How to Improve Your Odds of Getting Accepted by Literary Magazines

Whether you’re writing short stories, poetry, or even a novel, it’s always beneficial to get a few publishing credits as you start to build your name and platform as an author. My strategy in my pursuit to publish a novel has been to start getting smaller pieces accepted in literary magazines as I work on writing and editing my novel.

Along the way, I’ve picked up a few tips on how to increase the odds of getting accepted by literary magazines.

• Edit: While this may sound like obvious advice, I cannot stress enough how important it is for your submission to be polished. Have your writing group or beta readers review your piece before submitting it. Literary magazines are notoriously understaffed and underfunded, so sending out a carefully edited manuscript is even more important than when submitting to a literary agent (which is still very important). Literary magazines do not have the staffing or time to edit or make editing suggestions to writers. They receive hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions a month. This means that a piece could be rejected for a few small grammatical errors even if the story is good. Plus, many magazines do not alter the manuscript once they’ve been accepted, so even if they ignore the errors, that means they’re then printed with the errors still in them.

• Follow Submission Guidelines: Again, this may seem like obvious advice, but to this day, this is still the number one reason I hear editors say pieces are rejected. Since literary magazines receive so many submissions, one of the quickest ways they weed out pieces is by a quick glance on whether the submission conforms to their guidelines. Simply put, if your manuscript doesn’t comply with their formatting guidelines, if you use a different font or font size, if your manuscript does not fall within their word count (this is critical), etc., instead of reading the piece, it gets rejected. Most literary magazines have similar requirements for their submissions, but never assume that they are exactly the same. I’ve submitted to places that have very unusual submission guidelines, and I think it’s in part to see if writers are paying attention.

• Read Past Issues: Think of your submission as a job interview. You want to know the company with which you’re applying. Use that same tactic for your submissions. Know who the editor is so you can put their name(s) in your cover letter instead of putting “To Whom it May Concern.” If you put To Whom it May Concern in a letter, I can tell you exactly who it will concern: No one. Attaching a name to a cover letter will indicate that you did your research and that you’re trying to reach a specific person. Even if someone else ends up reviewing your piece, the effort won’t go unnoticed. Getting a feel for what types of pieces they accept will also give you a better idea on whether that publication is right for your piece. I’ve done many searches for literary magazines and found ones that accept the genre of my piece and the word count, only to read a past issue and realize that it’s not the right fit for my piece. Sometimes it’s difficult to read a past issue because they’re not available for free. In this event, I have a few suggestions. Some magazines will post sample pieces that will give you an idea of what they’re looking for while others have a list of things they do not want. Most magazines have a website that has an About page that may give you some insight, and social media accounts for the publications are a great place to find information too. If you discover the name of the editor for the literary magazine, you may be able to find interviews they’ve given that discuss what they’re looking for.

• Acceptance Rates: Both Duotrope and The (Submission) Grinder have statistics on the acceptance rates of different publications. Duotrope even has a list of the top 100 Most Challenging markets, which means they have the lowest acceptance rates. While I don’t mean to suggest to avoid those markets altogether, know that they are highly competitive. If you want to get a start and see your name in print, you should look for publications with high acceptance rates. Duotrope also has a 100 Most Approachable list that can point you in the right direction.

If you’re searching for markets to submit your pieces, besides Duotrope and The Submission Grinder, NewPages.com and the Writer’s Market are also great resources. Although, I suggest using the Novel & Short Stories Writer’s Market as they have more literary magazines listed. I’ve noticed in the past the larger edition of Writer’s Market lists consumer magazines.