How I became a published writer
and how you can too!
Hi all, and welcome back to rumblewrites. As I mentioned previously, these first few posts will be available to everyone as a little taster before I make the move into subscriber-only content, so make sure to sign up if you like what I do!
My journey
A big part of this blog will be dedicated to writing/publishing, so I thought I’d kick things off with an explanation of how I became a published writer. By that, I mean:
a writer: someone who writes, whether that be in a public, paid, voluntary or iPhone Notes app format
published: work that appears in literary magazines, journals or competitions which accept un/solicited flash fiction, short stories, non-fiction, poetry, etc and only take a select percent of submissions
For the purposes of this article, I have excluded self-published work from my definition. While this is no less valid or important, and can certainly build you a large audience, I am specifically talking about the literary fiction world and publishers dedicated to it. Sure, you can share short stories and poems on Substack, personal websites or blogs, but known journals (usually with lower acceptance rates and bigger audiences) tend to carry more prestige in the literary world. They’re a good way of getting yourself known, too: they already have platforms and social media accounts promoting your work, and it’s a great way to build connections to other journals and writers. I’ve also heard it’s helpful for credibility purposes when it comes to pitching a large project to indie / traditional publishing houses. By the way, this is also why I don’t refer to myself as an ‘author’. To me, this means someone who has published a novel, pamphlet, or other collection where they are the sole writer. Maybe one day.
Anyway, now the definitions are out the way, here’s my story:
I’ve always been a writer, and my words were first published in ‘Bone Shakers: A Collection of Ghost Stories’ when I was 10. My mum entered me into an open call for young writers without my knowledge, and I was shocked to learn that my story had been accepted. Unfortunately, this didn’t improve my self-confidence any, and for the next few years I kept my words mostly to myself.
That was until August 2023, when I decided to start submitting my writing to online and in-print literary journals. Well, that’s a lie. I submitted a couple of stories in December 2022 and then took a break to work on my MA degree. But I started taking things seriously in August. Since then, I have had over 50 works (poems, flash fiction, short stories and non-fiction) accepted for publication.
A couple of in-print examples :)
This sounds like a lot, and it is, but it hasn’t been easy. I’ve received (probably, I don#t count) hundreds of rejections. It’s normal, it’s routine, and you need to get used to it. Even the most successful short story writers and novelists face near-constant rejection. It’s a highly subjective field and all it takes is a bad day, a similar story, or a personal preference for someone to turn down your submission. It doesn’t mean your writing is bad, although I’ve found this a very difficult obstacle to overcome.
As I start focusing more on my novel(!), I’ll be slowing down on the submissions front. This doesn’t mean that I’ll stop writing short-form stories and poems, just that I want to restrict myself to a few submissions calls at a time so I’m not overwhelmed. I also have some exciting news about my involvement in the publishing realm (I’ll announce it on here as soon as I’m allowed to) which will take up even more of my time.
P.S. check out my website for a list of pieces I’ve had published!
Where to find opportunities
So, you want to join me on this journey. But how?
It took me a few months to figure out where I was supposed to be looking. I started with a Google search, which brought up the most popular journals. I quickly learnt three things: 1. their acceptance rates are absurdly low, 2. their response times are absurdly high, and 3. most don’t accept genre fiction. While it’s always good to aim high - those journals with <0.1% acceptance rate might be looking for a piece just like yours - I think that getting a few publications under your belt early on can really help with the rejections that follow. In my experience, submitting to a mix of lesser- and better-known journals is the way to go.
This is when I decided to set up my dedicated social media pages (come say hi: Instagram, X). I found a lot of great journals through the ‘Recommended follow’ lists, as well as in the bios of writers who list the places their work has been published. And eventually, I came across the resources I use today:
Duotrope and Submittable are submission platforms where magazines list their open calls. You can search by keyword, deadline, or magazine, and receive updates on the status of your submission.
SubmissionGrinder and ChillSubs provide lists of magazines which opt into their sites, alongside associated information like acceptance rates and response times. Sometimes this information isn’t even available on the publication’s website, and as someone who doesn’t want to wait months for a reply, this helps me refine my search. ChillSubs is my personal favourite because it has a built-in tracker, which is especially helpful if you submit the same piece to multiple publications (which I’d definitely recommend).
However, on that note, magazines have different rules, like house style, format, type of work, genre, word count, etc. Some limit their scope to a geographical region or particular group of people. Some don’t accept simultaneous submissions. What I’m saying is: do your homework. Sending your writing anywhere and everywhere will only lead to rejection, so pitch it to the right places, at the right times, and don’t break the rules. Plus, if you’re looking for inspiration, writing a piece directly in response to a submission call is always a fun idea.
My final recommendation is to read a few pieces from the journal before you submit. This should give you some indication of it’s overall vibe, and you can be the judge of how well your writing fits in. Just be careful not to self-reject. It’s easy to over-analyse your work or convince yourself that it isn’t good enough, but as long as you’ve editing it well, and it fits the magazine’s guidelines, send it off! It might just be the type of thing they’re looking for.
A little list to get you started
Hopefully this has given you some ideas of where to look, and how to reduce the number of rejections you receive. Before I sign off with a little list to get you started, I want to reiterate that this won’t be easy. You have to learn not to tie your self-worth to rejection emails - they often don’t mean that your work isn’t good enough, but that it just wasn’t a fit for that journal, in that moment. Personalised rejections are positive signs - it means you just missed out, for whatever reason - but obviously it can still hurt. That’s why I suggest submitting the same piece to multiple journals, so you widen your chances of acceptance. I’ve had some pieces rejected 30+ times before they finally found a home, it’s just the way the writing game goes.
So, good luck, get writing, and here’s a little list of places looking for submissions which close this month (all sourced from one of the resources listed above, or from my aimless scrolling through X):
May 19 - Creative Future Writing Award [theme: reveal]
May 22 - Full House Literary
May 29 - The Stinging Fly
May 31 - Propel Magazine
May 31 - Sonder [theme: need]
May 31 - Crannog
May 31 - Thimble Lit
May 31 - Weird Little Worlds [theme: music & the macabre]
May 31 - Glass: A Journal of Poetry
May 31 - Bag of Bones Press [theme: skin; spec fic]
May 31 - River Heron Review
May 31 - Contralytic [theme: discourse]
What a great share, thank you. I’m getting back into non fiction magazine and journal writing after a decade of writing/producing docos and VR, and have found it overwhelming trying to find the right ‘home’ for the writing I want to share, along with building up a new network of publications and editors etc. Especially now I have three kids and several ongoing projects, your list is a huge time saver. Grateful ☺️
Hey Lucy, this is an awesome post and I really loved how you touched on the rejection aspect of being a writer. I’ve submitted lots of rejected nonfiction pieces to publications before they were finally accepted. I think it’s crucial to understand as a writer that your writing can be good, but it just may not fit that publication at the time and that’s okay. Thank you so much for posting this! Your newsletter is awesome by the way! Just subscribed! :)