Novels are one thing, short stories another; flash fiction, scripts, comics, poetry, nonfiction essays, genre fiction -- they all have their outlets. There's a new themed call for submissions from an anthology, magazine, small publisher or niche market every day, if you want to go that route.
It's easy to not even know where to start! I spent a couple of weeks this December just kind of spinning my wheels, generating lists of submission deadlines by month, trying to track down dates and whether publications paid or not, organizing existing work into folders that might suit types of publications... Anything I could try to get a handle on the mess and make my life easier when trying to submit writing pieces for publication.
It's easy to not even know where to start! I spent a couple of weeks this December just kind of spinning my wheels, generating lists of submission deadlines by month, trying to track down dates and whether publications paid or not, organizing existing work into folders that might suit types of publications... Anything I could try to get a handle on the mess and make my life easier when trying to submit writing pieces for publication.
Then, a writer friend shared one online resource, I ran across another, and my husband, also a writer, found a third. Combined, these three sites are now managing my writing submissions for me, and all are totally free! (Which is refreshing when you already get targeted by dozens of sites promising to help you succeed as a professional writer -- for a monthly fee, etc. Blah, come on, I just said I'm a writer, I don't have any money.)
So, I will now share this excellent received knowledge with you. Also for free, of course, because a) I'm not an asshole and b) anyway, money is what's wrong with the world IMO.
So, I will now share this excellent received knowledge with you. Also for free, of course, because a) I'm not an asshole and b) anyway, money is what's wrong with the world IMO.
Now, organizing your own work, on your end, is obviously up to you. I keep the aforementioned folders on both my laptop and in Google Drive, but, in a twist of disorganization, they don't contain the same stuff, haha. I guarantee most anyone on the planet can do better than that, but I haven't. Moving on. Once you *do* have that sorted out, here's where the good stuff is:
This is a godsend of a site for aspiring writers. Easy and free to sign up; however, some publications listed on there might ask for either fees to submit or expedited consideration for a fee. That's clearly up to you. I just filter those out with the site's search filters. What Submittable does is offer a place for publications to manage their calls for submissions or ongoing submissions, and create forms for easy submissions.
For writers, it makes things very, very easy by organizing calls by deadline, type, or whatever you're looking for. Search by keyword if you have something really specific and want to find an outlet, or throw the filters wide open and see what all is out there. If you were to just answer requests from publications on Submittable, you'd still have thousands of choices. It's particularly strong with fiction of all lengths (novels, novellas, short stories, flash fiction).
Of course, not every publication is listed on Submittable, and that's where the Submission Grinder comes in. (Let's all agree there are jokes to be made about the name, and refrain from actually making them.)
It's a writer-focused site designed to help you track your submissions, and it does that very well. It's up to you to add your own pieces (not the actual work, but title, length and type of piece are basics) and add information on where and when you submit them. You can see how long it's been since you submitted to a certain publication, how other people have fared with the publication, and how a particular piece has done in terms of rejection or acceptance, among other things.
Its database of publications and editorial response is both deep and broad -- I haven't found any publication I sent anything to yet that was *not* listed on the SG. It's also really interesting to see what percentage of submissions are accepted and what kind of response time to expect from a given publication, which offers a level of accountability from editors listed there.
Finally, the Manuscript Wishlist is a great resource for would-be novelists. As the name suggests, it deals just in novel manuscripts, and is a site where book agents, agencies, publishers and editors list what they are looking for and the genres, types and viewpoints they want to see in their manuscript pile.
If you've got a novel done, like me, and are ready to send it to agents or editors, the MWL is the place to find the right person to read your manuscript. Each agent or editor tells you exactly how they want to see manuscript submissions, so there's no guessing if you've done it right. And there are so many kinds of manuscript requests on the site, there is a place for any novel you've come up with, from YA robots to R-rated horror, and everything else between and around.
So, I hope these resources help out my fellow writers with the daily grind, and lighten the load a bit. I know for me it's pretty nice not to have to spend additional time organizing things when I could just be writing instead!
