This morning I opened tweetdeck to find "Urgent call for Writers". I immediately hit the spam and report button, but it does nothing. This is a something bugs me because they attach my name to it and its not something I would ever help promote, and I help promote a lot of things. I like to RT things by my fellow writers, especially things like this blog where you have a lot valuable information for writers. Or reviews of good books. Industry news that is important. Many new writers don't know the business and we need to understand how it "really" works. I came into being a writer later in life and to some I approached it backward. Learned business first, writing second. Oddly enough, I decided to stay, even knowing the realities of the business.

Writing is hard work. It takes dedication and even some of the most talented writers don't get published. There is no secret handshake, no magic formula, no fairy dust. I wish writers didn't fall for things like Urgent call for Writers, or such places as Author Solutions, a vanity press. If an author really wants to go it alone, there are ways that don't cost them money or cost very little, but as you said, self-publishing for the unpublished in fiction is a tough sell. If you have a backlist, I think its a different story and non-fiction is a different all together, especially if you are a well-known speaker. There are a lot of changes happening in publishing and it is an exciting time to be an author. There are opportunities, but with that comes all these idiots targeting people who might not know the business, or who are desperate to be published.

Holy Geez on the contest. I haven't entered in one in years, and if I had any though to recently, that just flew out of the bat cave. In my unpublished days I was a contest junky. I won a couple too, but for my hundreds of dollars spent on them, it didn't net me anything.