Select Your Markets

• 1). Make a list of possible periodicals for submitting your work. Several good lists and databases of markets are available online (see resources).
  
  
• 2). Read a sample copy or excerpts on the magazine's website to ensure that your work is in line with its preferences. Cross off your list any periodical whose work is too dissimilar to your own.
  
  
• 3). Narrow down your list further by considering factors like reputation, readership and payment. When first starting out, focus on smaller markets, since they are more likely to accept your work.
  
  

Prepare Your Submissions

• 1). Visit the websites of the periodicals you've selected for guidelines. Make a note of any unusual requests.
  
  
• 2). Check your submission database (see Section 3) to make sure the magazine hasn't already seen the story you're considering sending.
  
  
• 3). Prepare your manuscript using standard manuscript format, unless guidelines specify otherwise. Fiction should be double-spaced with your name and contact information at the top of the first page; number all pages.
  
  
• 4). Write a brief cover letter. List your name and contact information at the top of the page. In the body of the letter, mention the title of your story. If it's a simultaneous submission, say so. If you're sending your submission via postal mail, mention if the manuscript is disposable. List three or fewer relevant publication credits, if you have any.
  
  
• 5). Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) if you're submitting through postal mail.
  
  
• 6). Paste your cover letter into the appropriate space in the periodical's online submission form, if you're submitting via the Internet, and attach only the file containing your story.
  
  
• 7). Cut and paste your cover letter into the body of an email if you're submitting via email, and attach only the file containing your story. Submit via email only if the periodical specifies in its guidelines that you may do so.
  
  

Record-keeping

• 1). Keep copies of everything you send out. Some magazines won't return copies, and the mail can be unreliable.
  
  
• 2). Create a database - either on your computer or in a notebook - to track the details of every submission you send out. At a minimum, include when and where the submission was sent, which title was submitted and how each market responded.
  
  
• 3). Enter your acceptances and rejections in your database as editors reply. If you practice simultaneous submissions, withdraw any accepted stories from consideration at the other markets to which you submitted them. If editors don't reply in their posted response time, send a query letter requesting the status of your submission, including a second SASE.