My Literary Journal Plans for 2024
A few days after the new year, I made reference to the lack of short stories on this page. This entire page is based around writing, so where is the fiction?
As mentioned there, I’ve been experimenting with a more considered approach to my writing reaching for quality over quantity. It’s yet to be seen whether this is the best way to do things, but I’m happy to say, this morning I just put the finishing touches on the last of twelve brand new short stories which I’m quite proud of.
I won’t be posting them on this page for a while though.
Why not?
For all the antiquated qualities that the old publishing model seems to carry, for now I’m convinced its still the best way to get your writing read and build a reputation. So I’m sending these stories out to as many literary journals as I can.
Some part of me is tempted to channel all that energy required to go through the traditional submission process into this page and work towards building my following here on Substack. But while that would be a nice reality to live in, I think we still exist in a bit of a grey area where the old gatekeepers maintain the lion’s share of pull in helping a new writer establish themselves.
Despite a lot of "growth chat” on Substack, I’m yet to see someone organically “make it” on here without the aid of some pre-existing reputation/credentials.
So for now, I’m submitting these twelve new stories to a mix of printed and online literary journals.
The Plan:
-I’ve compiled a list of forty literary journals, working through their submission criteria i.e. genre, word limits, submission windows and put them into a spreadsheet. Yes a spreadsheet.
-I’ve mapped out the broad set of genres each of my stories fits into and matched them up as best I can with the above list.
I’ve found most journals are only willing to entertain up to two submissions from one writer at a time, so I will tier my submissions accordingly.
While my eyes are set on developing my writing to be as strong as I can make it, if I manage to get paid along the way, I won’t say no to it.
And, though I maintain the stance that credits don’t make you any bigger than the work you are capable of putting out, it’s hard to deny that they’re helpful when it comes to getting your name out there, drawing attention to your work and providing you with the means to continue writing.
That’s why I’m doing it.
Embracing Rejection
Behind the pay wall, in my latest “novel update” post, I wrote a short spiel on chasing rejection. Treating it as something to be sought after, a hurdle that must be jumped before seeing success, so why not line as many of those hurdles up as possible? Jump them now so they’re out of the way.
That’s the approach I’m trying to adopt with these bulk submissions. But with heavy caveats.
The writing comes first.
I don’t want to be writing to a market—putting things out there just to be submitting.
I’m adamant on keeping that world separate from the submission side of things. For it to be good, the writing process needs to be loose, playful. Lightbulb moments, captured then crafted. Stories written for the sake of themselves first and foremost.
Only once they’re completed, do I get to look at them as a product, analyze their genres etc.
I think that’s the only way to hold the line between creative and commercial worlds.
That’s all.
The Best Laid plans of Mice and Men…
I drafted up this post a few weeks before I actually dove into the submission process, and the reality looks a lot different to everything I outlined above.
From my list of journals, the number that have gone under, ask for an upfront fee or only consider submissions one month out of a year….is sobering.
I guess that’s simply the animal I’m dealing with here though. Everyone else embarking in this process is facing the same thing, so I suppose I can take a little comfort in the knowledge that I’m more perseverant than most.
We’ll see how this goes.
