Revision, Rejection and Spreadsheets: Crafting a System for Getting Published

Short story writer and novelist shares his publishing system

Welcome to our new (now weekly!) column, where writers and editors share insights into the world of lit mag publishing.

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The question often asked of fiction writers is, Why do you write? There are numerous philosophical, artistic, and practical answers, all of which are true. But the one constant, except among a few hermetic eccentrics, should be, I write to be read, that is, to share my experience of life with others across space and time, as other writers have shared theirs with me.

And to be read, one generally needs to be published.

And to be published, one generally needs a system.

I myself used to write assiduously, but market timidly. I published a poem here and there, a story now and then, but basically my audience was a file cabinet, or a computer drive. (I published somewhat more frequently in the non-fiction world, but that’s much easier to bring about.) A survivable but disquieting health crisis a few years ago shocked me into realizing that, if I wanted to be a writer, I would have to be read, and that if I wanted to be read, I would have to market my stories—and that time might be short.

It took me a while to devise a system, but now I have one that works pretty well. Well enough that in the space of around four years, I have published some eighty short stories in literary journals, and have recently signed seven book contracts with a tiny but authentic trade publisher.

So if you want to be published, and actualize yourself as a writer by being read, you might try what I offer below….

A caveat: my assumption is that you write well and understand the basic structures necessary to support a story. So the first step is to find someone who doesn’t love you, but does love literature, to read and judge your work.

Yes, judge. Because that is what magazine editors will do. Editors anywhere. Get used to it. And to rejection, which can be your friend. Because when a story is rejected, heartbreaking though that may be to you, its parent, it means you can now send it to a different journal, with a different editor, who may have different tastes from those of the ogre that rejected you.

So here are the five basic elements of marketing short fiction.

1)      Revising and Formatting

Never, ever send out a first draft. Never. Not ever. Get it? When you finish a story, let it sit overnight at least, and preferably three days, then begin a critical reading of it to discern and root out as far as possible the continuity errors, repetitions, dull or run-on sentences, aimless meanders, typos, et al. Revise each story a minimum of three times, but go over it as many times as it needs to make it smooth and strong.