Anyway, here’s the door to knock on, and here’s the secret code. I genuinely truly hate writing about writing, but this is strictly business. That, I can do.

This guide makes the following assumptions:

A) You’re writing short fiction. (“Short” meaning 0-17,500 words, though this method might work for novellas and poetry too.)

B) You will make your story awesome before you send it, in whatever way you usually do. Ain’t my place to say how.

C) You only want to send submissions electronically.

D) You will slavishly follow all market-specific guidelines in preference to these.

I also did my best to refrain from offering tips, but I’m not made of stone. An advanced course might include other market listings (Ralan), how to send print subs (ugh), how to choose places to submit to (and what to avoid), when and how to send a status query, when and how to withdraw, blah blah, but if you’re reading this with any interest, you don’t really need any of that. YET.

THE TOTAL BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SUBMITTING SHORT FICTION FOR PUBLICATION

1. Write a story and find a market.

You can do this in either order.

1a: Write first

-Write a story. Make note of its genre and word count.
-Go to the Duotrope search. Search for markets that will consider a story of that genre and length.

I suggest limiting the search to semi-pro payment and up, markets that accept electronic submissions, excluding markets that are temporarily closed, excluding fee-based markets, and sorting by pay.

“Pro pay” is 5 cents per word or higher; “Semi-Pro Pay” is 1 cent per word up to 5 cents per word, and “Token Pay” is less than one cent per word. “None” is what it says on the tin, though there might be royalties and/or contributor copies, and it may or may not be a good target.

-Choose the first market you plan to submit the story to.

I like to start with high pay and fast response time.

At this point, I also usually choose the next few places to send it.

-Read the submission guidelines.

1b: Find the market first

-Go to the Duotrope calendar.

I suggest limiting the search to semi-pro payment and up, excluding unthemed deadlines, and excluding deadlines with associated fees.

-Scan the upcoming deadlines and choose one.
-Read the submission guidelines.
-Write a story that meets the guidelines.

2. Format the story.

-The guidelines of the market you’ve chosen will usually include the format they want. If there’s little to no mention of format, use standard manuscript format. Specific guidelines always trump the standard.

If the market requests the story be typed in the body of an email rather than as an attachment, standard email manuscript format is slightly different.

3. Write a cover letter.

-Cover letters should include your name, pen name, address, email address, story title, and word count rounded to the nearest hundred.

You may include pub credits if you have them; be sure they are relevant. Having no prior publications is TOTALLY OKAY. Don’t apologize for it. Just leave out that line.

Biographical information is not necessary unless requested or highly relevant (writing Westerns while being an actual cowboy) and is often seen as a red flag for new writers, as the quality of your story cannot be gauged by the age at which you started writing, your hometown, or your number of cats.

I don’t usually use a salutation because between slush readers, assistant editors, and co-editors, you never know who’ll be reading. Some disagree. Can we get some discussion going in the comments?

Sample cover letter:

Please consider the attached story, Title, at about XXXX words. My work has appeared in [pub creds].

Best regards,

Name

Street Address 1
Street Address 2
email@address.com

(Okay, I can’t help myself: time for a tip. If you don’t have a professional-looking email address–that is, one that shows nothing but your actual name–get one now. I don’t recommend using your day job account. I love Gmail. You can’t go wrong with firstnamelastname@boringdomain.com. And be sure it displays your real, full name to recipients, not initials or nicknames or a blank.)

(Or pen name, I guess.)

4. Do whatever the guidelines say.

-Other things the guidelines for your market might request include: an author bio, story genre, phone number, PayPal address, synopsis, secret passwords, specific salutations.

Often markets have an additional “Stories we do/don’t want” section. Read that too.

-Be 100% sure that your story meets their requirements for both content and formatting. (But don’t self-reject.)
-If the market uses a submissions manager (such as Submishmash or HeyPublisher) or a submissions form, read and follow the directions for uploading your piece.
-”Simultaneous submissions” means the same story sent to more than one market at the same time. “Multiple submissions” means more than one story sent to the same market at the same time. Most markets do not allow either. If they do and you choose to take advantage of it, be very vigilant with your records.

5. Send the submission.

-Most markets specify an email subject line. If they do not, “Submission – [Title of Piece]” should be fine.
-This is the stage where derping happens, so it’s worth it to double-check everything, including the story and the guidelines, at this point. Make sure you included:

Subject line
Email address in the “To:” line
Full cover letter
Attached (or in-line) story
Whatever else they asked for

6. Record the submission.

-Immediately write down the name of the piece, the name of the market, and the date it was sent. Leave space to record the date you hear back and the response.

I use Excel and Notepad. Duotrope has a tracker; so does Kaolin Fire.

7. Go to Step 1.

There is also a hidden next step, 8a and 8b, which are BE REJECTED and GET ACCEPTED respectively, but you will find out soon enough. Oh, you will find out! I guess now I should warn you that you will be doing 8a A WHOLE LOT MORE than 8b, and that doesn’t (necessarily) mean you suck; it helps to build rejection into your plans in step one by always knowing where to send things next. It keeps your hand in the pot and your eyes on the prize and your bound body in the trunk of some editor’s Buick. I should also warn you that any one story can sit at a market for completely non-nefarious reasons for upwards of a year, so it’s to your benefit to keep writing new ones.

A NOTE ON THEFT: Some people balk at sending their material out for fear that it’ll be ripped off. With rare notable exceptions, this is not a thing that happens. An editor who likes your work has far more to gain by straight-up buying it. Registering your copyright is generally seen as not worth the cost. Submit, and fear not.

All clear? Not clear? Anything absolutely essential that I’ve missed?

Here’s your prompt! This image is called “The Octopus World” by the excellent Heri Irawan.

Feel free to use any aspect of the prompt in any way. Have fun, and be sure to check in at 10 pm EST!

ETA: TIME! I got a 750-word piece about mermaids. How’d you do?

Speaking of dying lonely and embarrassed, every one of my tomato plants has gone on to the great tomato patch in the sky, where the sun is warm and there are no aphids anywhere, not even one. The rest of my plants still have to deal with the darkness of this sinful earth. I showered the aphids off the jalapenos, so hopefully they’ll keep producing delicious delicious peppers, and I trimmed the strawberry back to its freshest, darkest green leaves. It’s never looked so good. In Lime Tree Country, they are celebrating The Feast of Drop All My Leaves and Freak Out Amanda, which I celebrate in the orthodox tradition, Forty Days of Go Ahead and See If I Care. I do need to de-aphid that one too, though. And pick its limes. I was serious when I said I was determined not to let them rot on the branch, but equally serious about having no idea when to pick them. They’re golf balls now. I guess that’s almost ripe? How am I supposed to know when they’re ripe when the final fruit is also supposed to be green? It’s like a caterpillar going into a cocoon and coming out another caterpillar.

I bought three new rescue plants: two decorative peppers and a pot of tiny roses, all of which I immediately repotted and fed and watered and sang to and knitted tiny sweaters for. I’m hoping they do all right despite the fact that it’s already pretty much winter. I’ve got them far, far away from the aphids.

My story went up at Redstone, along with one by David Tallerman, hooray, and I made a major sale that I’m holding close to the chest until the contract comes through, which is being held off until the line edits are done, so in the meantime I am quietly Snoopy dancing over here and cannot tell anyone why. I will report with more details when I am able. Honestly, I may never stop with the details, once they get started.

I continue to move toward my goal of watching every horror movie on Earth; recent acquisitions include Village of the Damned (1995), The Shrine, Insidious, Scary Movie, Ghost Story, The Thing, Paranormal Activity, Cronos, Trollhunter, Gothika, and Lake Mungo. Also another six or so forgettable slashers not worth mentioning. If you have any opinions on any of those you’re achin’ to get out, just let me know. I have things to say about all of them, but don’t want to bore anyone with a long checklist-litany. That’s what I have plants for.

The limes aren’t ripe yet. (Probably?) Ancient begonia clings to life. Last year’s Christmas tree is alive enough to be this year’s Christmas tree. Cool! I found aphids on the jalapeno plants. UNCOOL.

Since my last blog post, I’ve sold stories to two anthologies and Redstone Science Fiction, and had poems go up in Enchanted Conversation and Candle in the Attic Window. My flash piece In Memoriam also went up on Daily Science Fiction. (Links an’ at on my bibliography.) I like this autumn. It’s exciting.

I will be participating in NaNoWriMo 2011, in my own cheaty way, because I’m addicted to the forums and always meet fantastic people during the November sprint. I’ll also be tweeting heavily–not word counts and encouragement, because the whole world already has that covered, but USEFUL stuff, like “Never have your character rescued by an outside force when you could have them escape on a dinosaur” and “If you must include exposition, always try to have it delivered by a talking skeleton.” I’m helpful like that.

Anyone else doing NaNo, fielding good publishing news, or going through the agony of the harvest?

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust (classic)
- 12-20 small-to-medium tomatoes or 20-24 cherry tomatoes

- 2 T olive oil
- 2 T apple cider vinegar

- 2 T sugar
- 1 T coarse-ground salt
- 1 t black pepper
- 2 t garlic powder

- 1/3 t olive oil
- 1 c fresh chopped basil
- 1 c fresh mozzarella cheese

Cut the tomatoes in half and lay them cut-side up on a baking sheet. If using small-to-medium size, scoop out most of the pulp; if using cherry tomatoes, leave it there. Mix the olive oil and vinegar and drizzle over the tomatoes. Combine the dry ingredients and sprinkle it over the tomatoes, reserving about 1 t. Roast the tomatoes in a 450 F oven for 15-20 minutes or until just before the skins begin to blacken. Remove from oven.

Reduce the oven temperature to 425. Spray a baking sheet with oil and sprinkle corn meal; then unroll the pizza dough. Roll up the sides slightly to form a crust. Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle the rest of the spice mixture on the edges of the crust. Using a fork, slide the tomatoes off their baking sheet and arrange on the dough. Cover evenly with basil and top with cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes or until crust is crispy and cheese begins to brown. Eat, and eat, and eat.