Finding Your Readers

by Waverly Fitzgerald
Winter 2008

Writing is an act of communication and without an audience, the act is only half complete. Yet writers often fail to complete this cycle. I know I’m guilty of this.
 
Do any of these apply to you? They all describe me.

The Word Hoarder: You have complete articles, poems, maybe even books which have never been sent out

The Perfectionist: You’re still revising and will send your work out once it’s perfect

Need To Think About It: You received feedback on your work from an editor or your writing group, then filed the writing away uncertain how to proceed

Rejection Phobic: You received one or more rejections and have decided to shelve that piece of writing

The submission process can be daunting. It involves acts that seem unnatural to the introverted types who usually become writers, acts like promoting your self, talking to strangers, having confidence in the value of your work, and accepting feedback without taking it personally. It also involves tedious and uncreative tasks, like researching markets, making phone calls, photocopying manuscripts, addressing envelopes, and maintaining records of submissions and responses.
 
Many years ago, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association published the following statistic: Forty percent of writers give up after the first rejection. About 10% resubmit over 40 times. And 80% of sales are made after the fifth try. Of course, we all know writers who got lucky with one submission. On the other end of the spectrum are the famous authors, like James Lee Burke who submitted his fourth novel (the first of a string of successful crime novels) 111 times.
 
If perseverance leads to success in writing, then sometimes writers who are more persistent get published when better writers do not. Next time you find yourself saying: “Why was this inferior piece of writing published when my work is so much better?” ask yourself: “How many times did I submit my work? Did I ever submit to this magazine or publisher?”
 
I had a sobering experience of this during the past year. I had written an essay on the names of plants early in the year and was encouraged to submit it by my writing group, my writing teacher, people who heard me read it at a Hugo House student reading, and Wendy Call, the Hugo House writer-in-residence. It took until August before I got serious about submission and went through all the magazines at a newsstand. I identified 12 potential markets, researched their submission guidelines and finally narrowed it down to two. My favorite was Orion; in fact, I was so impressed by the issue I bought that I subscribed. Their submission guidelines suggested I read several issues. While reading my second issue, I discovered the topic of their next issue: Names. I was totally frustrated and mad at myself for procrastinating about submission since having submitted a topical piece was probably the only way I could get published in a magazine of that caliber.
 
I’ve been inspired in my focus on submissions by Priscilla Long. In her class on Becoming a More Effective Creator, Priscilla asked us to make a list of everything we had ever written. In her opinion, every piece belonged in one of three categories: in progress, being submitted or published. Priscilla also inspired me with her personal goal for last year, which was to send out a piece every day. She sometimes skipped days, but would then “catch up” by mailing multiple queries on other days.
 
While rejection can be crushing when you’ve only sent your writing to one place, setting a quota or a goal, as Priscilla does, can help make it feel more like a game. When a piece comes back rejected, it simply goes back into the mail to the next name on the list.
 
Of course, the traditional query process is not the only way that writers find readers. Readings are a great way to connect with an audience, receive good feedback and get your name and material out in the world where interested parties can find it.
 
The Internet opens up even more possibilities, connecting you to an international audience. Blogs offer immediate publication and immediate feedback. Publication in online journals and magazines can also give you access to a large audience, which includes many editors and agents. Stephanie Kallos, local author of the wonderful novel, Broken for You, was discovered by an agent who read her short story in an online journal.
 
Just as I’ve found having a list of topics (for my blog), topic sentences (for articles) and scenes (for my novel) helps jump start me when I sit down for my fifteen minutes of writing every day. I also have begun a list (which I keep in my calendar) of places to submit. I include many different kinds of marketing activities. Getting my Slow Time book listed on Amazon is one. Submitting a query for an article to a web zine is another. So is sending a query to a publisher about my French Republican calendar. My New Year’s Resolution for this year is to check off one item on this list every week.
 
Sometimes doing so can be surprisingly easy. The first week of the year, I reviewed the publication guidelines for a small publisher that publishes holiday books. The address for submission was easily accessible online. I wrote a quick query letter, included a copy of my self-published version of the complete book I was suggesting they publish, and sent it off in the mail. Total time elapsed: maybe a half hour. If I had known it was this easy, I would have been doing this all along.

Waverly Fitzgerald
Supporting you in meeting your writing goals
206.325.1452
waverly@waverlyfitzgerald.com

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More articles on writing by Waverly Fitzgerald:

Finding Your Readers

My Life as a Publisher

Getting the Most Out of Summer Writing Conferences

Networking for Writers

Imitation: Conscious and Unconscious

Talking as a Tool for Writers

Filling the Well

The Rejection Game

Time and the Writer

Writing Rituals

Writing the Summer Novel

The Rejection Game

Writing Heresy