The first step to building your career as an author is to write and publish short stories. Although poetry is a worthwhile literary pursuit, if your ambition is to write novels, you should begin your career with short stories. Because you will gain skill at story-telling through your short stories, which later will aid you in writing novels.
In order to publish short stories, follow these steps.
1. Get a few stories under your belt
Perhaps you have already written a few stories?
If you have, then you can proceed to step 2. If you have not actually sat down and written a story yet, then take that plunge. There is no need to read up on creative writing, at this point. Simply sit down at a keyboard.
Start by just sitting down and writing whatever story comes to you. At this point it doesn’t matter what the content is, how long it is, or any other detail. This is simply intended to let you get the feel for writing a story from start to finish.
You may read some opinions from other writers stating that you should not begin writing until you know the various ‘rules’ of writing. It is true you need to know these in order to impress editors. But for now, don’t think about the rules. Right now, you are only trying to impress yourself–no one else. The point here is to discover how enjoyable it is to simply create. Love of writing springs from this–a joy of creation. Don’t think about the rules and don’t let anything get in the way of your enjoyment.
2. Find prospective publishers
This is the part where you leave the art of writing and take your first step into the business of writing. This is also the point where you will need to begin developing a thick skin. It is absolutely essential to develop a thick skin. A writer–no matter how good–will receive thousands of rejections in their life.
It is a part of being a writer and there is no way around it. As stated in the introduction, this path is not for the faint of heart. If you still truly wish to be a famous author then decide at this very moment that you will be persistent and never give up, no matter how many rejections you get. If you can’t make this pledge to yourself, then you are probably better off pursuing another profession or keeping your writing as a personal hobby.
Although this step can be scary, it can also be exciting. You have a few stories under your belt and now you are looking for the ideal home for your babies. You are hunting for the perfect magazine, and there are alot of places you could hunt. I will list them in order of preference.
a) I highly recommend the website Duotrope Digest, which can be found on the internet. You can join it for free. It has a list of thousands of magazines that accept short story submissions. Usually, you can submit your stories by email, so you don’t have to waste paper and postage by sending your stories in the post.
b) Books like Writer’s Market and Short Story Market have lists of magazines that accept short story submissions. You could also browse the magazine racks, looking for magazines that publish short stories, but not all of these magazines will accept submissions from unknown writers.
c) By simply searching the internet for ‘magazine submission’, ‘short story submission’ or something similar, you can find endless lists of magazines and ezines that accept short story submissions. Bookmarking dozens of online magazine lists can often yield better results than buying a book–and it’s free. All it costs you is a few hours of your time.
3. Submit to publishers
You now have big, long lists of magazines. Where do you begin? How do you submit? How do you know where to submit?
It is daunting at first. There is alot to learn about submitting to magazines. You can’t simply send off an email saying, “Hey. Look at this.” If you do that, the editor of the magazine will instantly realize you are an amateur and probably will not even read your story. There are certain rules you must follow when submitting to magazines. Here are the things to do, when submitting your short story :
a) Know your Genre
If you’re new to writing, you may not know exactly what genre means. Genre is the type of writing. In fiction, for example, there is fantasy(like Harry Potter), science fiction(like Star Wars), mystery(like Sherlock Holmes). Most people know about genres, but most people do not know about sub-genres. For instance, in the fantasy genre, there is sword and sorcery fantasy, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, etc. All these genres can be read about on the internet.
It is important to know what genre your story is, because different magazines publish different genres. If you send the wrong genre story to a magazine that doesn’t even publish that genre, then you will be rejected automatically, no matter how good your story is. So, save yourself some time and be sure your genre matches the magazine.
b) Follow Submission Guidelines
At first, focus on sending your short story submissions by email. The days when a would-be writer had to spend a fortune on postage, just to get a rejection letter, months later, are over. I have sent short story submissions to magazines, by email, and received acceptances in only a few days–and it cost me nothing.
Focus on email and only write to magazines that have websites. This is because, unless a magazine has a website, you might not know their ‘submission guidelines’, and so, any submission would be a waste of your time. Because without submission guidelines, you have no idea what a magazine wants you to send them.
You can always find an area on a magazine’s website called ‘submission guidelines’, ‘submissions’ or ‘guidelines.’ If you can’t find this section, then maybe it is because that magazine doesn’t accept submissions from unknown writers.
The ‘submission guidelines’ describe how the magazine wants you to send your short story submission. Every magazine wants you to submit your short story in a different way. You must always obey these guidelines, because if you don’t, the editor will get annoyed and will reject your story.
For instance, one magazine might specify that you should send your submission by email, as an attachment. They want your story to be in Microsoft Word .doc format. They want it to be double-spaced. They only accept fantasy or science fiction genre stories and they want you to include a bio.
Another magazine might want you to cut and paste your story into the body of the email. They only accept mystery fiction and the story must be less than 4000 words long.
Once again, always follow guidelines! One thing you must always do, as a writer, is keep editors happy. No matter how difficult they are, keep them happy. Because they are the ones who decide if you get published. Even if an editor rejects you rudely, be polite in return. You may decide to submit to that editor again in the future, and if you were polite, the editor will remember you in a positive way and be more likely to accept your next submission.
c) Know the Submission Drill
Now that you know the guidelines and have found a magazine that fits your short story, you can send your submission. But you are not ready to submit yet. There are still more things you need to learn. Here are the 3 things you need to do, before you can submit your short story to a magazine :
i) Write a Cover Letter
As said before, you can’t simply write an email saying, “Hey. Look at this.” When you write your email, you must put it in a formal, cover letter form. This will tell the editor that you are a professional. Even if you have no previous publications, the editor will still look at you as a professional, because your cover letter is done correctly.
Here is an example of a simple cover letter:
{Your Name}
{Your Address}
{Your Contact Details}
Dear {Name of Magazine},
I am sending you my story titled “{Name of Story}”.
It is {Genre of Story} fiction and about {Size of Story}
words long. I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
{Your Name}
The cover letter does not need to be exactly like this. But it is important to, at least, give the editor the following information: the title of the story, the genre, the word count and your complete contact information. If you don’t include this information, you will likely be rejected.
If they ask you for a short bio, then include one. If you have no previous publications, then don’t mention anything about it–don’t say that you have no publications! There is no need for the editor to know that. Simply say where you live, or some short description of why you are a writer, etc. But keep it short. One or two sentences. Unless, of course, they ask for it to be longer.
If you have any publications, however, mention them! Even if you are not asked to send a bio. Because, even one previous publication, no matter how small, can make editors take notice of you.
ii) Format Correctly
Most magazines want your story to be formatted in a standard way. Some magazines will specify that they want your short story manuscript to be in ‘Standard Manuscript Format.’ This is a very specific way of formatting a story. If you search ‘Standard Manuscript Format’ on the net, you can find many examples of it. Even if magazines don’t specify this format, it never hurts to use this format. If you know Standard Manuscript Format, then the editor can see that you’re not just a rank amateur.
Remember, however, that calculating the word count of your story is different for Standard Manuscript Format. You can’t rely on the word count that your word processor gives you. The way it works in Standard Manuscript format, every page of the document equals 250 words and less than half a page equals 125 words. So, if you use Standard Manuscript Format, remember to calculate word count this way, and not by relying on the word count given by the word processor. Remember also that you round off the word count to the nearest hundred. So, if your manuscript adds up to 2125 words, say that it is “about 2200 words” long.
iii) Avoid the most common writing Mistakes
Finally, I’ll give a list of the most common reasons why editors reject a story, based on my experience. These are things that have more to do with how your story is written. If you followed all the steps above, then there is a good chance the editor will read your story. Now, the only complaints they might have are in how your story is written.
First, poor spelling and grammar.
If you did not check your manuscript for spelling errors, improper use of words, etc, then the editor will be turned off. They will probably stop reading your story. One or two errors won’t get your rejected, but alot of them will make publication almost impossible. This is when it is a good idea to start reading about grammar rules, creative writing, etc. Most of what you need is available on the internet, although taking a class definitely doesn’t hurt. In fact, being able to say, in your cover letter, that you took a creative writing class will impress the editor.
Second, unprofessional writing style.
This is a very subjective thing. You might think, “Who has a right to tell me how to write?” But remember–keep editors happy. In my experience, editors, in general, see the following styles to be more professional:
Use of ‘Active Voice’ in your sentences.
Simple Dialog tags. Use only ‘said’ and ‘asked’.
Show, don’t Tell. Use dialog to give background.
Less is more. Tell your story in as few words as possible.
This marks the end of the first part of this 7 step program.
As a final note, let me remind you to be persistent and not let any negative experiences discourage you. This is the point where you may start getting floods of rejections. You may get a nasty editor who pans your work so badly you start thinking you just can’t write.
But the truth is, just because someone is an editor, it does not mean they know what good writing is. It is just their opinion. Especially when dealing with ezines, the editor may have created the webpage themself and have absolutely no credentials and no right, really, to make any claim about what is good writing and what isn’t. So, do not take it as a personal insult, even if it is. If you can’t forget it and move on, then you will never succeed as a writer. You must have an indestructible self confidence. Have faith that you are a good writer, and are getting better at it, with every new story you write. If you have this attitude, you will eventually become published.
I have tried to prepare you for the worst, by telling you that bad editors do exist. But, in truth, most editors will be helpful. If they reject your work, they often will tell you why. This is where it is most essential to remember the maxim–keep editors happy! Do not become insulted by their criticism of your work. Remember, they are trying to help you improve your style. They do not have to help you. They are busy and are genuinely trying to be kind. In fact, if they go to the trouble of replying to your personally, it usually means they see potential in you, as a writer, and so are compelled to help you realize your full potential.
It is a compliment, in a way. And from experience I have learned that if you write an editor back thanking them for their constructive criticism(without sucking up too much), they will be overjoyed. Because alot of writers get offended and send nasty replies. So this is a chance to be that one breath of fresh air in a sea of stench. This will help you to forge a positive relationship with an editor. What is more, the editor has told you exactly what kind of stories they like, by criticizing your work. So you can now write a new story(do not edit and resend the old one unless the editor asks), in the style you know the editor likes. You are now much more likely to be accepted.
Proceed now to Step 2 – The Website.
