Writers of essays, poetry, and short stories generally share similar experiences when submitting their work to literary journals and contests. We have to do a number of administrative tasks:
- Find writing contests and literary journals/magazines
- Research each journal/contest to see if we’re the best fit
- Read the guidelines and format. Some markets are quite persnickety with their guidelines. Not only might they impose spacing/font restrictions, but they might require page numbering and explicitly mandate the page numbers appear in a certain corner of the page. Or they might require a certain subject line for email submissions. Some mandate cover letters too!
- Avoid simultaneous acceptances. This means we need to track our writing submissions and have a plan for responding to literary journals and contests when a piece of writing is accepted by two places at the same time.
- Oh, and let’s not forget write a solid submission, and revise it upon rejection before submitting it elsewhere.
Failing to do any of these tasks could immediately disqualify your submission–and that does not entitle you to a refund of your submission fee!
You might remember that last spring I went on a creative writing submission strike. I was frustrated with the time and administrative efforts that submitting entails. I wanted time to write.
I used that time to write. As I recently announced, I completed the first rough draft of a short story collection that’s inspired by my genealogy research. I started submitting to contests again a few days after I finished the rough draft.
Now I’m doing things a little differently, and here are my parameters:
- One week only
- Fiction-focused
- Pub Factor
What do these mean? If I come across contests, I add a reminder to my calendar on the first Monday of the month during the month of the deadline. When that Monday rolls around, I make time that week only to submit. If I don’t get to them all, oh well. I’ll at least submit to one.
I’m also skipping (for the most part) poetry submissions. I’m hoping to get a few fiction credits this year to cite in my query letter this fall when I start querying for a literary agent.
When it comes to Pub Factor, I consider the publication’s characteristics: the market’s reputation, if an agent is judging/selecting pieces, and prize money/compensation. I try to only pick markets that ‘score’ high on one or all of these points.
I submitted to about a half dozen contests/journals for March. Now I don’t have to think about submissions again until early April, and there are only three markets on my calendar. For now.
I have total respect for your time management skills. (And I thought the Pub Factor meant you would only submit when spending writing time in a pub…)
Haha! If I go to a pub I’m only there for the food. 😛
I LOVE your Submissions strategy! Apparently my strategy has been: research potential markets…. obsess over which pieces to send to which publications…. obsess some more… get side tracked… miss deadlines. Hmmm…. I’m gonna try to designate one Come Hell or High Water Week each month in which I WILL actually send SOMETHING out to SOMEONE! (Hoping that by posting this here I’ll actually hold myself to this baby step version of a plan!) YOU INSPIRE ME SO!!! Thank you for sharing your wisdoms, Tara Lynne!
Thx, Caren! Glad this served as inspiration for you. 🙂 I like the official title you’ve given your deadline week!
If you haven’t sent anything to someone yet, I hope this comment will encourage ya to do so already. You got this!
Submissions can be a tedious process. It sounds like you have a good system to stay organized and sane. 🙂
I’m so glad the days of submitting via the post with an SASE are over. (Totally dating myself here!)
I’ve submitted many SASE over the years, but definitely little-to-none now. There are still some places that only accept submissions that way!
Researching potential markets drives me crazy. What seems like a simple task inevitably takes forever, and by the time you have toed the line in terms of font, spacing, formatting, biography etc. I usually find that the evening has gone. Absolutely agree that it’s the grimmest part of being an author!
I want your time management skills.
Most days I can’t even wake up before 2 pm because I don’t respect myself or a sleep schedule.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Or an earlier and earlier alarm. 😉