Thursday, September 23, 2010

How to Get Published. Step #1.

1. Write something worth publishing.

There you have it.

I went to a "How to Get Published" presentation this evening, and that was the presenter's first tip.
Quite right too.

The other tips boiled down to:

2. Send it off.
3. Get rejected.
4. Repeat.

I guess I knew that. I'm thinking about doing this but probably won't, not until I finish my Project. But you could!

Here're the resources from the handout: Online Resources for Publishing Short Works: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays

Duotrope's Digest: an award-winning, free writers' resource listing over 3075 current Fiction and Poetry publications.
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
Lit Mag Central
Newpages

Contests and Calls for Submissions
Poets and Writers Magazine
Publisher's Weekly

And... how to write a great query letter to an agent (this is a download):

Query Letters

5 comments:

Marz said...

In theory, it's very simple.
Like sawing off your own arm, say.

1. Get into a situation in which it would be beneficial or necessary to saw off your arm.

2. Put the saw to your arm.

3. Apply back-and-forth pressure.

4. Continue.

First step's always the trickiest.

(I'd rather write, though.)

Frex said...

That's about what I thought too, Margaret

How to Be a Starship Captain

1. Be the sort of person who becomes a starship captain.

2. Become one.

3. Be one. Be a good one.

momo said...

file under "Captain Obvious"?

But I would say you have already done step 1 (have something worth publishing) and the next step is "send it off" and accept the fact steps 3 and 4 are also part of the process.
(says she who has stopped writing)

Emma J said...

Oh, these make me laugh! (That hooting sound you were hearing - me, laughing)

And to come as I despond in the swamp of Why Keep Trying to Write - wonderful!

Now, back to trying to be the kind of person who writes . . .

Fresca said...

MOMO: Thanks! Yeah, I hope to do step 2 (mail if off) by my 50th birthday in March. Even just once.

EMMA: Anything (almost) that makes us laugh is good! And in the laughter department, hooting is supreme.