How to submit your writing to literary journals

Over the last three decades or so I have submitted hundreds of pieces of my writing to a variety of publications and competitions. A reasonably healthy percentage of these have been published or performed. My list of writings have included:

  • poems
  • short stories
  • articles
  • plays
  • songs – well, one song!
  • comedy routines
  • picture books
  • novels
  • teaching materials
  • devotional material

Writing published on my blog sites

In addition to the above figures I have self-published over the last 10 years more than 4000 articles combined here on this writing site, and on my other sites, Trevor’s Birding and Trevor’s Travels and on our church website where I am the webmaster.

That’s a heap of words. And I have many, many more waiting to be sent off to various publications, and heaps more ideas for more stories, novels, poems and articles. Finding a balance between creating new writing and submitting one’s writing is always a fine line to walk.

I must admit that I err too much on the side of not sending out my writing to places where it stands a good chance of being published.

In the light of that last statement I find that it is good to come across an article which outlines some basic reminders of what to look for when preparing a manuscript for submission to a magazine or a literary journal. I recently came across an article titled “7 questions to ask yourself before submitting to literary journals.

It is worth taking a look at; while you are gone I think I will prepare a few submissions of my own. After all, I’ve had a list of them ready for a week now.

Good writing. Good submitting.

Trevor

Studio – a journal of christians writing

Studio Journal has been publishing poetry, short stories and book reviews for over 30 years. I’ve been a subscriber for at least 20 of them and thoroughly enjoy reading every story, poem and review. Studio is published quarterly and usually runs to 36 pages (A5 size) packed with literary gemstones.

Because it is essentially a compact journal, competition to be published in it is intense. I’ve only managed to get one story published in this journal, but I should be fair to myself as I really haven’t bombarded the editors with submissions. The submissions do not have to focus on spiritual topics, though some do.  On the web page is says:

Studio is a quarterly journal publishing poetry and prose of literary merit, offering a venue for previously published, new and aspiring writers, and developing a sense of community among christians writing.

I highly recommend this fine journal. More information, including submission guidelines, can be found on the Studio website here.

Good writing.

Catching up on some reading

Over the last week I’ve been catching up with a considerable backlog of reading. I’ve been reading several recent issues of Australian Author, the quarterly journal of the Australian Society of Authors. I’ve subscribed to this magazine for many years now, and find it to be very useful in keeping up with current trends in publishing, news of coming events as well as well as articles about the life of a writer.

The Australian Society of Authors is the major professional association of literary creators here in Australia and has a membership in the thousands. The membership list reads as a who’s who of writing in our country. While I haven’t yet taken out membership of the group I am seriously considering it. You are able to subscribe to  the magazine without being a member. Membership enables one to receive extra information not in the magazine, advice on contracts, access to mentorships, grants and seminars as well as discounts on books.

To check out the website of the society click here.