How to Publish Your Writing



How to Publish Your Writing

There are many opportunities to publish your work. Publishing is the best way to get your voice heard: many of the publications have thousands or hundreds of thousands of readers!

A note on publishing: Don’t get frustrated. Most writers do not get published on their first, second, or third try. Editors receive hundreds and thousands of manuscripts to choose from. The trick is not giving up! Keep writing, rewriting, revising, and submitting!

Also, be wary of scams. Some companies offer to publish your work if you buy pricey, poor quality anthologies of writing, usually poetry. These publishers accept any work that the author pays for, and the anthologies are not circulated. Beware!

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Why Publish?

• Get your voice heard!

• Reach a large public audience.

• Have your say on a particular issue.

• Demonstrate change and growth to parole officers, judges, & loved ones.

• Sometimes, to win money!

Steps to Getting your Work Published

1. Create a draft of your writing

2. Let your friends read it and comment on it.

3. Revise and polish your draft

4. Identify your target publication

5. Send your draft with a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope)

6. Wait, wait, wait, wait some more.

7. Reply:

a. Accepted! (do a happy dance!)

b. Accepted with revision (do requested revisions)

c. “Not right for us”…Send it out again!

Places to send your work

Pen American Center is one of the biggest supporters of prison writing in the country. They publish contest winners in popular annual anthologies and on their website. Anyone incarcerated in a federal, state, or county prison in the year before the September 1 deadline is eligible to enter. Prizes of $200, $100, and $50 are awarded for first, second, and third place, respectively, in each of the following categories:

Poetry: Submit up to 10 poems of any form, no more than 20 pages total, Fiction: Short story or excerpt from a longer piece, no more than 25 pages, Drama: Monologues, scenes, or plays intended for stage or screen, no more than 25 pages, Nonfiction: Essay, observation, journal excerpt, editorial, article, or memoir (personal experiences from childhood or later life) no more than 25 pages.

Guidelines: PEN's Prison Writing Contest accepts contest submission between January 1 and September 1 of each year. Winners will be announced the following March. Manuscripts should be typewritten and double-spaced whenever possible, or legibly handwritten on 8.5-by-11-inch paper. All submissions should be accompanied by a brief cover letter with the author's name, identification number, and complete mailing address. Authors may not submit more than one entry in each category, except in poetry, which has a 20-page limit. Only unpublished manuscripts will be considered, with the exception of pieces that have appeared in publications for the prison population only. Any subject matter will be considered. Please be sure to send copies of your work, not the originals. PEN is unable to return manuscripts. Always include a return address. Selected winning entries will be published by The Fortune Society in Fortune News and on PEN's web site.

PLEASE SEND ENTRIES TO:

PEN Writing Awards for Prisoners

PEN American Center

588 Broadway, Suite 303

New York, NY 10012

Journal of Prisoners on Prison: Prisoners and former prisoners are encouraged to submit “papers, collaborative essays, discussions transcribed from tape, book reviews, and photo or graphic essays to this journal. Illustrations, drawings, and paintings may also be submitted as potential cover art. They do not typically publish fiction or poetry. Articles can be written in English, Spanish, or French. The writer may write under a pseudonym. JPP will not accept “any subject matter that advocates hatred, sexism, racism, violence, or that supports the death penalty” or “material that focuses on the writer’s own legal case, although the use of the writer’s personal experiences as an illustration of a broader topic is encouraged.” Send submission with a “brief abstract, with clear and accurate contact details for the author” to:

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons

c/o University of Ottawa Press

542 King Edward,

Ottawa, Ontario

K1N 6N5 Canada

Matter Journal publishes annually. It is a handcrafted exploration of a specific theme. Submissions that do not acknowledge this theme will not be published. You can find the current theme at the submission email address or at the Wolverine Farm Publishing House.

SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES:

PROSE (fiction, nonfiction, interviews): up to 5000 words, double-spaced 12-pt font (such as Times New Roman, Garamond, or similar), title on first page, no name on manuscript, paginate.

POETRY: up to 5 pages, single-spaced okay, 12-pt font, titles of poems, no name on pages.

VISUAL ART (photographs, collages, paintings, illustrations): 300 dpi, prefer JPEG, TIF, PDF, submit electronically, either via e-mail or saved to a CD and mailed to us. Submit both color and B&W in case we choose your piece for cover, color insert, or all-color journal.

MUST INCLUDE A COVER LETTER: Include name, address, phone number, e-mail, and TITLES of pieces you’re submitting. Keep the letter short, bare-bones. Publications lists and advanced degrees don’t tell us much. The quality of your work is what matters most, but if you need to include any relevant background information to help us to better appreciate your piece, then fine, put that in, but for god’s sakes keep it short.

SUBMIT either electronically (as attachment to mattersubmissions@) or hardcopy to Wolverine Farm Publishing, P.O. Box 814, Fort Collins, CO 80522. If you sent a hardcopy and your work is accepted, you’ll likely be asked to provide an electronic version.

More information can be found about Wolverine Farm Publishing House, readings at the Bean Cycle, etc. can be found at:



Ruminate is an award-winning quarterly literary arts print magazine engaging the Christian Faith. Ruminate publishes poetry, short stories, photography, visual art reproductions, short fiction, memoir, creative non-fiction, essays, reviews, and interviews.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

POETRY: You may submit up to five poems per reading period (we prefer 3-5), with a maximum of 50 lines per poem. Please include all poems in a single document with your name at the top of each poem. We currently pay poetry contributors $15 per poem and in contributor copies.

FICTION: We only accept pieces that are under 5,500 words. You may submit one fiction piece per reading period. Please include your name within the document that you submit, preferably at the top of the first page. We currently pay fiction contributors $15 per 400 words and in contributor copies.

NONFICTION: We accept all forms of creative nonfiction—essays, short memoirs, literary journalism, etc. We only accept pieces that are under 5,500 words. Please include your name within the document that you submit, preferably at the top of the first page. We currently pay nonfiction contributors $15 per 400 words and in contributor copies.

VISUAL ART: More detailed instructions, please refer to their website,

SUBMIT only accept online submissions, as our readers are spread across the country. Any submissions made by postal mail or email will not be considered. Please wait for a response to your submission before sending us more work. Submissions are accepted year-round. We only accept submissions that are previously unpublished, and we do accept simultaneous submissions. If you agree to allow Ruminate to publish your work, we will receive first serial rights.

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Recommended Books to Learn More about Writing:

1. The Annual Writer’s Market Guidebook

2. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

3. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

4. The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Addonizio & Laux

5. Writing from the Heart: Tapping the Power of Your Inner Voice by Nancy Slonim Aronie

6. Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg

7. On Writing: A Memoir of Craft by Steven King

8. A Writer’s Notebook: Daily Exercises for the Writing Life by Caroline Sharp

9. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

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