Tip Recap: Getting Individual Short Stories Published

As promised:

Everything I Know About Getting Short Stories Published

First, as with agents (scroll down two posts to see the recap about those) get yourself a copy of the 2004 Writer's Market or 2004 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market. They are available on Amazon, most bookstores (in the reference section), and Writer's Digest. These contain the most complete lists currently available of places to which to send your work.

Also check the "Call for Manuscripts" in Poets and Writers, either at the back of the magazine or online at Poets & Writers, Inc.

Second, don’t sweat the simultaneous submission thing, and practice a don’t ask, don’t tell policy about it. I've heard that The North American Review in particular can get very nasty if they find out you've sent simultaneous submissions (like they might not ever take on anything of your again) but you know what? Tough. You could never get anything done if you send one-by-one. And the chances of getting two simultaneous offers, and having someone find out, are slim.

Don’t try to subscribe to every zine or literary review you want to submit to, although they recommend it. You never could. Subscribe only to ones that really resonate with you. Other than that, look over the listings, try to find out what you can about them online or at the bookstore, and using that info, do your best to winnow them down into groups of about ten. Send your story (or query, according to the guidelines listed) to the first ten. If it comes back, send to the next ten. Send another story to the first ten. Practice detachment and just keep it going.

One way to decide which places might be on your first priority "send to" list: If an author you resonate with, or whose work you think yours resembles, 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.

It doesn't hurt to drop names of writers you've studied with, either. Use the same kind of format with this that I recommend for query letters to agents (again, scroll down two posts).

If you are also thinking one step beyond and trying to get together a collection of short stories for publishing together, it helps if there is some kind of unifying theme or if they are linked in some way. Just a marketing reality to keep in mind.

And as with agents, 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.)
None of this means, however, that this is an impossible task. It is not.

Hang in there.