Why All Writers Should Submit to Literary Journals

I finished my first novel in 2009, and I was lost. I'd never even heard of a query letter. I did my best to read every article and piece of advice I could get my hands on, and back then, everyone said to build a writing career you must submit to literary journals. And I did. Lots of them. 

But I've noticed lately that most novelists now don't submit to journals. I totally understand it in many ways. After all, there are only so many hours in the day, and our novels are our children. We put them on the pedestal of importance when we have free time, and rightly so. But there are some definite benefits to making time for other, smaller pieces. 



Here are a few:

• Improves Your Writing

              Writing shorter works teaches you which words matter and which do not. Think you can't tell an entire story in under 500 words? Think again. 

• Feel for the Market

           When you're submitting to many different editors, you get a feel for what type of writing people like. Of course, every editor is different, but once you crack the code to what the majority want, you'll find yourself receiving a lot more acceptance letters. And knowing what editors want to read, is definitely beneficial in novel writing.

• Building Your Platform

         We all know that platform is everything. It's one of the most difficult tasks as a writer. I'm not promising that you'll gain thousands of new followers by publishing your short works, but you'll have a few trickle in who are genuinely interested. I've noticed that my site gets the most hits, other than from my social media, from places where I've been published. 

• Builds Your Resume

           Though an agent will sign you whether you have any experience or not (it's all about your novel), it's nice to be able to add that you have some publishing credits to your name. 

• Instant Gratification

           It takes months, if not years, to complete a novel, but it could take minutes to finish a short fiction piece. We all know that there is nothing more rewarding than creating and finishing something.

• Encouragement

          When we're querying agents, we expect to receive a "no." It happens so often, and it sometimes can get us bogged down in negativity. You'll face a lot of rejection when submitting shorter pieces too, but you're not so invested. It barely stings to receive a rejection on something that took you thirty minutes to write versus months and months. Many journal editors will offer critique, or they'll respond kindly. And when you get an acceptance, it feels so good. It always gives me a great lil boost that helps me trudge through the hard days. 

If you're wondering how you'll fit short fiction/poetry into your already hectic schedule, I get it. Surprisingly though, it may be easier than you think. There are times in our days when we have ten-fifteen free minutes, and it'd be difficult to make much headway on our novels in that amount of time. Or maybe you're stuck at the doctors office or are in line at the DMV -- that's when you pull out your phone and start writing. I do most of my short fiction writing on my phone, in fact.

I hope I've convinced you to submit and to experiment with shorter works. You won't regret it. Promise. :)

---