
submission_guidelines.pdf

 

Lab Mice

Definitive guide to online resources for IT Professionals who deploy, manage, and support Microsoft products and services.

Queries only to: submit [ at ] labmice.net
Buys all rights with payment for original features starting at 25 cents/word.
Min word count between 1,000 and 1,500.
Pays on pub.
25% kill.

Guidelines: http://labmice.techtarget.com/submit.htm

 

Rapid Magazine

Quarterly print and online Rapid covers all aspects of whitewater paddlesports.

Response time 8 wks; reprints considered.
Pays up to CDN 20 cents/word, within 45 days following release date.
Buys FNA print rights, promotional use, and indefinite use on website.
Queries and submissions to editor [ at ] rapidmag.com

 

Living France

Monthly self-described 'definitive guide to France and French property.'
Seeks destination pieces; short-break ideas; practical information on living, working and owning property in France; interviews with non-French natives who live and work in France, or who own French property.

Query with clips.
No reprints.
Pays GBP250 for articles 1,000-2,500 words with photos.
Pays GBP10/100 words for articles under 1,000 words with photos.
Pays GBP10/100 words for text-only articles.
Pays at end of publication month.
Email to editorial [ at ] livingfrance.com

PDF Guidelines
http://www.livingfrance.com/lvfra/assets/media/
Contributors_Guidelines.pdf

 

Escapees Magazine

A bimonthly publication for serious RVers covering all phases of RV life. Well researched technical and informational articles are in high demand.

Full articles on spec only; no queries.
Pays for feature articles only (to 1,400 words), $150 max, on pub.
Submit as text in the body of your e-mail, not as an attachment, to editor [ at ] escapees.com

PDF Guidelines http://www.escapees.com/edocs/
WritersGuidelines.pdf

Nice comments from JustMarketsDaily subscribers Hi Stephanie, I LOVE JustMarkets Daily, it's one of the best investments I've made. Thanks for your excellent work. Shelisa Loertscher Very Happy Subscriber :-) --- Good morning, Stephanie. I hope you are not tired of hearing from me, but I wanted to tell you that yesterday I interviewed and landed another job - this is my 4th - that I read about in my Just Markets email. When I complete this fourth contract, I will have earned over $10,000 from the four jobs. You are giving us great leads. I believe the trick to landing jobs is querying and sending resumes on a continuing basis. I follow up on at least two job leads that I find in Just Markets every week. Sometimes I hear back, and sometimes I don't, so it's important to have my resume "out there" in lots of different places. I once read a writer's advice to always have 12 queries out. I don't know the magic in twelve, but it seems to be the same idea statistically, i.e. if you want a job, you have to send lots of queries and respond to lots of job posts. The ones that do pan out make it worth the effort. I really wanted you to know because ever since I started subscribing to JustMarkets, I have more time to FOLLOW leads instead of trying to FIND them. You've made such a difference. Thanks again, Elaine Schneider http://www.lessontutor.com Author of Taking Hearing Impairment to School

 

ColoradoBiz

Full-color monthly print provides fresh, vivid coverage of the people and issues affecting the entire state's business scene.

Features between 650-1,200 words with corresponding sidebar and chart material. Pay is a flat fee based on the story's complexity, length and time frame from $50 for a department item to $400 for a feature, including any sidebars.

Query editor Robert Schwab rschwab [ at ] cobizmag.com

Guidelines: http://cobizmag.com/freelancers.cfm

 

Spin Off

Quarterly print magazine for spinners.

Query spinoff@interweave.com
No simsubs.
Responds within 6 months.
Pays $50 per published page (articles run from 1-6 pages) plus $10 per visual, on pub. Purchases FNASR.

PDF Guidelines
http://www.interweave.com/spin/spinoff_magazine/
SOContribGuidelines.pdf

 

Signs of the Times

Monthly 32 page print for the Adventist church.

Prefers queries (sim-subs okay) to signs [ at ] pacificpress.com
Response time two months.
Pays 10 cents/word on acceptance; 5 cents/word for reprints.
Buys FNASR and e-rights.
Author photo required.

Guidelines: http://www.signstimes.com/writers/index.php

 

PolymerCAFÉ

Quarterly print for clay artists and crafters.

Works with new writers.
Query or articles on spec (no sim-subs).
No reprints.
Pays on pub ("low rates"); buys first serial rights and anthology rights, both electronic and print.

Email address: PolymerCAFE2 [at ] comcast.net

Guidelines: http://www.polymercafe.com/
submission_guidelines.html

 

Extra

Dear Stephanie,

I thought your readers at JustMarkets might be interested in these contests we're working with. Please note, the prose contest has a deadline at the end of this month, and the Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest is free to enter. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Adam Cohen & Jendi Reiter
WinningWriters.com
adam@winningwriters.com

 

TOM HOWARD/JOHN H. REID SHORT STORY CONTEST

Prizes of $1,000, $500, $250 will be awarded, plus four Publication Royalty Awards of $150 and three Encouragement Awards of $75 each. Winning entries will be published. Submit any type of short story, essay or other work of prose, up to 8,000 words. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online
publication rights. $10 entry fee, payable to Winning Writers. Postmark deadline: March 31. Judge: Tom Howard. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Tom Howard Short Story Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. More information: http://www.winningwriters.com/tomstory.htm

 

 

WERGLE FLOMP POETRY CONTEST - NO FEE

Prizes of $1,190, $169, $60 and 5 honorable mentions of $38 each. No fee to enter. A humor contest with a special twist. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Deadline: April 1. Submit one poem online at: http://www.winningwriters.com/contestflomp.htm

 

 

WAR POETRY CONTEST

Prizes of $1,500, $500, $250 and 10 honorable mentions of $75 each. Submit 1-3 original, unpublished poems on the theme of war, up to 500 lines in all. $12 entry fee, payable to Winning Writers. Postmark deadline: May 31. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: War Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. More information: http://www.winningwriters.com/annualcontest.htm

 

 

MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST FOR TRADITIONAL VERSE

Prizes of $1,000, $400, $200, plus four Encouragement Awards of $100 each. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in traditional verse forms, such as sonnets and haiku. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Entry fee is $5 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Postmark deadline: June 30. Judge: John H. Reid. Submit online or
mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. More information: http://www.winningwriters.com/margaret.htm

 

 

TOM HOWARD/JOHN H. REID POETRY CONTEST

Prizes of $1,000, $400, $200, plus four Encouragement Awards of $100 each. Winning entries will be published. Submit poems in any style or genre. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Entry fee is $5 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Postmark deadline: September 30. Judge: Tom Howard. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Tom Howard Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060.
More information: http://www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry.htm