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[Submission Service] Writer's Relief

bkwriter

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I'm just wondering if anyone has heard of writer's relief and had any experince with it. It's a editorial service that will look over your work for a fee? $50-70

thanks
 

Mumut

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The general rule here is if they ask for money, stay clear. You can submit your work here for beta reading or crits and I bet you'd get better advice than such a service. I mean, people doing it for a living, how much of their time will you get for $70.
 

Gillhoughly

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I found this by typing in Writer's Relief + scam into Google:

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5944


Legit or no, save your money.

They won't give you an edge toward publication. Your best edge is to learn to write well.

If you want a career at being a writer, go to the library and read the 808 section. (It's free! Woo!) It will have books that tell you step by step how to do all the things advertised on that site. It ain't rocket science. If I could learn it, anyone can!

You can get feedback free right here on AW.

And print this out and tape it over your desk--the NUMBER ONE rule for all of us is.

Yog's Law: Money flows toward the writer!


 

herdon

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I'll disagree with the majority and say that writing services are perfectly fine so long as you understand what you are getting out of them and are willing to pay the price.

I do agree that there are free alternatives available that should be considered as well.

As for Writer's Relief -- assuming you are talking about http://www.writersrelief.com/ -- I wouldn't waste your money. While there are legitimate editing services out there, I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a legitimate author submission service. That's a red flag.

If you want a legit editing service I'd suggest John Jarrold: http://www.johnjarrold.co.uk/
 

Mr. Anonymous

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I would also agree with Havlen. I've had my work looked at by an editor, and he helped me quite a bit. On the other hand, I've had betas who also helped me immensely. I'd try some of the non-fee charging routes first, and after that, if you still want the service, go for it.

As a sidenote, 50-70 bucks is very cheap. I'd be wary of what exactly they're going to offer you for such a low price. Professional editing costs at least a few hundred dollars, and a lot of times it can be 1-2 thousand.
 

bkwriter

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Thanks everyone. It sounds like great advice.
 

aka eraser

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Bumping this because they spammed me today with this email:

Contact: Jon Kutlu
Writer’s Relief, Inc.
409 South River Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Writing Contest Offers An Unusual First Prize: Manuscript Submissions!

Writer’s Relief, Inc announces a no-fee contest to celebrate its 15th anniversary as an author's submission service; one creative writer will receive 25+ targeted submissions to agents, editors, or literary magazines.

Hackensack, NJ (PR WEB) January 27, 2009—Most writing contests charge an entry fee and offer a cash award, but Writer’s Relief, an author’s submission service, is hosting a no-fee contest that offers creative writers the unusual prize of manuscript submissions.

“We wanted to celebrate our 15th year of manuscript submission services by giving writers something they really need—namely, time. If you win the grand prize, we will do the research for you so your book, story, or poem ends up in the right hands,” Writer’s Relief President, Ronnie Smith, said.

Writers may submit one untitled poem, short story, or essay of exactly 15 words. The deadline is February 28, 2009. Please see the contest rules and submissions guidelines at: http://writersreliefblog.com/post/Were-15!-Enter-Our-Contest-To-Win-Free-Submissions!.aspx.

Writer’s Relief helps creative writers professionally format and target their writing to markets that will be most likely to enjoy (and publish) their work. More information about Writer's Relief’s author’s submission services is available at http://www.writersrelief.com

If you would like more information about Writer’s Relief, please contact Jon Kutlu at (866) 405-3003 or e-mail at [email protected]


[FONT=&quot]Jon[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Kutlu[/FONT]
Writer's Relief, Inc.
[FONT=&quot](866) 405-3003 (toll-free)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](201) 641-3003[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]http://www.writersrelief.comhttp://www.writersrelief.com/[/FONT]
###
Please folks, don't fall for this kind of crap.


 

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Ooooh, it's tempting... or at least it would be, if I didn't know any better.
 

BenPanced

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Writer’s Relief helps creative writers professionally format and target their writing to markets that will be most likely to enjoy (and publish) their work.
Actually, from what I've heard, this is something a writer needs to learn to do.
 
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JerseyGirl1962

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Bumping this because they spammed me today with this email:

Contact: Jon Kutlu
Writer’s Relief, Inc.
409 South River Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Writing Contest Offers An Unusual First Prize: Manuscript Submissions!

Writer’s Relief, Inc announces a no-fee contest to celebrate its 15th anniversary as an author's submission service; one creative writer will receive 25+ targeted submissions to agents, editors, or literary magazines.

Big deal - 25+ targeted submissions.

I guess they think writers will be doing backflips over this "prize." :sleepy:

~Nancy
 

PVish

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. . . targeted submissions to agents, editors, or literary magazines

Doesn't a submission to an agent require a query? Some agents will reject queries sent form a "submission service." On her blog, agent Janet Reid says this:

If you use a query writing service, be advised they all sound alike, and I'm sick of them.

I've never asked for pages on a query sent to me that way cause they never included pages of writing and the cover letters sound stupid. I don't ask for more if the cover letter sounds stupid. That seems obvious to me.
 
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victoriastrauss

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I'll say first that I've never seen any Writer's Relief queries. However, my understanding of this service is that it is NOT equivalent to one of the query blaster services. Instead of blasting out an identical email to a poorly targeted list of hundreds, this service seems to tailor itself to the individual writer, with custom-made query letters and actual market research.

Am I advocating the use of Writer's Relief or a similar service? Not really. It's unlikely that they will do a better job than you could yourself, with some time and effort, or that they have access to any better research resources. If you're seriously time-crunched and have cash to spare, it could be worth a try, but otherwise, I doubt that there's any real advantage.

- Victoria
 

Le Pen

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I'm just wondering if anyone has heard of editorial and had any experince with it. It's a editorial service that will look over your work for a fee? $50-70

thanks

First (correction):
"It's aN editorial service that will look over your work for a fee. $50-70"

If you consider yourself a writer, then write like a writer.

'an editorial ', not 'a editorial', and w/o the ? mark at the end of the sentence. What you did was to put a statement, which is not a question, in a question fashion b/c of the American way of stating something in the intonation of a question, as if the other is dumb or something. State your statements and ask your q's, don't ask statements and q's too.
That's one.

Second:
WR (Writer's Relief) is doing a good job that otherwise would take you lots and lots of time, even using Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com), which I recommend to everyone, for submitting. Or Ralan (http://www.ralan.com/home.htm).
It costs money, yes, but it certainly isn't a scam, absolutely not.

I used it (poetry; waiting for responses; had submitted in the past quite a few times on my own, too, fiction & poetry), to my great satisfaction as to its first phase - the submitting phase: it's very organized, which is a must.
I am not in any way connected to them, and I won't do it again, for the simple reason that, after I learnt what is really requested and what and how WR is doing it, I'm willing to spend hours again in self-submitting, for this is how much it takes (literally hrs, even one or two subs).
That is, if you care to read the guidelines of each and every one of the publications which you search and to which you submit (after you decide to which one you send your children, a process in itself) and to abide by it, even if it's an electronic sub (by e-mail).
That is, if you care for the quality of work that you submit (format, grammar, syntax, punctuation, style, etc., all of which is EXTREMELY important), and if you care to track the submissions (which can involve using Excel, for best appearance and clarity). Sub Tracking takes a lot of time (on Duotrope or on your own prop), and is imperative, an absolute necessity for any serious writer.

So no, WR is NOT scam. But if you're willing to DIY, then it isn't necessary.

I'd advise though to spend a little, like for the WR's "A la carte plus" service - $250, and you'll get a bunch of very good printed advices from them, a bunch of 25-30 markets (which is not little, 99% up to date magazine names w their addresses and editors details - extremely important again), a taylored cover letter (composed after you filled a form about you and each piece of your work being submitted), and a how-to-do list of the submitting sequence for the said bunch of work (first-first, second-second, step by step), and believe me you need it, believe me, it can be overwhelming, even for me, due modesty, and I'm used to high-profile clerical work, among other things.

If you're a serious writer, you GOTTA submit. For 1 (one) acceptance, you gotta submit 100 (one hundred) times, statistically, which means subbing to 100 markets, meaning searching, looking, filtering, considering, and deciding, which one of the apr. 2500 magazines listed in Duotrope, frex, is for you and for your specific piece of work you're about to submit. Not simple, eh?

After that, comes the submission process itself, which, as I said, is not as simple as it sounds, but much more complicated, much more.

Not to worry, though, and not to be scared, you're a grown up, right? But take it as it is - not simple.

And have a copy of the Writer's Market, Short Story Writer's Market, and Poetry Market by Writer's Digets Books or some other such publication (there are some others, too), a MUST all of them, or some, according to your specific need. And don't you dare buy it new, only used, from Amazon or B&N or other such shop, even if only the last yr's edition is available. You can always check for updates on it online, just look for the magazine's name in any search engine, and you'll get the current beef - submission guidelines, address, editor name and title (manager or associate), to whom you have to send it. New is good for the online service that it confers to the buyer, which can be unnecessary, as I said, if you care to conduct a search by yourself.

Good luck!
 
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Vespertilion

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So, fat-fingering a sentence and leaving out an "n" in "an" shows how much bkwriter needs this service, but you can use "gotta," "frex," "w/o"--and even just a "w" for "with"--because you meant to do that, right? Oh, and never mind that they obviously didn't manage to break you of your run-on-sentence affliction.

Gang way! I gotta go get me some o' that there.

Oh, and you should have capitalized the first letter of the sentence after you exhort bkwriter to write like a writer, and put a comma before "too"---meh, I'll let someone else do it. I haven't got the energy.
 
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happywritermom

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I submitted a sample to Writers Relief (no charge) just out of curiousity about two years ago. They "congratulated" me and deemed me worthy of their services (Yipee for me, eh?).

According to their letter, their query services basically involved some critique of the query letter and a bunch of names and addresses to stick in the appropriate fields on the query letters. I would still have to mail everything myself.

You can cut and paste addresses from any agent database and reformat just as easily.

My conclusion? Big, big waste of money.
 

Le Pen

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So, fat-fingering a sentence and leaving out an "n" in "an" shows how much bkwriter needs this service, but you can use "gotta," "frex," "w/o"--and even just a "w" for "with"--because you meant to do that, right? Oh, and never mind that they obviously didn't manage to break you of your run-on-sentence affliction.

Gang way! I gotta go get me some o' that there.

Oh, and you should have capitalized the first letter of the sentence after you exhort bkwriter to write like a writer, and put a comma before "too"---meh, I'll let someone else do it. I haven't got the energy.

Yep, Clovia, all this b/c what you mentioned ("gotta," "frex," "w/o"--and even just a "w" for "with") are not mistakes, but 'a' instead of 'an' before a word starting w a vowel, is. Why? B/c of the rules of writing, which we are their custodians. We're writers here, aren't we?

And the "you should have capitalized the first letter of the sentence after you exhort bkwriter to write like a writer" is incorrect. Why? B/c I quoted her.

And so on and so forth.

But if this is all you gotta to tell me on this issue, then you're one lucky writer. You, apparently, know all'bout subbing. Good fer ya!
I still think, though, that my post has much info to offer about subbing. Agree?

BTW, I'm against punctuation marks inside quotation marks.
 

M.R.J. Le Blanc

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Let's see now....I can either pay these guys, or get the same help for free elsewhere.


This isn't rocket science. I know which one I'd go for.
 

James D. Macdonald

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No one said scam.

There are many things in this world that can be most accurately described as Waste of Time, Bad Idea, or Useless, that are not scams.

No one called the Pet Rock a scam either.
 

Cranky

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Seems like a big waste of money to me. Sure, it's *very* time consuming to go through each market's submission guidelines and then make sure your work fits them, and then submit, and wait and wait...but it's free. And you're getting a free education doing it yourself.

Not to mention, I've read some really great stories that way, stuff I might have otherwise missed if I weren't willing to do the market research myself. FWIW.