10 Tips for Creative Writing Submissions
Your short story is finished. Your poem is polished. Your personal essay has been proofread. Now, you’re ready to submit your creative writing project for publication.
How do you do it? Where do you find the right publication? What materials should you send? Should you use email or snail mail? How long do you wait before following up? And what if your piece is rejected?
For many writers, the submission process is a big drag, because it doesn’t involve writing, and let’s face it, most of us are in it for the creative writing.
But there’s more to being a writer than just writing, especially if you want your work to be read or if you want to make a living as a writer.
Creative Writing and Publication
First you have to wrap up your project. Make sure it’s polished and proofread. Next, you find suitable publications, and then you start sending out your work.
After that, you wait. You might wait a week or you might wait six months. You may have moved on to other projects, but somewhere in the back of your mind you are constantly wondering if they received your submission. You wonder whether they liked it, whether they will accept it, or whether you will have to go back to square one.
If you approach the submission project strategically and professionally, you’ll increase your chances of getting an acceptance and therefore getting published.
Tips for Submitting
- Take some time to get familiar with the various publications in your genre. Send your creative writing to the ones that are a good fit for your work.
- Use the library or visit a local, independent bookstore to get copies of print publications. You can also try college bookstores. Peruse them in the aisles if you wish, but keep in mind that buying copies of these publications helps support them – and other writers.
- You’ll find submission guidelines on most publications’ websites. Otherwise, they’ll be in the publication itself. Review the guidelines carefully as they contain instructions on how to submit your work.
- Follow the guidelines to the letter. Publications that are overwhelmed with submissions will toss out any that stray from the guidelines they’ve set forth.
- In some cases, the guidelines may refer to a style guide. If this is the case, you might need to revise your work so it will be in accordance with the publication’s guidelines.
- Keep your query or submission cover letter succinct and professional. Same goes for a synopsis (if applicable). Don’t try any fancy antics to get the editors’ attention. They see gimmicks all the time.
- Once you’ve issued your submission, sit back and wait. Do not harass or annoy the editors by bombarding them with follow-ups.
- Many submission guidelines include information about how long it should take for you to receive a response. Once that allotment of time has passed, go ahead and send a single follow-up. Ask if they received your submission. Be professional.
- If there is no indication of how long it should take for you to hear back from the publication about your submission, wait about three months before following up.
- If you receive an acceptance, great! If you receive a rejection, accept it graciously and get back to work. Don’t give up! If your rejection includes a critique or any helpful feedback, be grateful (most editors don’t take time to provide feedback unless the see hope in your work) and apply it to your future creative writing projects.
Ready, Set, Submit
Submitting your work is fun and a little bit scary. You hope you’ll get lucky, but luck comes most frequently to those who have prepared for it with hard work.
And creative writing is hard work. We writers have to wear many different hats. We must be artists, grammarians, communicators. We require empathy and an understanding of the human psyche. We have to be publicists and marketing experts. And we have to become pros at submitting our work.
Otherwise it may never land in a reader’s hands.
Do you have any tips to add? Have you submitted any of your creative writing to publications? Were they online or print publications? What was the experience like? Did you get an acceptance? Were you disappointed? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Thank you for the tips. I am a thirteen year old writer, and although that might seem young to most who are reading this it really isn’t. I found my ability to write last year and have added on to my knowledge since. Maybe in a couple years (or more hah) you will be reading my books. Let’s not say maybe though(:
Thirteen is about how old I was when I started writing. Keep at it and don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too young.
Good for you Sarah! I love seeing young passionate writers.
Never too young or too old for anything.
“The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel by Susan Eloise Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she began writing the novel[1], and 16 when it was published.”
Great book and movie, you should check them out.
I started writing at 10 and someday would like to publish my early teenage journals, which I still have in a crate 20 years later! Although, I think they are maybe a bit too naughty for their age range.
ScreenwritingforHollywood´s last blog ..Interview with Screenwriter Boaz Yakin
Great tips! Thanks for sharing them!
Positively Present´s last blog ..happiness doesn’t just happen
You’re quite welcome
Let’s also add the path that you and I have taken: Publish Yourself! Online readers teach you a lot. I think we have found much gratification in publishing ourselves and not waiting around for someone else to notice our genius. *wink*
ScreenwritingforHollywood´s last blog ..Interview with Screenwriter Boaz Yakin
Self-publishing (especially online with a blog) is an ideal way to start building a platform. A lot of writers cringe at the word “platform,” but it’s becoming increasingly necessary for writers to establish an audience and expertise in order to get published (elsewhere) and to successfully market their work. This is especially true for nonfiction; it also applies more and more to works of fiction. Self-publishing is also a great way to get your feet wet and find out how readers respond to your work. I have found it super beneficial in every way imaginable.
However, I’ve been thinking lately about novel writing and it sure seems like if you want to get a novel published (or a collection of poetry or short stories), it helps to have been published in print already. Agents and publishers do look at your writing credits (which should be listed on your cover letter). I’d hate for my letter to be moved to the bottom of the pile simply because I haven’t bothered to get my poems, short stories, and articles published.
So that’s the one drawback to self-publishing. It may prevent you from getting your work out there in other formats. I’m trying to rectify that for my own writing right now
Agree. If you can do both, self-publish and publish in respectable print outlets, then you have a big leg up in the publishing and film-selling world.
The main thing buyers / producers / publishers want to see is that: 1) you can write! and 2) people enjoy and will buy what you write. If you have evidence of those 2 things, you will be in a better position to sell and be published on a larger scale.
ScreenwritingforHollywood´s last blog ..Interview with Screenwriter Boaz Yakin
Honest to God, I bookmarked this and I’m sending every client who asks me how to publish right here. Great post, Melissa! And one that’s necessary to anyone – even the nonwriter authors – who’s thinking of publishing a book.
Lori´s last blog ..But What About How Much You’re Worth?
Thanks Lori! My latest project is sifting through dozens of literary mags to see which ones are a good fit for my work. I wanted to make sure I had a clear outline of the submission process before tackling it
Glad you found it useful!
I think so too!