As always, thanks for signing up and scrolling through. I hope your pitches and/or queries land and the words flow this week.

Without further ado.

Lawyers are coming for your Anthropic Copyright Settlement. A few law firms are popping up with ads encouraging authors to opt out of their settlement. The presumed goal is to be able to poach clients to sue Athropic or other AI companies on their own, under the guise of being able to get you a larger settlement. Victoria Strauss breaks down this latest predatory practice on Writer Beware.

Amazon launches Kindle Translate. Authors using Kindle Direct can now translate their books for free (for now) from English to Spanish or, oddly, German to English. (Amazon)

HarperCollins had a bad quarter (and why it matters). The closing of Baker & Taylor alone accounts for a $13 million loss, plus ebook and audiobook sales were “softer” than anticipated. This could mean shrinking marketing budgets on top of trying to find library and indie book distributors. (Maybe I Overshared)

Making bad art is good, actually. Writer and psychotherapist Anna Hogeland discusses why not limiting herself, or putting pressure on herself to make something “good,” is a necessary part of creating what ends up being great art. (LitHub)

The only people who benefit from young people not learning how to make and critique art are companies like OpenAI. (LA Review of Books)

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Use motifs to create tension and up the emotion in your stories. These objects or actions are repeated throughout a story, acting as support to the theme. Award-winning writer Dr. Diana Stout breaks down examples of motifs in film and literature, showing new ways to add layers to your writing. (Writers in the Storm)

So you’re on submission (or want to be). Karin Gillispie has been on submission many times over the past twenty years and has learned a great deal. Not just about the publishing process, but also about herself and the type of writer she wants to be. One of the hardest lessons can be that even when you do everything “right” and the interest rolls in, it doesn’t guarantee anything. (Pitch Your Novel)

About that big platform you think you need. Your lack of followers isn’t going to get in the way of you and a book deal. However, you need to be prepared to acknowledge this as a marketing weakness and be able to leverage other strengths, such as degrees, connections, and friends with large follower counts, to help promote your book. (Jane Friedman Blog)

Leigh Bardugo shares the realities of being on book tour. (We Are The Weirdos, Mister)

Reminder:
I have openings + quick turnarounds on query letter edits.

A refresher on what comp titles are and how to use them in your query. Plus, a great explanation from a publisher-turned-agent on why agents ask for these in query letters. (The Not-So-Secret Agents)

Natascha Morris, senior literary agent at The Tobias Literary Agency, is looking for projects like Sineaters, alternate history dystopian (except Nazis winning), and “Black Mirror-esque stories.” Please submit queries through Query Tracker.

Rebecca Williamson, assistant agent at Sheldon Fogelman Agency, is looking for stories with “true yearning and an intense slow burn” in the vein of Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid and the Assistant to the Villain series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. Please follow these submission guidelines.

Jamie Vankirk, literary agent and founder of Rainbow Nerds Literary, is looking for dark academic, gothic settings/themes, cross-genres like horror romance, sport romances “especially about the WNBA”, and “fantasies from all cultures.” Please submit queries through QueryTracker.

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Reminder: Vet each opportunity before submitting.
Inclusion does not equal endorsement.

Holiday Disasters + Lifestyle/Culture: Naureen Khan, senior editor at Yahoo, is commissioning lifestyle and culture essays and features. Specifically, “stories that unearth or explain trends about the way we live now, + savy cultural analysis.” Right now, she’s also putting together a “Holiday Disasters” package. Email pitches + clips to [email protected].

Holidays: Stephanie Nguyen, Lifestyle Director at Apartment Therapy, is now accepting pitches “centered on holidays, events, and observances during the months of January, February, and March.” She is primarily looking for stories centered around life, cleaning, organizing, and real estate explored through “personal essays with a strong point of view, unique perspectives, reported features, profiles of inspiring people or brands, and history deep dives that connect to the season.” Rate: starts at $150. Deadline: November 17. Pitch through this pitch form.

Sandwich Generation: Frank Olito, editor at Business Insider, is looking for pitches of first-person stories from “the sandwich generation” who have “interesting, one-of-a-kind” stories to tell. For instance, “Do you have three generations living under one roof? Has your mother or father just moved into your already crowded home? Did your adult child move back home? Did you have to make a drastic life change to support three generations? Are you struggling to make ends meet? Are you concerned about placing your parents in a care home? Is there a side of the sandwich generation that people don’t know about?” Rate: around $260 for 600 words. E-mail pitches to [email protected].

Track and Field: The Oval Update is always accepting opinion pieces, educational articles, and interviews on “track and field topics that have a global appeal.” Rate: $0.10/word for 600 - 1,000 words. Please submit pitches through this pitch form.

Travel: Matador Network has opened submissions for Winter 2025/26 pitches. They’re especially interested in pitches “around sports fandom/travel around sports and sporting events (including F1, golf, racing, and the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026), articles that tie your personal experiences with a deeper topic, location-specific stories about any of the 16 cities bosting the World Cup (especially Toronto, Monterrey, and Guadalajara), stories around suprising travel trends and ideas.” Rate: $200 - 300 for around 1,100 words. Please submit pitches through this pitch form.

Video Games: Shannon Liao, deputy gaming editor at Inverse, is always looking for pitches of “general gaming essays or reported pitches,” especially “stories about the. raft behind video games, the amusing game lore you wouldn’t expect, etc.” Rate: $500. Deadline: mid-December. E-mail pitches to [email protected].

Open Secrets Magazine is accepting “original, unpublished, non-AI-generated” personal essays on your “current personal experience with food insecurity” to be published in their Finances section. “Priority will be given to those writing about their current experience of food insecurity and SNAP benefits in the United States,” but they are open to stories about/from elsewhere. Rate: $200 for a 1,000 - 2,500-word essay. Please see submission guidelines.

Oregon Coast: Campfire Stories is accepting “nature and place-based stories” for their new Oregon Coast edition of Beloved Regions, “an anthology of campfire stories — from classic essays to original poetry, historical excerpts to fresh perspectives, treasured folk songs to local myths — all of which convey an authentic sense of place.” Ultimately, “stories should capture the essense of the region, highlighting the distinctive natural features…community, history, and expriences of the Oregon Coast.” Rate: $150. Deadline: December 12. Submit pitches through this form.

The Common is now accepting fiction, nonfiction, translations, and poetry submissions “that embody a strong sense of place.” Rate: $200 for prose, $40 for poems, $100 for dispatches. Deadline: December 1. Please submit through this form. Note: there is a $3 submission fee for prose and poetry, $2 for dispatches.

The Rumpus is accepting submissions of essays, criticism, interviews, and comics. Pay is $100 for prose submissions and $50 for poetry. Please submit through the pitch form.

This is Not Your Mother’s Eating Disorder: An Anthology is seeking personal essays, poems, interviews, and visual art based on the personal experience of women in middle age or older struggling with eating disorders. Written submissions must be 1,000 - 3,000 words for essays/interviews and 100 - 200 words for poems. Rate: $250 after publication. Deadline: November 30. Please submit through this pitch form.

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These jobs have been published within the last seven days and are still accepting applications at the time of publication. I’ve avoided including any Easy Apply jobs due to their tendency to be scams and/or already have a high volume of applications.

Reminder: Vet each opportunity before submitting.
Inclusion does not equal endorsement.

Observer is hiring a remote Freelance Features Writer (NYC-adjacent ideal but not required) with a “sharp, original voice who can take a story apart and put it back together in a way that readers can’t ignore.” They want writers with “taste, curiosity, and the kind of antennae that you pick up on ambition, absurdity, and contradiction — especially when those things are disguised as success.” Ideal candidates have a strong background in reported features, essays, or profiles, a distinctive voice, and an understanding of “the dynamics of money, culture, and influence.”

I’m still working my way through mysteries and thrillers I’ve missed over the last few years, thanks to the Boston Public Library’s audiobook collection. This week, I stumbled across I Need You To Read This, which asks the question: What if your dream job turned into a nightmare?

When the writer behind the legendary Dear Constance advice column is murdered, Alex — a longtime fan of the column — is hired to replace her. But even as she settles into her new job and catches up on reading all of the letters, the question of who killed her predecessor hangs over her. Can she trust anyone at her new job?

This is a mystery with high levels of suspense, great pacing, and a lot of heart, from Alex’s earnest responses to the letters readers send in to the group of over-the-hill misfits who’ve brought her into their little found family.

Trigger warnings for domestic violence.

One of the best ways I learn is by researching and reading. Before, during, and after my MFA, I’ve read books on book writing, marketing, magazine writing, travel writing, and more. Here are the books I still re-read after all of these years.

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As always, here are the podcasts I listen — and re-listen — to.