This week, as we wind up the spring quarter in the BWW and head into our amazing summer courses, we are having a submission action meeting right before our term party. One of our fabulous students, writer Leslie Rodd, has had a great deal of success submitting her work to literary magazines and contests, leading to a request from an agent to see her novel-in-progress when it’s done. Leslie wrote up a detailed map to following this successful path to publication for yourself. All BWW students should read this in preparation for Thursday or for September’s Submission Action Day (sign up for that here), and anyone interested in publication should definitely also join the conversation. — Elizabeth

Looking through the 2013 Novel and Short Story Writers Market (print book) for ideas of potential places to submit a stand-alone chapter from my novel in preparation for the submission party at BWW, I realize I have a strategy and criteria that might be useful for others.

Why Submit?

There are several reasons to submit, first and foremost of course is to be published. But the odds of being published are not overwhelmingly good, so let’s look at some of the other reasons:

1)     It is a good idea to have your work out and in the hands of professional readers and editors.  It gets your name out there and every once in a while you’ll get feedback.

2)     When you have something out in the publishing universe you feel more bona fide as a writer.

3)     You have that daily expectation that something good is going to happen with your submission, at least until you receive the rejection letter. That time of hopefulness could lead you to more productivity, or just a happier day.

4)     And back to getting published…you won’t be published if you don’t submit and the sooner submitting work becomes a routine for you the sooner you’ll see some of that wonderful writing you’ve been doing in print.

5)     Many of us dream of seeing our work in major literary magazines like Narrative, Boulevard, or even in The New Yorker. But being published in lesser known journals has many plusses, including the fact that literary agents troll certain small publications looking for potential clients. What a great payoff that would be, not only being published but being contacted by an agent asking you if you have a novel to share!

6)     These smaller publications also contribute stories to high quality anthologies such as the annual Pushcart Prize Anthology, and annual Best American Short Stories.

7)     If you are working on a novel with chapters that aren’t easily considered stand-alone, several good publications are seeking novel excerpts and you might consider that route.

8)     And finally, you will never win the BWW Rejection Contest if you don’t submit and start racking up those “no thanks” letters.

Before Submitting

You will need to do two things before submitting. One is to choose the piece you want to send  out, and the other is to choose the publications you wish to submit to. Very organized writers do the research and keep a spreadsheet of prospective publishers so that once a rejection comes back, they know where to send next. It’s a process, not a beauty contest.

Choosing The Piece

It should be your best work, and it should be relatively short. A rule of thumb is 5,000 words maximum for many journals.

Choosing the Publication(s)

My favorite source of information on publications is the magazine, Poets and Writers, which comes out six times a year and has a special section called Deadlines (for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry contests) and one called Call for Manuscripts (for submissions without deadlines or cash prizes). More people submit to contests, so the competition is fiercer, but then there’s the money and the prestige if you do win.

Another good source is the one I mentioned about, Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market, which is a print book and thus not quite as up to date as P & W.

As I look in both places (and sometimes browse in literary magazines at bookstores) I read the guidelines for each journal to discover:

• when they accept manuscripts,
• what length of manuscript,
• if they publish novel excerpts,
• whether they accept online submissions (by far the easiest!),
• if they are limited to authors from a particular geographic region,
• if they have placed stories in the annual anthologies mentioned above,
• what their circulation is,
• and how long they’ve been in business.

Some literary magazines pay for submissions they accept, honoraria usually, but again, the money increases the competition.

When I have a list of potential publishers I want to submit to I go to the website of each to double-check the information I have. If the publication accepts online submissions, the website will instruct you in how to do that. In many cases the magazine subscribes to a submission service; you register with the service and that enables you to shoot out several submissions in one sitting!

The listings will tell you how long the journal will take to respond to your submission, and whether or not they accept a story or excerpt that has been submitted or is being considered elsewhere. Most let you do this and it’s a good idea to speed up the process by sending several out at once. Then if you’re accepted somewhere you let the other publications know to take you out of their cue.

Submitting

So, with proper planning and the requisite enthusiasm, you’re ready. Go ahead and do it. You’ll be proud of yourself and you can fall asleep dreaming of a good result. I have placed three chapters of my current novel this way, and am busy sending out a fourth. I have also been contacted by a major New York literary agent after one of the stories was published and he read it and he will be the first agent I try when the book is ready to send out.

It has taken a couple of years and between fifty and one hundred rejections to accomplish these small successes, but it’s been worth it and I consider it part of the writer’s life.