October, 2024 Feature

Your Writing Featured

Bay Area Writers League is dedicated to writing. We have dozens of paid members, but only some are featured or engaged. We need to change that. We want to change that.

We currently have write-in events two mornings a week and one Saturday per month. Twice a month, we have an in-person critique group. None of these may appeal to you. Everyone is different. So, here is a new opportunity. 

Every month, a newsletter is sent to members and guests. Some 80+ emails are sent, and nearly all of them are opened. One element of the newsletter is these Feature articles. We want to feature you. 

Here are the requirements for submitting your writing for a monthly feature. 

• Membership: You need to be a BAWL member. If you want to be a member but need assistance, please email she@beckyellisor.com (BAWL Treasurer) or editorbawl@gmail.com (BAWL Webmaster). 
• Schedule / Deadline: 
• the 7th of each month for editing (a collaborative effort; see below), 
• the 10th for review of edits, 
• end of day, the 13th of each month, as the final deadline because 
• the newsletter is published on the 14th. 
• You can send it at any time, and it will be worked into the cycle above
• Type: You can submit a poem, an essay, flash fiction, or a short story (1000-4000 words). It can be something new, something published in one of the BAWL anthologies, or something that was published elsewhere. It's a matter of what you would like to share.
• Restrictions: We adhere to a policy of no politics or sex. This policy is intended to keep things as uncontroversial as possible. We don't want any of our readers or members offended.
• Editing: Our in-house editor will review the story and send you editing recommendations if necessary, as is done with the yearly anthologies. This is a free service.
• Image: You are encouraged to include an image that adheres to the restrictions stated above. The image will be used on the BAWL website and Substack. More about that is below. 
• Audience: You can decide whether you want your feature to be public (anyone can read it) or members only as it will be published on the BayAreaWritersLeague.org website, and we have the flexibility to set permissions for individual features. You can also decide whether or not you want it published on BAWL's Substack (see below). 

What if there is more than one submission? What a great situation to be in! We'd love it. We can queue up the features for a future month or have more than one per month. 

The purpose is to help you shine, to help you publish, and to be read. We have many members, and it is essential to support you all.

In addition to being the featured writer of the month. We have a few more planned opportunities to get visibility to your piece, talk about it, and increase your followers. The first is to create a discussion thread on Facebook within our group. If you'd like to share it there, it could be a summary with a link to the Feature or the entire article/story. We can create a discussion thread for each feature in the BAWL forums. This will be an opportunity for other members to provide (constructive, positive) feedback to you.  We understand that neither Facebook nor Forums may be of interest; therefore, the third opportunity is to publish your feature on the newly created BAWL presence on Substack. 

Yes! BAWL is now on Substack

Substack was featured here in September 2023. At that time, the focus was on utilizing Substack for potential income. The BAWL presence on Substack does not require payment from you or other public readers. It is another social media supplement for members like this website and the Facebook group. The difference is that Substack is very well suited for writers and readers.

First, you do not have to "join" Substack to be part of the BAWL presence there. I'll let you know more about that in a minute. 

Those of you who want to have your presence on Substack may be pleasantly surprised by the options it provides. You can customize a home page, communicate with your subscribers (Free or Paid), and post in long and short forms. When you publish, you're supplied with printable, sharable assets like banners and titled images. If you already have a group, you can import that email list. You can follow other Substack writers and authors. Create a podcast. Promote your books on your Substack profile page, including the BAWL Anthologies. The customization options, including those regarding privacy, are impressive. You can learn more about creating your Substack account from this video Masterclass: Everything Bloggers and Creators Need to Get Started on Substack. There are loads of videos about using Substack on YouTube, but if you need help, email editorbawl@gmail.com, and I'll do what I can to help you get started. If many people would like to gather to discuss using Substack, event(s) can be created for that purpose. 

For those who do not want to join Substack, you can still be part of the BAWL publications there. With your permission, you can post a copy of your Feature article on Substack with your byline. If you contributed to one of the BAWL Anthologies, we can take that piece and post it on Substack with your byline. If you have a poem, story, or article published elsewhere that you would like to share, we strongly encourage you to submit it here for a monthly Feature, and then we can post it to Substack with your byline. Please feel free to decide if you want comments on the post to be allowed. 

Substack posts can have comments turned on or off as you prefer.

If you don't want to participate in Substack, that is totally fine. There is no pressure. But it could be a way to ease into having your own author website, podcast, newsletter, or blog and build your readers and followers to promote your publishing accomplishments. 

This is to serve the BAWL mission of supporting your desire to write and assist you in sharing your creations when you want to do so. 

If you have any questions or want additional information, don't hesitate to contact editorbawl@gmail.com