Marketing What You Write

Many writers are in agreement with this statement:  The writing is the easy part, selling it is much harder. As writers, we've done the work of writing, and we know that it is no easy task. Hours and hours go into writing one short story or a personal essay. A book may take years. Even so, many writers dread the task of finding a home for what they have written. I'm going to concentrate today on short pieces like short fiction, flash fiction, essays, personal essays, nonfiction articles, and poetry rather than full-length books.

Finding a place to submit your writing is far easier today than it was before technology brought us the internet. Huge market guides were for sale or could be found at the local library. They gave thousands of places where writers could send their work. A big problem was that the guides became outdated very quickly. They also took a good deal of time to read through, trying to find a fit with your story. They did narrow the guides to magazines, publishing houses, poetry and more, which helped a little. Cost proved a factor for many, especially if the writer wanted the most current guide. There are still printed market guides available, but they aren't as popular as they once were.

Today, we have the benefit of search engines on the internet to help us find places to submit our work. It costs nothing but our time and some effort at weeding. We still need to separate the possible from the impossible.

Some things to keep in mind when looking for magazines, anthologies or websites that accept your kind of work:

• Try different search engines, then choose one you like best. You can still check others at any time. This article will be of help in trying several.
• Learn to use significant keywords when using a search engine. For instance, if you are trying to sell a story to a horror magazine, use words like submission guidelines horror magazines. If you want to sell an article on making bread, use words like submission guidelines food magazines. Narrow your search so that you don't end up with a myriad of useless titles in the list you receive.
• Make a list of the ten places that seem the best fit for the story you want to sell. No sense in making a list of 50. Hopefully, you'll have success with one of those first ten that appeal to you. If not, you know where to go to add to your list. 
• Don't select a place to submit to by only the title of the magazine, website or anthology. READ the guidelines. READ them more than once. Does your story qualify? If so, send it. If not, scratch it.
• Listen to what other writers have to say. If your work is similar, take a look at places where they had some success. I see writers making recommendations now and then on social media. Pay attention.
• If you have sold a story to a particular magazine, give them a try a second or third time. They'll recognize your name and may give closer attention to your submission. If you sell multiple times to the same place, you can establish a working relationship with the editor. Always a large plus.
• Subscribe to writing themed newsletters. Many of them contain market lists that are updated regularly. They've done the initial searching for you. 

How about contests?

• Use a search engine to find contests that you can enter.
• Writing newsletters often have a section on contests to enter.
• Specify No-fee in your keywords in a search engine when looking for contests, if you want only ones that cost you nothing to enter.
• Just as mentioned above, READ the guidelines for entering several times. Make sure what you want to enter fits the guidelines.
• Remember that contests with entry fees generally award larger cash prizes than the No-fee.
• Listen to other writers to gain knowledge of contests worth entering. 

Marketing what you've written is not an easy task. The longer you do it, the better you will become at sifting and sorting the long lists the search engines will spout. 

Writers Generate Sales With Regular Submissions

The best way to generate sales of whatever you write is to submit your work on a regular basis. More than once, I've mentioned the Ferris wheel of submissions numerous times, mostly because it's a good illustration of what we need to do as writers to see our work published. Keep the seats filled and moving!

If you submit your work for publication once or twice a year, you're asking for disappointment. The odds are that you'll be rejected. But, if you submit five times a month, chances are that one will be accepted. Maybe more! That could depend on how savvy you are at matching your work to the right kind of publication. 

Writers have files filled with stories or essays they've written. Some have never been submitted while others have made the rounds but been rejected one or more times. Go through your files periodically to see what you might submit to a different publication or to assess the need for revisions before submitting again. Make good use of those pieces you've written and filed away. They get pretty dusty if you don't shake them a little every now and then.

A few weeks ago, I noted an article in my files that I thought might work in a senior newspaper that has purchased several pieces from me in the past. I had two versions, short and long. I sent the short one and later wondered if I should have sent the more detailed article on being your family historian. Never heard a word from the editor but, yesterday, I received a nice check in the mail from him. Shaking off the dust on an old story and submitting it does work.

Beginning writers tend to work very hard on a story, study the markets and choose one to submit to. They read the guidelines and send their work to the editor. Then they sit back and wait. Often, the wait seems interminable! If they sit around for results and do no more writing, they are wasting valuable time. A starred (*) rule in the submission process is to submit, then start working on a new writing project. Keep submitting but also keep writing. 

Writing is like the Ferris wheel above. We want to keep those seats filled with submissions at all times. When a story sells, a seat is emptied. What do you do? Fill it again with a new submission. You can't sell it if you don't send it!