![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Advice for aspiring writers
A couple of days ago, someone asked me via PM if I could give them some advice on starting a professional writing career (they were interested in writing SFF and romance). I'm probably not the best person to ask given the current state of my professional writing career -- but I went and wrote out a ginormous infodump in a PM, and then I decided to repost it here, because it might be useful to someone else, I guess?
Plus, you guys can tell me if I'm way off base with any of this. Or if anyone has additional suggestions, tell me, and I can edit them in!
A good place to start if you're serious about doing it professionally and new to it is Writer's Market. Your library might have it, or see if you can find an older used copy. It is a very thick book listing markets that take short stories in all kinds of genres, and the information at the front of the book lays out all of the how-to: how to format submissions and find places to submit to, when you need an agent, stuff like that. It also has a ton of small markets you may not have heard of. In an older copy, some of these may be out of business, but it's still a good place to start.
I have also heard very good things about the forums at Absolute Write: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/. Sign up, lurk, read through the available information ... I've never actually spent a lot of time there, but people tell me it's well worthwhile, and there is lots of information for aspiring writers.
For short SF/fantasy fiction, the Science Fiction Writers of America has a list of their qualifying short story markets: http://www.sfwa.org/about/join-us/sfwa-membership-requirements/#shortfiction. I use this as a handy list of places to submit to, and they pay well. They are HARD to break into, though. I've been trying for years and haven't done it yet. Maybe you will have better luck.
In general, it's a good idea to look at where the fiction YOU like to read comes from (short and long), and then go to their website and check their writer's guidelines. Especially with small-press romance (i.e. most of the M/M), you don't need an agent and most of the websites -- Dreamspinner Press, etc -- have writer's guidelines on the website. On any website for a publisher/magazine/etc, look for a link that says Submissions or Guidelines. This will tell you what they're buying, what their terms are, etc.
It's also a good idea to familiarize yourself with Standard Manuscript Format (http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html or http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mslee/format.html), because a lot of publishers and magazines require it. Again, though, read the guidelines! Different places have different requirements, and they WILL reject a story, no matter how brilliant, for not following the guidelines for how they want it formatted and what information they want in the email or cover letter.
I think that getting into publishing right now is both easier and harder than it's ever been. Harder because there are so many people doing it, so the competition's very stiff, but easier because there are so many new places to publish and so many options for self-publishing that didn't used to be available. Don't ever GIVE money to a publisher to get published; that's a scam, and you'd be much better off just putting it up for free on your website.
And it's worth looking into the possibilities of self-publishing or crowdfunding: see http://crowdfunding.livejournal.com/. Traditional publication is not the only way to go. A lot of people, even well-established writers, do a combination of both.
...
So there it is ... maybe someone will find this handy, or maybe you guys have some better suggestions and/or would like to point out places where I'm way off base here?
Plus, you guys can tell me if I'm way off base with any of this. Or if anyone has additional suggestions, tell me, and I can edit them in!
A good place to start if you're serious about doing it professionally and new to it is Writer's Market. Your library might have it, or see if you can find an older used copy. It is a very thick book listing markets that take short stories in all kinds of genres, and the information at the front of the book lays out all of the how-to: how to format submissions and find places to submit to, when you need an agent, stuff like that. It also has a ton of small markets you may not have heard of. In an older copy, some of these may be out of business, but it's still a good place to start.
I have also heard very good things about the forums at Absolute Write: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/. Sign up, lurk, read through the available information ... I've never actually spent a lot of time there, but people tell me it's well worthwhile, and there is lots of information for aspiring writers.
For short SF/fantasy fiction, the Science Fiction Writers of America has a list of their qualifying short story markets: http://www.sfwa.org/about/join-us/sfwa-membership-requirements/#shortfiction. I use this as a handy list of places to submit to, and they pay well. They are HARD to break into, though. I've been trying for years and haven't done it yet. Maybe you will have better luck.
In general, it's a good idea to look at where the fiction YOU like to read comes from (short and long), and then go to their website and check their writer's guidelines. Especially with small-press romance (i.e. most of the M/M), you don't need an agent and most of the websites -- Dreamspinner Press, etc -- have writer's guidelines on the website. On any website for a publisher/magazine/etc, look for a link that says Submissions or Guidelines. This will tell you what they're buying, what their terms are, etc.
It's also a good idea to familiarize yourself with Standard Manuscript Format (http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html or http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mslee/format.html), because a lot of publishers and magazines require it. Again, though, read the guidelines! Different places have different requirements, and they WILL reject a story, no matter how brilliant, for not following the guidelines for how they want it formatted and what information they want in the email or cover letter.
I think that getting into publishing right now is both easier and harder than it's ever been. Harder because there are so many people doing it, so the competition's very stiff, but easier because there are so many new places to publish and so many options for self-publishing that didn't used to be available. Don't ever GIVE money to a publisher to get published; that's a scam, and you'd be much better off just putting it up for free on your website.
And it's worth looking into the possibilities of self-publishing or crowdfunding: see http://crowdfunding.livejournal.com/. Traditional publication is not the only way to go. A lot of people, even well-established writers, do a combination of both.
...
So there it is ... maybe someone will find this handy, or maybe you guys have some better suggestions and/or would like to point out places where I'm way off base here?