Pursuit of Publication: The Research

Here we go.
In the recent weeks, we've prepared ourselves for the flooding of the free press with our words.  We've taken an inventory of our publishable work.  We've spent some time refining who we are as writers and distilling our short pieces of fiction into manageable hook and synopsis sentences.  We've tried our hand at the cover letter.  And we've defined our schedules to fit in the arduous hours of the work life, home life, writing life and the research associated with publication.

Now down to the wheel.
A few places to find possible markets:
1-go to your local library and leaf through magazines, journals and reviews.
2-try www.newpages.com  and spent hours at this site.  Each one of these reviews of magazines will take you to the magazines' sites.  Please read everything you can, read the magazine, read the reviews, research the writers, the editors and follow the magazines' guidelines exactly.
3-try www.doutrope.com following the same protocol as above.
4-if you use Facebook, try to "fan" or "follow" as many magazines there too.
5-if you're still in college, submit to your college literary journal.
6-find all the literary magazines in your town.  For instance, I live in Portland, Oregon and I know that both Tin House and  Burnside Review are up and running in my neighborhood.  You'll be surprised at the literary community even in the smallest of towns when you simply look for them.



I use a contact card system. This is the template and an example using Umbrella Factory Magazine. I hope you find it useful.

Contact Card


I suppose it all goes down to the laws of averages. The more research you do, the more magazines you read, the more people you meet and the more you submit will equal more publications.

Good luck and good research.