Well, writer’s block can hit you at any time, and it ran me over like a MAC truck this week. This #publishpath entry should have been about reviewing my written cover letter and the problems most people have when sending their short fiction out for the first time. But between a family emergency and dealing with the issues surrounding the quarantine, I find myself still working on that cover letter 30 minutes before my deadline. I’m going to have to leave the house for some essential errands, and I know I’ll be away from my computer all day today. So…
I’m feeling pretty confident right now! I know where I’m sending my work, when I’m sending my work, and I’ve got detailed instructions on how to get the manuscript from Point A to Point B. Now all I have to do is figure out what I’m going to say to each publisher when I query my short story. Wait… what am I going to say to those publishers? Is querying for short fiction more difficult than querying for novels? Or agents? I know how things used to work back in the day, but have they changed in 2020? Well, after…
When you’re querying your short fiction you’re going to get rejected. A lot. Stephen King once famously mounted a railroad spike on his childhood bedroom wall when he started submitting short stories as a teen. Each rejection letter King received got impaled on the spike. After a while, the weight of the paper was so heavy it started to warp the railroad-grade iron. You’re going to have to assume that no one is going to immediately declare your work a masterpiece, and buy it off of you for one million dollars. Which means, even from the start, you’ll need to…
I’m continuing my quest to find a publication that might actually welcome the submission of my 6000 word horror/literary short story. Let’s see how the next batch will hold up. The Iowa Review – https://iowareview.org/ What type of fiction do they normally publish? – No clue, paywallDo they publish authors who write like me? – No clue, paywall. Is there any reason why they might not publish my current story? – Unless you’re submitting for a contest, you can only send in your work in September, October, and November. None of the current prizes are accepting work anytime soon, and don’t…