After the story is written - edited - re-read and re-edited, then what?

Question

not sure of my next step

Answer 1

You can do a couple of things. You can put the story in a drawer for a week or two then come back to it with fresh eyes, so to speak, and see what you think. If you find problems with it then, you can re-write it. You can also find yourself a trusted reader, someone who won't just automatically tell you it's great - a teacher or professor, another writer, a candid friend. You might also consider reading your story out loud to find out whether your sentences flow. If you catch yourself tripping over words as you read, it might be a sign that your story needs more work. Elmore Leonard said that if it sounds like writing, he re-writes it. It's good advice.

If you're comfortable with your story and think it's ready to grace the printed page, you might consider sending it out to some literary magazines. Check out www.pw.org/links_pages/Literary_Magazines for a good list of links to literary magazines.

Hope this helps. Best of luck to you.

Answer 2

I'm a professional reader ... you need to get it read by someone else. Even if the first reader was a professional, get it read by another one.

You don't say if you're in the UK. If you are get hold of the Writers & Artists Yearbook (the 2008 edition will be out in a couple of months) find every agent that deals with your genre and send a query letter (how to do this is in the Y&A).

If you send to agents you can send multiple submissions simultaneously. When I complete a novel of my own I tend to send out 10 letters per week. Typically, out of 100 query letters, I get 4 that want to read it. On 1 occasion I had an interested agent.

One thing you MUST understand is that rejection is not personal. Every time you get a rejection you're one step closer to someone who's interested.

Some agents allow you to submit manuscripts (usually 2-3 chapters or 50 pages) without a query letter but to send manuscripts without that invitation will achieve nothing but will waste your money and time.

Sending to publishers is another situation, you cannot submit simultaneously to publishers, only one at a time and they can take 6 months or more to reply. Not a fast process. (Agents can take 18 months to reply -- it's happened to me.)

If you truly believe your story is ready to send out then do the above, and get on with the next one. Publishers do not want one-hit wonders they want people who can write consistently and successfully.

Word to the wise: I have a friend who writes literary crime fiction. He spent years writing Stephen King-style supernaturals and got nowhere (he kept 300 of his most interesting rejections), then stopped for ten years, then re-started writing in the new genre and was eventually a success. His wife told me she thought the first phone call from an interested agent was a wind-up.

The point is this: This is the third toughest industry to get into, the only tougher ones are TV and movie writing -- in that order.

(I have yet to read anything that was any good. It's very depressing.)

Answer 3

You refer to it as a "story". I assume you mean short story. You don't just send a single short story to a publisher. They do not publish single stories.

There are basically 4 ways to sell short stories. To magazines, to e books, to anthologies and in contests.

In the first three ways you will find that pay for a story ranges from 5 bucks to about 25 bucks or between 1 and 5 cents a word. The reason for doing anthologies isn't to get rich, it is to get your name out there. Some pay nothing more than a copule copies of the book you're in.

Of course magazines like Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, GQ etc. pay a great deal more. However, they primarily deal with major authors and they hire them to write specific stories. Very rarely do major magazines accept a pitch from an unknown and tell them to go ahead with it.

As for contests, there are a few legit ones. Check with Absolute Write Water Cooler Bewares and Background Checks and Preditors and Editors. There are contests that pay 1,000 like Glimmer Train but they are very very hard to win. They are almost impossible to even sell a story to. Glimmer Train also charges a 35 dollar fee every time you enter a story.

Sorry but you will not be making thousands or even hundreds selling your stories. PJ M - a regular contributor here is a fairly well known anthology contributor. I have known him for several years now. I don't think he has ever gotten more than 50 bucks and a couple copies for a story. But it does get his name out there for the benefit of his longer works.

Hope that helps. Pax - C

Answer 4

Send it off! Find a publishing company (not self-publishing, they're usually scams), find out what they want (it's different for everyone), send it too them, and wait. When you get rejected, send it off again. And again. And again. Work on your next story while trying to get your first one published.

Answer 5

Publish it?
I think anjelniki is in a bad mood this morning. BUT don't cut it down to "Once upon a time the end", either.

Answer 6

Next step is to throw the story away.Because if you edited twice means there wont be any story to read.