Call For Submissions: Alfie Dog Ltd

Here's another call for submissions. This is my last for a while. A Blogger's Books will be going back to normal how to write articles tips and blogging tutorials. Alfie Dog is a new publishing company that publishes a range of short stories and books. They're different to other publishing companies because they allow readers to download your short story or book from their website for a fee. You, the author gets 50% of the royalties - less fees. 
If you're write short stories and are looking for a way to get them out into the public eye, this may be the break you were looking for.

If you are interested in this kind of publishing and you're looking to extend your reach and build your platform/writing reputation, here's a little of what Alfie Dog publishing has said on their site:

The site has two aims, firstly to be the best place on the web to download quality short stories and secondly to return as much of the royalty as possible to the authors. Payment for the downloads will be through Paypal and allows a single download to take place. Stories which are accepted go live on the site within four weeks of acceptance.

5 Top Ways to Market Your eBook

These days with the prevalence of e-readers, writing an eBook is almost a no-brainer for anyone trying to tap into the writing world. 

5 top ways to market your e-book will show you some effective ways to market your book, once the hard graft of the writing is done. 

e-Books are a great way to get your foot in the door if you’re just starting to try to get work published as a writer, or to promote yourself as an authority within your blogging niche (if you’re a blogger). However for your eBook to catch on it has to be marketed well. Once you’ve written and published your eBook use these techniques to get the word out about it.

Submissions Now: Vanilla Heart Publishing

I'm running some calls for submissions over the next few weeks. I've already told you about John Hunt publishing calls for submissions. They have a huge range of imprints, so no matter what your chosen genre is, they may have something suitable for your work.

This week I want to focus on Vanilla Heart Publishing. They're an American independent publisher interested in romantic suspense, mystery, thrillers, fantasy etc.
In my opinion, Vanilla Heart Publishing is a house that isn't completely traditional (they're certainly not vanity). However, I believe that if they choose to publish your book, it will be start-up you were looking for to kick-start your writing career. They claim to give higher-than-normal royalties, so that's a great start. They also edit and help with marketing - another plus to the struggling writer.

They require a query letter to be submitted first, so don't submit your manuscript just yet. This is what they say on their website:

Worst Fairy Tale Parents

Part of what makes a particular piece of writing stand out is the author's ability to create memorable characters. Worst Fairy tale parents will demonstrate this and show how memorable characters aren't necessarily likeable ones. 

Most writers have fun playing around with naughty characters. Others seek to romance the reader with heroes so gallant, they wish said heroes could materialise and sweep them off their feet. Fairy stories on the other hand, are notorious for getting criminal characters misclassified as heroes (as discussed in the linked article). 

Worst fairy tale parents

What I'd like to discuss today is the portrayal of a number of parents in traditional fairy tales. While reading the following stories to my children, I wonder over and over again, why the parents failed to do something about their children's dilemmas. 

Here's the countdown to my worst fairy tale parents.