Unsolicited Submissions

Unless you personally know the editor of a literary magazine (lucky you!), you’re probably sending what’s called an unsolicited submission. All that means is, you weren’t asked to send in your work. Instead, you’re submitting your work for some sort of general call for writing.

The thing about unsolicited submissions is that there are so, so many submissions. Truly, so many. So the competition can feel kind of overwhelming! And until you get established enough to have editors request work from you directly, you’re fighting it out for attention among thousands of other writers.

I’m not saying this to discourage you at all. If anything, I hope you find this to be slightly encouraging, like I do. Lit mags get way more good writing than they can publish, which means that a lot of good writing gets rejected. So as you embark on this journey, keep in mind that due to the volume of submissions these literary magazines receive, a rejection is not really a statement on the quality of your writing.

Submitting to lit mags is an arduous process of hundreds of rejections to one acceptance. As those rejections start to roll in, remember that you are one of many, many writers experiencing this. Always remember that you are not alone in this. At the very least, I’m here doing it with you! And honestly, it’s scarier than it sounds. The more rejections you get, the more you learn to take them in stride--it’s not about the rejections, really. You’re just biding time until you get that acceptance.

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