A New Tool for Submitting Your Work

For all you writers out there submitting short stories, non-fiction, flash fiction, or poetry to literary magazines, I thought I’d share a new tool I found. It’s a (relatively) new feature on Submittable, and it’s called “Discover.”

What's Submittable?

If you submit your work a lot, you almost certainly already have a Submittable (formerly Submishmash) account. Skip to the next paragraph. For those of you who don’t know about Submittable, it’s a submission platform that many literary magazines use nowadays. On their website they’ll link to their Submittable page, and if you’re already logged in, you just need to fill in some basic information, paste in a cover letter if required, and upload your document. It also gives you a handy dashboard of all your submissions, the dates, results, etc. Accounts are free and some magazines will only accept submissions this way.

The New Tool:

The new Discover feature lists magazines that use Submittable and have open calls for submissions.  The listings don’t have quite enough information for my tastes. For example, they don’t break it down into paying and non-paying markets. You can’t filter by type of submission or other important factors, such “for locals only” restrictions or calls for the visual arts. It also includes opportunities such as writer's residencies. There are quite a few markets that charge reading fees or contest entry fees. So it’s a bit laborious. 

Why it's Cool:

Despite its limitations, the key is that these markets are all currently OPEN, and the listings clearly indicate when they close. Since temporarily closed markets are one of the big obstacles I run into when submitting my work, I think this is useful.

Check it out and see if you like it:

https://manager.submittable.com/login

Here's a little screen shot of calls closing today:

Melinda Brasher's fiction appears in Nous,  Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and other magazines  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  

Her newest book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; a Cruise and Port Guide helps budget travelers plan a trip to majestic Alaska.  Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

How to Write Anniversary Articles

photograph by Michael Gwyther-Jones  on Flickr under CC licence

Here in England. people everywhere are 
preparing for next weekend's celebrations of 
the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.


For weeks, newspapers and magazines have 
been full of articles on everything from The 
Day I Met the Queen to How to Make Royal 
Icing.


Special days and celebrations are ideal 
subjects for the jobbing writer looking for 
publication online, in newspapers or 
magazines.


Well-targeted anniversary articles are 
excellent too for the short 150 word fillers vital for 
plugging those small page gaps. Fillers are 
always needed and  a good way for new 
writers to break into publication in magazines.


How to Check Out Anniversaries


To check out anniversaries for a 
particular day use Wikipedia with care, 
use a search engine or try newspaper and radio 
websites. Your library may have a copy of 
Chase's Calendar of Events.


The New YorkTimes has an on-this-day feature
And Ottowa Researchers provide a similar service for Canadian birthdays and events. 


What Happened Today?


 In 1819, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom was 
born  and  Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish astronomer died on this day in 1643.


In 1930, pioneering pilot Amy Johnson became 
the first woman to fly from England to Australia while in 1962  American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbited the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.


It would have made an ideal article for this 
year being a fiftieth anniversary--editors love 
round dates.


They also like quirky and unusual articles. Everyone will be targeting articles on the main stories. But for a writing magazine, you'd be better tackling today as the first publication date of Mary Had a Little Lamb.


How to Find Submission Dates


Obviously check for submission guidelines or request them by email. Remember that many magazines are working as far as six months or more ahead. In other words you might need to submit Christmas dates in May.


And how do you know what the magazine is planning if it's not in the guidelines? Check out the media kit or advertising calendar. It lists the year's planned covers and main focus for each month--useful if the magazine is one which is not visibly open to submissions. Here's an example from the New Hampshire magazine and another from Eating Well.


Footnote
May is also Revise Your Work Schedule month (oh dear, I should be doing that) and if you're looking for a recipe for Royal Icing, here's one from the BBC.




 Anne Duguid is a senior content editor with MuseItUp Publishing and   her New Year's Resolution is to blog with helpful writing,editing and publishing tips at Slow and Steady Writers far more regularly than she managed in 2011.