How to Submit Your Short Stories to Magazines & Journals

A wide variety of magazines publish fiction.

Perhaps you've just started writing fiction, or you've been writing short stories for years in isolation, and you think your work is worthy of publication. If you want to share your fiction with a larger audience than your friends and family, consider publishing in periodicals like magazines and literary journals. You can share in a larger discussion with other writers about what literature is all about, and become part of the ongoing conversation of American letters.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Printer
• Internet
• Letter-sized plain white paper
• #10 envelopes
• Stamps

Instructions

Select Your Markets

1. Make a list of possible periodicals for submitting your work. Several good lists and databases of markets are available online (see resources).

2. Read a sample copy or excerpts on the magazine's website to ensure that your work is in line with its preferences. Cross off your list any periodical whose work is too dissimilar to your own.

3. Narrow down your list further by considering factors like reputation, readership and payment. When first starting out, focus on smaller markets, since they are more likely to accept your work.

Prepare Your Submissions

1. Visit the websites of the periodicals you've selected for guidelines. Make a note of any unusual requests.

2. Check your submission database (see Section 3) to make sure the magazine hasn't already seen the story you're considering sending.

3. Prepare your manuscript using standard manuscript format, unless guidelines specify otherwise. Fiction should be double-spaced with your name and contact information at the top of the first page; number all pages.

4. Write a brief cover letter. List your name and contact information at the top of the page. In the body of the letter, mention the title of your story. If it's a simultaneous submission, say so. If you're sending your submission via postal mail, mention if the manuscript is disposable. List three or fewer relevant publication credits, if you have any.

5. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) if you're submitting through postal mail.

6. Paste your cover letter into the appropriate space in the periodical's online submission form, if you're submitting via the Internet, and attach only the file containing your story.

7. Cut and paste your cover letter into the body of an email if you're submitting via email, and attach only the file containing your story. Submit via email only if the periodical specifies in its guidelines that you may do so.

Record-keeping

1. Keep copies of everything you send out. Some magazines won't return copies, and the mail can be unreliable.

2. Create a database - either on your computer or in a notebook - to track the details of every submission you send out. At a minimum, include when and where the submission was sent, which title was submitted and how each market responded.

3. Enter your acceptances and rejections in your database as editors reply. If you practice simultaneous submissions, withdraw any accepted stories from consideration at the other markets to which you submitted them. If editors don't reply in their posted response time, send a query letter requesting the status of your submission, including a second SASE.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're having trouble finding journals to your taste, check the bios of your favorite writers to see where they have published.

• Back up your writing files to save your work for the future.

• Many periodicals pay only in copies of the issue in which your work appears. Some will also offer subscriptions at a reduced price to contributors.

• Avoid being cute. Many new writers use unusual fonts, colored paper or other non-standard touches to make their manuscripts stand out. Editors see this as the sign of an amateur and will generally decline to work with that writer.

• A handful of markets have predatory (though not illegal) practices. Be wary of any market asking for payment for anything other than contest fees. To investigate a particular market, check with writers' advocacy groups like Predators & Editors or Writer Beware (see resources).

• Be prepared for rejection. Sometimes rejections mean your work isn't tight or original enough, but sometimes they just mean the magazine was already full or had accepted a similar story. While it's important to remain critical of your own work and strive to become better, don't take rejections too personally.

• Unfortunately, some editors simply never respond at all. Your submission may be lost in the mail--or their mailroom--or they may have a careless editor or intern who loses your manuscript. If you feel a response is taking too long and you have received no response to a query about your manuscript's status, withdraw your manuscript with a polite, professionally worded letter.

References

• Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia: Submitting Your Short Fiction (or Creative Non-Fiction) Manuscript
• Manuscript Preparation — Introduction; Vonda N. McIntyre
• SFWA: Manuscript Format

Resources

• Duotrope
• "The Faster Times"; A Guide to Literary Magazines; Lincoln Michel; April 2010.
• "Perpetual Folly"; 2010 Pushcart Prize Rankings; Cliff Garstang; November 2009.
• The Rankings: Literary Markets Ranked by Award Anthologies
• Pebble Lake Review: Sample Cover Letter