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In this issue:

* * WE'VE GOT NEW BADGES! Post one to get a FREE gift!

* * ASK RONNIE: WHEN SHOULD YOU GIVE UP TRYING TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK?

* * SEVEN TECHNIQUES YOU MUST KNOW TO MAKE EDITORS NOTICE YOUR POEMS

* * HOW TO PUBLISH A SHORT STORY COLLECTION: TIPS FOR GETTING LITERARY AGENTS’ AND EDITORS’ ATTENTION FOR YOUR SHORT STORIES

* * HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR NOVEL IS LITERARY OR MAINSTREAM FICTION? HOW LONG IS A GENERAL FICTION BOOK?

* * Read about our E-book, entitled UNTANGLING WEB SUBMISSIONS: ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO PUBLISHING YOUR WRITING ONLINE. Click here: http://www.WritersReliefBlog.com/post/Untangling-Web-Submissions-Essential-Guide-To-Publishing-Your-Writing-Online.aspx.  

* * HOW TO SELL FICTION ON THE INTERNET

* * You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming ANTHOLOGIES, SPECIAL-THEMED JOURNALS, CONTESTS, CONFERENCES, and CLIENT NEWS. Visit: http://WritersReliefBlog.com/post/Anthologies-Contests.aspx. 

↓ Scroll Down to Read These Exciting and Useful Articles!! ↓

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Hi everyone!

We’ve had a number of writers ask us what we think is the best way to go about getting published in book-length fiction or nonfiction. Here are a few of the questions underlying this issue, and the Writer’s Relief response:

Should I try to get my book published traditionally even though it’s hard, or should I just self-publish?

Once you make the decision to self-publish, it can sometimes be much trickier to convert to a traditional, paying publishing house. Self-publishing only looks easier than traditional publishing. First, go for the gold: Look for a literary agent. Try for a book deal. You WILL get rejections and you will get lots of them. It's been said that the difference between an amateur writer and a professional one is that a professional is an amateur who didn’t quit. Only after you’ve exhausted the possibilities should you fall back on self-publishing. And then, be certain of what you’re getting into.

How do I know when to give up my desire to get a paying book deal?

Writers get rejection letters. It’s a rite of passage that doesn’t end. Every time you open a rejection letter, you should give yourself a big pat on the back. Why? The fact that you sent out query letters at all means you’re ahead of the game (because you’re ahead of writers who give up too soon or who don’t have an effective submission strategy). Each rejection is a symbol of your positive, go-get-’em attitude, and you should celebrate that accomplishment!

It’s been our experience (working in publishing since 1994) that a writer should not give up on getting a traditional book deal until he or she has sent out at least 100 queries to literary agents. And even then, a paying book contract may still be available, especially if your book appeals to the niche markets that small presses often target.

In short, go until you can’t go anymore. Then, keep going. That’s how character (and literary celebrity) is born.

Got a question for Ronnie about the book biz, poetry, short stories, or other prose writing? Send your question to info@wrelief.com.

Remember: If you're looking for someone to help take the frustration out of the submission process, consider Writer's Relief!

And if you want to chat with me in real time, why not come hang out with me on Twitter? www.twitter.com/writersrelief.

If you want to get editors at literary magazines or publishing houses to notice and publish your poetry, there are a few key things you can do to increase your odds of having a poem accepted. At Writer’s Relief we’ve been working with poets since 1994—helping writers submit their work to literary agents, magazines, and journals—and we’ve picked up on some pretty significant trends. Our clients get published by the hundreds (thousands, if you want to get technical). Here are some of the things they do (and don’t do) to ensure their poetry has a competitive edge. 

Skip the rhyme. Rhyming poetry is difficult to place. In fact, it’s so difficult to publish rhyming poetry that we won’t work with poets who primarily focus on rhyme. If you want to rhyme, feel free. There are plenty of outlets online and even a few print journals that adore rhyme. Just be aware that at most magazines, it’s a dead end. Rhyming poetry done well is beautiful. Done poorly? Ugh.

Keep it short. Poems that are one page long tend to be more readily accepted than any other length poem. Also, watch your margins. A poem that is too many characters wide may not fit on the narrow pages of literary magazines. Tight poems are more easily publishable and more readily accepted.

Submit three to five poems per submission. Submitting more than five poems makes you look demanding and overeager. Submitting fewer than three poems implies that you don’t have a significant body of work. Also, don’t submit more than ten pages MAX (5-8 pages is best).

Avoid clichés. Money, love, and death are said to be the big three topics for writers. But be sure that you’re approaching them in a truly new way. (Tip: The only way you can be sure your writing is not cliché is by reading poetry. Lots of poetry. If you love poetry, read and support the magazines that keep poetry alive.)

Steer clear of one-word titles, unless your one-word title is truly an amazing and unique word. Titles like “Death” or “Friendship” tend to be more often overlooked by editors. Consider the wording of your title just as important as the rest of your poem.

Use eye-catching titles. After one-word titles, lackluster titles also tend to go unnoticed (as do lackluster poems). Pep up your poetry titles to get better results.

Develop a strong bio. At some point, everyone has absolutely no writing credentials. But the fact remains that the stronger your bio is, the more likely you’ll be well-received. For some tips on how to build up your bio, read these articles: Building Publication Credits and No Publishing Credits? Get Publishing Credentials: How To Build Up Your Writing Bio Super Fast.

As always, be sure that when you submit, you’ve researched the proper markets, prepared stellar cover letters, and followed all appropriate guidelines. If you’d like help submitting your poetry for publication, check us out. Our clients regularly publish poetry in hundreds of print journals.  Click here to learn more about how we can help you! We remove the pressures and frustrations of the submission process in order to improve your acceptance rate and give you more time to write. There’s something for every budget at Writer’s Relief.

We’re approached by countless writers every year who want us to help them submit their short story collections to literary agents. The short story is a unique art form that many writers enjoy. But few writers ever truly understand how to get a collection of short stories published.

It takes talent to make short stories work. Some novelists begin their careers writing stories and working their way up to longer works (novels or memoirs). Other writers prefer to work in the short form and, eventually, find themselves with a stack of stories inches high, wondering, “Why not turn my short stories into a collection?”

Short stories are becoming increasingly popular, not only because they are mini works of art, but also because busy people have shorter attention spans. There are hundreds of literary magazines and journals looking to publish individual stories (and Writer’s Relief keeps tabs on all of them), but finding a home for a collection of short stories is no easy task.

Major publishers want novels because they sell and infrequently consider novellas or collections of short stories. Short story collections are harder to place because editors are unwilling to take chances on unknown writers; unless you’re Alice Munro or William Faulkner, you will find it considerably more difficult to sell your work. Publishers tend to do some marketing for their novels, and perhaps if the same marketing momentum were applied to short story collections, authors of short stories would stand a greater chance of landing a deal with the big boys.

Before you protest about the number of successful anthologies on the market, be aware that anthologies are generally collections of stories by a number of different authors—collections appealing to those who are looking for a particular theme or subject matter. Anthologies of work by a single, unknown author are very difficult to sell.

Don’t let us thoroughly discourage you from trying to get your collection published—there are some things you can do to increase your chances.

Publish selected works. It’s easier to sell a collection if you’ve had at least a few short stories previously published in reputable literary journals. Submit individual stories to quality magazines on a regular basis, and with each publication credit, your credibility will increase. At Writer’s Relief we highly recommend that writers build their credits first rather than approaching agents with a collection of unpublished stories. National exposure in quality magazines is key to attracting an agent or editor’s attention.

Theme. It also helps if the stories have a common theme or subject to tie them together. James Herriot was a country vet, not an aspiring author, but his collection of stories had a cohesive theme, and the series is still popular today.

Go for a novel. Some agents recommend scrapping the whole idea of a collection and refashioning the collection into a novel. They might also recommend selling the collection as part of a two-book deal, with the story collection designed to generate interest in the second book, which would be an actual novel.

Win big. Enter as many short story writing competitions as possible. An award-winning story can land a publishing deal. It can also boost a writer’s self-confidence—always a bonus.

Market. Many writers get frustrated and end up self-publishing their work, especially if they’re simply looking for limited quantities to give to family and friends. But for a writer looking to sell a decent number of books and see his or her collection at the major bookstores, the marketing process can be a nightmare. When you self-publish, you are responsible for nearly all the marketing and publicity efforts.

Consider small presses. There are far more small presses than big publishing houses, and they tend to specialize in niche marketing. They also tend to publish out of love for the genre and may be more receptive to a short story collection if they love the quality of your work.

Get an agent. If you have an agent, your chances of selling a collection are better than for unagented writers. To be a writer who gets an agent for a short story collection, you’ll need a strong bio. Also it may help in your query letter to mention that you have a novel in the works.

Get schooled. Short story collections are far easier to sell when their authors have top-notch credentials: publication credits in quality magazines, awards, grants. Graduating from a quality MFA program is a plus as well.

To learn more, check out How To Write A Query Letter For A Short Story Collection. We help writers submit their individual stories for publication because we’ve found it’s the best way to help writers improve their bios (so that they can be competitive when approaching agents). If you would like Writer's Relief to help you submit your individual short stories for publication, or if you would like us to consider working with you on a collection, please give us a call!

If you’re writing literary or mainstream fiction (also called general fiction), the word-count requirements and style guidelines are often not as strict as they are for genre novels. In a previous Newsflash, we offered an article to help you determine if your genre fiction novel meets editors and literary agents’ guidelines for publication. Now, we’re tackling nongenre books. How do you know if your novel is literary or mainstream? Let’s start by looking at the difference between mainstream and literary fiction genres.

What is Literary Fiction? How Do You Know If Your Book Qualifies As Literary?

Literary fiction is fiction of ideas. While the story must be good, emphasis on action is not often as important as emphasis on the ideas, themes, and concerns of the book. Literary fiction tackles “big” issues that are often controversial, difficult, and complex.

Aside from subject matter, literary fiction tends to be written with emphasis on prose style. While genre fiction is “transparent” (readers can see through the text to escape into the story itself), literary writers want the reader to notice how beautiful the writing is. Sometimes the writing prevents the reader from escaping into the story, but that’s not a bad thing in this genre.

Many writers wrongly assume that if their book is not genre fiction (like mystery, romance, or thriller), then it must be literary. But that’s not the case. Literary fiction is very specialized and difficult to do well. Literary readers (especially readers of experimental and “high literary” forms) are very demanding and are sometimes regarded as a niche market.

What is General Fiction? How Do You Know If Your Book Qualifies as Mainstream?

Mainstream fiction, which goes by many other names (like general fiction and literary light), is driven by a mix of genre fiction and literary fiction techniques. In mainstream fiction, the writer must have a strong “hook” or premise. The story must be readable (it must have a traditional plot arc and be relatively plot- and character-driven). Controversy is welcome, but it is not presented in as nuanced a way as in literary fiction. Insight and emotionality are important, but they are often of equal importance as the story.

Mainstream fiction tends to blend transparent language with occasional bouts of prose that feel more literary in tone. Writers of general fiction can have a variety of voices and write in a variety of styles, but all are accessible and not too difficult to read. Insight and perspective are important but should not overshadow story.

Determining How To Market Your Book (Whether To Market As Mainstream Or Literary)

Most novels that don’t fall into the literary category or the genre fiction category are mainstream fiction. If you do not know if your book is literary or mainstream fiction, it is probably mainstream (given that literary fiction is so specialized). Trained literary writers know literary fiction when they see it (and some tend to look at mainstream fiction as one of the commercial genres, as opposed to art). So if you’re not sure that your book is literary, you may want to err on the side of caution by calling your book “mainstream.”

If you are writing literary fiction, it will likely help your cause to have been formally educated or very widely read in modern literary fiction. Having a degree or lots of publication credits in literary journals and magazines goes a long way when an editor is deciding whether to market you as mainstream or literary. For more information on why having a strong bio matters, read Building Publication Credits. Writer's Relief has been helping writers build up their bios by preparing professional submissions since 1994. We can help you build your writing credentials.  

If you don’t have a strong background, you may want to position yourself as a writer of accessible, mainstream fiction (and if you’re trying to produce a best seller, that’s a great place to be).

How Long Is A Literary Novel? How Long Is A Mainstream Novel?

A literary novel can be between 40,000 and 120,000 words long. If you’re a new writer, literary agents and editors will likely want to see a novel between 70,000 and 100,000 words from you. A mainstream novel is usually best-suited when it hits the 70K-100K mark as well.

If you’ve written a literary or a mainstream novel and would like help submitting your work to literary agents, please check out our various packages. Writer’s Relief takes the headache out of the submission process and increases your odds of acceptance. Our clients are multipublished and award winners. For questions, e-mail info@wrelief.com.

Guest writer Suzan L. Wiener has had numerous articles, short stories, poems, and other shorter pieces published in major publications such as Cross & Quill, Verses, Impetus, FellowScript, etc. She also has her love poetry E-book up at http://72.249.118.251/taxonomy/term/83464, and her greeting cards have been published through several major greeting card companies.

On the Internet you need to start your story where the action is. That is most important. You need to build the conflict (action) to keep the editor and reader interested. The climax of your story must be credible. For instance: If you are writing a story for children, don’t have an adult solve the child’s problem. Have the child solve it. Otherwise the editor will lose interest.

I always do a plot outline when I write short stories. Here is a rough outline that I follow to help organize my story:

I. Major characters—
            List the main character(s)
II. Minor characters—
            List the minor character(s)
III. Complications (should always move the story forward)
IV. Subplot (if any)
V. Crisis (turning point)
VI. Resolution (end of story)

Below are several tips to help you get that most-welcomed acceptance.
 
1. Write about something you love—write from the heart and from experience.

2. Look for a new spin on an old concept. (There aren’t really any unique ideas anymore, but when a person can put a new spin on old idea, that makes it interesting.)

3. Don’t be afraid of lesser known e-zines. If you do a Google search for “fiction guidelines,” you will likely find many places you’ve never heard of before. Just always make sure any magazine that you submit to is open to your kind of story. (Writer’s Relief editor’s note: OR you can ask us for help identifying the best markets for your writing!)

4. Network. Having friends who also write fiction opens up a lot of new markets to you. Don’t be afraid to share markets. You might find that your friend has had a good experience with Internet markets, or you might pass your own information along.
 
If you follow the above rules, you will most likely see a publication acceptance in your inbox.

Writer's Relief editor's note: For more help with your short stories, check out this link: Short Story Checklist: Techniques for Getting Short Stories Published. Enjoy!  

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT OUR LIST OF WRITING CONTESTS and ANTHOLOGIES! You won’t find a better list anywhere (AND IT’S FREE!) of upcoming anthologies, special-themed journals, and contests. Find it by visiting:
http://www.writersreliefblog.com/post/Anthologies-Contests.aspx