The Business of Getting Published (Wreadcast .3)

~ WREADITOR

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I’ve been a writer all of my life, but it was only when I made a mental shift that my works began to find regular publication. I’m pleased to share some of that story here, including the rules I use to bring a business discipline to submitting creative writing to editors.

 

(Audio points summary: Treating the submission process like a job. . . and a game.   Researching publications. Earning one’s way up the market ladder. Applying business discipline, including automatic rules on submissions under consideration and responding to editors.)

 

Cheers!

11 thoughts on “The Business of Getting Published (Wreadcast .3)”

  1. Very nice talk here. I would suggest adding an approximate length to let people know how long the talk is going to be – if u want to.

    Really liked it. I have one short story out thats being rejected from everywhere (i did get a few send more stuff type of rejections so that was something) – initially i made the mistake of sending it to the top but realized it soon and now send to smaller magazines that seem to publish stuff in my area.
    But how do u evaluate a journal i mean some journals seem to be run by two ppl with not many writing creds to themselves and u dont know if they will last more than a year. I know about dutrope and poets & writers. I try to see if the journal has been reviewed somewhere or if they make prints or simply how long they have been around, but would like to know your views on it sometime too if possible. All of this is written with the understanding that i am a lowly (wannabe) writer who may eventually never get published so that rule about beggers not being choosers should apply.

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    1. Really appreciate the question; it’s one I’ve thought a lot about in the past. In my experience, you can usually find circles of similar journals/magazines who have writers in common. If you read some the bios from stories similar to yours, you will probably start to see the same names coming up. I will stick my neck out a little here and say that some editors of small or medium publications want to see some previous credits to prove their writers have experience, but aren’t picky about how small that credit is (the tiny start-ups you mention, which could be gone overnight). So just getting something out there could be most important to getting the ball rolling. But you are doing the right things; submitting and asking questions like this of the writing community. What kind of story have you been sending out? Thanks for the time label suggestion for the audio here; that’s a great idea.

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      1. Thanks for the reply. I will definitely look out for the similar writers. In the past i have looked up the masthead of a journal and then followed where the editors have published many times those are the super high tier journals but sometimes they are smaller one. And you are correct to that editors do have a right to ask for written creds. But i dont have any at the moment except for this blog which we started a while ago – but that cudnt count right? It could very well be that I totally suck at writing. But i am trying to improve.
        The genre of my stories is similar to the one of the immigrant and minority experiences. So the genre defined by Khaled Hossieni and Jhumpa Lahiri and Sir V S Naipaul and such greats. It may also be that no one is really interested in such stuff but well thats what i write 🙂 so ill try to keep slogging on till i find the right place. Thanks for your help, and thanks for posting the gud stuff.

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      2. Thank you: I haven’t read any of writers you mentioned yet. Have to put them on my list. In this global community today, I’m sure there are readers interested in the immigrant and minority experiences. If your key goal is to get a story published, I suggest some markets I see listed on https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/ (The Submission Grinder), such as: The Fiction Pool, The Uprising Review, Liquid Imagination, or Chantwood Magazine. Firewords should also be worth investigating. Check the acceptance rates to make sure others are welcoming to new writers. Then, with a credit, your bio could go from noting you are the co-editor of an art and literary magazine (with link) to adding that your work “appeared most recently” in that first credit. An editor checking out your website would absolutely see you as a serious writer (with potential audience from your site); glad you are thinking of mentioning it. 🙂

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      3. Thanks for ur vote of confidence, really grateful for all your guidance. I will keep bothering you about these types of things (hopefully not that much though). And yeah do read those writers the kite runner from khaled hossieni is a best seller in like multiple countries u must have heard of it. Jhumpa lahiri is a pulitzer prize winner and sir vs naipaul is a nobel prize winner writer – ull enjoy there works especially jhumpa lahiri her writing voice is the best ever its like ur wrapped in a warm blanket and she is just whispering the words to u – so soothing – but I digress. Thanks for ur words once again.

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      4. Happy to help any time; we don’t do all of this writing and submitting in a vacuum. I missed the chance to read The Kite Runner when it was first popular, but I think now I’d try Jhumpa Lahiri based on your description. Many thanks.

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