Hello, I am in the process of writing a short story collection. I'm not finished yet, but I was thinking of the next step already. I heard that it's much better (or maybe even recommended) for unknown writers to submit/publish some of their short stories in magazines or something in the same vein in order to get some recognition. That being said, do you have any suggestions or recommendations on how should I proceed, please? Obviously, the first thing I got to do is to finish all the stories, which I am counting on. The reason I am asking now is to be ahead of the curve, so, whenever I am done with the manuscript, I know what to do next, or at least, have an idea about my next step(s). I have zero experience when it comes to this process (besides writing, of course), so, if you could help me out somehow, please, that'd be lovely. Thank you very much, I appreciate any advice.
Get a subscription to Duotrope. And get a copy of The Pushcart Prize to read a sampling of the different journals and the stories getting the prizes. You've got to read what's out there if you want a chance at this tough biz. Where you publish will matter if you are hoping for some recognition. This is not easy. There are long waits that usually turn out form rejections. You have to expect a real lot of rejection. What you have to do is learn the industry and who the key players are. You'll need to put in some effort and create a plan from there. But it can take years for a story to sell, and sometimes another year until it comes out in the publication. Good luck to you.
Reference to Duotrope is appreciated, deadrats. I wasn't familiar with it and it looks like what I need at this particular moment in my writing life. I've always done things the hard way, and it might be nice to try something different.
Is getting your short story published in a magazine as a new writer still considered a valid strategy or the norm? I don’t have any advice, but I’m curious myself. I know this was true 10+ years ago, but have things changed? Since your working specifically on a short story collection I suppose it could still make some sense, but if you do target specific publications that make sense as a stepping stone to your collection becoming published (either target readers of a publication with connections or clout among the type of publisher you’ll eventually go after).
I'm in the early stages of trying to self publish. I'm curious, if you have a collection of short stories, are you trying to sell each of them as a series (idk if that's the word) to one magazine or are they going to be spread around a variety of magazines? It's just that you're talking about short stories but you're also talking about them being in a book collectively so I am not certain what role a magazine plays in book publication. I know this forum is "traditional publishing" but if your goal is to publish your work and gain recognition, you may have better odds of success by going the self publishing route. I know that has turned out to be true for me.
I would say it still is the norm if you want to be a short story writer. Over the years some literary magazines and journals have closed while others have opened. And, of course, many have survived and are still thriving. Personally, I target the publications that I see as stepping stones and/or look good in a bio. But it's not all about appearances. I read and enjoy the publications that I want to publish in. Familiarity does give you a leg up. I had a story published in a journal about a year ago and was contacted by an agent who read it. I have two friends who were similarly contacted by agents after having short stories published in journals also. So, this does happen. But for something like this to happen, you have to publish in places agents read. I think having short stories published in several well-known publications is probably the easiest way for a writer to get a collection of short stories traditionally published in the future. But make no mistake, nothing about this is easy.
You would try to sell each story separately. Some publications have policies that state they will only publish short stories by a given author once every two or there years. Others don't, but it's unlikely you would sell your whole collection worth of stories to one publication unless you're in the stable at The New Yorker or something. Short stories, for purposes of selling to literary magazines and journals, should be stand alone pieces or at least work as such. Magazines play a critical role in establishing yourself as a short story writer. I really don't see how self publishing compares. You're not likely to catch the attention of an agent or bigger publisher by self publishing some short stories let alone have the built in readership that comes with publishing in well-known and established publications.
Hello, my apologies for the late reply and thank you for advice. If I were to have individual stories published, they would be spread across multiple magazines to gain attention/recognition from various readers. I asked because I'm an amateur writer, so, I assumed that if there was any publisher who'd be interested in taking in my collection, they'd want to have some of them (at least) be published already someplace else, mainly because of (my) name recognition. I'm entirely new when it comes to this process, so, I got no idea how it all works.
Hello, my apologies for the late reply, but could you tell me what magazines have you worked with (the ones where agents read), please? Also, how do I know which magazines are being read by agents? Furthermore, I assume those publications would need some fees in order to get my stories in, if at all.
I'm not going to list my specific publications on the forum, but I think there are many being read by different agents. One way to check out what publications an agent reads is to check out which publications they follow on twitter or things like that. So, you can't buy your way into publishing in these places. The publications are the ones who will be paying you if they accept your work. A lot of places charge a few dollars to submit. The average is $3, but there are also a good number of places that don't charge anything.
