How to Pick Publications When Submitting Work

You’ve written fiction, nonfiction or poetry that you feel is ready for publication. But you don’t know where you should submit it. You’ll need to do a little research to find the right publication (or market) to send your work to. Finding a potential market doesn’t mean your work will be accepted. However, finding markets that like your kind of writing will increase your chances of getting your work accepted.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Writing ready for publication
• Sample copies of publications

1. Figure out the genre of your work. “Genre” goes beyond fiction, nonfiction or poetry. There are fiction sub-genres like fantasy, mainstream, mystery and horror. Nonfiction genres include memoir, reportage and biography. Poetry has many forms like villanelles, haiku, sonnets and language poetry.

2. Find market lists that give you links to many publications’ submissions guidelines. A few good market lists are Duotrope’s Digest, Ralan’s Webstravaganza, NewPages Literary Magazine’s page and NCW’s Literary Magazine page.

3. Pick markets that you think would be interested in the piece you want to submit. Submissions guidelines will tell you what genres the publications take, editor preferences, length requirements and restrictions and how they want you to submit (postal mail, email or online web form).

4. Read some of the newer work published by the markets you’re looking to submit to. Buying books or copies of magazines or journals can be expensive, but many publications let readers sample current and back issues on their websites. Go by the bookstore or library and look over the markets you’re thinking of submitting to. If you don’t have access to work the markets published, see if you can find names of the writers they have published. Ask yourself if your work is like the work of these writers.

5. After you’ve read the work the markets have recently published, ask yourself if your piece is a good match. Here are some things to consider: your style, the subject matter of your piece and the editor’s taste in fiction, nonfiction or poetry. If you find that you don’t like a lot of what you’re reading, it’s probably not a good idea to send your work to that market.

6. Cut down your list of potential publications. Pick five to ten that you’re going to submit to.

7. Go over the submissions guidelines for the markets on your final list again. Make sure your piece isn’t too long or short. Make sure the markets aren’t closed to submissions or only considering submissions for a special or themed issue.

8. List the markets in the order you’re going to submit to them. When and if your piece is rejected, you can send it to the next market on the list. If the markets take simultaneous submissions, then you may submit to these markets at the same time. See the eHow articles on simultaneous submissions.

9. Send out a professionally prepared submission. Unless the guidelines say otherwise, your submission should include a cover letter, SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) for the editor’s response and the manuscript. If you’re sending the submission over email, include a cover letter in the body of the email and attach your work as a file or paste the work in the body of the email. See the eHow articles on submitting writing for publication.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your submissions are always professional. How you present your work is just as important as the work itself. Think of your submissions as job interviews.
• It’s okay to query editors and ask questions if you don’t find the answers in their submissions guidelines.
• Unless you’re writing for a specific anthology, you’re solicited by an editor or trying to place a column in a magazine like “CosmoGirl” or “Utne Reader,” it’s best not to write for specific markets. You’ll put restrictions on your creativity based on what you think the publication will like. It’s better to write first and figure out where you can send it later.

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