Setting a rejection goal is brilliant! I'm not a short story author, but that is a perfect take-away for any writer submitting anywhere. Thank you!

"more than you ever wanted to know" this girl underestimating us

@AxleBoost

4 жыл бұрын

“You underestimate my power”

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

27 EnTIre mInUtEs tho

@IloveItachiandGaaru

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites it's a good start, i'll give you that

@emilianomaddox2786

3 жыл бұрын

I know it is quite off topic but does anyone know a good place to stream newly released tv shows online ?

@jasiahemilio7486

3 жыл бұрын

@Emiliano Maddox Lately I have been using FlixZone. Just google for it :)

Another video? We have been blessed by the Shaelin Gods

Here’s my take on rejection letters letters. It’s better than getting no reply, or having to wait three months to get your copy back. Especially if you have included return postage. I understand that magazines may be looking for, say, five stories, and have 100 submissions to read. The odds speak for themselves. If you want to sell your work; make your MS as clean as you can get it. That was the advice given to me. A nice video by the way.

When I did creative writing, I volunteered at one of the high tier literary magazines. They were getting 400 submissions a week. By the time I left, I'd slush read 1,000 stories and only gave out one nice rejection. There's a lot of competition, but like you said, building a magazine issue isn't necessarily about just taking the best work, it's about seeing how the different pieces work together. When a new slush reader would say they were worried about rejecting a great piece, the answer was usually that we were getting amazing submissions all the time. Finding enough great material to fill a magazine wasn't really a problem. It was about selecting the pieces that worked together. And submissions often come in waves, so if you were submitting, say, literary selkie stories... we had probably a hundred amazing selkie stories submitted. Sometimes, everyone has the same great idea at once. No two stories were alike, most were great reads, I don't know if we accepted any. I'm still getting mid-tier magazine publications, but I'm pushing to break into the high tier.

@boricuamom87

2 жыл бұрын

What is your thoughts for writers?

@harryturnbull1884

11 ай бұрын

wow that's depressing.

@ValeVin

11 ай бұрын

@@boricuamom87 I realize this is a very late reply, but the #1 advice of "keep writing" is still pretty good, since if you do nothing else, your writing will keep improving. You'll learn the lessons you need to learn through writing, but you might learn them slower. Advice #2, specifically for short stories, is to fall into a habit of sending them to the top tier magazines, then when they get rejected, send them down to the next. This helps you figure out where your writing is at. It feels like buying a lottery ticket if you don't know where you can sell. Once you figure out where you're selling, you'll see yourself moving up to higher tier magazines. If you just tried to sell to a top tier magazine and got rejected, you may never see yourself improving. Whereas if you know you're selling regularly to low tier magazines and suddenly a new story sells to the bottom of mid tier, you can see you're moving up. (Getting nice rejections also helps you see where you're about to break into, though it can be hard to know what a nice rejection is. For some magazines, it's the same form rejection but they use your name at the top.) Advice #3, there's a lot of problems with writing workshops and I won't deny them, but I did come across some stories that were 90% well-written and the last 10% were issues that any workshop would have been able to spot. You need to take any writing advice with a grain of salt and always assume it's "this is what worked for that person, but it may not work for me or anyone else." It also helps to know grammar, but even that's misleading. In the US, middle and high schools use a very weird style that's restrictive and awkward compared to what you're reading in published novels and short stories. Something like "The Best Punctuation Book, Period." is a good start since it'll talk about what's literary style, journalism, academic, etc. Also, know lie vs. lay, don't switch tenses, know how to do dialogue well, be careful of headhopping (changing PoV within a scene, assume everyone's default is to assume it's a mistake so if you do it, you need to do it very well). Perhaps the biggest thing for specifically literary fiction stories is to be aware of your use of language. You can keep the language pretty basic and succeed, just look to the success of works in translation like Wind-up Bird Chronicle. You can also write the most amazing, beautiful prose. But literary fiction is vicious if you use a word that doesn't fit. Imagine a +1 bonus for using a fancy word correctly where it fits and a -10 penalty for using a fancy word in a way that feels out of place even if it's not incorrect. Something like plethora is a good example here for a word that means "too many" but often gets used for "a lot" in contexts where it draws bad attention to itself even when it's not wrong. Nonplussed often gets used wrong by people who want to sound fancy but think it means unfazed and not "stunned and stupefied." My advice here isn't to avoid using fancy words. I love that literary fiction has the highest tolerance for vocabulary of any genre, and I think you should feel free to experiment and learn. But when editing your short stories before submitting them to publications, that's when to ask yourself if those things work. This has gotten long =] "Keep writing, keep learning, keep submitting" probably should have been shorter, right?

Drink everytime Shaelin says "The New Yorker"

Thank you Shaelin. I recently got 2 short stories rejected and felt rather sorry for myself, but I feel much better and encouraged now :)

Short stories, for me, are the best way to fall on to when i am tired of my novel. They also help me test ideas on it in stead of your novel. It takes less time. I love them.😍😍😍😍 And i love your advices and videos, too. 😍😍😍😍

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

Same!! Taking a break from my novel to write a short story gives me such a boost of writing energy

@jenhugheswriting2189

3 жыл бұрын

I'm working on two collections, and I'm taking that opportunity to do a bit of worldbuilding for the novels I've put on hold. Like last night I fast drafted a story from the perspective of the protagonist's brother to aid in his characterisation. He's a pretty important part of the novel, so it was really helpful, even if I never submit it anywhere.

ooo look at shaelin wearing yellow today

14:41 For a second I thought she meant "tears". Honestly either works

I love that you are so young and so knowledgeable, first video of yours ive seen and its spot on what i was looking for

Once again - Great stuff! Thanks for all the trouble you go to making videos.

This is such an amazing informational video, thank you!! I'm about to submit to a couple of contests, and your encouragement has really helped. I love hearing what you have to say!

Fantastic video Shaelin! Exactly what i needed!

This was so informative and motivating! THANK YOU SO MUCH, SHAELIN!

Can’t stop binge watching these videos- they’re fantastic!

I'm just about to start actually submitting for the first time! Why did this video come at the perfect time???? 👏🏻😍

These are great tips. Thank you for posting.

Extremely helpful. Thank you!

This has been very helpful. Thank you!

Nice scoops - thanks! That’s clever with the tiers. Very helpful info.

hey, I know you made this video awhile ago but I just wanted to say that I found it super informative and helpful! You rock, thanks for making all this awesome content

I just started, but as you said going to work hard for the rejections and pay for some of them, too! Last night I did begin my first short story and got done with 85% of it about 4:30 a.m. then, proceeded to edit today. Taking a break from it and going to do some more revising later. I have also been binge watching your videos, getting a lot of help and pointers, and for that I thank you!!! Keep up the great work!

Even tho this is from 2019 Shaelin this is sooo helpful!! I fell out of short story writing for awhile working on novels, but now I’m back and ready to let out all the crazy stories!!! Happy writing to everyone no matter what you write!

Me, one half hour ago: I wish someone would talk me thru how to submit this short story. Shaelin: As u wish. :::::::::many thanks!

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

my psychic powers

@galaxylucia1898

4 жыл бұрын

SAME! :-)

As always, thanks for sharing what you know :)

A very informative video. Thank you for the tips!

This video is so helpful! I wish I had come across this before I submitted a few short stories through submittable. My fav parts were the rejection and staying confident part of the video because publishing a short story might as well feel like winning a Guinness record. I feel more informed and motivated to submit my stories now.

thank you for the guide! it only recently occured to me to publish my short stories and poems, i was always holding out for that book i was Definitely going to write one day (long stories are just not really my style tbh!). i'm only now researching how to go about it, and digitalizing and sifting through my hundreds of loose papers of short stories that came together over the years :D

Shaelin!! I finally got around to reading your story in The Puritan, and oh my god sis??? You had me on EDGE. Seriously, you're giving Samanta Schweblin a run for her money on my top short-stories of all time list.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

Ahhh thank you!! I'm so happy you enjoyed it!

Very helpful. Thanks! So much effort!

The rotation strategy is indeed very clever!

QUEEN thank u for this

Great content! Thank you for your insight.

@itsrando3923

4 жыл бұрын

im also from vancouver!

Thank you so much for this video! I didn't learn a lot of anything new that I didn't already know, but it was nice to see my knowledge verified by you. I love Submittable! I've had my first work published on an e-zine just recently, because of Submittable.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

congrats on your publication, that's so cool!

@readknitwithcheryl

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites Thank you!! By the way, I love watching your videos. They always get me wanting to write more. I appreciate that, so thank you.

Wow, I didn't know there was so much to know, thanks! 🙌

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

glad it helped!

Thanks Shaelin - plus, you reminded me to check my submittable account and I found a couple of stories lost in 'the great laptop mistake of 2019' :)

You’re dope. Thank you ✊🏾

Well done, young Lady. Well done!!!

I’m only doing early research right now (getting back into writing after a 2-3 year slump) and I am SAVING this for sure! Also, gonna order a book of the top short stories XD

Thank you SO much! I've been working really hard lately on short stories and of course I'm am dreaming of the day they're ready to be rejected!!! xD

Recently got to see your video "writing novel with multiple storyline". I am here to cordially thank you for your enlightening tips on the same.

THANKS!

Shaelin in wicked for the first time :)

I think it's very common for the first reader to see your cover letter before they read your work. I don't know about everywhere, but I've worked for three lit mags in reader or editor (at mags without readers) capacities and always seen the cover letters. I think reading blind is significantly less common than the alternative, at least outside of contests (at all three mags, contests are always done blind). Particularly because a lot of magazines these days are making concentrated efforts towards diversity and pay attention to identity and background during the selection process.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

That's very good to know! I'd been told a few times that the cover letters were often not seen by the first readers, or not a huge factor, but it's great to hear from someone who has actually been on the other side and actually knows what's up.

THANK YOU.

Earlier this year, I was working on getting more of my poetry published and received a lot of rejections. (Or at least it feels that way) Granted, I'm aiming to submit enough times to get 100 rejection but still. This video is really useful of things to consider when I get back to the challenge once Ive finished my coursework.

I had no idea about “stealth” publishing. I have some strong pieces published in campus magazines and other low-access publications, and I thought I couldn’t publish them elsewhere but maybe I’ll try now.

I'm just starting to submit to lit magazines and this info is so good to know. I'm curious to know about the benefits of being published in a lit mag and how it can affect your writing career.

I was also a Poetry Editor for my university's undergrad lit mag, so I've seen my fair share of submissions that didn't follow guidelines or were confusing to read due to crazy typography or formatting that didn't make any sense for the piece itself. Those got immediate NO's, along with pieces that were just plain bad.

I love it when you ramble. Remember, you are talking about our favorite subject. :)

Hey, wish me luck. I submitted a short story to a local lit mag two weeks ago. We’re expected to hear back next month, and I hope I get in! I think I have a good chance since I’m local, but the writing community here is also rather large, so who knows?

I'm planning on submitting a short story that I'm working on rn after I finish it.

Just discovered your videos. I saw this kid on Reedsy, a video channel I'd never seen before, where this girl who looked like she wasn't old enough to drive was talking at 100 words a minute giving solid gold writing information. I had to look up who this was. The only hint I had was at video start, she said with a wave, "Hi, I'm Shaelin." After looking up "Shaylynne" and other variations, I eventually found this blogger on Tumblr who unloaded in a frustrated viral stream on a subject previously unknown to me, Male Writers TM. I am forewarned. :) Anyway, you are very smart, extraordinarily well informed, obviously love this writing thing, and I'm glad to finally find your video channel to follow and hear what you have to say.

This is pretty standard for poetry submissions too. I'm particular about where I submit, so usually to 1 or 2 lit mags for that year and that cater towards writers of color. But this is also cuz I wade through my slush pile for those 3-5 publishable pieces. Most of what I've sent out &/or published I've tinkered with for 2-4yrs. prior to submitting. I don't do simultaneous submissions either, but that's cuz I'm usually dead set on which pieces I want for which lit mag (if that makes sense). I'd love to start submitting short fiction while I'm on my poetry hiatus. I've only ever done 1 short fic sub and got rejected, but it was clearly a weak story.

Wow, literally just finished my first short story tonight. Thanks for this.

Can I send to multiple contests/ magazines?

Thank you. All the clever, or I thought vainly, stories were rejected. The only one that made it through was a short story about a picture coloring itself. Okay. I'm not sure what to think about the event. I guess I thought it dumb and boring. I put a lot of effort into some of my stories, and the one published took me ten minutes to write and thirty minutes to paint. Luckily it was a children's magazine, so the picture wasn't perfect. It looked like a kindergartener did it. I think the universe teases us.

Hi Shaelin! I am a huge fan of your work and your writing videos have really helped boost my writing. I currently live and work in Lahore, Pakistan, and would like to know if you have any advice for sending short stories to international magazines? Thanks a lot!

@ShaelinWrites

3 жыл бұрын

I wish I did, unfortunately I don't really know anything about submitting internationally since I don't have any experience with it!

@nightingaleartist3057

3 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites Thanks a lot anyway!

How about if one of your short stories have been included in an anthology in an online writing platform? That still counts as being previously published or not?

Do you count the title's words in total word count? I have newbie questions sorry.

YES TO GARAMOND!!!! i only wish Spectral was a standard font

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

Garamond is The Best font and that is an opinion I will fight for

@bigphilly7345

4 жыл бұрын

ShaelinWrites I’ve always heard you must use times new Roman or courier new.

hey, shae! love the video, super insightful as i've been considering submitting soon. but i have a kind of particular question and i honestly dont know if this even matters but - is it advised to submit under an alias? my creative alias is "Mo Nic," (obviously not my real name) and i plan on publishing novels under this alias in the future, so I was wondering if i should submit my short fiction to magazines under this name as well or would editors prefer my full name? thanks! x

@ShaelinWrites

3 жыл бұрын

You should probably submit under your name (since it'll be used to draw up a contract if they accept you), and you can tell the editors you'd like to be published under a different name!

Congratulations on your acceptance!! Do you know if it will be available to read online when it comes out? Or only in print? I love your rolling submission strategy! I've been meaning to submit to more magazines, but every time I felt discouraged by the long turnaround times, and having to wait to hear back from several publications before submitting that story again. Definitely going to give it a try! Also, I'm curious what your thoughts are about putting a short sentence in your cover letter that shows you've done your research on the magazine. Something like: "I enjoyed _____ story in your Spring issue." Or something along those lines. I've seen a couple of people give this advice, and I wonder what your thoughts are.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! It's just a print magazine, so not unline unfortunately. I've never done it myself, and haven't been advised to do it by editors or professors, but I have heard it every so often? I'm afraid I can't give super solid advice on that one since I'm not sure what's considered best practice.

What is the title of the resource for places to publish mentioned in the video. The audio is hard to understand.

@ShaelinWrites

5 ай бұрын

All the resources mentioned are linked in the description!

Perfect timing I've just finished my short story

Could you help me out? Wondering how I can I tell if a piece of writing is good enough to publish or whether I'm wasting my time with it. There are a couple flash pieces I wrote for college. The first, my professor said "This is most definitely publishable, in the right magazine." The second was for another professor and was light on plot, almost more of a prose poetry piece, but he said: "Damn, man. This is some stunningly good writing, it's so refreshing to . . . . All I can say is keep stretching your arms further." He also wondered whether I've tried writing longer pieces, but those don't come so naturally to me yet. Should I trust my professors here? How can I tell if any particular piece is worth my time trying to publish?

@ShaelinWrites

11 ай бұрын

I think if you *want* to try and publish the stories then that's the most important thing. Sounds like you've got some really positive feedback, so if you feel confident and excited at the thought of publishing the piece, then go for it. If it doesn't pan out, you can go back and rework the piece, but if you feel it's done and want to share it, then go for it

Woohoo! Happy Friday the 13th! Update: Just set my 2020 Submission goals, which drives my writing production goals. I'm not a stranger to rejection. If I get 50-100 rejections, that means I've done the work. @shaelinwrites Thank you for telling us about Submissable! I just signed up and I'm so excited. I am a bit confused by the submission strategy you outlined when you talked about contests submissions. I'll listen to this again, but I was lost when you said that you can submit works to contests that you already submitted. Anyhoo, thanks for the vid. Love them as always. I've been out of the game due to family issues for most of the year, but i'm back and hella excited.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

Good luck with your years submission! I might have misspoke or you might have misunderstood something, so to clarify: if you have submitted a work to a contest, you can't submit it anywhere else while the contest is reviewing it. So, I try to submit each story to only one or two magazines at a time.I might submit one story to a contest in there, whereas if you were to submit a story to five magazines, you couldn't submit it to any contests. Basically I just like to keep my options open!

@galaxylucia1898

11 ай бұрын

@@ShaelinWritesgreat tip. Thank you for clarifying!!!

❤️❤️

Hey Shaelin, I was surprised you didn't mention Duotrope and the Submission Grinder in your "where to find where to submit" section. I figured you *must* be familiar with them (did they not discuss them in your writing program?), but just in case, a little info: They're websites with databases of pretty much all the literary markets out there (on the order of 7,000 to 10,000 or so) and tons of detailed info including submission requirements, styles, open dates, stats on acceptance rates, interviews with editors, etc. They are searchable by all sorts of features (genre, word count, payment, etc.), allow submission tracking and reporting, and are pretty much the go-to place for submission info. Duotrope is now paid to access all their features (~$5/month) while the Grinder is free, but Duotrope still has a wealth of free content and generally better stats. Maybe someone else mentioned them in the contents (not sure), but here are the links just in case: duotrope.com/ thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/

@Barpoint212

Жыл бұрын

Yes! Duotrope and the Grinder are indispensable. Duotrope's fee of $5 per month is very reasonable, and I agree their stats are better. I track all my submissions on both sites.

If I write a short story that branches off my novel, and I self publish the novel. Would my short story be noticed more, as well as my novel?

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

not necessarily. Short stories don't usually have a huge readership so it's not likely to really send many readers to your novel or have many readers of the novel then want to hunt down the story. However, having it as bonus content on your website is a fun extra for fans of your book, or maybe something available through your newsletter or as a giveaway prize could be fun too. You might have more crossover or cross promotion if the story were available as part of a short story collection you published, but if it were just in a journal or something, it probably won't convert to many readers for your novel.

@sovietta133

4 жыл бұрын

ShaelinWrites thank you for your time and answer. Love your videos 🤞🏻

If you’re submitting different stories to the same publisher, how long should you typically wait in between submissions? Thank you for this video, it’s been incredibly insightful

@ShaelinWrites

3 жыл бұрын

It actually depends on the magazine, but they'll say in their guidelines. Some will say you can only submit once per year, others will ask you to wait a certain number of months before submitted again. If they don't have any guidelines for that, you can submit again right away!

@masonkiser

3 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites thank you so much for the response and again for the fantastic content

So...does anyone know any magazines that accept fantasy short stories? I know a couple magazines for thrillers and romance but I have no idea when it comes to fantasy or even syfy.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

This isn't my niche so I don't know any specifically, but to my knowledge there are many magazines out there publishing fantasy and sci-fi! A quick google search should give you the answers you seek :)

@huiajackson2040

4 жыл бұрын

There's a magazine called Beneath Ceaseless Skies which publishes Fantasy short stories - and it always gives personalised feedback, so that's a good place to start.

@charcoalangel7536

4 жыл бұрын

@@huiajackson2040 Thanks so much!

Garamond rules!

Is Simultaneous submission okay. U know, for any future copyright issues (after I ask the others to close my piece).

@ShaelinWrites

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, it's fine unless a magazine specifies they don't want them. Simultaneous submissions don't affect the copyright in any way, it just means multiple magazines are considering the piece at the same time.

I know it's silly but I have another question. How do you title your Submissions?

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

Just title it whatever the title of the piece is! If you're submitting multiple pieces you can list them, or put something like "Poetry Submission"

I got a rejection from the New Yorker a few weeks ago. I sent it kind of as a joke because I knew about the less than 1% chance of acceptance rate but I was wondering what tier the rejection fell into if they wrote, "We regret that we are unable to use the enclosed material. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your work." To me, that seems like a nice rejection, all things considered, but it was only two sentences long and not personalized. It's still hard for me to tell what's good or bad as I'm new to the submitting game. Let me know what you think! Should I revise and resubmit? Jk, I know that's not how it works.

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

The New Yorker (to my knowledge) basically never publishes from the slush pile. I've heard that they haven't published from the slush pile in decades, actually, though I can't confirm if that's true. Unfortunately I'd say that that rejection is probably their form rejection (since it sounds like most form rejections I've seen), not a higher tier rejection, but I'm not sure they even have rejection tiers. The New Yorker is such a large magazine that they probably send the same rejection to basically everyone since they wouldn't have time to do any kind of personalized feedback. But it definitely doesn't mean anything negative about the story to be rejected by them, since their acceptance rate is so low and they almost exclusively work with authors they know or agented authors. I'd say much much lower than 1% even, I've seen the figure 0.000025% before haha.

@zero15388

4 жыл бұрын

Rejection wiki

Can I sell a stand alone chapter from an novella and still retain rights to my entire work?

Are those higher tier (not personalised) rejections really common? Because I've had a lot of those !

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

It really depends on the magazine! Some magazines give more personalized rejections, some as a policy don't since they don't have time.

@zero15388

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites I'll take it as a positive (that's what I'll keep telling myself anyway 😅)

What about poetry submissions? I know you haven't submitted your poetries anywhere but is the content similar?

@ShaelinWrites

4 жыл бұрын

This is all pretty much the same for poetry!

@rev6215

4 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites Thank you very much! I read both of your stories in Puritan and they was both very, very good.

Thanks so much. Very useful and informative. PS The jerky editing is off putting.

Can you submit from the uk?

@ShaelinWrites

6 ай бұрын

Most magazines accept international submissions, just check the mag's submission guidelines to make sure! You can also look for UK magazines.

@RaEmpress11

6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! And congratulations to you

"People are lazy" with mail-in-submissions. In German-speaking literature (where I'm at), about 70% of publishers expect you to submit per snail mail. That's right. They don't even accept email submissions! Which is sad for various reasons. Also, I frequently admire how big a market you guys have for short stories - there are only a handful of German lit mags & most of them are pretty elitist, so I usually don't even know what to do with my shorts...

@Vickynger

4 жыл бұрын

yep, i dont think theres even a lit mag in germany that accepts genre fiction...

@vanessaglau1797

4 жыл бұрын

@@Vickynger Well, there's Tor Online, but obviously that's online & not purely a lit mag, so yeah...

It’s been my pleasure to have been rejected by the New Yorker more than once. 🤣🤣🤣 Also, there’s nothing wrong with touting you University publications or even god forbid being an American writer. Great video though, cheers.

Damn I saw your face on my feed and got excited but I have no interest in publishing short stories :( I'll leave a like anyway!

In Italy is so different, seems a parallel world ahaha

@ShaelinWrites

3 жыл бұрын

Mind if I ask how submissions work in Italy? Now I'm curious!

@leonardomenegola8409

3 жыл бұрын

@@ShaelinWrites First of all I never heard of Submittable and I think nobody uses similar platforms, sadly. Then you have to consider that we don't have so many magazines and the majority of them are free, so you don't even think about being paid and writers usually, if they can, e-mail directly the editor, not the magazine. That being said, I don't know how to describe you more differences, but during the video I thought planty of times "Oh, you can't do it here" or "What she is talking about?" ahahah. And I have the feeling that here every magazine, in order to attract people and live, have to be extremely artistic; like a poetry magazine that came out in matchboxes with the poems wrapped around the matches.

I'm a simple man, you think someone would be cool with pencil on paper?

Garamond has the lousiest italic ever #sorryNotsorry

Pity you are so nervous and the machine gun babble is incomprehensible