So, you've written a story. What now? Well, must be time to submit it for publication, right? Before you do, stop and think about whether this story is really ready to be accepted. What makes me an expert on this topic? Over the past 15 years, I've submitted my work over 1,500 times. This has … Continue reading 60 Reasons Your Writing Will Be Rejected
The more you write, the more you learn about how to write. The more you "learn" about writing, the more you realize every writer thinks he or she is an expert. Ultimately, you end up with a lot of contradicting "facts" about what you should be doing to become a better writer (of course, better … Continue reading 57 Things I’ve Learned Not to Do As a Writer
I had never read any of Jonathan Franzen’s work until I saw his list about how to write like him, or whatever the hell it was. I would link it here, but I don’t want to give him any more attention. But if you haven’t read it, it wasn’t very memorable other than to make … Continue reading Bad Writing Advice You Should Ignore
People often ask me how I've managed to get so many short stories published. Getting a short story published is surprisingly not that difficult—as long as you have a good story and put some effort into your submission process. Even mediocre stories have a decent chance of getting published with the right submission strategy. However, … Continue reading How to get a short story published
A good submission strategy requires significant time and thought. There’s certainly a lot more to it than sending your poetry or fiction to every single publication you stumble upon. Unless you want to be rejected constantly or end up with a bunch of bad publications, you need to be selective. You need to make sure … Continue reading The 6 most important things to consider before submitting your work to a publication
Lit mag editors are under a lot of stress. We have to read a ton of submissions, and we usually don’t get paid anything. And we’re doing that while balancing our full-time jobs, our families, and our own writing. So give us a break from time to time. Here are the 10 biggest pet peeves … Continue reading 10 biggest pet peeves of lit mag editors
The author bio is a highly important part of being published, right? Well, yes and no. Yes because you usually need one, and you should make it good because anyone who reads your story will presumably see it. On the other hand, the author bio almost never has any bearing on whether or not you … Continue reading How to Write a Great Author Bio with Free Template
No. Okay, maybe that was a little too curt of a response. So let's dig into the topic a bit. I often see writers asking if they should resubmit a story or poem that's been rejected. Typically, they are talking about making revisions first and then sending it back to the publication. Most writers know … Continue reading Should I Resubmit a Story or Poem That’s Been Rejected?
Publication is one of the most exciting things that can happen to a writer. But what happens when those publications go out of print or disappear from online archives? It's a lousy feeling when you find out a publication of yours is no longer available. It feels like a lot of hard work down the … Continue reading Bringing Back Your Un-published Work
Knowing how to format your short story is the first step to getting published. No matter how great your story is, it doesn't stand a chance if you don't format it in a way that's easy to read and clearly tells a publisher you know what you're doing. Download your free short story template Want … Continue reading Proper Short Story Format with Free Short Story Template
