Writers' Wings

Thursday, October 23, 2014

LITERARY INNOVATION

I was just doing some research for a client and stumbled upon something quite interesting that the Chicago Tribune started offering last year, as a premium addition to its Sunday book section. It's called Printers Row Journal, and here's how editor Jennifer Day tells the story:

"It’s our first anniversary, and to thank our readers, we put together this special digital issue to reflect on our favorite stories of the year. When the Chicago Tribune launched Printers Row, the aim was to capture the smart buzz from our annual Printers Row Lit Fest and to find a way to keep it humming throughout the year. We launched Printers Row Journal, a weekly, 24-page book section, to open up space for book reviews, thought pieces, author interviews and literary news. Along with the Journal, we offered a weekly short story in a Fiction booklet featuring up-and-coming authors. We programmed author events, too, aiming to build a true community around books and ideas. Our goal was to build on Chicago’s deep literary traditions and to make Printers Row something that truly reflects our city. It turns out, though, that readers from across the nation were interested in Printers Row, and so partway through the year, we began offering a digital subscription option for those who live outside of our circulation area — or just prefer to read Printers Row Journal on a digital device. We’ve compiled an extended sample issue here, in case you missed some of the highlights. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to another great year. Here’s to the next chapter."

The journal's editorial focus as listed on Poets & Writers: "At the center of Printers Row Journal, our premium weekly supplement, is a handsomely produced short story pamphlet. The Tribune showcases winners of our Nelson Algren Short Story competition but aims to build on that tradition by spotlighting even more top-quality new work. While we love stories from the Midwest, our goal is to honor glorious stories regardless of setting."

Writers' Wings will definitely be adding this journal to its database!

About Marleen

Marleen Roggow founded Writers' Wings because she recognized that her talented writer friends were unable to maintain the consistent submission schedule necessary to get works published. The experience of rejection sent them into periods of despair so the process would come to a grinding halt. As a friend and an admirer of their work, this was frustrating to Marleen. She wanted them to share their writing with the world. She wished there was something she could say or do to help alleviate their suffering.

One day having lunch with one writer friend, she was encouraging her to keep putting the work out there even though it was disheartening. Then the friend asked if Marleen would be willing to send out the work to publications and not tell her about any rejections, only acceptances. She just wanted to be free to focus on writing and forget about the rest. But she knew that having work read is an important part of the writing process.

In that moment Marleen found her calling. She saw clearly how her organizational skills and deep appreciation of writing could combine to provide a valuable service to her talented friends and other writers of short works who had similar challenges. She now has a large client base of authors who are regularly published and who just love getting Marleen’s emails or phone calls that spark celebration while remaining blissfully oblivious to all the rejections along the way.

If that sounds good, contact Marleen to see if her services are right for you.

Here is what one client has to say...

"Thanks to Marleen at Writers' Wings, I've had my poems accepted at three publications over the past three months. Before I started using her services, that's about how many poems I had published in the past three decades, due to some serious procrastination issues. Oh, Marleen, where have you been all my life?"
-- Stephanie Noble

Thursday, October 23, 2014

LITERARY INNOVATION

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