#publication process

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Hi there, thanks so much for your question and for the kind words; I’m so glad you enjoyed the book! It's been a while since I gave writing advice on this blog, but I figured I'd give a quick rundown on the short story process while I can!

So, in the briefest terms, the road to publishing short stories usually goes like this:

Write your story.

Edit your story.

Pick 5-10 prospective publications you'd want your story to be published in, ordering them by preference.

Write a cover letter template for your story: there's lots of advice for this online, and I wrote up a "best practices" for writing cover letters and submitting stories here.

Review the submission guidelines for the first 1-3 publications on your list. They'll always be found somewhere on the website for that publication; if you can't find it by navigating their site, just Google "______ submissions," "New Yorker submissions," "Atlantic submissions," etc.

Follow those submission guidelines to the letter. If one publication asks for your manuscript in 12-point Times New Roman font and the other one only accepts 10-point Courier, follow those instructions exactly. If their page limit of up to 20 pages doesn't work for your story, you can either decide to tweak a version of your story for that specific publication (have a master original copy and a "New Yorker" copy) or just save that pub for another story that fits their requirements better down the road. Take it from someone who worked for a lit pub, editors and readers don't play around when it comes to these rules!

Submission guidelines sometimes include what kind or style of fiction the publication is looking for. These aren't exactly hard rules, but just be aware that your rate of success will increase the more your story falls in line with these guidelines. If a publication says they're looking for stories that subvert traditional or expected endings, that's something to consider. It doesn't usually hurt to send in your story, anyway, but publications where your story may not fit exactly what they're looking for should be placed lower on your priority list.

Important: also check to make sure what each publication says about simultaneous submissions, if anything at all. If they say no simultaneous submissions, that means they want to be the only publication you send your story to until they give you a definitive yes or a no; then you can move on to submitting to other publications. The reason why publications do this is because it takes a lot of time for a story to make it through the editorial ladder: five, ten, or a dozen people or more could end up reading your story, arguing passionately for it with their coworkers, fighting for it during meetings, and finally getting it through the slush pile and onto the final desk it needs to be on to be published in their prestigious magazine. They don't want to call you with the good news and find out that, oops, sorry, the story's actually been taken by someone else in the meantime! That's a lot of time and manpower wasted when it could have been spent on a story that will actually be published by them, so for the publications that specify no simultaneous submissions, they really mean it. In theory, no one will probably find out if you do it anyway, but if/when you do happen to get caught, it's extremely awkward and can be damaging for your reputation when it comes to publishing in the future. You certainly will be blacklisted at that particular publication, and it's just considered bad practice throughout the industry, so I'd advise against it.

Depending on how your list is ordered, you can either choose to wait for that one top publication to get back to you (if they don't allow simultaneous submissions), or you can just pick out all the ones that do allow simultaneous submissions and send out your story to those first. This second option usually saves time, so it just depends on how strongly you feel about each individual publication! If you really have your heart set on a top-tier publication that doesn't accept simultaneous submissions, you should do that one first before working your way down the list; or if you'd be happy to see your story anywhere and don't have a strong preference, focus on the simultaneous submissions first!

Edit your story one last time. Make sure it's pristine!

Tweak or customize your cover letter accordingly for each publication. Usually this just involves changing the names and addresses, but if you're particularly familiar with any pub in particular, drop a line about a story from a previous edition or an editor whose work you really enjoyed.

Send your work out with its cover letter and wait for a response!

Rinse and repeat until you get a yes!

That's the rough process of how getting short stories published goes. As for advice for unpublished or new writers, I'd say:

You really can publish your book

If you keep putting off writing a book because it seems too complicated, I have news for you: it’s simpler than you think – and you already have what it takes to publish your book. Yes, writing a book has several stages and it does look complicated and it can be long (though not always), but if you take it one step at a time, make the most of your experience and call on your natural abilities, it…

During the course of the next few months I will be analysing the content and layout of the four publications I have chosen to create content for. However I will also be looking at other spaces for ideas and stories seeing if they would relate to the four spaces I have chosen, because I feel that it is important to always take into account great ideas, content and layouts from different publications as well as the four I have chosen because  I feel that they can still spark ideas that would also work for my chosen four spaces and for suture reference. 

SPACE ONE: 

The first publication space I have chosen is ‘ Cornwall Today’. The reason I have chosen this space is because it offers a wide range of content that is based around Cornwall. The publication publishes content from artists, the tourist industry, craftsmanship, food, businesses and local landmarks. There is a lot of opportunity for content, personally I am interested in small buisnesses and their journey to success and the people who started them up. I am passionate about peoples stories, and their journeys in their craft whether that is food or physically building something from their own ideas. In Cornwall there are a lot of small businesses with great ideas, I would love to document what they have achieved so far and their plans for the future which I believe would fit into this space and publication well. 

SPACE TWO:

The second publication I have chosen is called the ‘Smith Journal’ an Australian magazine. I first found this publication looking through the stacks of publications in WHSmiths, the cover page stood out for me which made me pick it up to investigate further into its content. The content of this magazine focuses on different types of unusual crafts and inventors. Their is wide range of content that could be displayed around their theme of inventors, I personally love learning about what people do, who they are, how they make their work and new concepts that perhaps have not been introduced into society. The publication is light hearted and fun it displays similar ideas as HUCK magazine but is not political, it is much more of a light easy, fun read. 

SPACE THREE:

My third space is going to the Observer magazine. Although this is a large publication, it is the content which I am always interested in reading in this publication. Personally I am passionate about politics and how they effect peoples lives, positive or negative. There are are current issues such as the cuts in the NHS that I feel extremely passionate about and would like to try and create a story around the effects of this on the people. Although the Observer offers a range of content, from culture, food, celebrities, reviews it also has sections called cover story, news, world news, and in focus sections. These sections especially the ‘cover story’ section which allows me to find a story about a political issue or current issue about our countries economy, health, and current affairs that are effecting the people. The NHS is a current issue I would be really interested in finding a story around, perhaps about someone who has worked there or has been effected by the current cuts that have been made and how privatising heath care would become a huge problem for those who cannot afford it. 

SPACE FOUR:

The forth space that I am going to create a content for is going to be ‘wavelength’. The reason I have chosen this publication is because surfing is a large part of my life and something I am incredibly passionate about. I am extremely aware that surf photography is repetitive and it is harder to create something unique that publications will publish. However there are story around surfing that wavelength looks at. For example they also create content around wetsuit makers, board makers, designers, food, brands, surfers who have been through injuries, how to get fit, travel and trips. There is a very broad range of content that I can create for this space. Because surfing is a large part of my life I am able to talk about it passionately and confidently which helps when it comes to pitching ideas to publications and writing about them as well as photographing them in the right style for the publication.