Finding The Bacon
By Kimberly Ripley

Greetings, avid freelancers, and welcome to this issue of Finding the Bacon. This week finds our bacon broiled and squeezed between several layers of paper towels in order to minimize the fat, as we take a look at health and fitness publications.

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I know a writer who recently published her article on marathon running in Oxygen. A serious runner, the information she provided readers meshed perfectly with their pieces on weight training, fitness, cardiovascular exercise, and eating a healthy diet.

Oxygen
6465 Airport Rd.
Mississauga, Ontario L4V 1E4
Canada

Guidelines Online: No

E-Mail Queries: No

Oxygen buys how-to articles, personal experience articles, profiles, and interviews pertaining to innovative as well as tried and true methods for keeping healthy and fit. Query with samples or clips—while previous experience is expected, previous publications aren’t mandatory.

Pays: On acceptance. $350 and up.

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Beyond physical health, Fitness looks at exercise and well-being for mind, spirit, and body.

Fitness
375 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10017

Guidelines Online: No

E-Mail Queries: No

In addition to fitness and health articles, Fitness covers news trends, beauty, relationships, sex, and makeovers. Articles run 1200-1500 words, and a resume is required along with a query and clips. Send via standard mail.

Pays: Upon acceptance. $1 per word.

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Interested in writing articles providing positive advice for men on physical and emotional fitness, exercise, nutrition, and lifestyles? Men’s Health would like to hear from you.

Men’s Health
Rodale, Inc.
33 East Minor St.
Emmaus, PA 18098

Guidelines Online: No

E-Mail Queries: No, but accepts submissions via this online form: http://www.menshealth.com/cs2/storyideas.shtml  

Also accepts queries via fax at (610) 967-7725.

Men’s Health buys articles between 700 and 2000 words on health, nutrition, fitness, and exercise—as they pertain to men. The “Malegrams” department is a great place for unpublished writers to try their hand at writing for a major magazine. Accepts queries and manuscripts via standard mail or fax.

Pays: On acceptance. $1 per word.

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Good mental and physical health, acquired through healthy diet, exercise, and health maintenance are the focus of Shape Magazine.

Shape Magazine
21100 Erwin St.
Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Contact: Anne Russell

Guidelines online: No

http://www.shapemag.com

E-mail Queries: No

Food and personal success stories accompany a plethora of health, beauty, exercise, diet, and nutrition articles in Shape Magazine. They regularly run features on adventure travel. Queries with clips are welcome via standard mail, and it is requested that queries run no more than two paragraphs in length. Be familiar with the magazine is a tried and true requirement! Word length of articles varies.

Pays: On acceptance. $1 per word.

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Offering a Christian perspective to family health, nutrition, and fitness, Vibrant Life welcomes practical articles in an easy, reader-friendly style.

Vibrant Life
55 West Oak Ridge Dr.
Hagerstown, MD 21740

Guidelines Online: Yes

http://www.vibrantlife.com

E-Mail Queries: No

Vibrant Life features health and nutrition articles and those promoting an active lifestyle for the entire family. Its Christian perspective keeps it far more family-oriented than many of the other heath and fitness publications. Prefers to see a completed manuscript, but will accept query letters via standard mail. Articles run approximately 1000 words. Self-improvement, personal challenges, and family issues are popular topics.

Pays: On publication. Up to $250.

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Kimberly Ripley is a freelance writer and published author from Portsmouth, NH. A wife and mother of five, her family's antics have led her to write books like ''Breathe Deeply, This Too Shall Pass," a collection of thirty tales of the trials and tribulations of parenting teens. She is the owner/publisher of Writerip Publishing, and editor of a newsletter and web site called ''Freelancing Later in Life,'' based on her book by the same name.  Visit her site at http://www.freelancing1.homestead.com.  

Contests Corner
By Moira Richards

I've stretched the definition of writing contest somewhat, to bring a different slant to this month's column. All of the sites I've quoted from below have the same few things in common: None of them ask an entry fee, all of them offer more than just one chance to 'win' if your writing is good enough, and all the 'prizes' awarded are publication on their site. And the kind of writing required from each of them is a book review. Book reviewing is often overlooked as a writing genre, but it is certainly not one to be sniffed at - after all, that's how Virginia Woolf started out ...

Enjoy, Moira

THE COMPULSIVE READER

"Welcome to The Compulsive Reader. This site features reviews of new release books by some of the hottest writers working today. There are also author interviews, profiles, links to sites where you can immerse yourselves in the authors and more. Why submit a review or an article?

"To Help Others. When you share your knowledge and expertise and experience with us, we share it with thousands of readers. You can make a difference in someone's life by helping them find the right books quickly and helping them avoid wasting their hard-earned money on books that aren't going to be helpful or interesting to them. 

"Promotion. Reviews and articles chosen for publication on our site will be read by thousands of people. We provide prominent links back to all of our freelance writers. What better way to promote your site and your writing and reviewing career than to have thousands of interested parties viewing your work? 

"Free Books. Known book reviewers routinely receive free review copies of books in the field in which they review. We probably won't be able to get you review copies immediately, but after you publish one or two reviews on our site, it shouldn't be difficult to get you the books you really want for future reviews. As long as the books you want to review fit the site's purpose (literary fiction in the main), and are new releases, we can likely get hold of the book for you. We are also looking for regular reviewers to send new release books to." 

URL: http://www.compulsivereader.com/ 

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NONFICTIONREVIEWS

"NonfictionReviews.com is always looking for more good writers. If you'd like to join our staff or even if you'd just like to send in a single review, send an e-mail to the Editor. Let me know what your interests are and, if possible, include or point to some writing you've done previously. We have high standards, but we want to hear from you if you're interested! Unfortunately, we can't offer monetary compensation. But if you're looking to get your writing out in the public eye, give it a shot."

URL: http://www.nonfictionreviews.com/ 

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THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

"The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no financial donations from authors or publishers for our services.

"We give priority consideration to small press publishers, self-published authors, academic presses. We post all our reviews on the Internet with a number of thematically appropriate areas of the Internet such as alt.books.reviews and Pub-Forum. Our reviews are also available through Internet bookstores such as Amazon.com.

"All of our reviewers are independent volunteers and retain complete ownership of their reviews and may have them printed or aired in any other review formats or forums in addition to our own publications and Internet postings. All reviews done for the Midwest Book Review are nonexclusive -- a few of our volunteers actually came to do well enough to land their own columns in local papers!

"We also offer some suggestions for those who are unsure of how to write a review or who would like to hone their reviewer skills."

URL: http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ 

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RALPH 

"One of the most popular features of RALPH's predecessor magazine, The Fessenden Review, was the fact that the door was open to all writers --- known or unknown --- to submit reviews, poetry, drawings, reporter-at-large articles, or political and social commentaries. The Review printed a surprising number of over-the-transom submissions, and discovered some fine new talent in the process. Few of the reviewers whose names appeared on the pages of The Fessenden Review were famous or known (although some have since gone on to greater glory). Indeed, many of the most interesting writings came from 'gifted amateurs' --- those who showed a love of reading, those who fell easily into the anarchistic confederation that constituted the magazine's staff and editors. 

"With RALPH, we will continue to honor this open-door tradition. Any and all of those reading the magazine are urged to join us on the other side of the editorial desk. We saw then --- we see now --- our task as one of breaking down the artificial barriers constructed by the East Coast elite who forbid commerce between those who own the means of production, and those who consume it.

"The text of the review should be written with simplicity and dignity, using the King's English. Avoid dangling participles, pretentious sentences, and show-off words. Be insightful, witty, reasoned, literate, and pithy. In all cases do not, repeat, do not put the editors to sleep with your words. We cannot tell you how long to make your review...that has to be a matter between you and the page, if not god. 

"Our take on most book reviewers --- especially experienced ones --- is that they don't realize that the Standard, Reasoned, Thoughtful, Careful Book Review isn't worth reading; much less posting for the world to read. We want reviews that expose pomposity and arrogance and foolish pride, that expose the lack of grand writing and great plotting. We want our writers to mock pompousness, scorn predictability, and ridicule the turgid and the bombastic. 

"At the same time, this is not a mere seek-and-destroy mission. We want reviews that praise the true artist --- lauding the known and the unknown with equal fervor. We want our reviewers to search out honest, rich and insightful literature --- to describe it with words that are, in themselves, art." 

URL: http://www.ralphmag.org/ 

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UNDER THE COVERS

"All of us at Under the Covers are just regular people who love books. We are not paid to read and review books (nor do we accept advertising), and no reviewer ever has to review a book she doesn't want to review--most books reviewed here are books the reviewer bought and wants to tell you about. We tend to concentrate on books we enjoy, feeling that life's too short to read mediocre books, but even our reviews that are less than glowing will never be rude, catty, or disparaging. Authors are our friends; without them, what would we read? While we do receive some books for review from publishers and authors, rest assured that these books do not receive preferential treatment. Reviews on Under the Covers are always honest without being ugly.

"Reviews on Under the Covers are not meant to be literary criticism, simply notes of plot, character, style, tone, and other elements to help the reader decide if she might enjoy the book. We don't feel that the quality of a book can be quantified, so we don't attempt it. This is your chance to tell hundreds of people about books you enjoyed. A few guidelines ... "

URL: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/utc.html 

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BLACK BOOK NETWORK

"Welcome to the Black Book Network, the Internet magazine devoted to books published by and for people of African heritage. At the Black Book Network, you're always 'in the know' about the hottest selling books on the market! The Black Book Network -- the cyberspace meeting place for book lovers! 

"We are accepting submittals for the following upcoming features: author interviews, book excerpts, book club activities, book signings and events, press releases, and book reviews. All submissions will be carefully reviewed for their appropriateness for this website." 

URL: http://www.blackbooknetwork.com/ 

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CURLED UP WITH A GOOD BOOK

"Curled Up With a Good Book is an e-zine committed to bringing good books from presses of all sizes to the attention of our readers and newsletter subscribers. Do you think you've got a nose for a good book? Would you like a forum for your literary opinions? We receive a steady stream of book submissions to be read and reviewed, and we would like to enlist your help. If you would like to write book reviews for Curled Up With a Good Book (bound books only), please send your name, email and an attached sample review to editor@curledup.com. 

"Our review format is relatively loose: four to six paragraphs, subjectively written (else why bother to review?), story synopsis okay but no secrets or surprise endings given away. You should also provide a rating for the book (Fair/Good/Very Good/Excellent/Classic -- "Classic" reserved for extremely qualified books like Pulitzer Prize winners or obvious classics, like Tolkien, Hemingway, etc). We look forward to hearing from you! 

"Book reviews of literary and mainstream fiction, fantasy, science fiction and nonfiction are here at Curled Up With a Good Book. It's literary criticism that helps real readers find good books!"

URL: http://www.curledup.com/ 

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THE STORY CIRCLE NETWORK

"The Story Circle Network is made up of women who want to explore their lives and their souls through life-writing--writing that focuses on our personal experience, through memoirs and autobiographies, in diaries and journals, in personal essays, in poetry. The Network is for every woman who aims to claim the power of her experience, who wants to map her journey, and who is determined to name herself. The Network is for you. We're looking for book reviews written by our members for both the Story Circle Journal and for the on-line book reviews. (Yes, you do have to be a member to submit a book review!) 

"We like reviews that go deeper and help readers understand the 'why' of the book, not just the 'what.' Please avoid using the copy on the jacket flap (often written by a publicist who hasn't even read the book!), the blurbs on the back, and the press release that may have come with the book. Your review should focus on the book and your personal response to it. Please do not use the review as an opportunity to promote your own activities. 

"If you don't like a book, please don't review it. Our reviews are designed to guide readers to books they will find valuable. You may include a few negative comments in your review if necessary, but we don't publish reviews that are negative overall. 

"When you submit a review to us, you are giving us one-time, non-exclusive rights to print it in the Journal and non-exclusive rights to publish it on our web site. You retain the copyright to your work and are free to publish it elsewhere. If you are a working writer, you will find that clips of published reviews are welcome additions to your portfolio." 

URL: http://www.storycircle.org/index.html 

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MOSTLY FICTION

"What did you think of the character development in the last book you read? Was the plot of a thriller too complicated or too simplified? If you love to read and want to let others know about a book you enjoyed then maybe you should consider submitting reviews to MostlyFiction.com. I like to write reviews because it gives me a chance to think about the book a little longer after I've come to the last page. Maybe you'll enjoy this benefit as well.

"If your review is accepted it will be posted with your byline. If I like what you are doing, then I will forward new books to you for review and although I can't pay you, you can keep the books. (At least it is a little perk.)

URL: http://www.mostlyfiction.com/ 

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BOOK MUSE

"We hope you'll agree that BookMuse is THE source of insights and information for book discussion groups of all ages. Browse the site. Discover what to read next. We feature Muse Notes for kids and adults, where you'll find our reviews, discussion questions, and lots more."

URL: http://www.bookmuse.com/ 

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WOMEN WRITERS 

"A staff writer is someone who is on permanent status on the editorials page, has a bio and photo posted on the site, and must contribute at least one short essay, book review, author interview or discussion of a woman writer per issue. Topics will be relatively open, as long as they are related to women's literature, but there is an online 'wish list' of topics I'd love to have covered that you can pick from, for those who like more structure. However, you can also just wing it. This is, we know, a big contribution and not everyone is up to such a work load. So, instead of being part of the permanent staff, hanging around the cyberstaffroom drinking coffee and complaining about the low wages (i.e., NO wages, just the admiration and esteem of your friends and co-workers), you could be an occasional contributor. 

"Occasional contributors: Now and then, you'll send in an essay about a woman writer, a book review of a book by a woman author, a woman author's interview that you've done, a close reading of a book about or by a woman once in a while. Topics will be relatively open, as long as they are related to women's literature, but there is an online 'wish list' of topics we need covered that you can pick from, for those who like more structure. This is sort of 'free lance work.' When you read a book, and want to tell people about it, you can write a short essay/review/interview and move on with your life."

URL: http://womenwriters.net 

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BOOK IDEAS

"How to be a reviewer: First off, understand that there's pretty much no money in reviewing books online. Hopefully you knew that already. You'll have to want to review for other reasons. Some people enjoy telling others about a good book, and it can feel pretty good to properly bash an awful book that good money has been paid for. There are some amount of free books that get sent to our reviewers, and some find value in the exposure their writing & name gets at the site. You will be given a bio page to post just about anything you see fit to about yourself, including links to any other websites you may be involved in. Assume that the possibility of logo-imprinted T-shirts and hats rounds out the compensatory picture here. If, despite that warning, you still want in, have a sample book review ready, read the terms & conditions, after which you will be asked to fill out a short form.''

URL: http://bookideas.com/ 

I have been an accountant for a very long time, but I always wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I realised a year or so back that there's not that many decades left for me get grown up, and so I'm working part time at learning how to be a writer. Besides my  column here, I write a weekly article on Women Abuse for  Suite101.com - not a pretty subject, but if you have the stomach,  check it out at http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/women_abuse -  and have recently been promoted by them to Managing Editor (Food).