“That’s great, honey. Where can I read it?”
If those words from my mom make you cringe too, this month’s Technique Toolbox is for you. We’re going to talk about putting your words where my mom – or anybody’s mom – can get her hands on them.
Whether you’ve got a great idea or a polished piece, there’s a way to find a home for just about every piece of writing. Eventually.
Actually, I don’t have an idea.
Nonfictioneers, you’re in trouble. Fiction writers? You may be in luck. Look for themed anthologies. There are a lot-
Of sites that aggregate calls for submissions. Many of these anthology calls can function as a prompt, if they don’t have a prompt actually included. Many do. And hey, the deadline is probably further away than the end of a Super Challenge round. You can do it!
I’ve got an idea!
If you’ve got a fantastic idea but it’s going to take you a substantial amount of research and writing to complete the project, you may want to consider pitching it as-is. This tends to apply more to nonfiction writers, unless you’re JK Rowling, in which case you can walk up to someone and say “hey I want to write a story for your anthology but I haven’t yet” and they’ll probably take it.
In general, to pitch an idea for an article or essay for publication, it helps to be an established writer and have some writing samples to show. People who don’t know you will want to see what quality of work you can generate. But even newcomers can get a pitch accepted!
When you write a pitch, you’ll be writing a brief communication to an editor. Try to keep it down to a couple hundred words if you can (YeahWriters, use your microprose skills!).
Remember to:
- Introduce your story idea and define your angle.
- Explain why your idea is timely, unique, important, and/or of interest to the publication’s readers. Articulate your “so what” here!
- Estimate a deadline for your piece. How long will it take you to write? Editors need to schedule stories and fill space, so they need to know when they’ll have your work in hand.
- Include your contact information, as well as any clips or writing samples you have. If you have a lot of writing samples, use the ones that are relevant to that publication’s audience.
I wrote a thing!
Good for you! No, I mean it. Writing isn’t easy. To find a home for your work, let’s ask a few questions:
Do you want to get paid for it?
Okay. You’re about to get a Rowan Rant. GET PAID FOR YOUR WORK. Why?
Because even if you can, other people can’t afford not to.
One of the biggest issues in the industry right now is the vast number of sites and anthologies that are willing to make money while paying nothing or next to nothing. Support writing and writers by insisting on getting paid for your work as though it were, well…. Work.
Not sure what the standard for pay is? Join a few writers groups or guilds. Associations like SFWA have standard rates for markets. These are associations of writers who expect to make a living with their work. Support them by sticking to markets that pay those rates. After all, everyone benefits when you get paid, so why not?
What if I don’t care if I make money?
Um. I’m actually thrilled for you, that you don’t need to make money with your craft. You can still support writers who need to, by limiting your unpaid submissions to markets that also don’t make money off your writing.
Look for sites like, um. FINE. Like YeahWrite. Or like Dead Housekeeping, that are labors of love. If a site is aggregating your work and selling major ads, and you’re not getting paid for it, that’s an extremely unethical business model. If you’re not making money from your work, nobody else should be, either.
For example, one of our editors won an ‘award’ from a content aggregator which came with no money but a free admission to an event they were charging other people hundreds of dollars for – if the editor could get there and provide their own lodging. In essence, the entire event was built around the idea that people who attended had the goal of being able to generate that nature and quality of work, but the event was unwilling to sponsor the creators to even attend. And when our editor asked if they could donate their free ticket to someone who would love to attend but could not afford the entry fee, the event denied the request.
TL;dr everybody gets paid or nobody does. Got it? Thanks. Sometimes I, too, have to grit my teeth and whisper angrily “my ego isn’t worth someone else’s livelihood.”
How long is it?
We’ll get to books in a second, but let’s talk markets. Flash, short, and longform pieces all belong in different markets and you’ll need to submit your work to one that’s appropriate for it. In general, fiction submission guidelines will tell you the approximate length of work accepted. For nonfiction, you may need to check out a few already-published works to get a sense of the range that particular publication is looking for.
I wrote a book, though. Now what?
Welp, you’ve got two choices: self-publish or look for an agent and/or publisher (some publishers take unagented work).
Rowan’s Rant #2, which might be a record: Agents function as gatekeepers. A gatekeeping function tends to disproportionately deny work by marginalized people. It just does. No matter how liberal SJW you think an agent is, at the end of the day they’re also thinking about what publishing houses consider marketable. So if you’ve been turned down by a bunch of agents, try to keep that in mind, ok? It might not be you; it might just be how messed up society is.
I want an agent.
Oh yeah, definitely me too. There’s a certain cachet to saying “my agent” isn’t there? And it’s awfully nice to have someone else out there hustling on your behalf. It’s like job seeking vs having a temp agency taking care of you. And agents know what’s a good deal and a bad one.
The downside? It can be hard to find or build a relationship with an agent. And agents can and do drop writers. So what can you do to maximize your chances?
First off, you’ll need a pitch letter. Don’t mess around. Get your pitch letter tight. Have people edit it. Get a solid hook. Read other pitches. And read what the agent you want, wants to see in a pitch. Is it the first 10 pages? Does the agent you want have a blog? Read it. Follow them on Twitter. Find out how they like to see things and what they read.
Fun fact: if that’s not your style, they will probably turn you down. You need a good fit.
Second, the agent you want needs to be actively accepting submissions. Check out the roster at AAR. Keep an eye on sites like publishedtodeath, which post lists of agents seeking writers, and what they’re interested in.
If and when you do get an agent, don’t just give out their contact information to your whole network, either. Remember that when you refer a writer, you’re saying “this person’s work is as good as or better than mine.” That reflects on you as well as the referred writer.
That sounds like a lot of heartbreak. What if I self-publish?
Self-publishing is no longer exclusively a vanity tool for mediocre writers who can’t find an agent. Instead, it opens doors to writers whose work deserves to be read, even if it’s outside the narrow and traditionalist scope of what is appealing to often-stodgy publishers.
That said, self-publishing does not excuse you from generating a professional product. The better your work looks and reads the more likely you are to find an audience. So you’ll need:
- An editor. Probably a pro. At the very least a competent copyeditor.
- A cover designer. No, I’m not joking. A professional cover design is the first thing a potential reader sees when they look at your book, and is part of their decision about how legitimate the book is.
- Promotion. On your platform, on other platforms, through readings, you’re going to need to generate sales. All that time you planned to spend finding an agent? Spend it on your hustle; you’ll need it.
Okay I’m ready…
Nope. You need one last thing: A spreadsheet.
I don’t care if this is a table in Word or Excel, a database, or what, you need a sheet for your submissions. The columns you’ll want at a minimum are:
Title, Genre, publication/agent, Date submitted, date to hear back
I also add a “what appealed to me about this” column after publication or agent, so I remember what caught my eye, where I read about it, etc.
Last Rowan Rant, I promise
No matter what market, agent, magazine, website… I don’t care where you’re sending your work, they have submission guidelines. These guidelines will include font, format, whether you need page numbers, header, footer, file type, etc. Read the submission guidelines. True fact: your work will probably just get thrown away if you don’t. That’s a tremendous waste, and it can get you denied in a place you’d otherwise be getting paid.
Now you’re ready. Get set? Submit.
