OPPORTUNITIES

• The Poetica Christi Press 2012 Poetry Competition is open to entries until October 31st. The theme for the competition is Exploring the Depths and first prize is $300

WRITING ADVICE

• Ivan Ewert on Writing Horror (When You Didn’t Think You Could) at Booklifenow.com
• Gabriela Pereira has 3 Steps for Using Writing Prompts to Write Better & Get Published at janefriedman.com

INDUSTRY NEWS & COMMENTARY

• The heirs of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster have been denied the opportunity to reclaim their copyright
• HarperCollins has celebrated the 161st anniversary of Moby Dick by showcasing the original, handwritten book contract on their tumblr.
• Stuart Glover discusses Little Magazines, McSweeney’s, Jordan Bass, and the Future.
• Publishers Weekly are reporting that Penguin and Random House may merge. The two companies are in discussions, although this is a long way from reaching an agreement.

PLATFORM BUILDING

• Chuck Sambuchino looks at the numbers associated with author platforms for Writers Unboxed and asks How Much is Enough?
• The Book Designer discusses Why Your Blog’s “About” Page Matters

INDIE PUBLISHING

• It’s not exactly news that indie publishing is booming these days, with more writers taking the self-published options, but Publishers Weekly is now reporting a triple-digit growth in the number of self-published authors since 2007.
• Australian Indie Author Sarah Billington has started a petition asking Amazon to make payments to International authors electronically instead of via cheque.
• Sam Missingham on why SEO and Discoverability are important for indie authors.

NANOWRIMO

• Kevin J. Anderson is one of Science Fiction’s most prolific authors and he’s started a series of posts about writing productivity for NaNo participants

And that’s the fry-up for this week. As always, we’re interested in hearing about any links we may have missed in the comments, and we hope you have a great weekend of writing ahead of you.