The Writer’s Coin

If you’re like me, when you submit your stories, essays, or poetry to literary journals or magazines, you want to give yourself the best chance of getting published. At first glance, that means submitting to as many places as possible.

On my last round of submissions, I sent out two stories to a combined 25 different places. Are those decent odds?

Not really.

Why? Because I don’t know nearly enough about those 25 different publications as I should. It’s advice you hear every day from the editors that read through the piles of submissions (and from published writers)—know something about the magazine before you submit to it.

You see it on every submission guideline too: “Please get a sample issue and familiarize with our magazine.”

But most of us don’t follow that advice.

It’s too much work. They’re just trying to get me to buy an issue from them, for the money. If my work is good enough, it won’t matter.

That last one is especially popular, but I’ve heard it a million times that editors sometimes think a piece is publishable but it’s just not the right place for it. So what is a conscientious writer to do if he/she wants to give him/herself the best chance to get published?

Follow the advice of the people making the decisions and the people who have had success.

Here are a few easy ways to “know where you write:”

- Best American Short Stories/Essays. Buy a couple of the most recent volumes and go through them slowly. All the stories/essays are good, so you’ll be entertained. You’ll also be exposed to the level of writing that you’re aspiring to, which is the whole idea. When you see a particular story/essay that matches up with something you’ve written (or want to write), see which journal/magazine it was published in and send it there.

- Check out these two websites. There are many out there but these two are especially helpful. They can give you a great, quick idea of what each journal is all about, so you aren’t blindly submitting to tons of places. It’s one way of zeroing in on the “right” place for your story/essay. The first one is run by Sara Greenwald, who actually started the site before these journals and magazines had websites—she would actually flip through them at bookstores and take notes.
As a published writer, here are her words of advice:

Writers are often so excited by a newly finished story that the
temptation to send it just anywhere is strong, but editors can really
enjoy a story and still reject it if it’s not right for their magazine.
I’ve gotten scrawled notes like “Love this!” on printed rejections
slips that say “sorry, this is not the type of material our readers
seek.”
- Submit to contests that include a free issue with your entry. There is a lot of debate about contests and reading fees out there, but I wouldn’t rule them out entirely. I personally don’t like to pay $10-$20 just to get my story read, but if I feel I have a particularly strong piece and I know a little something about the magazine/journal, I’ll send it in. Even if you don’t win anything, you’ll get one or two issues back and that will give you a better idea for the next time you submit whether or not you want to send them a particular piece of writing.

You don’t have to buy an issue of every single journal out there, but you do have to do something to get over this concept of “the more I send, the better my odds.”

In the end, being smart and efficient will increase your odds more than quantity will. Also, once you start to develop relationships with the magazines/journals that jive with what you write and who you are, you can get an even better idea of what you need to do to get published.

Good luck!

Tags: Getting Published, submitting, Writing