When you’re a writer, the end goal is getting people to read your work, to get it out into the world. We want people to have a reaction to the content we create, and hopefully it will be a positive one. As a senior creative writing major, I’ve had my work seen when I didn’t want it to be seen, critiqued like hell by peers and read publicly at conferences and open mics.
My poems have brought me some success and definitely a lot of stress and embarrassment. As I near the end of my undergrad, I think a lot about how to continue my writing career after my senior project is turned in. One of the most typical ways to get your work out into the public, especially for a young writer, is through literary journals.
Literary journals and magazines are a constantly growing industry. Magazines are born every day in abundance. You can find a journal for every genre out there: poetry, flash fiction, sci-fi and fantasy. Whatever you write, there is probably a journal out there for you.
The publishing world is very small. Reading, subscribing and submitting to journals is one way to participate in the community. Through consuming and publishing in these journals, you become aware of other contemporary writers and they become aware of you. Editors read literary journals as well, to look for new potential writers to represent.
Before getting your work published, it must be chosen by the editorial board. As a managing editor of my college’s literary journal, I handle submissions as they come in, document them and distribute them to the proper boards for consideration. You may not realize it, but how you submit leaves an impression on the staff of the journal. Most journals won’t even look at your work if you did not follow the guidelines properly. I have seen a lot of incorrect submissions over the course of working with my literary journal. Here are some steps on how to properly submit to a literary journal.
1. Follow the journal’s submission guidelines.
This should probably be the only bullet point I need to write because everything you need to know about submitting to any journal is covered in their guidelines. It’s 2016; everyone has a website, a Facebook, an email. Look up the journal you’re submitting to, see what their guidelines are and then follow them to a T. This not only makes things easier for the editors but also shows that you’re easy to work with. Even if they don’t accept your work the first time around, submit again and not only will the improvement of your writing impress them, but also your ability to follow the guidelines.
2. Sign your email.
Maybe because our email addresses often have our name in them, people think that’s enough, but honestly it’s not. Write a proper email. Find out to whom you’re writing, address them in the head of the email and then, when you’re done introducing yourself, sign your full name. Take it one step further and add a personal signature with your phone number and your website/blog if you have one so they know you’re serious.
3. Write a contributor bio you can stand by.
Most journals will ask for a third-person bio right off the bat. This is so they don’t have to chase you for one if they accept your work down the line. Do not exceed their word limit, for they will have to edit it, and it may come out different than how you intended. This bio, like your piece, will be published and cannot be taken back, so make sure what goes in there is a good representation of yourself. It is the only other window into knowing who you are besides your piece. Your name, where you are from, where you work or study, where else you’ve been published, a small fact about yourself and a link to a social media platform is some of the basic information that is given in a contributor’s bio.
4. Use the proper file format.
This goes along with reading the submission guidelines. No matter what you’re submitting, poetry, art, fiction, there is a proper file format to use. For written work, most places will ask for a .doc or .docx. Sending a poem in a PDF file makes it impossible to copy edit your piece before laying out the journal. Most likely, it will be through the platform Submittable, so don’t go emailing your submission straight to the journal's Gmail account. It will most likely be thrown out.
5. Tell us if you’ve been accepted in another journal.
Today most journals are OK with simultaneous submissions. You want to be published and the response time for bigger journals can take over three months, so naturally you will submit to a few places at a time. Once you do get accepted, though, you must let the other journals know that your piece is no longer available for consideration. Having the same piece published in two different journals is a violation of copyright laws and can get you blacklisted from a journal.
You'll face a lot of rejection along the way, but when that first acceptance comes through, it will give you the strength to keep enduring all those rejections. The people on the other end of your submission know that it’s hard to trust strangers with your personal work. Some journals even take the time to write personal rejection letter with critiques to help you improve. I urge you to research literary journals thoroughly before you submit to find the right fit for your work. I hope this article helps you feel prepared to send your work out. Getting published is an amazing feeling and I wish all you writers well in your pursuits!
