Advice on How to get Published
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- Make sure you submission is in proper manuscript format.
- Read a few issues of the target magazine to make sure the "feel" of your story fits in with the magazine.
- Mail the manuscript in a 9x12 manila envelope so the pages are sent flat, even if your story is only one page long. Editors like manuscripts
they can hold in one hand.
- Send the manuscript first class and never, ever make the editor sign for receipt of a manuscript. Editors view this as a waste of their
precious time.
- Put clear tape over the metal clasp of the 9x12 manila envelope. Do not use masking tape as this peels off and jams up the mail processing
machines. This is so you don't piss off the post office workers.
- The sole purpose of a cover letter is to establish your professional credentials. In the case of fiction this means what other stories you have
sold. If you haven't sold anything, it's okay to forgo the cover letter. Remember that fiction belongs in the manuscript, not in your cover letter.
- Include a #10 envelope with return postage, your address, and the publisher's return address. The post office is extremely leery of letters
without return addresses these days and editors don't always stamp their return address on the letter.
- I recommend you don't include return postage for the entire manuscript. Put "recyclable manuscript" in the header so the editor knows they can
send a rejection letter. You want to send a fresh copy of your manuscript out each time and editors don't mark up manuscripts.
- Keep a written record of who and when you send your manuscripts to and what the response was.
- The shorter your story is, the better its chances of being published. Editors are always on the lookout for shorter works that they can use to
"fill in the cracks" between the longer stories written by "name" authors.
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