Words for Beginning Writers by Glenda Beall

Persistence plus Patience equals Publication

Some of us send out poems on a regular basis, keeping something in the mail at all times. I know of more than one writer or poet who uses the rule of twelve. Keep twelve submissions out at all times. By doing this you are almost assured that one of them will be accepted.

When you receive a rejection, don’t assume that poem or story is no good. Choose carefully another market and submit your work immediately. Don’t let it spend the night at your house. Send it right away.Whether submitting online or via paper, be sure to include your full name, address, phone number and email address. Make it as easy as possible for the editor to contact you.

If you send a cover letter, make it brief. Most editors are not as impressed with where you have published, but want to be impressed with your writing. Scott Douglas of Main Street Rag doesn’t want any references as to where you have been published. He wants to judge your work, not your references.

Follow guidelines explicitly and know your market’s preferences. Check their website for the latest information such as the name of the present editor. If you don’t know the name of the editor, you aren’t very familiar with the magazine.

Editors cringe when they receive poetry written in elaborate fonts, on colored paper or decorated with butterflies and angels. Some editors are turned off before they read the poetry because the envelope has a return address label bearing photos of cute animals, flowers, and cherubs. Make your envelope and the work inside look professionally prepared. You are dealing with a business and they want to know you are a professional at what you do.

Don’t send anything until you have edited for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Let another pair of trusted eyes read to check for errors. Send three to five poems because the editor wants to see the range of your work. I once sent a poem about a dog to a publication asking for poems about dogs. The problem was, I only had one poem about a dog so I only sent that poem. The editor wrote a nice note on my rejection slip. “I’m sure you must have more poems than this one. Send me more and I will consider your work.”

The hardest part of publishing for beginning writers is the waiting. We submit and two weeks later we expect to hear something. We want to know if it is accepted or if it is not. Just let us know so we can celebrate or send that batch of poems out again. But publishing doesn’t work that way. We must be patient. I found the best way is to continue writing or sending more submissions and forget that you have work out there. It can take months. Most publications will say in the guidelines the approximate time you can expect a reply. However, you can not be sure of that, either. If you wait what you think is a considerate amount of time and hear nothing, then by all means call or write and ask the status of your piece. Above all, be polite when you call. Editors are swamped with submissions these days and the manuscripts pile up. Your getting angry and being rude does nothing to help you and could hurt you in future endeavors not only with this editor but with other editors she knows. They talk.

Even after your work is accepted, it could be up to a year before the work is published. Until you see it on a printed page in a book or magazine, you still cannot be sure it will be published. One of my essays was accepted by a magazine and I worked with the editor to make changes, but my story did not come out in the next issue. Three month later it still had not been published. My essay was kept for a year and it was never published. I received a note with a check for half what I’d been promised telling me the magazine was going in another direction and could not use my work after all.

Anyone can become a published writer at anytime whether in a newsletter, newspaper, online on a blog, or in a self-published book. To be published all you have to do is make your work available to the public. But if your goal is to be published in successful magazines or journals, you must read to find your market. Researching markets is the least favorite thing for most writers. When you find, through the Writers’ Market or other directories, the type of publication that prints your kind of material, you should send only your best work and be sure to follow the guidelines which you can usually find on their website.

No matter how many rejections you receive, don’t give up. Persistence is the key. What one editor rejects, another might find to be the perfect poem or story for his next issue. But he won’t find it if it is lying buried in a drawer in your office. Keep submitting, and be patient. The more rejection slips you receive the closer you are to being accepted. And while you keep your work out there looking for a home, continue to write, write, write.

Glenda Beall is a writer and poet. Her poems and essays can be found in numerous journals and anthologies. Her articles in several newspapers. She also teaches writing and serves as the Program Coordinator for Netwest.