I'll be writing more about this as I get closer to giving a workshop on marketing your book but being a writer takes more than writing.
Obviously, the writing is important.
But after finishing a story, poem, article, novel, etc., the next part is also challenging. Finding a publication that will publish you story, poem, article or a publisher to publish your novel.
Identifying and researching the right outlet can take time. Every publication suggests you read their back issues before submitting. That's good, often overlooked advice--because who has the time to read through every potential magazine? But if you don't read a little bit from each potential magazine, you might not know if your piece is appropriate for it. I've read back issues to see that my stories wouldn't be a good fit. Why waste my time or the editors' on a submission that's never going to get accepted? And in one case, I found a publication whose name I didn't like but I liked the stories they published, so I sent in a story that I thought would be a good fit, and within a week or so, they accepted it.
So identifying potential markets for your short pieces is absolutely important to being a published writer. It can take multiple efforts at pitching your story (I write stories so I will generally refer to that in this post but the same applies to poems and short nonfiction) before you find a home willing to publish your piece.
So having patience is an important quality.
So is resilience. I've had some pieces accepted on the first few tries. And some that have taken years to place.
In the case of several stories, after some rejections, I'll put them aside and then pick them up again, figure out how I think I should fix them, and have gotten lucky, finally, in finding a home.
Recently I've reworked two stories that I believed in. I hope to hear the end of next month whether the editors at one publication and the judges at a competition agree with me.
I've actually learned something each time I rework an old story I liked. Each time, I think I've made it better, and I've had some success in placing those.
Mostly this blog is to encourage myself and readers/writers to not give up on their writing. If you like the piece, it's okay to move on. But it's also okay to keep trying to fix and place it.
And it's also to recognize that after you've finished your project, you will likely need to spend a lot of time finding a home for it--even as you need to write your next story.
Good luck!
Obviously, the writing is important.
But after finishing a story, poem, article, novel, etc., the next part is also challenging. Finding a publication that will publish you story, poem, article or a publisher to publish your novel.
Identifying and researching the right outlet can take time. Every publication suggests you read their back issues before submitting. That's good, often overlooked advice--because who has the time to read through every potential magazine? But if you don't read a little bit from each potential magazine, you might not know if your piece is appropriate for it. I've read back issues to see that my stories wouldn't be a good fit. Why waste my time or the editors' on a submission that's never going to get accepted? And in one case, I found a publication whose name I didn't like but I liked the stories they published, so I sent in a story that I thought would be a good fit, and within a week or so, they accepted it.
So identifying potential markets for your short pieces is absolutely important to being a published writer. It can take multiple efforts at pitching your story (I write stories so I will generally refer to that in this post but the same applies to poems and short nonfiction) before you find a home willing to publish your piece.
So having patience is an important quality.
So is resilience. I've had some pieces accepted on the first few tries. And some that have taken years to place.
In the case of several stories, after some rejections, I'll put them aside and then pick them up again, figure out how I think I should fix them, and have gotten lucky, finally, in finding a home.
Recently I've reworked two stories that I believed in. I hope to hear the end of next month whether the editors at one publication and the judges at a competition agree with me.
I've actually learned something each time I rework an old story I liked. Each time, I think I've made it better, and I've had some success in placing those.
Mostly this blog is to encourage myself and readers/writers to not give up on their writing. If you like the piece, it's okay to move on. But it's also okay to keep trying to fix and place it.
And it's also to recognize that after you've finished your project, you will likely need to spend a lot of time finding a home for it--even as you need to write your next story.
Good luck!
