When I first started submitting to literary magazines, I had no idea what I was doing. I did my best to figure it out on my own, but I know I made a lot of mistakes. While I am by no means an expert now, I have learned a lot over the last few years, and I would like to share what I’ve learned with you to help make submitting easier. I’ve broken down my advice into categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for.
Formatting
1. Follow the specific guidelines for each magazine. Scour the submission page of every magazine you submit to. If they list specific guidelines, follow them, even if it takes a lot of extra work. Some editors won’t even look at your story if you don’t take the time to format it correctly.
2. Don’t ever use the tab key. Online publishers say that tabs wreak havoc with formatting on their end. If you need to indent, use the Paragraph-indent settings in your word processor to set an automatic first line indent. If you start out this way, you won’t have to go back and fix it later, which can be a real pain.
3. Insert a page break to start a new page. For many people this might be obvious, but when I first started submitting, I didn’t know page breaks existed. Instead, I repeatedly hit the Enter key to get to the next page. Not only does this make formatting difficult for editors, it also makes it difficult for you to go back and edit your story without completely messing up where new pages begin.
4. Standard Manuscript Format. While many magazines have specific guidelines, others just want you to follow “standard manuscript format.” It’s usually a good idea to format your manuscript this way to start out, then go back and make changes if a magazine wants something different. To see a sample paper that explains this format, click here.
5. Don’t hit Enter twice to double space between paragraphs. Even though Standard Manuscript Format advises you to double space your story, some online publications want you to single space it with an extra space between paragraphs. This can be done easily by using the Paragraph-Spacing settings in your word processor. Doing it that way makes it easier to change the formatting later if a different magazine wants it double-spaced. If you hit Enter twice each time, you will have to go back and delete every single extra line you added, which can be time-consuming.
6. Pay attention to file types. Most magazines list what types of files they accept and auto-reject any submissions that are not in the correct format. Some common formats you’ll see are .doc, .docx, .pdf, and .rtf. It only takes a minute to save a file in a different format, and it can make a world of difference.
What to Write
1. Shorter is better. Since magazines have a limited amount of space, many of them do not accept longer stories. This means that you will have a lot more options for submitting a story that is 2000-5000 words than you will a longer one. Even if a magazine says they accept stories between 2000 and 10,000 words, you probably have a better chance of getting published if you are closer to the lower limit than the upper one. Now, that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice the quality of your story for a shorter word count, but shoot for as few words as possible.
2. Be careful with themed/specific submissions. It can be really fun to write a story in response to a specific call for submissions. However, you should be aware that if your story is too specific, it may be difficult to find other places to submit it if the magazine/anthology that placed the call does not accept it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write themed stories, but I suggest limiting how many you write or doing your best to make sure that they can have wider appeal if they are not accepted.
3. Write stories that you enjoy. It can be very tempting to try to write what magazines are looking for. While that’s okay to a point, you never want to end up writing a story you don’t like for a couple of reasons. First, you never know if a story will end up being accepted for publication or not. With a story you like, you can still be happy you wrote it regardless of that. With a story you don’t, not so much. Second, I believe editors can tell when you are writing about something you enjoy or are passionate about. All of my stories that have been published have fallen into that category.
4. Avoid overused topics and themes. Shortly after Twilight was published, magazines were inundated with paranormal romance stories. As a result, many of them now specifically request that you not submit anything in that genre. The point: if you have an idea for a story that is similar to a popular movie/book series, chances are many other writers have one too. Magazine editors are human. They get tired of reading the same type of story over and over, so if you decide to write that kind of story, it will have to be extremely unique to even have a chance at publication.
5. Read short stories in your genre. If at all possible, find short stories that have been published in the genre you want to write, and read them. If there is a specific magazine where you would like your work to be published, buy a copy, and see what kind of stories they publish. It can help give you an idea of what direction to go in.
That’s the first half of my advice about submitting short stories. To read the rest, check out my post, “The Beginner’s Guide to Short Story Submissions (Part 2).” If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my blog to see more like it. And if you’re submitting short stories, like me, I wish you the best of luck!
