Finding Markets for Your Stories, Essays, and Articles

 Where should I submit my writing?

(NOTE: Looks like Google is going to keep sending my posts through August now. So, unless I find the magic button to eliminate them, you will be receiving 2 posts per day, one from Google and one from MailChimp. Sorry for the confusion on this.)

Yesterday I talked about submitting your work. Getting up the courage and actually doing it, instead of only thinking about it. Some writers have no qualms about submitting while others agonize over the process. Now for the actual process.

Let's imagine that you are ready to submit a story you wrote that has been revised and edited until you feel it is ready for the eyes of an editor. Now what? Do you look like the woman in our poster today? 

If the story is about lumberjacks in a forest setting, you don't want to send it to a magazine about preparing and serving tea in elegant fashion. If it's a story for children, your market is more limited. If it is a technical how-to article, your scope is narrower, also.

You will need to do some searching for magazines or ezines that your topic will fit. If the lumberjack story has a love angle, then search for magazines that publish that kind of story. If it is strictly an adventure story, look for a place that likes thrills and outdoor adventures. If it's got a religious angle, head for that kind of magazine. In other words, fit your story to the publication.

Where do you find publications that are open to submissions? Use your favorite search engine. You can use keywords like publishers of fiction short stories. Or narrow it down further. Or ask for writer's guidelines for fiction short stories. You'll be met with a lot of choices. Read through them and elminate the ones that you know won't work. Make a list of those that are possibilities, or bookmark them to save on your computer.

Now you have a decision to make. If the publication takes simultaneous submissions, you can send the same story to half a dozen, or only one. If you do one, then you have to wait for the acceptance or rejection. If it's a no, then you move on to the next one on your list. If you send to several and one does accept it, then it is your responsibility to let the others know that the story is no longer available. More work for you. It's your choice as to which way to go. 

Personally, I choose to go one at a time. Why? Because I had a bad experience several years ago. I sent a story to two anthologies. It was the first time I had done that. They both wanted to publish the story. The acceptances arrived only hours apart. Now what? I had to choose one, and after much soul-searching I did. Then had to write and tell the other anthology editor that I had already sold it to another. The odds of this happening are slim, but it did happen. I swore off simultaneous submissions after that. 

Years ago, writers had to purchase a book that listed publications and their guidelines on an annual basis. The book looked like the Chicago Telephone Directory in size. To purchase it annually to keep current added up to many dollars. Some writers went to their local library and used the same book there, but that also took hours of time and the making of handwritten lists. If you've never dealt with either method, you can't have a full appreciation as to the ease of finding marketing listings today. 

Use a search engine as stated above. Subscribe to newsletters that send an email with a list of markets that are current. When you go online to find listings, make sure you have the most current. 2014 guideliens and 2021 guidelines for the same publication could be very different. Ask other writers friends for recommendations. Make a list of your favorite places to sub to. 

Amd again, keep submitting on a regular basis. Do not send one story and then wait until you hear from the editor. Remember, that some editors do not respond unless they are accepting your work. Sometimes, the guidelines will tell  you that is their policy, sometimes they don't make it clear. 

When you have completed your submission process, whether via an email or by filling out a form, go back and doublecheck that you have done everything correctly according to the guidelines.. It will be to your advantage to take the time to do a check. This is especially true if you are submitting to a contest. Miss one rule, and your story will be dumped, no matter how good it might be. Some publications give few to no guidelines. I much prefere those that give a list of what they want and what they don't want. With the ones that specify nothing, you are free to do whatever you want to, but this method can also be a bit confusing.

The more you submit your work for publication, the more familiar you become with the process. If you submit to one or two places on a regular basis, you have the routine down pat. If it's someplace new to you, check and recheck before hitting the Send button.