Aim for 100 rejections per year? Know the journals you submit to? Address the editors by their names? Don’t take rejection personally? Submit to as many magazines as possible?
What is the best advice you’ve ever received about submitting to lit mags? Please share!
Send off at least six pieces (or batches) at once, so that any single rejection won't be too upsetting! When a piece is rejected, just have a quick check to make sure that there isn'ta typo in the title or first stanza/paragraph. Accept that you'll make mistakes - we all do. Some of mine include: sending my cover letter template without modifying it in any way to suit the recipient; misspelling the name of my story; having a whopping typo in the first line of my poem; sending off something over a year after the deadline....If I realise, I send off a quick apology, and most editors are really nice because they're writers too and understand.
Follow the guidelines should be in big letters, carved in stone on a giant monument to litmags. If you've followed the guidelines, proofed your piece and it isn't riddled with clichés, then you stand as good a chance as anyone.
Oh and be polite! I don't understand why people aren't! An editor friend had a sub that started, "I know you won't publish this because you only publish crap....." !!!!
Read the journal first. Ask yourself if you could have written any of the pieces there. Consider the possibility that your work could stand some more attention. If you get an encouraging rejection and the editors ask you to submit more work, believe them.
Some of the best advice I've received (that I've tried to follow!): 1. Don't get discouraged - if one lit mag rejects your piece, move onto the next one. 2. Keep track of where/what you submit; this allows you to more easily keep your rejected pieces on submission rotation. 3. I agree with Becky - don't take rejection personally!
Someone once told me that if you get any personal words in a rejection, and the editor signs his/her name, you should follow up with a new submission quickly and mention in the cover note the personal response and the editor's name. That worked for me with my first published story.
As an editor of a journal, I will repeat what I've heard from other editors: Read the submission guidelines for each journal and follow them. And yes, before you submit, read at least one or two pieces from the journal to see if they are at all like your writing.
When you feel your story is ready to send out, read it again, and then cut 500 words. This forces you to be concise with your language; a story at 7000 words slimmed to 6500 is probably much better. Given how much editors read, this truly makes a difference, forcing you to be precise and thoughtful with your work. It always makes your story just that extra bit better!
Regarding not taking rejection personally, I’ve been advised to think of myself more as a “professional” (that is, business-like or neutral) than as an artist when submitting work. In other words, keep the self that submits work separate from the (wilder!) self that creates it.
Regarding addressing editors by their names, I have seen totally opposing advice—some claiming that it shows ignorance to address the editor as “Poetry Editor” (or whatever), and some claiming that you should NEVER address the editor by name (how presumptuous!!) unless you already have a relationship with them. 😕
Rachael, yes. Totally true about being business-like regarding submissions. For the name issue, hm. My sense is it doesn't matter all that much as long as the cover letter overall is simple and courteous.
Don't bother reading descriptions of what each journal or magazine is looking for because a lot of what they say is just a bunch of b.s. anyway. So just submit randomly to as many as possible!
Haha. It's true that some magazines don't have a clear sense of what they are looking for. I see a lot of journals that say simply, "Surprise us!" And writers should do just that!
Send off at least six pieces (or batches) at once, so that any single rejection won't be too upsetting! When a piece is rejected, just have a quick check to make sure that there isn'ta typo in the title or first stanza/paragraph. Accept that you'll make mistakes - we all do. Some of mine include: sending my cover letter template without modifying it in any way to suit the recipient; misspelling the name of my story; having a whopping typo in the first line of my poem; sending off something over a year after the deadline....If I realise, I send off a quick apology, and most editors are really nice because they're writers too and understand.
Follow the guidelines should be in big letters, carved in stone on a giant monument to litmags. If you've followed the guidelines, proofed your piece and it isn't riddled with clichés, then you stand as good a chance as anyone.
Oh and be polite! I don't understand why people aren't! An editor friend had a sub that started, "I know you won't publish this because you only publish crap....." !!!!
Great advice, Cathy. And yes, I've put typos in the first line of a story also. I had to apologize to the editors, feeling mortified.
Read the journal first. Ask yourself if you could have written any of the pieces there. Consider the possibility that your work could stand some more attention. If you get an encouraging rejection and the editors ask you to submit more work, believe them.
"Ask yourself if you could have written any of the pieces there." That is brilliant advice! Yes.
Some of the best advice I've received (that I've tried to follow!): 1. Don't get discouraged - if one lit mag rejects your piece, move onto the next one. 2. Keep track of where/what you submit; this allows you to more easily keep your rejected pieces on submission rotation. 3. I agree with Becky - don't take rejection personally!
Keep track of where you submit--oh yes! Submittable makes this so much easier, but I am still bad at this sometimes!
Someone once told me that if you get any personal words in a rejection, and the editor signs his/her name, you should follow up with a new submission quickly and mention in the cover note the personal response and the editor's name. That worked for me with my first published story.
Joe, yes! Writers often don't realize how meaningful these personal rejections are.
Thanks
As an editor of a journal, I will repeat what I've heard from other editors: Read the submission guidelines for each journal and follow them. And yes, before you submit, read at least one or two pieces from the journal to see if they are at all like your writing.
Thank you, Elya, and yes. Reading the submission guidelines does not take very long. Writers need to remember this!
When you feel your story is ready to send out, read it again, and then cut 500 words. This forces you to be concise with your language; a story at 7000 words slimmed to 6500 is probably much better. Given how much editors read, this truly makes a difference, forcing you to be precise and thoughtful with your work. It always makes your story just that extra bit better!
That is really helpful!!
Amen
Regarding not taking rejection personally, I’ve been advised to think of myself more as a “professional” (that is, business-like or neutral) than as an artist when submitting work. In other words, keep the self that submits work separate from the (wilder!) self that creates it.
Regarding addressing editors by their names, I have seen totally opposing advice—some claiming that it shows ignorance to address the editor as “Poetry Editor” (or whatever), and some claiming that you should NEVER address the editor by name (how presumptuous!!) unless you already have a relationship with them. 😕
Rachael, yes. Totally true about being business-like regarding submissions. For the name issue, hm. My sense is it doesn't matter all that much as long as the cover letter overall is simple and courteous.
Don't bother reading descriptions of what each journal or magazine is looking for because a lot of what they say is just a bunch of b.s. anyway. So just submit randomly to as many as possible!
Haha. It's true that some magazines don't have a clear sense of what they are looking for. I see a lot of journals that say simply, "Surprise us!" And writers should do just that!