How To Get Your Short Stories Published

Manifest What you Want, Whenever you Want....

Any upstart writer has started to realize, at one point or another, how beneficial it will be to have a few publishing credits under their belt. After all, it will make things a lot easier on you when it comes time to approach agents and publishers if you can point to a publishing credit in a publication they know! But it can be difficult to know where to start; you might even have the stories written already, and you might know the stories are good, but that still does not answer the question, "What's the next step?"

Actually, knowing how to get your short stories published is as simple as sending your stories in - but only after you know what you are doing! Most publications actually make their submission guidelines very easy to find, for people to follow when submitting a story. Before you do anything, you need to make sure you know the guidelines, as they will toss your story aside without even reading it if you don't do this!

You should also take the time to know what a publication publishes; if you have never read them before, pick up a couple copies. As you thumb through the publication you are thinking of submitting to, make sure they will want your story in there - and also, make sure you will want your story in there! The last thing you want is to be stuck with a publishing credit that will make you look worse rather than making you look better.

The last thing you need to make sure you do before sending the story according to their submission guidelines is spend some time waiting. Let the story sit for about a week - don't even look at it - and then come back to it and make sure there is nothing else that you would like to change in it. There is nothing worse than sending out a story and realizing too late that you should have changed a couple important things!

In the end, honestly, it all comes down to your ability to write well, as you can get a book published without any prior publishing credits, as long as you are able to sufficiently impress the agents and publishers. But if you can land a short story or two in a well-known publication, it will sure make your future path a whole lot easier!