Writing & Markets
Frederic Murray Assistant ProfessorMLIS, University of British ColumbiaBA, Political Science, University of Iowa
Instructional Services LibrarianAl Harris Library [email protected]
The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them.
A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green and yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun.
The Four Elements
• Good Writing• Knowledge of Writing Markets• Professionalism• Persistence
Major Concepts
• Polish your Work• Study the Market• Follow Submission
Guidelines
Major Concepts• Study a magazine’s guidelines
– Word Count, Manuscript Format, Dates
• Check a magazine’s website– New Information, Opportunities
• Read several current issues of the target– Learn what the editors are
publishing– Learn what their readers are
expecting
Query and Cover Letters• Use a normal font• Include your name, address,
phone, email, web site• One inch margins• Address a specific editor or
agent• Limit letter to one page single-
space• SASE• Block paragraph (no
indentations)• Thank editor for considering
query• Follow up – Submission
Guidelines
Manuscript Format• Word Count• Send Photocopies • Mailing Manuscripts
– Under 5 pages fold into 3rds, and send in #10 SASE
– 5 pages, unfolded in 9 x 12 SASE– No Certified Mail-Amateur Hour
• Goal: Make the Manuscript Readable
Submit Professionally• Polite• Formal
• Businesslike
• Be Aggressive
– Write What You Want to Write– Research…Research…Research…! – Submit Tactically– Get-and Stay-Organized– Keep Writing (and Reading)– Nurture Relationships
Remember….
Fiction Markets • Contests & Awards• Conferences• Small Presses• Consumer Magazines• Vanity/Self-Publishing
Contests & Awards• Can Launch a successful career• Most require a small submission fee: 10-15$
• Again, do the research– Read the requirements carefully. Do you
match the guidelines? Are you qualified? – Find out about the previous winners.
– Contact before submitting, a lot of small magazines fold every year.
Conferences • Workshops
– Feedback, Editorial Help, Publishing Tips• Quiet beautiful places to work
• Networking Opportunities– Meet other writers, agents, publishers
• Affords Discipline: Scheduled Writing Time
• SHAWGUIDE LISTING OF CONFERENCES
Small Presses• Best Place to shop your short
stories• In lieu of payment, free copies
awarded• Outside of Awards/Contests best
Market around• If you don’t like what you find…
Start your own.
Consumer Magazines• Esquire• Atlantic Monthly • Good Housekeeping
• Most do not accepted unagented fiction submissions
Journals
• Poets & Writers–Tools for Writers–Speakeasy Message Forum
• The Writer –Top 30 Markets
• World Literature Today(Published by University of Oklahoma)
Reference Books• Literary Market Place (2011) • Writers Market (2012)• Children’s Writer’s Market
(2010)
• Creating the Voice Contest: From November 2 to 30, students can enter a narrative voice writing contest to be judged by Díaz himself. Young writers are invited to submit pieces of 1000 words or fewer in response to one of three prompts designed to inspire crafting a strong, specific narrative voice.
Thanks!
