9 No Nonsense Steps to Getting Your Stories Published

Getting published is hard. Anyone that pretends like it isn’t is either in denial, lying, or banging editors to push their work through the slush. If you’ve never even tried before, just figuring out where to start can be daunting. And then you probably run to the book store—and then you buy a book that feeds you a bunch of crap about choosing a literary spirit animal—and then you’re just sad and confused and well on your way to an unpublished life/being a furry.

There is no one way to get published, and most of what I write in this entry should be common knowledge. However, there are plenty of little tricks I’ve learned that have helped me snorkel my way out of the rejection letter swamp. If you’re just now beginning to send your stuff out, follow the list below.

I won’t go through all of my credentials here to prove I know what I’m talking about, but I will say this. Every story I’ve written this year is in the process of being published.

Hopefully this helps someone.

1) Write a story and make it perfect

Write it. Read it. Give it to people. Listen to what they say. Fix it. Read it again.

That’s about all there is to it. Make sure to have some fun. The misery can come later while you check your email every ten minutes.

2) Don’t accidentally self publish your masterpiece

Finally, you’ve finished shifting commas around. Your chest swells with pride as you try to decide if you need to cry or puke in triumph. The world can’t wait another second for your magnum opus. After all, why wade through rejection letters for months when you can get it out to your adoring public now on your blog or Facebook?

The problem with this is most magazines want first serial rights (translation: they want to be the first to show it off). And yes, ladies and gentleman, your blog counts. So does that pretentious Facebook fan page you started to promote your writing that only 20 people “like” (they secretly hate it).

“Who cares? They’ll never find out!”

Yeah they will. Can you imagine how pissed off they’ll be that you wasted their time? You might get blacklisted and be forced to send stuff in with a phony email address. You’ll have to take author photos with dark sunglasses and fake beards for the rest of your career. Just avoid the headache and be patient like everyone else. If you absolutely can’t wait another second for someone in particular to see it, email it to them and consider them another beta reader.

3) Write a concise, universal biography

Doing this now will save you a step in the future. Most publications will want some kind of cover letter when you send stuff in and an “About the Author” if you get accepted. If you’re smart, this biography will work for both.

Three lines is the perfect length and as a general rule should include past publishing credits, degrees, and awards. It’s good to insert some personality but don’t get too carried away. Try to omit any filler that doesn’t involve your writing (for instance, we don’t care about where you were born unless it was on a submarine).

4) Start sending it out

Ready for a broad generalization? There are many different kinds of magazines. Where you submit ultimately depends on what you write. Regardless, this web site is going to be your best friend:

http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines?&perpage=*

This one as well:

https://duotrope.com/

Scroll through the lists and pick out which ones interest you. The more you submit the more you’ll learn that this process is heavily risk/reward based. Do you shoot for the newly established magazines in order to get noticed? Not a bad plan but like restaurants, most literary magazines fail in their first year. What about the big hitters like Tin House, Zoetrope, and the New Yorker? If you get in it’s great (and you’ll have the money to fly to New York for a weekend to celebrate). Your chances on getting in? Not quite the same as getting struck by lightening but it isn’t far off.

Something you may want to consider early on is writing pieces for specific magazines. For instance, HOOT only takes stories less than 150 words and they print them on postcards. Underneath the Juniper Tree, on the other hand, publishes dark stories for children (think R. L. Stine) and even illustrates them. It should be noted that this is its own brand of risky though because if your piece is rejected, then you’re stuck trying to shovel stories off that have been tailored to fit (sometimes bizarre) guidelines. If you go through with writing for somewhere in particular, make sure to mention it in your submission.

Speaking of submission guidelines, ALWAYS follow them. Editors don’t think rebels are cute at 3 in the morning when they’re trudging through their fifth story about ice fishing.

Also, RECORD EVERYTHING. This one is so important it almost warrants its own bullet point. Get a notebook or start an Excel document where you keep track of the magazines you’ve submitted to, the date, and the status of your submission (a nice way of saying if you’ve received your “Dear Author” letter yet). You don’t want anything getting lost in the shuffle during this next step.

5) There is no shame in quantity over “quality”

I’ve said before that as a writer, what you are ultimately working towards is trimming the period of time between receiving good news or compliments about your work. Here is a real number for you. On average, before this year, I received about 35 rejections for every “yes” letter. Do the math (or don’t because we’re all writers and terrible with numbers), that’s a lot of submissions.

Just because your top picks say no doesn’t mean your writing doesn’t have value. Getting the right story in the hands of the right editor is about 75% luck. Never give up unless you’ve lost all faith in a piece (and even then it might be time to just put it aside for a week or two). I’ve sold things years after writing them. As long as you still want it to find a home, it will eventually get there.

6) Numb yourself to failure

Assume your work isn’t going to be accepted. It’s cynical but it’s also the best defense you can create for yourself. Don’t sweat it. If you used the last step as a guideline you already have ten more chances waiting.

Take a second—breathe—send out two more submissions.

7) Etiquette. Etiquette. Etiquette.

The word etiquette gets thrown around so much in publishing that a universal set of guidelines to go along with it has become vague at best. These are just a few to help you through the process.

Any time a magazine contacts you, reply quickly and professionally. Sometimes they’ll have contracts for you to sign, other times they’ll be requesting author photos. Publishing usually takes months anyway, never let the inevitable delays be because of you.

If you get an offer, immediately withdraw your submissions from everywhere else you sent it. Luckily websites like Submittable have made this as simple as clicking a button.

After your work is printed, make sure to let the people in your life know. Part of the deal of being in print is to help spread the word of the publication. The publicity works both ways. Make sure not to shove it down everyone’s throats though—some people aren’t crazy about being reminded that they haven’t written anything since they graduated from your workshop.

Don’t be an asshole and you should be safe.

8) Buy print copies for your family

Some publications will offer complimentary issues that your piece appears in. Other presses (usually the smaller ones) will provide a discounted rate. While you’re in no way obligated to fork over your ramen money, sometimes it’s a good idea to buy a few chapbooks and send them off to your grandparents, siblings, or parents. It’s the perfect way to say “please send money I’m a starving artist,” and “I told you I wasn’t wasting my life,” all in one motion.

I would hold off on buying copies for your friends unless they ask for them. Sometimes, waving pages that have been stapled together can inadvertently create an aura of “I’m published and you’re not!” You’re probably going to need them to blurb your novel in the future—don’t burn any bridges.

Maybe most importantly of all, buying copies shows the editors that they were right to take a chance on you. It shows that you care about their magazine beyond the need for your own personal fulfillment. Who knows, it could lead to a relationship and more published pieces in the future…

9) Submit to Rind Literary Magazine…because we’re the best ;)

Oh yeah, I edit for a magazine that you should definitely send stuff to (especially if you write creative nonfiction).

This way! http://rindliterarymagazine.com/

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below (I might even be able to answer them).

I’ll write another one of these about finding an agent when I have a little more success in that realm…

Let's get a few things straight...

These aren’t musings, I don’t “put pen to paper,” and my characters definitely don’t write me letters.

There’s no way around it—writers are pretentious. With Twitter tricking us into thinking we have an opinion and the NEED to grow a platform like an avocado pit impaled with toothpicks, being delusional has become part of the job description. I’m not calling out anyone specifically; it’s just something I’ve noticed. Our lives aren’t that interesting; our skill sets let us fake it convincingly.

But I get it. It’s a defense mechanism we use while we lock ourselves away for hundreds of hours for no rewards. Luckily, most of us are better at pretending to be egomaniacs than buying into our own legend. Writers are normal people and some blogs remind us of that. If you’re anything like me though, you have no interest in reading another post written with a thesaurus.

“So what?” some of you are probably saying. “Who gives a shit if I want to write a series of sonnets from the POV of my characters while I go on a picnic with them? You just don’t care enough.”

Actually it’s the opposite. The goal is to always get more people reading, writing, and excited for books. I’m not convinced pretending to be philosophers, sending words of wisdom down to the little people from our mountaintops, is the way to accomplish that. No one should ever feel like they aren’t smart enough to even try to write a short story.

Confession time: about seven years ago I had one of those blogs. The kind where I was dumb enough to think my personality alone could sustain internet fame and fortune. I’m a little disgusted to say it was reasonably popular. Regardless, this time I’m going to do things differently.

The plan is to write down-to-earth updates as I claw my way to a book deal. Hopefully I’ll be able to post once every week or two with writing advice, reviews of whatever I’m reading/playing, and episodes of “the writing life” (the latter translates to whatever crappy jobs I’m doing to keep my student loans from drowning me). I’ll only post if I have something worth sharing. I’m not in the business of shoving angsty rants down people’s throats.

No politics, no opinions on social issues—just writing and entertainment. I can’t guarantee zero self-importance, I am a writer after all, but the goal is to keep it to a minimum. At the very least I promise to never use the words “hitherto” and “compartmentalize,” and that should be worth something.

Check back sometime in the next week and I’ll have a no nonsense guide on how to get your short stories/poems published. Until then, you can follow me on Twitter (@StephenTBW), where I mostly complain about reading 50 Shades of Grey.

Thanks for reading to the end. You can leave your angry comments below.