Tip: Leads for Getting Your Short Stories Published

This one, like some of the other tips, involves looking at the books of authors whose writing or subject matter you think yours resembles. If an author you resonate with has published a book of short stories, go to the book store and look at the copyright page. Often at least some of these stories have already been published in literary reviews, and sometimes these are reasonably accessible reviews, that is, not just The New Yorker or Esquire. Write down the names of the magazines and reviews where the stories were published. Look online or in Writer's Market for their addresses and submission procedures. When you send them your submission, mention in your query letter that you are influenced by the work of said author and that you were so pleased to see that the magazine published that author's work.

Take heart if it takes some time - or lots of time - to get your short stories published. These places are literally swamped with submissions, and you are competing not only with those manuscripts, but also with published authors whose agents and publicists are also working on getting their stuff into these venues. (How unfair! I know.) But little things like this will increase the odds a bit and at least show you are a serious, thoughtful contender.