On Getting Published:       By Shane Lee

There are many reasons for getting published—to prove to yourself that you’re capable, to gain experience and improve as a writer, to share your creations and see them in print, or, perhaps, to earn profit.

Writers who support themselves through poetry directly have died out, and those who do it purely through fiction are uncommon, considering the amount of people who write. Still, every day, writers from around the world pick up their pens or keyboards and persevere.

If you need someone else to tell you that you want to write and get published, then you’re either indifferent or in denial. The former we can help through our magazine—maybe, just maybe, you’ll feel inspired after reading it, but the latter can only be solved by beginning that first sentence: “A long, long time ago…”

In any case, after finish writing your story (or poem, or play), publishing it would be the natural next step. There is no small amount of ego involved, but it is natural to be proud. Being published is an achievement—and a difficult one. Besides writing well, though, there are other things you need to know and do before getting published.

Getting published requires a good understanding of the market, especially if you want to earn some sort of monetary reward. To an extent, it’s expected of artists—you have to understand what your own writing is first. To an extent, it’s expected of people with common sense (which incidentally excludes most of the former)—you obviously have to submit pieces to places that publish what you write. And finally, the brutal truth is that you need to write what people want to be truly successful—that, or you have to be obscenely talented.

Regardless of whether you write for yourself, your artistic ideals, or if you choose whatever’s most profitable, you will want to know who publishes what you write. One of the first places you go to may very well be Locution, and that is exactly our aim—to provide writers who love their craft a chance to get published and get started. That said, there are many publisher/magazine listings; good places to start are the Writer’s Market or Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, which are annual publications that list all the publishers, agents, and magazines that accept a wide variety of writing, from fiction to non-fiction. They are available on Amazon.com and other websites, and have multiple versions with different focuses. You might want to search around to find the most appropriate one for you.

Many creative writing guides include a chapter or two on getting published, but a different perspective is given in Stephen King’s autobiography, On Writing. This book is special in that it gives you a good sense of what King had to do in order to get his first novel published— and even that event was, according to him, almost by chance. These anecdotes, along with his witty commentary, can be great a source of inspiration. The sharp bite of rejection notes, for example, constantly reminds him and us that failure and rejection are inevitable and part of the whole process).

There are many more resources for writing available here, but you can do worse than to start with these two. For now, here’s a basic short guide on cover letters.

Many seem frightened at the idea of a cover letter, thinking that it is some sort of CV; in a way, it is, but it is also far simpler. Drawing another analogy, a cover letter could be like a personal statement for a university—it’s all they know about you aside from your grades. Luckily, cover letters are much shorter, and some editors ignore or skim through them anyway. Unlike universities, they have more than the statement and grades to tell your submission’s worth— that is, they can simply read your work. In fact, many believe that a work should speak for itself, and expect a succinct and to-the-point paragraph of what the editor needs to know before reading, which could include as little as the title, length, and submission category.

But a good cover letter can be very important, depending on the editor—especially for longer pieces. With novel length manuscripts or non-fiction articles, it is generally expected for you to send a query asking if the magazine editor or publisher is interested before sending the manuscript. A good cover letter won’t get your submission accepted, but a bad one could get yours rejected before it is even read, or at least give the editor a bad impression.

The kind of cover letter you write will depend on what you are submitting and who you are submitting to, so always check their guidelines, and, if you think it necessary, send a query beforehand.

The most basic of cover letters should simply include: Name, Postal/Email Address, Word Count, and Title of your piece, but different editors want different things, and different writers do it differently. The consensus, however, is that a cover letter with polite greeting, a brief synopsis, explanation, and thanks is the most effective. Additional information usually includes attachments (email or postal), SASE (if postal), whether the submission has been published before, and writing credits (especially important for non-fiction assignments— not terribly important for us creative writers, but helpful nonetheless, as some editors try not to risk new writers). The below is a slightly edited example.

Or, if you prefer a simpler one:

Part of writing the cover letter goes back to the aforementioned point of knowing who you are submitting to. This also includes things such as layout requirements, especially important for non-electronic submissions, although if you are using emails, make sure you know if the magazine wants your submission as an attached file or pasted into body of text. It is also a good idea to find the name of the editor and, if possible, read over sample copies to get a sense of what the magazine publishes before sending out manuscripts blindly. Finally, find out whether they accept simultaneous submissions or published pieces— some do, some don’t, it’s as simple as that.

Some final things you need to take note of: payment and rights.

Payment is straightforward, and as mentioned, one does not have to publish for monetary gain. Magazines that do pay usually do so in three formats: contributor’s copies, a set amount, or a certain amount of money per word, ranging from around 5 cents a word for small magazines to a dollar a word with the larger ones (usually non-fiction—they get all the money, sad but true). For the pay-per-word ones, there are often also upper limits for the cost as smaller magazines simply do not have the resources to buy an entire novella even if it’s good.

Consider that magazines have to make all their money back, and even if they have subsidies, they are generally limited. Now consider this: How many literary magazines do you subscribe to? As such, your payment depends as much on the magazine’s ability to pay you as your piece’s merit, though there is obviously tougher competition with better paying magazines. Ultimately it’s your choice where you submit, but don’t forget it’s not all about money; sometimes simply building up the experience and credit can be worth it. So consider the many options available and don’t forget free magazines like Locution just because of the lack of pay.

Last but not least: rights. Before going into detail, note that having a copyright sign anywhere on your page is a show of ignorance and could easily get your submission scrapped before it is ever read (perhaps an exaggeration, but it will reflect badly on you). The moment your work is put on paper, or saved electronically, it is yours.

When you submit to magazines, what you are selling are the rights to that piece. These are often partial– be sure to check. Usually it includes one-time non-exclusive rights, meaning that they get to publish once, and then the rights revert to you (so you can submit it again, to another magazine or as part of an anthology), electronic rights (for an e-zine like Locution to release an issue and to archive it electronically), and sometimes anthology rights, which means if they want to publish an anthology, they can include your piece.

Be warned, however, that some magazines may ask for exclusive rights, but generally these are larger companies—the really famous magazines that don’t want their articles reposted on their competitors’ issues, since they make so much money from their articles. This is usually not a problem, however, since those magazines tend to pay very well, anyway. As with most things that involve larger sums of money, this usually only matters for non-fiction writers.

Rights and the battle for them between writer and publisher usually only matter with novels, and writers of short prose and poetry shouldn’t be affected by it, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.

These are the main thing to look out for, but don’t forget to check the listed resources, and be prepared for a lot of rejections. Best of luck.