Building your Writer’s Résumé

Last week, I talked about there being times when a writer should consider working for free. This week I want to focus on how to start to submit short stories in an effort to building you résumé. If you decide at some time in your writing career that you would like to write a novel and see it published by a reputable publishing house, then building up some credits will be helpful. Getting published is always easier if you’ve already been published. It’s one of those irksome, Catch-22 things like it’s easier to get a job if you already have one. Or you need experience to work in XX industry, but you can’t get the experience unless you’re hired. You get the idea.

Now, if you don’t want to write short stories, and want to just get into writing a novel, you can do that. It’s just that much harder for your work to be accepted without some credits to your name. Even if you want to self-publish, that book is more likely to sell well if you have built up an audience by having stories published beforehand. I’m not saying you cannot succeed without having a list of smaller pieces, but it does help.

So, what do you do if you have zero credits, but you want to be taken seriously by the people to whom you submit your work?

Use Other Credits

If your story is about mountain climbing, for instance, you can mention in your cover letter that you have climbed various peaks, and how that experience led you to write this short story. If you aim your story at journals that focus on the outdoors and publish fiction, you have a decent shot at being accepted. The same is true if your story is about gardening, working in a library, or touring NASA. If it’s something you’ve actually done and turned into fiction, you should probably find a market for it, assuming the story is any good.

Say Nothing

About your credits, that is. Just introduce the story, and explain why you chose that market. For instance, they recently published a story by Alice Munro, your favourite short story writer, so you hope they might like your story too. Saying you’re a regular reader will be appreciated, especially if you can be specific about it. “I love the short story feature, but I miss the Tales from Around the World you used to have…” This lets them know you’ve been a reader of their journal for a long time.

What you don’t want to do is to state up front that you’re a beginning writer or that this is the first thing you’ve written.

Be Original

Don’t copy anyone. Your story is more likely to be accepted if it’s completely unique from anything else. Don’t be a follower, be a trend-setter.

Be Consistent

This advice is easier to give than it is to take. I like writing in a variety of genres and my stories cover a variety of different styles, mystery, literary, etc. However, it’s much harder to build an audience when you chop and change like that. People who read mysteries may not necessarily read science fiction, or romance, or whatever other style you like. That said, there’s no rule that says you can’t write a mystery with a Sci-Fi twist. The goal is to build up a number of readers who will not only buy your books, but will talk them up to their friends.

Be Professional

If you act in a professional manner it will go a long way to get you noticed. Why? Because, unfortunately, most new writers don’t bother with the niceties of professionalism. It may be because they’re too young to be aware of the concept, or because they believe creative people don’t have to bother with that sort of ‘silliness’. However, publishing is a business. It may be a tiny business run out of someone’s living room, or a multi-million pound / dollar / euro industry. Regardless, whoever reads your work will expect you to treat them in the same professional manner you should expect from them.

So, what do I mean by professional?

Spelling and Grammar

You wouldn’t, I hope, show up for an interview in dirty and torn clothes. You would shower, comb your hair, and make your self look presentable. Well, when you submit your writing it is your representative. If people cannot meet you in person, then your writing is all they have to judge you by. If your cover letter is badly written, poorly spelled, and generally just bad, then why should an editor expect any different from your story?

Neatness

When I started writing, all submissions had to be mailed. That meant coughing up money for a professional quality paper, buying self-return stamps or an International Reply Coupon (essential if you lived in a different country from the one where you were submitting), and carefully typing an immaculate letter.

These days, most submissions are accepted online. You select the journal, and attach your document to an email. Easy, right?

Well, no. Here, too, there are rules:

Format your document the way the publication requests. There are some variables, so always check.Don’t act chummy in your cover letter. Remember, be professional.If your email address is silly or rude, create a different one for the sake of presenting a professional image.Make sure they have the correct contact information to reach you.Courtesy

Make sure you correctly spell the name of the person you are emailing. Also, be sure you are selecting the right person on the team to send your manuscript. A managing editor may have little to do with selecting what items are published and which are not.

Don’t be in a hurry. Markets are notorious for taking a long time to reply. These days, many journals will send an automated response telling you they have received your MS, and they will get back to you in X number of days or months. Even then, I’d give them at least couple of weeks longer, maybe a month if it’s a very big company. And when you do ask for a status update, be polite and professional.

Appropriate Conduct

Being abusive is a sure way to get blacklisted. Don’t reply to a rejection with an insulting email or phone call. Yes, some people do this, I can’t think what they expect to accomplish.

Don’t be pushy. Leave the gushing to your mother. A cover letter swearing how you’ll make this person’s career if they publish you, or, Heaven forfend! offering a bribe are both shabby and apt to backfire badly. One agent said someone tried to bribe her to accept their novel by sending her a single dollar. Cheap as well as rude.

Don’t show up at the publisher or editor’s home or even their office demanding a hearing. You wouldn’t take kindly to someone doing it to you. Better accept a rejection politely, and keep alive the potential for a future acceptance, than have your name put on some ‘under no circumstances’ list.

Every writer has at some point made their first acceptance. There’s no reason why you should be any different. Be professional and savvy so your talent stands out, and not your bad manners. It will take time and patience, but soon you’ll have a list of credits that will impress any publisher.

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