Writing & Markets
Frederic Murray
Assistant Professor
MLIS, University of British Columbia
BA, Political Science, University of Iowa
Instructional Services Librarian
Al Harris Library
frederic.murray@swosu.edu
The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of
western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there."
Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside,
with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is
rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed
with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of
them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots
with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely
extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators
rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler
reaches them.
A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of
the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark,
and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the
world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the
spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns
brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. There are green belts
along the rivers and creeks, linear groves of hickory and pecan, willow
and witch hazel. At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage
seems almost to writhe in fire. Great green and yellow grasshoppers are
everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh, and
tortoises crawl about on the red earth, going nowhere in the plenty of
time. Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are
isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one
tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with
the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your
imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was
begun.
The Four Elements
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Good Writing
Knowledge of Writing Markets
Professionalism
Persistence
Major Concepts
• Polish your Work
• Study the Market
• Follow Submission Guidelines
Major Concepts
• Study a magazine’s guidelines
– Word Count, Manuscript Format, Dates
• Check a magazine’s website
– New Information, Opportunities
• Read several current issues of the
target
– Learn what the editors are publishing
– Learn what their readers are expecting
Query and Cover Letters
• Use a normal font
• Include your name, address, phone,
email, web site
• One inch margins
• Address a specific editor or agent
• Limit letter to one page single-space
• SASE
• Block paragraph (no indentations)
• Thank editor for considering query
• Follow up – Submission Guidelines
Manuscript Format
• Word Count
• Send Photocopies
• Mailing Manuscripts
– Under 5 pages fold into 3rds, and send
in #10 SASE
– 5 pages, unfolded in 9 x 12 SASE
– No Certified Mail-Amateur Hour
• Goal: Make the Manuscript
Readable
Submit Professionally
• Polite
• Formal
• Businesslike
• Be Aggressive
Remember….
– Write What You Want to Write
– Research…Research…Research…!
– Submit Tactically
– Get-and Stay-Organized
– Keep Writing (and Reading)
– Nurture Relationships
Fiction Markets
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Contests & Awards
Conferences
Small Presses
Consumer Magazines
Vanity/Self-Publishing
Contests & Awards
• Can Launch a successful career
• Most require a small submission fee: 10-15$
• Again, do the research
– Read the requirements carefully. Do you match the
guidelines? Are you qualified?
– Find out about the previous winners.
– Contact before submitting, a lot of small magazines
fold every year.
Conferences
• Workshops
– Feedback, Editorial Help, Publishing Tips
• Quiet beautiful places to work
• Networking Opportunities
– Meet other writers, agents, publishers
• Affords Discipline: Scheduled Writing Time
• SHAWGUIDE LISTING OF CONFERENCES
Small Presses
• Best Place to shop your short stories
• In lieu of payment, free copies
awarded
• Outside of Awards/Contests best
Market around
• If you don’t like what you find…Start
your own.
Consumer Magazines
• Esquire
• Atlantic Monthly
• Good Housekeeping
• Most do not accepted unagented
fiction submissions
Journals
• Poets & Writers
– Tools for Writers
– Speakeasy Message Forum
• The Writer
– Top 30 Markets
• World Literature Today
(Published by University of Oklahoma)
World Wide Web: Database
Duotropes Digest
Reference Books
• Literary Market Place (2011)
• Writers Market (2012)
• Children’s Writer’s Market (2010)
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Creating the Voice Contest: From November 2 to 30, students can enter
a narrative voice writing contest to be judged by Díaz himself. Young writers
are invited to submit pieces of 1000 words or fewer in response to one of three
prompts designed to inspire crafting a strong, specific narrative voice.
Questions?
• Contact me:
• Frederic Murray
• 774-7113
• frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Thanks!