Don’t believe everything you read. You know, when I started sending out short stories for publication over a decade ago, I checked Poet & Writer for the best fiction publishing venues to get noticed. I got rejections from all of them and now I’m noticing the ones that’ve disappeared.
Literary agents, they said, paid attention to places like Glitter Train and Tin House. The former closed and the latter now only accepts submissions from agents. So it is in the fiction publishing market. It’s best to find an editor who likes your work and stick with her.
I have this spreadsheet. It lists every submission I’ve ever made. It’s really handy because sometimes you forget even the rejection letters. I look through it when I have a few days off work, to remind me of where I’ve been.
Maybe it’s happened to you. You find the perfect mag on Duotrope and you craft your story just for them. Follow their specs, get a sense of what they like. Writing doesn’t happen overnight. They click submit only to find they’ve folded.
I’ve had a story rejected by half-a-dozen presses (I try to avoid simultaneous submissions) only to have the seventh rave about it. “Loved it!” It’s all so subjective. That’s what makes writing such a struggle—it’s not the writing itself.
Ursula K. Le Guin, in a post script to her book of poems, Late in the Day, summarizes the problem. The only focus of most publishers is money. Truly creative work often goes unpublished and unread. Consigned to obscurity. Even a writer the stature of Le Guin published this book with PM Press, not one of the big five.
Those of us who live within creativity have to find our own way in the world. Mainstream publishers and agents will tend to avoid us unless we smell like money. It’s best not to believe everything you read.
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