How to Submit to Literary Magazines

DON'T LET YOUR STORIES LANGUISH! HOW TO SUBMIT TO LITERARY MAGAZINES

A LECTURE BY DORETTA LAU

• Why you should submit to literary magazines

• How to submit, broken down into simple steps

• As an undergraduate, I edited a literary magazine at The University of British Columbia called Uprooted. We published short fiction and poetry.

• I was a first reader for PRISM International at UBC.

• After graduate school I was an editorial assistant for a journal called NOON, which is edited by the American writer Diane Williams and showcases short fiction, essays, and art.

• I worked as a production editor for the children's book publisher Scholastic Inc.

• I currently work as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader.

• 2008: "Left and Leaving", Zen Monster

• 2009: "O, Woe is Me", Grain Magazine

• 2010: "Two-Part Invention", Grain Magazine

• 2012: "How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?", Event

• 2013: "Rerun", Grain Magazine

• 2013: "Sad Ghosts", A Fictional Residency

• 2013: "Days of Being Wild", Ricepaper

• 2014: "Robot by the River", Day One

• Your story deserves an audience beyond your family, friends, and classmates. Some book editors and agents read literary magazines to search for new writing talent.

• Working with an editor on a story is an opportunity to learn more about the writing process and become a better writer.

• In order to qualify to apply for a Canada Council Grant for Professional Writers, you need to have a minimum of 4 publications in eligible literary magazines or anthologies.

HTTP://CANADACOUNCIL.CA/COUNCIL/ GRANTS/FIND-A-GRANT/GRANTS/GRANTS-FOR- PROFESSIONAL-WRITERS-CREATIVE-WRITING

• The anthology is comprised of stories that were previously published in reputable Canadian journals.

• It will give you an idea of where you should submit.

• You can immerse yourself in contemporary Canadian writing. It's important to know what other writers are doing at the moment and what is being published.

• http://www.writerstrust.com/Awards/Journey-Prize.aspx

• I tried to secure an agent. I failed to sign with one.

• I sent the book to Anansi's slush pile. I never heard back from them.

• I submitted the story "How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?" to contests and literary journals. I amassed many rejections.

• Event, a journal published out of Douglas College, e-mailed me to tell me they wanted to publish "How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?"

• The story appeared in Event.

• Silas White, publisher at the small press Nightwood Editions, read the story in Event and e-mailed me to ask if I had a manuscript ready for consideration.

• I sent my manuscript to Silas. A few months later, he offered me a book deal.

• Preparing the manuscript for submission

• Where to submit?

• The cover letter

work. Do the research. Be a professional.

• Double spacing

• 12 point standard font

• Standard margins

• Plain white paper or PDF

• Consult the magazine's submission guidelines and make sure you follow the specific instructions.

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition (CMS 16)

• The Elements of Style

• Oxford English Dictionary (for Canadian usage)

• Merriam-Webster (for American spelling and usage)

• The definitive guide to style, usage, and manuscript preparation.

• http:// www.chicagomanualofsty le.org/home.html

• An excellent guide if you want to sharpen your writing on the sentence level.

• http://www.oed.com

• http://www.merriam- webster.com

• Though many editors edit manuscripts electronically now, knowledge of these proofreaders' marks is valuable because it informs you of the most common errors that need to be corrected in manuscripts.

• Spell out numbers under one hundred

• Flush left at the beginning of a story

• One space after periods and other punctuation.

One great piece of advice I received early on about how to decide where to submit your work: look at the acknowledgements section of a short story collection that you admire and see where the writer's work was previously published.

• It informs you that a specific literary magazine publishes fiction.

• You have read the story and can decide whether your work shares a similar sensibility. If it does, chances are your story will be read more favourably by the editor of the journal. After all, editors are humans and have their own personal preferences when it comes to fiction.

• Another writer, whose work you like, has done the job of pinpointing that a specific journal is a worthy outlet for publishing a story.

• Geist

• www.joylandmagazine.com

• The Walrus

• The Dalhousie Review

• The New Quarterly

• The Walrus

• Event

• Prairie Fire

• The New Quarterly

• Event

• The Fiddlehead

• Prairie Fire

© DORETTA LAU, 2014 I WROTE A BLOG ENTRY WITH LINKS TO CANADIAN LITERARY MAGAZINE WEBSITES AND THEIR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES HTTP://WWW.DORETTALAU.COM/BLOG/ 2014/3/18/PUBLISHING-RESOURCES-LITEARY- JOURNALS-IN-CANADA

• A simultaneous submission is when you submit your story to more than one literary journal at a time.

• Consult each magazine's submissions guidelines to determine whether this practice is acceptable.

• Keep track of your submissions on a spreadsheet so that if your story is accepted for publication, you can immediately withdraw the story from consideration by sending a polite e-mail.

HTTP:// PRISMMAGAZINE.CA /SUBMIT/

• Some magazines have a designated reading period. Submissions outside of this period do not get read.

• There is often critical information about what an editor is looking for stated clearly in the guidelines. If your story is too long or too short for the magazine's needs, it doesn't matter how good your writing is because it's not the right fit.

• Some literary magazines only accept submissions by mail and conduct their correspondence via snail mail. In such cases, you must include a self-address stamped envelope (SASE). Be sure you use the correct postage.

• For submissions outside of Canada, you will need to supply an International Reply Coupon rather than Canadian stamps.

• Address the editor by name if possible. Check the publication's most recent masthead or website for this information.

• State the title of your work, genre, and word count.

• If you're a fan of the magazine, allude to a recent story you enjoyed reading.

• Include a short biographical note about yourself.

• Remember to include your contact information.

• State your credentials. If you are attending or attended a creative writing program make note of it here.

• List your publications. If you do not have publications, that is okay.

• Mention where you live and work.

• If you're working on a book or big writing project, mention it as well.

• When in doubt, keep the bio brief and professional.

I am an arts and culture journalist who completed an MFA in Writing at Columbia University. My fiction and poetry have appeared in Day One, Event, Grain Magazine, Prairie Fire, PRISM International, Ricepaper, sub-TERRAIN, and Zen Monster. In 2013, I was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust of Canada / McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. My short story collection How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? (Nightwood Editions, 2014), was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award. I split my time between Vancouver and Hong Kong, where I am at work on a novel and a screenplay.

• Note that in its submission guidelines, Ricepaper requests a 50- word biographical note. Therefore, I have condensed my bio to adhere to the set standard.

• Contests are another way of putting your work out there.

• The best part is there is a deadline for submission and a timeline for when you will hear results.

• Many contests held by literary magazines come with a subscription, so you will be able to read the work of other writers in Canada and the rest of the world.

• Writers' Union of Canada holds contests and has a lot of resources for writers emerging and established: http:// www.writersunion.ca

• Writers' Trust of Canada has awards and residencies. Writers under the age of 35 who have not yet published a book should submit to the Bronwen Wallace Award: http:// www.writerstrust.com

• Twitter is a great resource for finding out about opportunities. Start following literary magazines, organisations, and writers.

TWITTER: @DORETTALAU

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