Writing & Selling Short Stories & Personal Essays
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For an example of the editorial attitude you’ll come across in the world of magazines, please enjoy this inspiring article written by writer/editor Chelsey Clammer. This letter was first published in The Review Review, an online magazine dedicated to helping writers navigate the world of literary magazines. Back when I was an editor at The Review Review, this letter stopped me in my tracks. I still reread it whenever I need a boost.
A MESSAGE FOR WRITERS FROM AN EDITOR: WE LOVE YOU
by Chelsey Clammer
To click is to believe. Believe in yourself. To have confidence that you have a good reason to click. To click is to put yourself out into the world, to make yourself vulnerable to people you don’t know, people whose eyes exist to “evaluate” your work. A performance review of sorts. Or, the unhelpful and self-destructive view on all of this: You’re about to be judged.
Belief in this pessimistic perspective might deter you from clicking.
Best advice I, as an editor, can give to you: Stop those thoughts.
We love you.
Because editors aren’t judging you but critiquing your work. These are two totally different things. You may be the coolest person on Earth, but if your writing isn’t right for us at this time, it doesn’t mean we think you in any way suck. You, my dear, are awesome. We’re cheering you on. Keep going.
But we can’t do or say any of this if you don’t click.
That “submit” button exists for a reason, but it’s purposeless if you don’t engage with it. I implore you to employ it.
Clicking that button is an act of faith because when you submit you’re having some optimism and believing in a number of things, such as:
Your writing won’t embarrass you.
Your writing can reach out to someone else.
You have interesting things to say.
You can trust a stranger to evaluate your skills and passion.
You can trust other people to help your textual, pixelated babies grow.
All of these things are true. So hold on to these beliefs because having an editor judge/evaluate/consider your work doesn’t have to be terrifying nor a catalyst for anxiety. Submitting, in essence, is starting a conversation. You write, someone reads and then responds, and then you continue the dialogue as you write and edit more. Regardless of the outcome, the point to all of this is that someone is reading your work. Hot damn. This is called sharing. And an editor’s response to each submission is full of an act that we call caring.
In fact, there’s some mad respect going on in this situation because you’re going after your passion and that’s awesome. So no matter if publication occurs or not, know that editors will always be cheering you on, will be woot-ing you each time you click.
Put the doubt and anxiety into some metaphorical box, and lock it with some metaphorical key, and throw all that out mentally. Trash all the trash-talking you do to yourself—the I’m not good enough and the no one cares about what I say. Pahshaw. We want to read; we get excited with each new submission. We want to help share people’s words with the world, and so each time a new submission comes in, we’re amazed by how so many people write down stanzas and sentences in order to un-silence experiences.
It’s beautiful.
Now click.
DEFINE YOUR GOALS
Before digging into finding markets, let’s take a few minutes to talk about your writing goals. I know; I know—you’re anxious to match your work to a magazine already, but this is important. Your writing goals will influence your publishing decisions from here on out. Take a few minutes to really think about why you’re submitting your story or essay to magazines. What do you hope to get out of the transaction? Some possibilities might include:
having your work read by someone outside of your critique group
sharing your expertise or experience
making money
attracting the attention of a literary agent
developing a résumé for residency and MFA applications
promoting your new book
seeing your work in print
building your platform
feeling validated for your hard work this year
making a name in the world of literary writers
All of these goals are valid, and all of them will require you to make specific, targeted submission choices. To make the right decisions, you need to have a clear idea of what you want when submitting short work now and what you want in the future. Let’s revisit the goals of our friends Joan, Samantha, and Hershel.
Joan would like to see her essays published in one of the well-known literary magazines that she’s familiar with: The Sun, The Atlantic, and AGNI. She isn’t sure if her work is good enough to be accepted there yet, but she’d like to try. She’s thinking that she’d like to compile her essays into a book someday, so she’d like to gain the kind of publishing credits that publishers and agents respect. Joan is planning to fictionalize one of her stories, too, so she’d like to reach out to fiction markets. She doesn’t have any goals attached to that project, other than to see it published.
Samantha has a completed Madagascar memoir on her desk. She knows that she needs a literary agent to help her get it into the hands of a major publisher. She also knows she must have an organized platform in place before approaching any agents. She’s already been blogging, but she’d like to widen her audience with the essays she’s written. Samantha wants to reach large audiences. She’s interested in seeing her work online and in print—anywhere she can network with other travel writers.
Hershel wants to have at least one of his short stories published in print so that he can give copies of the magazine to a few of his interested friends. His goals right now don’t reach much further than that, but he’s working on a novel that he might want to see published someday. He also might like to keep writing his Tillview stories and create a collection. He isn’t sure.
Think about what you want to accomplish. What do you hope to achieve with a short story or essay byline today? How would that publishing credit help you achieve your goals?
WHO WANTS TO PUBLISH YOUR STUFF?
Many types of magazines acquire short stories and essays, including literary, consumer, genre, and small-circulation magazines. Some newspapers print essays, especially travel and lifestyle essays.
Literary Magazines
Literary magazines showcase the best writing they can acquire. Some are associated with university MFA creative-writing programs, and others are independently published. Some notable literary magazines include Granta, The Paris Review, and Tin House.
Literary magazines publish weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or only one time per year. Many university-based magazines have a short submission window in the fall (September to November, maybe December), while others acquire stories and essays at other times throughout the year. Some accept year-round. There aren’t many literary magazines on the shelf at your local bookstore, but there are thousands of them acquiring submissions.
New literary magazines spring up every year while several others close their doors. It can be difficult to keep track of who is doing well and who isn’t. One of the best ways to find top-tier magazines is to read the most recent anthologies (The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Best American Short Stories, among others) to see which journal originally published each prize-winning author’s work.
Although some well-established journals pay several-hundred dollars for a story or essay, most literary magazines only pay with contributor’s copies or a subscription to their publication. However, being published in literary magazines is also about the experience, exposure, and prestige. Literary agents and book publishers regularly read literary magazines in search of new writers.
Consumer Magazines
Consumer magazines reach a big audience, with thousands or millions of readers picking up each issue. Some examples include Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping, and The New Yorker. Each of t
hese magazines has a specific, targeted readership. They publish a new issue every month of the year and sometimes every week. You can find consumer magazines at bookstores, newsstands, online, and the grocery checkout lane.
Consumer magazines are open to submissions every month. They select submissions according to an editorial calendar (usually available online) listing upcoming themes for each issue. The large circulation of these magazines translates to well-paying markets, but because these magazines are so well-known, the competition for essay and short-fiction bylines is fierce. Even the biggest consumer publications only buy a story or two for each issue. Some of the best opportunities are in the last few pages, where many of these magazines feature a freelance essay that appeals to their specific audience.
Landing a byline in a consumer magazine allows your story or essay to be read by many people. Consumer magazines are a terrific place to find your readership if you’re trying to let people know about a book you already have on the shelf since you can mention the book in your bio at the end of the piece. Although book publishers and literary agents don’t usually hunt for new talent in consumer magazines, they’d be impressed to see that publishing credit on your résumé.
Genre Magazines
Genre magazines showcase today’s best mystery, science-fiction, fantasy, horror, western, and romance stories. Some well-known genre magazines include Asimov’s Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. These magazines publish weekly, monthly, quarterly, or once per year. Submission periods vary from one genre magazine to the next, depending on the production schedule and magazine’s needs.
Many genre magazines are only published online. You can find some in print at bookstores and libraries, but like literary magazines, they don’t usually have large circulations, making them difficult to find locally. Genre magazines have a large reading audience, though—including book publishers and literary agents—making them a terrific place to get a byline if you’re planning a genre novel. Genre magazines are a low-paying to mid-range market, unless you land a byline in one of the larger publications
Small-Circulation Magazines
Small circulation refers to publications where the printed copies available are under ten-thousand. This can include local advertorials and regional, religious, retirement, hobby/craft, history, and some smaller home-and-garden magazines, among others. Some well-known, small-circulation magazines include Sun Valley Magazine, Sasee, and Washingtonian. You can find small-circulation magazines in your doctor’s office, coffee shops, grocery stores, bookstores, record/music stores, artist venues, travel shops, airports, and many other places.
This category of magazines is important because these magazines are especially open to new writers and publish a variety of topics. Much of the content included in these magazines is selected from freelance submissions. This is a terrific place to submit personal essays, travel essays, humor essays and stories, book excerpts, nostalgia pieces, historical pieces, and column ideas.
Submissions are usually accepted year-round at small-circulation magazines. Many work from an editorial calendar, much like consumer magazines. This is sometimes a low-paying market, but small-circulation magazines are a terrific place to gain experience.
Newspapers
Many of the best opportunities for essay writers are in newspapers that have an online, blog-style publication associated with the print edition. The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and others publish travel, lifestyle, political, parenting, and some humor essays. Payment varies among newspapers—from no pay at all to competitive rates. Submission windows are open year-round.
MEET A FEW MAGAZINES
I’d like to present a few magazines and show you what they’re looking for as a way of getting familiar with what you’ll find when you conduct your market search. I’ve purposely selected magazines that pay with money instead of contributor copies or exposure, but magazines that can only afford to pay you in copies or exposure can be equally important to your writing career. No journal is too small when you’re first starting out.
Up-and-coming journals work hard for their writers. They promote work via social media and appreciate it when writers do the same. An underdog today could become the next Tin House.
There are thousands of magazines and newspapers acquiring short stories and essays this week. Somewhere out there is an editor looking for the kind of finished work you have on your desk. Your task is to sift through the long list of magazines available—paying and not—and make a solid match. This is merely a small sampling of the opportunities available to you (please note that all information was accurate at the date of this book’s printing):
BRAIN, CHILD: THE MAGAZINE FOR THINKING MOTHERS: Brain, Child is a consumer magazine that gets 75 percent of its content from writers like you and me. They aren’t the typical parenting magazine but something much more elevated. From the editors: “We are more ‘literary’ than ‘how-to,’ more New Yorker than Parents.” Brain, Child is looking for personal essays about what parenting does for (and to) the body and soul. They’re currently looking for personal essays, humor pieces, and literary fiction between 800-4,000 words long, and they pay competitive rates.
THE SUN: Established in 1974, The Sun is one of the oldest and most respected literary journals still in print. The Sun publishes both essays and short stories, with special attention to political, cultural, and philosophical themes. Submissions may have up to 7,000 words. They pay between $300 and $2,000 for each published work, plus a one-year subscription. This is a highly competitive magazine to land a byline in, but there’s a great break-in opportunity in the monthly “Readers Write” section. Check a recent issue for current and upcoming Readers Write themes.
GREENPRINTS: This magazine showcases the human (not the how-to) side of gardening. From the website: “GreenPrints is the ‘Weeder’s Digest.’ We publish true personal gardening stories and essays: humorous, heartfelt, insightful, and inspiring.” They acquire 90 percent of their content from freelance writers. GreenPrints looks for mostly first-person narratives, but they do accept a small amount of short fiction, too and pay between $50 and $200 per published work.
BEAR DELUXE: Bear Deluxe is a national, independent environmental arts magazine that is 80 percent freelance written. They are seeking personal essays of 750 to 4,000 words that engage readers on vital issues affecting the environment. They are also looking for short fiction in these categories: adventure, historical, horror, humor, mystery, and western. They pay between $25 and $400 per published work.
BOULEVARD: Boulevard is a 100-percent freelance-written literary magazine that publishes essays on any topic (especially slice-of-life) and fiction in these categories: ethnic, experimental, mainstream, and novel excerpts. Submissions may not exceed 8,000 words, and they pay between $50 and $500 per published work.
ELLIPSIS… LITERATURE AND ART: Ellipsis is the literary magazine produced by Westminster College. Like all university-based journals, the taste and style of the magazine can change slightly with each new school year. Check the website for current information about selections. They acquire personal essays, creative nonfiction, and literary fiction all year long. They pay $50 per published work, plus two contributor copies.
HUNGER MOUNTAIN: Hunger Mountain is published by the Vermont College of Fine Arts. They seek traditional and experimental personal essays, rants, and humor, as well as literary short stories. They also have four annual contests. They pay $50 per published work.
AARP THE MAGAZINE: This magazine features items of interest and importance to people over fifty, but you don’t need to be over fifty to write for them. Topics for personal essays vary but might include money, health, travel, relationships, and leisure time. All essays must be under 2,000 words, and they pay $1 per word.
APEX MAGAZINE: Apex is a well-respected monthly magazine featuring dark speculative fiction. They acquire fantasy, horror, and science-fiction stories and pay six cents per word.
ASIMO
V’S SCIENCE FICTION: Asimov’s is one of the best-known science-fiction magazines in the country. If you’d like to be read by book publishers and literary agents, Asimov’s is a great place for a byline. They also accept fantasy and humor stories. Submissions must be between 750 and 1,500 words, and they pay eight to ten cents per word.
WOMAN’S WORLD: This weekly magazine covers pieces of interest to women with a short story in each issue. They acquire romance and mainstream stories of up to 800 words and mysteries of up to 1,000 words, and they pay $1,000 per published work.
THE IOWA REVIEW: This magazine acquires stories and essays for a general readership. They are looking for personal essays and mainstream short stories of any length and pay eight cents per word.
NEW LETTERS: This quarterly magazine from the University of Missouri-Kansas City seeks writing that surprises and inspires. They want personal essays on any subject and fiction in these categories: ethnic, experimental, humor, and mainstream. They pay $30 to $100 per published work.
NINTH LETTER: Ninth Letter is interested in publishing stories and essays that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter. They pay $25 per printed page, plus two contributor copies.
OVERTIME: Overtime is the only magazine I’ve ever seen that is dedicated specifically to working-class literature, a genre that has been a popular category among journals for years. They publish adventure, ethnic, experimental, historical, humor, mainstream, and slice-of-life short stories that are between 5,000 and 12,000 words, and they pay $35 to $50 per published work.