Special offer for 2025

This is not replacing the regular November newsletter. I had something I felt I needed to do. Feel free to share this post to your social connections. ~ LZ

Special offer (contest) for 2025

After processing the US election results for the last few days, I have decided I need to take some action. Do something to support the things I believe in. I donated money and time to the political causes, but it wasn’t enough. And I’m kind of tapped out.

But I thought with my skills as an editor I can help grow the number and quality of books available to and about the lives, hopes, and dreams of marginalized people, particularly LGBTQ+, BIPOC and immigrants. These voices hold points of view that have been specifically targeted for censorship and silencing by the next administration.

I am LGBTQ+ (bisexual specifically), a member of the Golden Crown Literary Society (sapphic), and a member of LGBTQ+ Editors Association. I have edited a couple BIPOC titles, but I’m not fully aware of all that the members in those communities deal with. So my support will be focused on elevating LGBTQ+ stories.

I have decided to provide FREE copy editing for (5) novel manuscripts during 2025. Based on my productivity in 2024, that’s going to be about 20% of the total books I will edit in 2025. I also have LGBTQ+ Editor Association friends who are planning similar programs to increase community support, so if your book doesn’t get picked up by me, I will almost certainly recommend you connect with one of them.

Submission Guidelines

Your manuscript does not have to be perfect – that’s what editing is for, after all. But…

1. Eligibility: Authors must be previously unpublished in long form. If you’ve had short stories or poetry published, but this is your first novel, you are eligible. If you previously wrote fanfiction, and this is your first original novel, you are eligible. If you have already published non-LGBTQ+ books, a new book with LGBTQ+ content is eligible.
2. Content: Your novel should feature themes and characters that positively portray LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies. If characters face specific opposition in the story because of these identities, the outcome of the plot MUST be positive. The characters should be fully realized, imperfect, likeable (super powers is fine, but super egotists aren’t).
   • NO FANFICTION. All characters must be originally created by you. The goal for me is to see your book is published. That can’t happen if the characters or situations already belong to someone else.
   • NO A.I. I will NOT consider anything that has been created in part or whole with artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, AI.character, or the like. Spellcheck tools that use AI (such as Grammarly) are not *creating* content, which is what I object to. Also remember, copy editing INCLUDES spellcheck and fixing grammar, so you’re going to get that stuff fixed by me.
3. Length: Your submission should be a complete story, with a beginning, middle, and end, and it should be novel length, between 50,000 and 90,000 words.
   • If the story is the first in a series, this should be clearly noted in your summary (see below). And even then, most of the subplot arcs should reach a satisfying conclusion. Some “big bad” doesn’t have to be defeated, but there should be a sense of “we won this battle, but the war continues.”
   • Note, a few hundred words above 90k is not a deal-breaker, but 2,000 words above is. Make sure your writing is as tight and engaging as you can make it.
4. Submit your best work. Your submission should already be structurally sound (beta readers can help with this) and as engaging a story as you can make it.
   • The winner will be chosen by me, and I will base my decision on my 17+ years experience as a fiction editor, workshop instructor, and writing mentor. I am looking to help release into the world stories with the most solid characters and plot, ones that do not need developmental edits, and are ready for copy editing.
5. Deadline: Submission packages will be accepted on a rolling basis. I will cut off submissions by the deadline or when I receive 10 submissions, whichever comes first. If the form link doesn’t work, then you will have to wait until the next submission period opens to submit your book to the contest. The deadline for your submission depends on when you would like to have the edits done.

submit manuscript by…	feedback sent, winners notified by…	winning copy edit done in…
December 21, 2024	January 25, 2025	February 2025
February 15, 2025	March 15, 2025	April 2025
April 19, 2025	May 17, 2025	June 2025
June 21, 2025	July 19, 2025	August 2025
August 16, 2025	September 20, 2025	October 2025

Submission Package Guidelines

The submission and selection process is going to be a lot like one at a traditional publishing house. You will submit the completed manuscript as a (double-space) Microsoft Word formatted file. Please use the following pattern to name the file: PenName_StoryTitle.DOCX Use my guidelines, found on this post to format your pages, chapters, and paragraphs.

In addition to your manuscript file, you will also send me a 1-page (single-space) synopsis. This is not a pitch or blurb. There should be no questions and the ending must be revealed. Summarize the entire story in about 500-550 words. Here’s my post on writing a synopsis.

Your story will remain your intellectual property throughout the entire process; I only ask that I be credited as your copy editor as “Lara Zielinsky DBA LZ Edits” in the book’s front matter, Acknowledgements, or Author’s Note, when you publish.

Your files will be returned with Track Changes (MS Word editing feature) turned on, so that you can see my comments and in-line edits. All entrants will receive constructive feedback regarding their story structure and edits about their most common issues and strengths. A full copy edit, however, will only be done on the winning story and it will be scheduled into my workload as described above.

If you are not the winner, you will be welcome to request a slot in my editing schedule as a paying client. I will offer services at a 20% discount (10% for new customer, and 10% for being a participant in this contest).

When you are ready to submit, please use this form.

The first submission deadline is December 21, 2024.

Let’s see your stories!

~ Lara

November’s regular newsletter will be out in a couple weeks. ~ LZ