There have been numerous submissions to my writing magazine already - so thank you to everyone who has submitted something already. Your submissions have been stored, and I will notify you before the magazine comes out. In the meantime, before I specify a release date, I am hoping to amass even more submissions, so if you have anything you would like to submit to a writing magazine with a very large potential readership on the internet and also in terms of physical copies check out the last draft magazine tumblr, or submit your work here. The magazine accepts:

- Short Stories 

- Poetry 

- Flash Fiction 

-Photography and writing combined

- Writing Articles 

- Writing blog posts 

- Reviews of lesser known works 

- Performance poetry (video or audio) 

- Dramatic pieces/short films/monologues 

- Original Songs 

Check the submission guidelines here, and you can submit directly here. 

The new writing magazine I have been talking about for some time launches today and is now open to submissions. 

Last Draft is a new magazine focussing on the creative work of original and upcoming writers in all fields. The overwhelming emphasis of the magazine is on creativity, originality and quality. Last Draft aims to unite the very best in new, creative art from the writing world. The magazine accepts:

- Short Stories 
- Poetry 
- Flash Fiction 
- Writing Articles 
- Writing blog posts 
- Reviews of lesser known works 
- Performance poetry (video or audio) 
- Dramatic pieces/short films/monologues 
- Original Songs 

I will be editing the magazine and am very excited to read all your submissions and see what the writing world has to offer. Last Draft Magazine is one of the few writing magazines not bound by restrictive genre specifications - making the process all the more exciting. 

Visit The Last Draft Magazine Tumblr for more information and submission instructions!

As I mentioned in my previous post the other week, I am going to be starting a writing magazine, which will be available as both a physical magazine and a media rich eMagazine version. Because the electronic version will most likely have some extra or at least different content (think videos, performance poetry, vblogs, short films etc) the hard copy will naturally come with a redeemable coupon to pick up a free electronic copy. I also mentioned in my last post that I had four questions/problems, most of which have now been answered:

1) Gauge interest - There seems to be an appropriate level of interest, so I’m not too worried that there won’t be enough articles/pieces of writing.

2) Find a POD publisher - Done. I will be able to produce the hard copies fairly cheaply and effectively, with decent delivery options to everywhere.

3) Find a way to distribute the eCopies - Also done. Publishing them will be easy, and I have several different options/platforms to sell the copies. There will be an emphasis on media rich eCopies, I want to have them as interactive as possible to fit with the new age of publishing. With this in mind, all hard copies will include a way to get a free eCopy so that the two are kept together.

4) Produce the layout - Again, this will be fine. The Mac will do it perfectly, there are tonnes of layouts that would work perfectly.

So all is in place. I am in the middle of designing a tumblr specifically for information about this, and more importantly as a place for people to submit their work. What I am looking for are short stories, poems, writing related articles, videos (for the eMagazine along the lines of performance poetry, short films, acting pieces, even vblogs about writing) book reviews and anything else literary related. 

The magazine tumblr should launch sometime before the start of next week, so feel free to get anything ready in the meantime. As for the magazine itself, I’m not going to make any promises about the release date, other than the fact that it will be released, and there will hopefully be some competitions etc in there too!

Because a lot of the ones on sale (well around here, anyway) I don’t think are especially satisfying, and I think that the amount of creative writing and blogging etc on tumblr is something which should very much be tapped into. There are a lot of writers on here who would be worthy of inclusion into some kind of magazine, and it feels as though it could be a financially viable prospect too - free copies for everyone included, cheap editions downloadable as eBooks or purchasable as hard copies and possibly some advertising space for independent authors or organisations. I am quite fond of this idea and it seems to be something which could be developed and is sustainable. The writing competition I held a few weeks ago shows more clearly than ever just how much great writing is out there, and hopefully some people would like to be featured in a magazine. A lot of the questions I get asked involve how to get writing “out there” and how to get known enough to build a platform for publishing a book - creative writing magazines are one way. Furthermore, if I were to sell enough issues and, even better, sell some advertising space within the magazine, I may be able to have competitions for monetary prizes etc. I certainly do feel like this is an excellent idea - but I’ll need to solve the following problems/answer the following questions first:

1) Gauge interest. The magazine would require short stories, poetry, articles etc - so clearly a certain level of interest will be required - and a certain level of readership too. 

2) Find some type of POD magazine producer. This is going to be the only way initially.

3) Figure out a way to distribute eCopies of a magazine in a shop of some sort. 

4) Get a layout producer - although I think that might be ok on the Mac.

I really am going to do some heavy research into this. I have a fair bit going on this summer: my novel, my dissertation, my film script, my singing tuition and my acting projects but this is getting added to the list.