Life as a
writer can be hard sometimes.
Success is
elusive; fans shift as often as a summer wind.
Yet, we
persevere, writing into the late hours of the night and waking in the early
hours of the morning to log the hours and enter, for a time, the worlds we
create. When I first started writing, more than a decade ago, it was because I
loved the idea of immersing myself in a place where I could construct the
narrative; walk through dense forests and to the tops of mountains. Over time
the process became more about writing as a tool to move through emotions and
languishing memories that required catharsis.
Writing takes
on many forms, for many different writers, over the course of our lives.
For me, the
process is the reward.
I love to
write.
When I ask
myself that silly question of what I would do if I had all the money in the
world, the answer is always quite simple: write. Now more than a decade later,
I have a renewed sense of purpose and have become quite adept at balancing the
spinning plates of responsibility.
Recently,
between being a full-time graduate student and writer, I joined Empirical magazine as an editor – among
other responsibilities. A national magazine similar in spirit to Harper’s or The Atlantic, the magazine is firmly rooted in a West Coast
sensibility. There is a little something for everyone, and honestly, the hope
is that everyone will take a look. Contributors to the magazine come from
around the globe and cover everything from politics to fiction.
Working at a
magazine, especially at this point in its maturation, is a wonderful experience.
There are so many moving parts that enliven your day. Sometimes I spend the day
sorting through fiction and poetry submissions, searching for that piece of
prose, or perhaps a stanza, that ensnares my imagination. Other days I am
editing, constantly referring to the Chicago Manual of Style to ascertain the
correct usage of an archaic sentence structure. As a writer, the prospect of
editing and rummaging through the work of others might not sound exciting, but
there are some wonderful consequences:
1. You learn to become a better editor of
your own work
2. You begin to recognize redundant
sentence structures and overused phrases
3. Your grasp of language grows
exponentially
However, the
most important component for me is:
4. You get to help others bring their work
into a public forum
For many
writers, and certainly for me early in my writing career, the notion of being
picked up by a magazine or a small press was foremost in my mind. It was that
distant promise of publication and everything that goes with it that pushed me
forward. When I got rejection letters, most of which lacked a personal touch, I
would get down on my writing, denigrate my ability.
The years
passed, during which thousands of rejection letters amassed, and I realized
that the pursuit of writing for a purely extrinsic reward was dooming myself to
Vegas-style odds. I became clear to me that I needed to write because I loved
it, and then find a way to share it with others – even if it was not through
traditional routes. I found that I was more comfortable with my writing when I
did it for the pure joy of it.
Now that I am
on the other side of the fence, so to speak, I have noticed a few myths about
submitting to paying publications that otherwise mystified and frustrated me
prior to becoming an editor and being responsible for interacting with
first-time and established authors.
I have decided
to provide a humorous, but serious, collection of things you should do and
things you shouldn’t do when submitting and entering into a discourse with a
publication – sprinkled, of course, with some anecdotes. And without further
ado (or perhaps slight ado if you
count this sentence here):
Things You Should Do
1. Read
the publication you are submitting to before sending an email. This one sounds obvious, I know.
However, it happens so often that it warrants mentioning. If you have written a
brilliant piece of prose that is about zombies, it is quite likely that Popular Mechanics will not be that
interested in it. Pick up an issue of the magazine you are interested in
submitting to and familiarize yourself with the kinds of stories they publish.
The next part is the hardest part: be honest. Does your piece fit with what
they publish?
2. Read
and follow the submission instructions. Again, a no-brainer. If you are thinking that
you don’t know where to find the submission instructions and you just have an
email address, be prepared for disappointment. Your email might go to
submission purgatory with a one-liner response about having received your
correspondence – if you’re lucky.
3. Address
your submission to the appropriate person. If you are thinking that I am giving you the
obvious pointers, then you are quite right. With that in mind, imagine that I
still receive hundreds of emails a month that manage to ignore these simple
suggestions. If you are writing a stunning expose on corporate greed, the
poetry editor is probably not the best destination for your work.
4. Edit
your work. I tell this
to students a lot, so I will mention it here as well: spell check in Microsoft
Word is not sufficient. I am not saying that you need to be a copyeditor to
submit to a magazine, but do yourself a favor and read it out loud. If it
something sounds funny when you read it, you can only imagine how it will sound
to an editor who is choosing among thousands of articles and stories to
determine what goes to print.
5. Be
cognizant of turnarounds. By
this I mean, the amount of time between when you sent in the work until you
hear back from an editor about the status of your submission. Nothing will send
your work to the bottom of a slush pile than to send a follow-up email the day
after you submitted, wondering whether or not you are going to be in the
magazine. Most publications will post how long it takes to hear back from them
about the status of a submission, and an amount of time after which you should
contact them if you haven’t heard from them.
Things You Shouldn’t Do
1. Send
an email telling an editor that they would be stupid not to publish your work. It always surprises me when I get an
email telling me that I need to publish a story, poem, or piece of nonfiction
because it is the next best thing. Top this off with letting me know that I
would be a fool not to accept it, almost guarantees a trip to the trash can.
2. Send
a photocopy of your story by registered mail. If you want
to have your story in a magazine, start by giving it to editors in a format
that they can actually use. By sending a faded and blurry photocopy of your
forty-word poem and declaring that it is a soul-searching masterpiece does not
inspire as much confidence as you would think.
3. Contact
an editor on a frequent basis about the status of your submission. I have to sort through hundreds of
emails a day, edit for the current issue, and work on editing an anthology; not
to mention a thousand other intangibles. We posted a time table about getting
back to you for a reason: read it.
4. Be
discouraged by a form rejection letter. This is a bitter pill to swallow for many
writers. They think the form rejection letter means that the editor didn’t read
their work, or simply had things already planned and was stringing writers
along. The reality is on any given month I send out hundreds upon hundreds of
rejection letters. There is simply not enough time in the day to offer feedback
to every single person. This not to say that I do not offer feedback, or that
editors do not offer feedback in general, but instead the process is
streamlined so writers can be responded to in a reasonable amount of time.
5. Call
the magazine to find out about your submission. This is subsumed by not contacting an editor about
the status of your submission before enough time has passed, but I thought it
warranted a special mention considering it is really going the extra mile in
terms of being an irritation. If we haven’t gotten back to you yet, calling us
is not going to suddenly make us more accessible.
6. Send
another email with corrections. Read twice, send once. If you don’t think what you sent is ready for
publication, then please don’t send it. You get one chance at a first
impression, and nothing speaks to being underprepared and unprofessional than
sending a draft and immediately following up with another draft. If your piece
needs work, note that in your submission, but don’t send a series of emails
chronicling the different stages of the edits for that story. The exception, of
course, is if you have already been accepted and you have been asked to make
edits.
7. Contact
the magazine to air your frustrations about not being selected. I say this with all seriousness. It is
very likely that you got rejected because the piece was not a good fit and not
that the magazine has decided to order a hit on your writing career. Please
don’t treat it that way. Lashing out at a publication for sending a form
rejection letter, or passing on a piece you have written, reeks of a lack of
professionalism and could impact your ability to publish elsewhere. Many
editors are friends, especially in the digital age, and word spreads fast.
8. Contact
the magazine to ask if you think a story you are working on would be a good fit
elsewhere. I can
appreciate the sentiment. A lot of editors are writers themselves, and they
love talking about the process and the product. I find myself building
friendships with writers, those we publish and those we do not, and often I
will give them suggestions about their work. However, if you don’t know me
personally and have never been published or solicited in any way to use me as a
sounding board, then do not contact me and ask if a poem or story would be a
good fit at another magazine. If you think it is ready for publication, then
submit it here. An obvious exception would be if the writer knew the story
would not be a good fit and asked because they were uncertain in venturing into
new territory.
I could
probably keep listing things you shouldn’t do, but I will wrap it up there. I
encourage you to keep trying and keep writing. Things only get better with
time, and time is all we really have. I love to hear from other writers and
potential readers, so please stop by and say hello.
advice for writers
advice on writing queries
Dan O’Brien
editing
magazine writing
queries
writing
writing for magazines
Writing Perspective
writing tips
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