Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Don't Let Old Files Gather Too Much Dust

This was my 12th Chicken Soup for the Soul book



Today, I'd like to give you a list of the books for which Chicken Soup for the Soul is actively seeking stories.  I hear so many writers say that they've sent stories to Chicken Soup many times with no successful results. No one gets every story accepted at this prime anthology series. I certainly haven't. I've been fortunate to have my work in 13 of their books but the number of rejects is far greater.

The key here is to keep submitting. One of these times, your story may be exactly what they need to round out the 101 stories they publish in most books. With that in mind, here's a list of their current needs.


  • Holiday Stories
  • Devotional Stories for Wives
  • Lemons To Lemonade
  • Messages From Heaven:  Love Never Dies
  • Multi-tasking Moms Survival Guide
You can read more about each of these books on the Possible Books page at the Chicken Soup website. Pay close attention to the deadline dates and also read the Guidelines page, even if you've already read it a million times. You don't want to overlook anything when sending a story.

Earlier this morning, I read a blog post written by a friend of mine that fits in quite well with my own post today. Tracy Million Simmons let her readers know about the benefit of going through old files and pulling out writing projects of long ago. Take a look here at what she had to say.

Periodically, I cruise through My Documents files to see if I have anything that has been sitting there gathering dust that might be appropriate for a Call for Submissions from a publisher. It's very easy to let a story sit in a file and forget that it's there. Slip down the list off and on to keep yourself alert to what's there. 

3 comments:

  1. Excellent topic, Nancy. As I'm working today on tidying up my mom's writing and family history files, it is very timely.

    Her health issues kept her from doing much with her writing this past year, but maybe I can submit some of her stories for her.

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  2. Thanks for the link, Nancy. Multi-tasking Moms! I might just have some fodder for that one.

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  3. Thanks, Nancy, for alerting us to upcoming Chicken Soup books! It got me thinking...

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