![]() This is a no-brainer and an absolute must. When you've found a grant - or two, or six - that you areeligible for, you need to read everything you can find out aboutit. Network with other writers on writing sites like Zoetrope andShow Us Your LitsĢ - Know your grant: visit the website and read the requirements.Read the information on your area arts council's website.Look for writers' organizations in your genre, like the SFWA orthe Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.Look at writers' magazines most have a section on grants in theback.Don't be shy - most writers are willing to help another writerwith information.Granting institutions publish the winners'names on their websites call a past winner and ask about thegrant, and the writer's experience. Ask other writers if they know of any grants.Check out writers' resource sites and subscribe to newsletters.Start with your region, state, province or country and Google"writing grants fiction" or "writing grants poetry".There are grants solely for women as well. Second, when all theentries are the same genre, the judges won't be trying to decidewhether to fund the sex-and-shopping novel or the sword-and-sorceryone. There are writing grants, and there are specialized writing grants.Are you writing fiction or poetry, young adult or fantasy ormainstream? You have a better chance if you can narrow your field.First, you'll be competing in a smaller group. Here's how to prepare an entry that gives you your best chance.Take it one step at a time, and you can do it. Got your trackrecord? Then you're ready to go. Depending on thegrant, you may not even have to have sold fiction. Don't give your work away - for many granting agencies,payment is the thing, and the amount of payment less important.Radio work, online publications, that local gossip piece for yoursmall-town paper - if you place it, get paid. In most cases,however, without something to prove you're a serious workingwriter, you're not likely to be eligible.Ĭreate a track record with short fiction, poetry, even newspaperarticles. There are a few grants for unpublished writers. The Minnesota State Arts Boardrequires that the applicant be a professional artist. TheIsherwood Foundation wants applicants to have published one novelor collection of short stories. They need to see a track record.The Ontario Arts Council requires a writer to have published aminimum of one book or three paid essays, poems or stories. The granting institutions want to know they're funding someonewho's likely to produce good work. Arts councils fund only artists residingwithin their province, state, region or country, and also requireproof of professionalism. Grant funds can usually be usedfor living expenses, travel and research associated with theproject, and printing and postage costs.Įligibility is more likely to revolve around residency and workthan financial need. Many granting organizations state specifically that the money isnot for the purchase of equipment. Some are grants for artistsor writers in financial distress due to illness or emergency, butmany are to fund specific projects, intended to pay a writer'snormal living expenses while she finishes her work. And guess what? The money isn't for howwell you can fill out an application - it's for how well youwrite!Īrts councils, universities, private foundations and authors'associations (such as PEN and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writersof America) are all sources of grants. In fact, they often have a mandate to distribute a certainamount of money to writers. Bear in mind that these institutions want to fundwriters. Where do you start? Where do you look? What doyou do?įirst, breathe. What if Idid it wrong? For a first-timer, writing a grant application cansound intimidating. The first time I thought of applying for a grant, I broke out in a sweat. In the last year I've had three fiction grants. The purpose of a fiction grant is to fund the completion of a work that is, the grant pays your expenses so that for a month or six,or more, you can work on your writing without wondering how to paythe phone bill. They'll Pay Me to Write my Novel? Six Steps to Help You Win a Fiction Grant Negotiating ContractsSetting Fees/Getting Paid HELPFUL LINKS | EDITOR'S CORNER (Ramblings on the Writing Life) HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SITE MAP | MASTER ARTICLE INDEX | ADVERTISE WITH US! Six Steps to Help You Win a Fiction Grant
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