Getting published.

[Girl.]

Inspired by a conversation I had with BlueBoy last night about how hard it can be to get your work published, I thought that a thread dedicated to tips and hints on how to get your work in print might be a good idea.

One of my lecturers at Uni, who publishes his work regularly in journals and anthologies, gave me this list of tips:

1. Research different publications and the types of writing they accept before you send your work anywhere, and choose the most appropriate publication based on the genre of your work. Most Aussie universities publish at least one literary journal, and if you're a university student then the student's magazines on campus can also be a good place to send your work to, and will usually pay you a couple of hundred bucks a piece if they accept it.

2. Proof-read your work carefully before you submit it. Spelling and grammatical mistakes are a big no-no.

3. Submit a typed copy of your work and avoid hand-writing. Use double-spaced size 12 Times New Roman font and provide wide margins so that comments can be added later. Number the pages and staple them together. Only print on one side of the paper. Only use plain white A4 paper.

4. At the beginning of the piece, write your name, contact details, word count and the name of the work. At the end, write "The End".

5. Write a simple cover letter to the editor of the journal or magazine you are submitting to, explaining who you are and that you are submitting your work to their magazine. Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you want your story returned to you.

6. When you send your work away for publication, use an A4 envelope. According to my lecturer (and I'm not sure of how true this is), editors usually have big stacks of writing to sift through, and if a story is all folded up and won't sit flat they find it annoying.

7. Don't expect a response from the editor immediately. Sometimes they will hang on to work until they have an appropriate spot for it in their journal or magazine.

Does anyone else have any hints for publishing work?

[kleph]

get used to rejection.

[Scythe]

get used to rejection.

This is ZGeek. I think most of us are inured to rejection of all kinds. :p


The only other hint I could suggest it persistence. The chances of getting published on the first ten, twenty or even fifty submissions can be pretty slim unless you're truly world-class or writing for a small niche audience. Just keep sending things in to a variety of different publishers.

It may also be a good idea to wait a few months after sending something to a particular publisher, then sending a submission to them again. It's possible that the person who rejected it the first time was just having a bad day, or that someone new may read it this time.

[kleph]

i was being pithy, but deadly serious all the same. this ain't a task for the faint-of-heart or thin-of-skin. i will post a more serious and thought out reply later after i collect my thoughts on this.

[Reprobate]

This is ZGeek. I think most of us are inured to rejection of all kinds. :p
At least the editors can keep it civil though.

No talk about 'ya mum' or that your ex must have been fucking someone else better. And they don't usually sign off with calling you a :fag:

I've got two (large) folders full of rejection letters. Only one stung.

But not from what was said, it was just my reaction.

The first thing I had ever sent in was published. The second was rejected.

After that I was fine. And after a rewrite I resubmitted it and it was accepted (changed it from first person to third person viewpoint).

My advice is once you know you've got the talent then just write and write and write. And submit, submit, submit. Stopping occasionally to see if what you were doing wasn't crap.

When I was writing a lot my PO Box was full of rejection letters, but the cheques among them from accepted submissions made it sweeter.

[polite]

Inspired by a conversation I had with BlueBoy last night about how hard it can be to get your work published, I thought that a thread dedicated to tips and hints on how to get your work in print might be a good idea.



Well having a conversation with BlueBoy seems like a good start. He inspires me too. So you are talking about fiction then?, or some of that made up stuff about truth?. I like irony myself.

[badpauly]

Inspired by a conversation I had with BlueBoy last night about how hard it can be to get your work published, I thought that a thread dedicated to tips and hints on how to get your work in print might be a good idea.

Does anyone else have any hints for publishing work?

Yeah, work out what sort of work you want published in what area.

I've had stuff published for web and print publications, and I know a lot of people in that area as well... You need to work out what and where before you think about the how.

Can put you onto people if you want.

[Arcane1]

There is a large market for "self-publication" out there. You put your manuscript together and do the layout and pre-press (or pay them to), and they do the printing and binding for you. It is a good way to get your name out there, and a shortcut to being "published" in a niche area that may not have the typical publishing avenues' eyes. I did the formatting and editing for a client recently, she was working with a company called Author House (http://www.authorhouse.com/) and they were quite good to deal with. Even though my client's co-author was a nutjob and screwed the project up repeatedly, they were patient and competent.

You have to do your own marketing and distribution also, but in some cases that might be better.