Today, May 18th, marks the second anniversary of WordHustler! Which means it’s time to do some serious celebrating…for us and for the thousands of writers who have used us to send out over 55 million words to the world!

In the two years WordHustler has been open and in business, we have:

• helped hundreds of writers find agents and get their work published in various literary magazines, online journals, and other publications
• awarded over 60 writers prizes and accolades through our various writing contests, including our Literary Storm Novel Contest
• connected our Top Ten Finalists with indie publisher Flatmancrooked for publishing consideration
• connected writers with our fantastic Editorial Maven Joyce Sweeney, who has helped over 27 people get published
• gained almost 10,000 clients, world-wide
• interviewed top-tier editors, agents, and writers on our blog, WordHustlerInk
• been written up by top writing, Hollywood, and technology sites
• debuted our Digital Submission System, allowing writers to seamlessly track their Digital and Physical Submissions
• reached and been used by writers in almost every country in the world

We have big plans for our next two years and beyond, so stay tuned for new and exciting features, contests, interviews, writing tools, and more!

We appreciate you being a WordHustler and to show our appreciation, we’re taking 10% off your physical submissions for the rest of the month of May. Simply enter the coupon code WORDHUSTLER2 in the orange coupon box when you check out. It’s just our way to say thanks for using us to help get your brilliance out to the world.

So come on, compose the perfect cover letter, upload your material, search our markets, and then send your poems, screenplays, novels, non-fiction books, articles, and other projects to our over 5,000 markets. Writing destiny is within your reach now that you’re organized, streamlined, and effectively submitting through WordHustler. It’s certainly a happy day for ALL!

Mashable has a great article up about the 100 Best Writers using Twitter today that is worthy of checking out. In the ever-changing web world of marketing what you write, the authors who use Twitter to both entertain and stay relevant are on top of their game. Read the article HERE.

Speaking of all things Tweet-able, WordHustler’s Twitter is up and running and we’d love you to connect with us! You can find us @wordhustler or check out our page HERE.

Thousands of writing songbirds tweeting our name? We can’t wait to hear it! Tweet on, Hustlers!

We at WordHustler, along with the rest of the world, were saddened to hear of Michael Jackson’s passing today at age 50. But, being the publishing-minded individuals that we are, our thoughts turn to the huge amount of Jackson-centric books that will inevitably flood the literary marketplace in the new few months.

Photo Courtesy of Phil Walter/Getty Images

Searching the book section of Amazon with the keywords “Michael Jackson” already yields over 20,000 results. So the question is, WordHustlers, how many books do you think will be released about Jackson in the next 3 months? Let us know your guess.

Goodbye to a true Thriller. And good luck with your writing, WordHustlers.

Announcing The May Essay Contest Winners!!!

The time has come to announce the winners of WordHustler’s May Essay Contest, which centered around the prompt: “What Is the Best Birthday Gift You’ve Ever Received and Why?”

It was a tough decision for the folks at WordHustler- from over hundreds of submissions, we selected three Winners and six Honorable Mentions.

Winners:

T. Katz, Canyon Country, CA

Karen Bumpus, Marshfield, MA

Orietta L’Abbate, Virgin Islands

Honorable Mentions:

Janice Moss, Albany, NY

Lea Schizas, Quebec, Canada

Donna Eggert, Tabernacle, NJ

Colleen Collins, Delray Beach, FL

Christopher Eller, Castle Rock, CO

Ruby Thomas, Gurnee, IL

If you didn’t win this time, you still have a chance to enter the Summer Poetry Contest! Look for contest rules HERE.

The three winning essays are posted below. Read on to see how these three WordHustlers shared their most memorable birthdays in an even more memorable way.

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WordHustler’s Summer Poetry Contest: Sun, Fun, and Publishing Success!

UPDATE: Contest Deadline EXTENDED until August 14th!!!! See below for details!

School is out, as is the sun, so let’s celebrate summer with some fantastic poems. WordHustler’s Summer Poetry Contest is here!  Send us a poem under 300 words that perfectly encapsulates the feel and attributes of summer at its best (or worst).

We will then sort through all the masterpieces and post the best 3 on WordHustlerInk.com*

So get those competitive juices flowing and hit your computer – submissions are due by August 14th at 12:00pm PST. Go to the the WordHustler Summer Poetry Contest listing in the Contests section of WordHustler’s Markets and submit through our system to win!

There’s a bonus too – not only will the top 3 works be posted right here on WordHustlerInk for all the world to read and enjoy, the winning poets will also get one free submission (up to $5.99 value) each.

See below for Official Rules and Regulations. Good Luck, Hustlers!

*Please Note: “Best” will be determined by the WH team. We are looking for compelling writing that gives us insight to you as a writer and what inspires you to do what you do. Note, the WH team consists of 10 writers with a combined experience of over 80 years in the industry who will determine which work captures the theme the most passionately….

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The setting: the backwoods and Southern-fried crevasses of Central Florida.

The crime: a body is discovered in the trunk of a senior citizen’s blue convertible. But this isn’t any senior citizen, this is Mama: “a true Southern woman with impeccable manners, sherbet-colored pantsuits, and four prior husbands, able to serve sweet tea and sidestep alligator attacks with equal aplomb.”

The culprit: Deborah Sharp, quick-witted and hilarious author of Mama Does Time, the first in her series of Mace Bauer mystery books. Sharp is a one-time USA Today journalist who hung up her reporting hat for the world of mystery writing…and hasn’t looked back since.

WordHustler sat down with Deborah Sharp to discuss writing, murder, and of course, bitchy literary agents with British accents. Lock the deadbolt, grab your rifle, and read on to learn how Sharp hunted for an agent, got her book published, and more!

WordHustler: How did you get your first big break in journalism? When you started, were you aiming to write for a national paper like USA Today? What was your first USA Today story?

Deborah Sharp: I took the long and winding approach to journalism, starting out as a psychology major, and only transferring to the J-school and writing for the University of Georgia’s newspaper after I was halfway through Ph.D. program in psychology. It was my first identity crisis (I expect to have a few more). I had no idea I’d ever work for a national newspaper. My only criteria for my first newspaper job was that it was somewhere warm and near the beach. Have I mentioned I’m not a super-ambitious person? The Fort Myers (Fla) News-Press satisfied both of those stringent requirements, and turned out to be a great training ground, too.

I probably would have stayed there forever if an opportunity hadn’t come up to go to USA Today, which is also owned by Gannett, the media company that owns the News-Press. I went up to the newspaper as what we used to call a ”loaner,” which meant the News-Press was still paying my salary while USA Today reaped the benefits of my incredible talents. Did I mention I was free?

I can’t remember the very first story. I was doing mainly little health briefs and celeb items in the LIFE section: “Scientists say: Beets are Good for You!” “Madonna’s Top Ten Tummy-Trimming Tips!”  But the first memorable story I did for the paper was one on illiteracy. It was the first time I ever flew anywhere for a story (Dateline: Racine, Wisc.), and the first time I rented a car. I just remember being incredibly grateful that this man I profiled would open his life to me and talk about what he felt was a shameful secret, and the struggle he was making at age forty-something so he could learn to read to his new grandchild. It turned out to be a cover story.

WH: Then the big transition- journalism to mystery novel writing. Had you been working on fiction pieces during your years as a reporter?

DS: Like a lot of journalists, I had a fiction manuscript tucked away in a desk drawer, and I worked on it every once in while.  The main character was a hard-hitting reporter on the trail of a serial killer (gee, how original!). I now think of it as good training, but it stinks to high heaven, and shall forever remain in that bottom drawer.

When I finally quit the paper, I had the time to finish it, but I didn’t like the character anymore. And, I figured, if I didn’t like her, why would anyone else? Plus, I wanted to do something COMPLETELY different than the news, which is why I hit on my funny, light-hearted ‘‘Mace Bauer Mystery” series, featuring Mace’s crazy mama.

WH: Now for the part everyone wants to hear about: how did you land an agent? Was your first book, Mama Does Time, finished at the time? How many agents did you approach before landing one?

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