Archive - MacAllen's Theater GUide

Getting Published

The goal of every writer should be to get other people to read what they write. It is through writing and reading that people create a discourse of ideas and exchange knowledge. Certainly the amateur writer can distribute photocopies at a café or send email or post online, but for a much wider audience a professional or semi-professional (academic) publication is necessary.

There are literally hundreds of literary journals publishing fiction across the United States. Some of these journals have distribution of less than a thousand, and some distribute to tens of thousands of readers. Regardless of size, the route to professional publication begins here.

Many of these journals are run by universities; English departments maintain journals for prestige and to train their students who often work them. A few journals are published by small printing houses as a means to find, establish, and develop new writers. Finally, some journals are run and maintained by individuals or small groups of people who print magazines for the love of literature.

Since so many journals are tied to academic institutions, there is a distinct season that begins in September in and ends in April or may when journals accept submissions. Of course, some journals read all year, or at off peak seasons, or otherwise.

Most editors that accept open submissions request that writers have at least read several issues. This practice is both important and useless. It’s important to be familiar with the journal you are submitting to. There is no point in sending a science fiction fantasy story to an experimental poetry magazine. At the same time, knowing the kind of work that a journal has printed is often more important than actually having read several issues. So while many editors request writers read the journal first, its more important to be familiar with the kind of work that is usually printed.

Before submitting a story or a poem to a journal, double and triple proof read your work.

Every journal will have different guidelines for how they wish to accept manuscripts. However, there are few general things that are mostly standard. Double space the manuscript in a standard font size and type. Editors are reading hundreds of manuscripts and fancy fonts will only irritate them.

Re-read your story and make sure it’s the finally draft.

Include a cover letter with your submission. The cover letter should include a small amount of biographical information, a brief sentence or two summarizing the story or in the case of poetry a very brief remark about how it came about, and recent publications. Finally, include a self addressed stamped envelope.

Before you send it off, make sure it really is the finally draft that the story or poem has been proofread many, many times.

The most likely scenario involves a rejection letter being sent back to you in the self addressed stamped envelope. If this is the case, try again at a different journal. Writing is very subjective and the concepts of good and bad are not universal. Do not under any circumstances submit the same copy of the submission to a different magazine. Nothing is worse than a manuscript that looks like its already been rejected by every other editor in the country.

Most magazines will get back to you in six to eight weeks. Writing, calling, or emailing editors about the submission during these first few weeks is generally futile. Editors just don’t care.

Submitting the same story or poem to different magazines at the same time is really frowned upon. Most places only want unpublished material and submitting the same piece looks bad for you as the writer and looks bad for the publications that print it. After two months—or how ever long a magazine’s stated reading period is—it is generally safe to assume they are uninterested and its time to move on.

Extra Tips:

Never pay for a submission or a reading fee.
Mistakes do not reflect well on you or the manuscript.
Standard mail is almost always better than email.
Read submission guidelines before you submit.
Keep track of what magazines you have submitted to, and when.