ORGANISATIONS

Join a writer's organisation if you want more information and/or to meet other writers. Try to join at least one which will broaden your experience.

ABCDE

Australian Society of Authors - Writer's organisation. Join this is you're serious about being a writer

Asia & Pacific Writers Network - an alliance of writers, individuals and organizations working with language and stories, in all their forms. As a PEN initiative they aim to: promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere; fight for freedom of speech; work for good understanding and respect between nations; and, champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.

Australian Writers Guild The AWG is the professional association for all performance writers, that is, writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media.

FGHIJ

Fellowship of Australian Writers The FAW has regional groups and is often the place where writers first meet other writers. Go to the 'Regional groups' button and scroll down (eg to S for Shoalhaven).

KL

Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre is the oldest writers centre of its kind in Australia. The centre is in the Perth hills, in the former home of Katharine Susannah Prichard. The Centre facilitates readings, workshops, writers in residence and other services for writers at all levels. More info: kspf@iinet.net.au or phone (08) 9294 1872.

M

Melbourne Poet's Union - self-evident really. The Melbourne version of the Poets Union which used to have branches all over the place. This and the Poets Union (below) are the last independent remnants, and excellent remnants they are too.

NO

NSW Writer's Centre - Writer's organisation. There are a lot of writers centres. Find the one local to you. Start here.

Boolarng Nangamai - Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Studio, Gerringong, NSW

PQ

PEN exists to 'emphasise the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views.'

Poets Union - Australian poet's organisation

RSTUV

Romance Writers of Australia RWA aims 'to promote excellence in romantic fiction, to help writers become published and establish careers in their writing field, and to provide continuing support for writers within the romance publishing industry.'

WXYZ

Watermark Literary Society - carries the tag: 'Writers & readers celebrating the literature of nature & place'.

Society of Women Writers NSW This society 'aims to enable women writers in all genres to meet and network, and to benefit from regular seminars and workshops. It also aims to encourage aspiring writers to achieve professional status.'

COPYRIGHT, LENDING RIGHT, LEGAL

Copyright is a cluster of rights which you should familiarise yourself with if you're going to be a writer. It's best to get this from the horse's mouth. The horse, in this case, is the Australian Copyright Council This is an authoritative site. Also runs training sessions and has information sheets.

The Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) 'is an Australian copyright management company whose role is to provide a bridge between creators and users of copyright material.' If you've published something it's a good idea to join (it's free).

Lending Rights

'The Public Lending Right (PLR) scheme makes payments to eligible Australian creators and publishers whose books are held in public lending libraries. The Education Lending Right (ELR) scheme makes similar payments for books held in educational libraries.' Here are links for Public Lending Right and Education Lending Right.

Legal

The Arts Law Centre of Australia 'is the national community legal centre for the arts.'

AWARDS, PRIZES, GLORY, FUNDING

Prizes and competitions

The best source of material on competitions is through your local writers centre or in the latest edition of The Australian Writer's Marketplace available from the Queensland Writers Centre. It can't possibly have everything, but it runs close. There's also a lot of other information there which you might find useful.

Bear in mind that entering a competition is, by it's nature competitive. You have a greater chance of getting published than you do of winning a competition.

And sometimes good material doesn't win, but sometimes it's on the 'no' or 'maybe' pile because it's poorly constructed, unoriginal, uninteresting, badly written, under-edited, boring, the same as all the other entries, or not what the particular competition is about. Or it's the work of an undiscovered genius and the judges are fools who should not be let loose with blue pencils.

A note about conditions:

When you enter competitions it's as well to look at the conditions carefully and decide what you think is all right for you and what you think isn't.

I had a note from a writer about the conditions of a prize which read in part:

    I assign the copyright in my entry to the [the organisers].

And

1. 
   
   
   
   You agree that the [organisers] can copy, edit and publish your entry (including using quotations or extracts from your entry) for the purposes of the [organisers] and that no fee will be payable to you for this use.

It's up to you, of course, what you sign, but it's as well to know at assigning rights means you're giving over copyright (better to licence the work which means it's for a specified use and for a specified time). The copyright holder is the one who decides what can and can't be done with a work. You should check out the legal implications of what you sign. It's not up to other people to tell you (including me. I'm not a lawyer.)

The second paragraph also seems to be too generous to the organisers for my tastes. I'd be a bit wary of unknown editors being given all this freedom without the writer being able to object.

It's up to you, but think carefully about offering your work when these sorts of conditions apply. It might be that it's a fund-raiser and all very innocent, but exercise your judgement. Sometimes I'm quite happy to give away all sorts of things in a good cause - and sometimes I'm not. Guideline: Choose rather than be suckered.

Tips: when entering a prize or competition...

1.  It’s competitive - so compete: put in your best stuff. Don’t think that your third best stuff will be okay.

2. Put in material that suits the thing you’re entering ie do some research on previous winners. (For the PressPress Chapbook Award reading a couple of chapbooks and trawling through the site would be A Good Idea.)

3. Read the conditions and decide if they suit you.

4. Follow the instructions eg unbound means unbound, etc

A great prize

I would say this is a great prize because my PressPress runs it, but it is anyway.

2010 PressPress Chapbook Award - this is an annual award which began in 2008. Carolyn Fisher from Tasmania the inaugural award with The Unsuspecting Sky. In 2009 WA writers Scott-Patrick Mitchell won with his Songs for the ordinary mass. This year the prize is worth $600 (AUD) and publication with PressPress. You can go to the PressPress site for the award conditions. Poetry only of course.

Some other good competitions

(but you still have to make up your own mind and read the conditions):

The ABC Fiction Award 'Recognising emerging writers'

Allen & Unwin runs competitions - check out their site.

Arvon International Poetry Competition. First prize is five thousand pounds.

The Australian Centre Literary Awards. Part of the University of Melbourne.

The Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize

Griffin Award The famous award is $5000 for a new playscript. The Griffin has long been a force in Australian theatre.

Island Magazine which is one of Australia's premier literary magazines also runs a couple of prestigious competitions.

Poets Union runs the Broadway Prize.

PressPress Chapbook Award prize for a short manuscript. Prize includes publication of a chapbook.

Funding sources

If you can manage to make your project self-funding, so much the better. Applying for funding is time-consuming and your project must conform to criteria laid down by someone else. There are many sources of funding other than these, but this is a good enough start.

A word to the wise though, be very well-prepared if you are going to apply. Take the guidelines very seriously.

You might also think about being inventive and consider that there might be ways to generate income other than waiting for someone to give it to you.

Australia Council for the Arts Ozco is the federal government's main funding organisation.

All the state governments fund the arts, some generously, some not. They all have different guidelines and place different importance on different things. In NSW it’s the NSW Ministry for the Arts.

A good source of information about grants, prizes and other opportunities for artists is the Regional Arts NSW e-Bulletin: a free monthly online publication. Sign up for at the Regional Arts NSW website at www.regionalartsnsw.com.au

For more sources of funding etc this is a great place to go:

SCAMS, RIPOFFS, LEGIT PUBLICATION

It's hard to tell a scam from a non-scam sometimes. But a scam often goes like this: You get sent an email or a letter (or maybe you respond to an advert) asking you for some poems. You send some and you get a letter back saying some poetry organisation in America or somewhere loves them and that you have been specially selected to appear in their prestigious publication. They don't offer to pay you for this. In fact they say you can get a special price on the resulting publication. You also get an invite to a big convention or prize giving but they don't offer to pay you or put you up, but they do emphasise the size of the plaque or trophy (which you may or may not have to contribute to financially). You get very excited by this - and that's fine if you know what it is and you're happy with this arrangement.

There are other set-ups which are cooperative and might involve you paying (but they're upfront about this and tell you). You decide if you want to be involved in them on their merits. Some local projects (for example) are like this.

There is also what is called 'partnership publishing'. This involves the writer paying something upfront to assist with printing/distribution. There have been considerable developments in this area. Random House with Ex Libris and Amazon's Booksurge now have imprints which have this sort of this arrangement.

Then there's 'vanity publishing' which is a sub species of 'self-publishing'.

Vanity publishing is where a writer goes through a printer or a press and pays for everything but sets it up as so that it appears that they have been published by standard publisher.

Self-publishing is the author publishing their own work and being open about it. This often happens when the runs might be small, apply to a niche market, or be the special passion of the writer. Family histories etc are often self-published. Some self-published books have gone on to great success. It's rare though. There are a few links about self-publishing on the Rejections page.

What I'm calling 'standard publishing' is where the publisher pays the printer, arranges distribution, advertising and pays the author royalties (ie a percentage of the retail or other price).

There are recommended rates for publication in anthologies (lots of different writers in the same book). Go to the Australian Society of Authors site to find out what the current rates are.