I've recently submitted a couple of stories to a few places. It's my first time submitting anything for publication. They all seem to have a 4ish month response time. Feels like forever. Anyone else submitting their work? Any advice? And what do you do while you're waiting for a response? I'm just trying to keep on writing and reading... The wait is still painful.
Ah! I have a column going up about this very topic later in the month. But yes, I'm going through the same thing.
My advice:
-Submit to places that accept simultaneous submissions, and keep finding more. I use entropy mag's "where to submit" to find a ton of options, and I'll also look for smaller presses that have put out books with a similar flavor to mine, see if they have submission windows and when. Keep researching, keep sending it out.
-It's old advice, but start working on the next thing. It's a great way to occupy your time. It doesn't always work because, hey, it's cool to take a break sometimes. But it can help if you just feel like you're sitting around, waiting for others to do their part.
-Celebrate your victories, and put those victories in your hands. In other words, celebrate if you get picked up, but set up your own celebrations too. Did you put your 10th submission in? Celebrate that in a way of your choosing.
-Keep dotting the I's and crossing the T's. Submission fatigue is real as hell, but you have to treat each submission like it's The One. Write good letters, format things correctly. 1 good submission is a better use of your time than 5 less thoughtful submissions.
Oh man, yeah, you have to stay off that Submittable as much as possible. It's so tempting to check all the time, but it's like checking a social media post or something. It's that slot machine, random reward thing that's so addicting.
Organization is definitely key. That's a big part of the column. I keep a spreadsheet with:
Sheet 1: Potential Submission spots with dates, requirements, etc. and a column with a rating, 1-3, of how excited I'd be to see my work published there.
Sheet 2: Completed Subs, transferred from sheet 1.
Sheet 3: Rejected subs. Not to dwell on, but to keep good records, see which places I might try with another piece in the future. That page lets me delete all those emails.
Sheet 4: Submission spots that aren't right for me for whatever reason. Saves me looking into them multiple times (I have a terrible memory).
Hi, concerning submissions... I have been thinking about it for a while now and it might be time for me to submit my fiction short stories for publishing to a magazine or something. As people with more experience, what's your advice? Where should I start? What do I need? Any recommendations on where to submit? In case it matters to your answer, I usually try to experiment in my writing and my themes are usually dark.
Thanks in advance.
My advice: assume it'll get rejected the second after hitting SEND so you're not disappointed when it is. (Seriously.)
Thuggish is totally right. ALWAYS. ASSUME. REJECTION. it is the total beatdown. getting published is basically 1/3 talent 1/3 hard work and 1/3 submitting like a maniac.
I'm with you both on that one.
The column I was talking about went up a bit back.
I think it's one of those things. There's a tiny amount of luck out there to go around, so you just have to keep going until you get a little more than your fair share.