The Writer and The Literary Press: The FRCC Workshop

Objective: Provide a basic
understanding of the writer’s relationship to literary magazines with
a focus on the online journal. Knowing many young writers want to
published, this brief instructional will walk through the process.
Ice breaker: Q: Why write? (A: Short
Stories were made of magazines.) Q: Why publish? (A: Meet other
writers and editors, readership, CV building, money.)
Literary Magazines: online vs print. My
thought: it’s a fickle business. Online has unlimited circulation.
Print? Issue oftentimes remain in boxes in the editor’s basement.
Magazines come and go.
The Nuts and Bolts:
  1. Your manuscript. It had better be
    good. Very good.
      1. For Fiction: 12 pt. Times New
        Roman, double spaced with 1” margins and clean of headers and
        footers.(Clean, Not So Clean, Peacock)
      2. Poetry: keep it clean. Strange
        formatting (spaces, tabs, etc) doesn’t translate.
  2. Market research. Read magazines,
    many-many magazines. Read. Follow. Submit.
      1. submittable.com. A great service
        used by many magazines.
      2. newpages.com. Greatest source
        for magazine listings. Free.
      3. duotrope.com. Another great
        resource for writers, subscription based, about $5/mo
         
        Magazines I like
        because they offer cool features:

        www.everywritersresource.com/ Similar to New Pages but they offer articles
        https://www.redfez.net/
        Everything here is cool
        http://www.theflashfictionpress.org/
        “self-editing advice” “free ebooks”
        http://collateraljournal.com/
        Vets in the room? I love the format and the audience

  3. Unsolicited vs Solicited
    manuscripts
      1. Solicited. Not likely for you.
        Only editors you know are likely to ask.
        1. The query letter.
      2. Unsolicited Manuscripts are the
        norm.
        1. The market research
        2. Following guidelines (Siberian
          Tiger Handler’s Wives)
        3. Your manuscript
        4. The cover letter (brief intro,
          brief synopsis with word count, etc.)
        5. Third person bio. (50 words or
          less)
  4. Housekeeping
      2. Schedules and timelines (how
        long/when)
      3. Stay motivated
      1. The rejection. What should you
        do? Plan on at least ten of these per publication.
      2. The Acceptance
        1. Be gracious and comply
        2. Tell everyone you know.
          1. Promote yourself
          2. The magazine that published
            you
          3. And all the other writers
            therein
        3. Connect with everyone: the
          editors, magazine, writers
          1. LinkedIn
          2. Facebook
          3. Websites
        4. Build your CV
Thank you. Connect with me: my
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