Friday Friendship Feature #5–How To Get Published In Chicken Soup For The Soul —Beyond Your Blog

Welcome to the Friday Friendship Feature #5! How to Get Published in Chicken Soup for the Soul

This week, I’m thinking about Writing

For this week’s Friday Friendship Feature, I want to share a what’s been on my mind–writing! I’m sure that since many of my readers are fellow bloggers, you also think quite a lot about writing.

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Blogging…Writing…

We all blog for different reasons; but at the heart of blogging, you always come back to the writing. If you hate writing, you will not enjoy blogging. But for some, it’s a means to and end. For others, it’s all about the writing–they write because it’s just in them, and blogging is a natural way to share the ideas and stories that must come out.

My Writing World

I enjoy writing. In fact, I’d say that enjoy writing more than I enjoy blogging. Ever since my first year in college, when I took that Comp. 101 class, the writing bug hit me. Also, I began to realize that putting my thoughts into words creatively was fun, and I liked to see other people’s reaction to what I wrote.

In those days, my writing consisted of letters home (I spent a year in the Amazon working as a nurse) and journaling. Later on, when we had kids, blogging entered.

Writing, Present Tense

This week, I was talking with my friend about writing. She’s pursuing her passion in writing (remember my first Friday Friendship Feature–Ms. Norma? Yep, she wrote that). We talked about what it takes to get published. We also discussed how to balance life, family, and work with writing in this technical age, which is not an easy task.

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I Wonder…

Our talk led me on a curiousity-seeking trail that ended up with the article I am sharing.  I did a quick search into what it takes to get published by Chicken Soup for the Soul, a book series that just about everyone has heard about.

On the off chance that you’ve never heard of the Chicken Soup For the Soul books, they are anthologies of short stories from various contributors.  They provide nice reading retreat to pick up for ten minutes or as much time as you have.  The number of titles that they publish is now in the hundreds, and their readership is in the millions.  Here are a few that I am interested in reading:

Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul

Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, Second Dose

Chicken Soup Inspiration for Nurses

CSFTS Inspiration for Writers

Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul

CSFTS Moms and Sons

CSFTS Teenage Tough Stuff Plus Teen Soul, Preteen Soul, Middle School, and on and on

CSFTS The Cat Really Did That? Plus like ten more books on Cats, and multiple titles on Dogs

CSFTS Gardener’s Soul–Sow Seeds of Love, Hope and Laughter

CSFTS Home Sweet Home–Hearth, Happiness and Hard Work —-Hey–that sounds like this blog!  It’s the closest thing to Homesteading you’re going to get, and that title is at the top of my wish list!

That’s a Lot of Books!

Seriously, there are over 250 titles, so if you think of it, Chicken Soup probably already has a book about it!  I’ve only scratched the surface on the many amazing books they have out there.  I actually didn’t know there were so many–I’d read the original one, plus maybe a cat book, then had heard of some of the Angel and Miracle titles, but I never dreamed they’d have books on Nurses, Gardeners, and even Homesteaders!  Pretty cool!

And…spoiler alert!  I know someone who’s about to be published in this amazing series, in the book coming out in August!  Nope…not me!  I’ll be sure to let you know when it happens!

By the way, those books are listed on amazon as affiliate links. If you buy one using that link, I’ll maybe get a tiny little proceed from it, LOL, but you won’t pay any more.

Back to the Friday Friendship Feature on Writing

If you’re curious, check out the official guidelines at the ChickenSoup.com website.  The directions are specific and clearly stated.  However, the Friday Friendship Feature article that I’m directing you to fleshes the process out more, and helps you to hear what the editors of Chicken Soup books really look for as they select their stories.

That’s Right, I said Hear

That’s because once you read the article, there is a very helpful audio interview with Any Newmark, who is Editor-In-Chief at Chicken Soup for the Soul.  She kindly details everything you need to know if you’re interested in dabbling into the writing world to submit your work to CSFTS.

From Beyond the Blog, speaking about the interview:

The interview includes

• How Amy went FROM WALL STREET TO PUBLISHER just before she was ready to retire

• Average number of SUBMISSIONS VS. ACCEPTANCES per book and whether THEY READ EVERY SINGLE SUBMISSION

• Why Amy says “DON’T BE AFRAID” TO SUBMIT

• How Chicken Soup For The Soul SHARES SUBMISSION OPPORTUNITIES

• Why UNPUBLISHED WRITERS SHOULD NOT BE INTIMIDATED about submitting to Chicken Soup for The Soul

• What being published in Chicken Soup For The Soul can do for YOUR WRITING CAREER

• Amy’s tip about THE ONE TRICKY THING ON THE SUBMISSION FORM 

• The type of writing that Amy and her EDITORS ARE NOT LOOKING FOR

• Several of the GREAT TOPICS CURRENTLY OPEN FOR STORY SUBMISSIONS at Chicken Soup For The Soul

• GREAT WRITER BENEFITS for Chicken Soup For The Soul Contributors and why BEING A CONTRIBUTOR MAKES YOU PART OF AN EXCLUSIVE COMMUNITY.

• How long it will be BEFORE YOU HEAR BACK IF YOUR STORY IS ACCEPTED

• The MANY WAYS CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL GIVES BACK to the community

• How you can take part in the Chicken Soup For The Soul SOUP-ER BLOGGER NETWORK

What are you waiting for?

Why don’t you just head on over to Beyond the Blog and listen to the wonderful interview!  I know that if you enjoy writing, or are thinking about whether you could really submit your story to such a huge company, you will love it!

And, who knows, maybe YOU will be the next author featured in an upcoming Chicken Soup for the Soul book!  You will never know if you don’t try!  Link follows below!

— Read on www.beyondyourblog.com/podcast/how-to-get-published-in-chicken-soup-for-the-soul-amy-newmark/