The Short Story Submission Process
Before you send your short story out, it has to be as perfect as you can make it. Because these pieces are short, there’s an expectation that every word is just right, that there’s a high level of detail and vividness. In novels, even great novels, writers are expected to have passages that are a bit extraneous or have other flaws. Some overlong dialogue, or an awkward metaphor—this is all normal in novels. Not so in short stories. They’re expected to be very concise (even long stories), without a single word out of place.
Once you’ve done that, it’s time to do some research about where to send your story.
Familiarizing Yourself with Potential Publications
Step one is to look up publications that have submission windows that are open when you’re trying to send the story out. Unfortunately, these days most magazines have short windows. Some have no windows. They all have their own rules. These windows have shrunken in the last few years, and they’ve often changed, as well. This research is difficult. Subscribers to my newsletter get access to a shared Google Spreadsheet that the subscribers themselves maintain, which has a list of magazines and their submission windows. To get access to this, just subscribe to The Hook.
Also, to learn more about short story publication, see my blog post on different aspects of this process, including things no one else wants to tell you.
Once You have a Publication in Mind, Do Some Research
Try to spend 5-10 minutes on the publication’s website perusing other pieces they’ve published, and trying to get a feel for the aesthetic. Do they like experimental work? Speculative literary work? Hard realism?
It’s nice if you can read a copy of a magazine, but often that’s a major undertaking, so it’s okay to skip this step. This is unpopular advice, I know, and I’m sure some editors are shaking their heads at me. Fine.
Magazines always insist you MUST read them before you try sending them your work, but if you’re sending your short story to 40-50 places that’s just unrealistic. SorryNotSorry.
Preparing Your Short Story to Submit
Read the publication’s submission requirements before submitting. Magazines are typically seeking previously unpublished material, with the exception of anthologies. Some have word count limits or are looking for work on a certain theme.
“Published” includes being published online on your blog, websites, online literary magazines, or an online forum like Reddit. In other words, even if Reddit users gave me 100,000 upvotes on a short story, I would not send that somewhere for publication.
NOTE: do not put “copyright” anywhere on the submission. That it’s copyrighted by the author is implied, and not in dispute (people don’t steal short stories, that’s not a thing). This may indicate to an editor that you’re relatively new to the writing game.
Writing Your Cover Letter
In general, shorter is better regarding cover letters. Your cover letter in general should be friendly and incredibly brief. Include:
First sentence: a brief statement about why you admire the magazine (if possible).
Any other publishing credits you hold
Any contests you’ve won or been a finalist in
Any credentials (MFA student or graduate)
You don’t need an MFA for publication. But having a few publishing credits is nice—publication begets publication. If you don’t have any at all, start small literary journals or with contests.
Example: Short Story submission Cover Letter
Dear Ansel Smith,
Thank you for your consideration in Melville Magazine, which I’ve long admired (I loved that Jim Shepherd story you ran last year). I’ve never submitted work to Melville before, but I feel this piece will be a great fit.
In the past year, my work has appeared in the Brevity Blog, and in print in The Kenyon Review. I also hold an MFA from Underling University.
Thank your consideration.
Molls Maxfield
Multiple Submissions of Short Stories
I always try multiple magazines at once.
With a piece that is very strong, by my estimation, I’ll try the very best magazines first (Paris Review, New Yorker, Granta, Ploughshares, etc.), and wait for a response, even though it might take many many months for them to respond.
If a piece is good, but not great, I’ll try 10-20 excellent places that are one step down from the aforementioned places (e.g. Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, A Public Space, etc.).
Once the first round of rejections has come in, typically try more broadly, at like 20-30 places.
How To Track Short Story Submissions
For $5 a month you can use the Submissions tracker at Duotrope.com, though ChillSubs is apparently going to start offering a similar service possibly for free.
Duotrope also offers an extensive searchable database of thousands of magazines. They use data from their users to offer insights on response time and acceptance rates, which can be helpful when you’re formulating a submission strategy.
For example, if you’re sending to Threepenny Review (average response time: 2 weeks), and The Paris Review (average response time: 1 year), and you really want to hear from the Paris Review, you might want to wait to send it to Threepenny Review.
Short Story Acceptance
A standard publishing agreement asks for first North American print and digital magazine rights and nonexclusive online rights.
This means you can sell and publish it elsewhere in the future—if that publisher accepts something already published. You retain copyright.
Publishers will usually ask for an exclusive timeframe where the work only appears on their site or in their magazine.
FAQs on Submitting Short Stories
My short story was accepted—how do I write a short literary biography that runs with the piece?
Keep it short. Write your literary bio in the third person, and mention some of your top publishing credits, awards, and other accomplishments. Then, something more personal such as a hobby, passion, pet, or geographic location. Some publications may ask you to write your bio in the first person, but you can check the publication’s back copies for examples.
What Do I Do If an Editor Didn’t Accept My Piece but Asked Me to Make Edits?
This is uncommon. But if they ask, do make the edits! You’re 90% of the way to publication if the editor has asked you to make minor edits. Sometimes they’ll respond with what they found lacking in the story—this isn’t an invitation to edit and resend it (unless they say it is).
How Should I Keep Track of Submissions?
If you’re not using Duotrope, you can track the following in a Google or Excel spreadsheet:
The publication’s name
Date of submission
The title of your work
Publication status: Accepted, rejected, waiting, edited, withdrawn
How you submitted (submittable, or through the magazine’s website, or email?)
Notes: Any communication between you and an editor