Which of these two faucets of publication should we target? For four years I slaved over a book I'd written. I thought magazines were for people who couldn't hack it in writing books. After attending a conference recently, I thought otherwise.
Jerry Jenkins (Left Behind) said magazines are the path to publication. That became painfully obvious when I started pitching my book to editors. The essential response I got was, "We want credentials."
Showing a publisher that you've been published in X amount of magazines cements that you can meet deadlines, write well, and you actually have decent ideas. You have more opportunities with magazines. I mean a lot more opportunities!
You can also reach more people with a magazine than you can with a book. You heard me right. The typical first-print for a new writer is 3000 copies. Parade magazine, which you probably get in your Sunday paper, connects with more than 81 million readers. You publish something there, and you're communicating with more people than all the Left Behind series combined.
There are many different kinds of magazines. Think again if you think you're writing can't fit anywhere. Sally Stuart's Christian Writer's Market Guide and Jeff Herman's Guide are great tools.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Magazines vs. Book Publishers
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17 comments:
Great point regarding magazines! Another outlet that can be pursued, which is a phenomenon which hasn't yet crested, is the idea of "e-zines", or electronic magazines. Some of my first works were published in a (now defunct) e-zine called "WritersHood.com." Surprisingly, more traffic passes through e-zines than we realize. Long story short, even though the e-zine ended up closing down, the Science Fiction editor for the e-zine kept my contact information and, five years later, looked me up to see if I had any novels that I was looking to have published!
Morals of the story: never burn your bridges! Submit, submit, submit! And if you're truly passionate about writing, never, EVER give up!
James
WOW. I was happy to not have an editor tell me to go away to my face.
I've been thinking about the e-zine stuff. It sounds like a great outlet, but I don't know how thrilled printed magazines are about your article being on the web where anyone can see it. Maybe I should program myself to think, "This story is just for the web. This one's for print."
I've heard of a fantasy/sci-fi/horror anthology with a Christian worldview or focus. Their website is: http://www.honeylocustpress.com/Anthology_callout.htm.
Sorry about the deleted post. I'm having difficulties, here! Let's try this again.
I certainly wouldn't suggest submitting the same article to two separate publications! That's just a recipe for disaster. I am referring more to short-story submissions to magazines that are in the business solely for the publication of said short-stories. For example, authors such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and an immeasurable amount of other authors, got their start getting their works published in periodicals. Many authors had their short novels broken up into serials for easier reading and to fit in with publisher restrictions.
It all depends, of course, whether you wish to write non-fiction articles or fictional, entertainment short stories!
Check out www.writershood.com to get a feel for the e-zine that had published some of my works (as I said, it's currently out of business so the links do not work). Also, check out: http://eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/Publishing.html and http://www.nicestories.com/ and http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/
Also, I will contact my editor friend to see if he recommends any good e-zines.
Another benefit, which I thought of after I had posted my comment, to publishing through e-zines and print-zines, is the fact that you will learn how to work closely with an editor, and also develop a thick skin as to what is "good" and what is "bad." Sometimes, the ideas that we think are so awesome, get sliced and chopped by editors and presented in a different way; or simply cut out completely.
Sorry, I get to rambling; sometimes I just can't help it!
James
Ramble away!
Remember too that if you're pitching books about say raising children then you need to show that you're an expert in that field. So not only is the where important but the what is important too. ;)
Debbie
Awesome post! I've never even considered magazines as a possibility. I've written a few short stories that I still don't know what to do with, so I'll think about that!
Just saw the Edge of Belief page. I think that would be fun to do!
Jamin-to join the YCF, all you have to do with ask! You don't even have to have a blog, but you have nothing to worry about in that department, lol.
That sounds great, Arakan. I'll try to get y'all linked up soon.
Hey Debbie, do you need to give the publishers your social secerity number in order for them to pay you?
If so, how do you go about that?
Coolness!
Hey Jamin!
I just wanted to come by and say Hi! and that you inspire me with your comittment and being willing to try just about anything. Leave no stone unturned!
I really haven't been on my blog in a while...Like I said the other day, I forgot I had one until you mentioned it :) But, I think I'll be starting to get on more often now. Oh, and I wouldn't mind if you linked me(is that how you say it?) to answer your question of 3 months ago 0_o.
You know an awful lot about publishing and things...I didn't realize half of it! So thanks for the advice :)
Well, I don't mind stones, Bess. I'll probably leave the mountains alone though!
Oh you haven't seen anything about publishing information! Now book proposals have got to be the hardest thing on the planet, right next to running a marathon. Talk about details.
Whazzup, dude?
>>Do you need to give the publishers your social secerity number in order for them to pay you?
Yes. They need it so they have proof that they paid you when it comes time to filing taxes, etc.
>>If so, how do you go about that?
Unless contest rules clearly state that they need your SSN, don't give out your social security UNTIL it's asked for. When the editor needs it, she/he will ask for it.
HTH,:-)
Debbie
That makes sense
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