Hello,

This is my first post here , and I am in bit of dilema trying to decide how best to utilise my writings.

For the most part my writings are poetry and short stories .

The response with others has been flattering although I admit none of them are experts they are all form different backgrounds which tells me that what I've done might hold some universal appeal.

From this standpoint then if I wanted to aim as high as I can to get poetry / short storie seen by the biggest audience and not get taken for a ride by an agent what should I do ?

Do I need to find some sort of gimmick or if its good enough will that work alone ?


thanks

balli

Hi, Balli, and welcome to WW.

You won't be taken on by an agent if you write poetry and/or short fiction. There's not enough money in it for them, and the major publishers won't be interested, so agents aren't either. Small and regional publishers just might - Comma Press in Manchester, Seren in Wales - but even so they'll be unlikely to look at you hard unless you've had success in competitions and magazines. Even the very rare writer whose first published book is a short story or poetry collection has a long track-record of this sort.

So the usual route to finding a wider audience for your work is through competitions and small magazines. For small magazines the best place to look is the Writers and Artists' Year Book (aka WAYB) or The Writers Handbook, which will be in your library. MsLexia magazine has excellent listings for competitions as well as publishing work itself, and there are other writing magazines too. Most mags will give their submission guidelines there or on their websites. There are online ezine equivalents of most, too: money's rare, and they vary a lot, but it's another way to get your work out there. Be aware that once your work's 'published' in this way it may not be eligible for competitions

There are dubious or even scammy operations: the main things to look for are that a magazine doesn't charge for you to submit, and in competitions the entry fee is small and the prize respectable: publication and a free copy or five is fine, a hundred-pounds-and-publication is even better, but having to buy copies of the anthology you appear in is dubious (though if it will give your mother a thrill to see it there, you might think it's worth it). Also, respectable mags are inundated with submissions: anything which writes to you unsolicited, tells you your work's wonderful and asks to publish your work is almost certainly a scam. A site search here on 'poetry competitions' or whatever should throw up some good forum threads discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly, though we can't post very negative things about named individual organisations, so you may have to do some private WWmailing if you see some names have been edited out.

There's a lot more expertise around on WW about this stuff - I'm a novelist and have limited experience of it all. Do nose around the site, ask questions, and if you want feedback on your work, the best way is to join a group.

Enjoy!

Emma

Hi Balli

I am a short story writer, and like you had to make the decision a couple of years ago... how to get work 'out there'.

All the advice above is really good, and there's not much I can add, except to ask what type of short stories you write?

For all types there are many ezines seeking work, and that is one way to get your work published, and read (although they are very varied in quality... it's worth doing a lot of research before submitting)... and a good way to begin building a CV. Some pay. Some don't.

Many people do not rate ezines as a viable place to start out... but there are some that are very hard to get into, which mean something on a CV.

there again, there are those which mean very little.

There are competitions, small and large, regional and national. Small presses too. (I help to edit one... and again, they vary in quality... you need to do research.I submitted to a print magazine a while back, and when I got my contributors copy was appalled at the standard of writing. ...)

Having been through this loop, Im happy to share my experiences if they are of interest. Do ask questions.

good luck with the writing!


vanessa

Thanks for both you answers..

I was sort of expecting as much which why I've been in a dilmea.

It maybe my poems would work better if combined with something else like photography or a landscape of sorts that ties in with its theme .

One thing that came to mind was those inspirational quote / dramatic pictures you see.


Something else I thought of too was Childrens stories given they are short any way and that my stories sounds similiar to Edward Gorey or Dr Seuss in the most cases.

I cant remember exactly what the correct term is but basically a story in poetic form.

It seems from what you say I'd almost be as well trying to self publish promote it myself in bookstores etc.

Say getting 20 or so copies printed and seeing what happens .

Just one thing about your work being protected , if you post it on blog ( privately ) as I have done to friends and to store it , can that count the same way as if you mailed it to yourself for copyright purposes ?

thanks again

balli



<Added>

Actually the ezines would be very useful , given my lack of resume .

You see my health is quite comprimised in fact the way things are going the chances are Im going to be crutches till I die, which leads me to something else Id like to ask perhaps in another post .

balli

<Added>

Actually the ezines would be very useful , given my lack of resume .

You see my health is quite comprimised in fact the way things are going the chances are Im going to be crutches till I die, which leads me to something else Id like to ask perhaps in another post .

balli