...... their manuscripts, and they mean it. So watch your grammar! Correct your spelling and punctuation! Mistakes in these areas continue to be big turnoffs. It's tempting to get lazy when all you have to do is paste your work in the body of an email. Just remember who's on the receiving end.
Another turnoff'the major turnoff, in fact'are submissions that don't fall within guidelines. When a publication states 'no poetry' they mean it. And when they state 'up to 3,000 words' don't send them a 4,000-word story you're sure will knock their socks off. It won't.
You'll notice that some of these markets pay but most of them'usually the literary zines'don't. Yet they ask for your best work. Why submit to them' Several reasons: For the editors, this is a labor of love. Most frequently they have degrees in English and/or experience in traditional publishing. They love to read; moreover, their greatest desire is to make their own contribution to Literature. If you're good, one of their life's thrills will be to have discovered you. Also, ezines are growing in prestige, and the best of them are being read by agents and major publishers. Check out the contributors' bios in some of the zines here. You'll see novelists, columnists, professors. When they place a story in a webzine their colleagues and agents will read it and probably take a look at the other pieces too.
A Publishing Genius Finds Niche! Edward Stratemeyer was a publishing genius. Born in Elizabeth, NJ, he began writing juvenile fiction shortly after he graduated from high school. He wrote using many .....
But more importantly, placement in online zines is the best way to build up your list of credits quickly. You don't have to be a careerist to understand that writing is a career, too, as well as a vocation and a passion. The more you place, the more you're seen. And the more your work is accepted, the likelier you are to be regarded as a serious writer to bank on by higher tiers in the publishing world.
And remember why you write in the first place. To express, to communicate'to be READ.
How Not To Get Published HOW NOT TO GET PUBLISHED Copyright 2001, Michael LaRocca http://free_reads.tripod.com
(This article may be freely published with author's information intact .....
About the Author
You can find the author at her virtual home, http://www.cantarachristopher.com, where she publishes and edits the literary ezines Novelists Abroad, Postmodern Lives, and CityFables.
