|
|
|
|
Once you've found a literary magazine that seems to be a "home" for your work, find out what their guidelines are. All guidelines are not created equal. Follow these guidelines. While it may be tempting, especially as so many places are accepting electronic submissions, do not simultaneously submit. When you, as a potential contributor, have to write the editors asking them to withdraw a piece from consideration, your name may be remembered the next time you submit to that magazine, and it won't be remembered with warmth and affection. Cover letters are a good idea, even if you haven't been published before, but refrain from giving a synopsis of your short story, referring to what poet has influenced you the most, or sharing the names of your pets. Allow the work to stand for itself. Buy manila envelopes in bulk; get to know your postal workers; always have at least one piece "out there." Take heart if you receive a rejection letter with a hand-written note. At least your work stopped the editors long enough to warrant the time it takes to scrawl something, rather than just stuff your SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope-don't forget it). Stories of the multiply-rejected Great Gatsby and The Stranger are true; send it out; send it out; send it out. Kathleen Volk Miller
|