Ask Andrew Saxsma discussion

I'll leave it up to YOU. YOU fill in the blank :)

Have you ever submitted a short story to a magazine?

Hey Karen,

Great Question! Yes, I have, many, many, many magazines! haha. Too many to count, in fact. I have a love/hate relationship with magazine submissions, in that I LOVE to HATE it. As an Associate Editor for a horror magazine, I think that the submission process can be scary for many new authors, and most submission guidelines can be a bit daunting at first. With everything, though, you get the hang of it after a while. What I've found though, is you really need to do your research on what markets your stories would work with, and that means looking at preview issues, maybe even spending a $1.00 to check out a potential magazine you're interested in submitting to. Not only does this help you find a right fit for your story, but that little bit of extra research you did, YOU DEFINITELY need to mention it in your query or submission. I GUARANTEE you, that automatically puts you above at least HALF of the submissions. I can't tell you how many stories I read where I think to myself, 'why did this person think we'd like this story?' Because, a lot of times, and I'd like to emphasize A LOT, people don't pay attention to what the magazine is even looking for story-wise. And, really, that just reflects on you as an author. So, take your time, do your homework. It will pay off.

Andrew S.

Good morning Andrew
I write mainly romance and have been doing quite a bit of research, but one thing I have found is that many magazines state, No Genre Fiction, in their submission guidelines. Which intrigued me to research a little more. Some days I do more research than actual writing. Yikes, but I don't find the submission process daunting, I look at it as a challenge to overcome. Thanks for the advice.

Karen

Karen,

My pleasure, and I completely agree with you. Somedays I find myself doing more research than writing. But, I like to think of it as another aspect of the job. It's just something else we have to do to get where we wanna' go.

Andrew S.

Andrew, how does one go about offering their research abilities to a writer, who wants to focus more on the creative aspect, over research?