Tips for Submitting Nonfiction

First thing: Unless you have a portfolio of significantly published work, stop pitching to The Sun, Creative Nonfiction, and Brevity. Look at the ever-growing list of publications below for a more likely place to publish your work.

• Read the magazine to the point of determining how many pieces within a pub are commissioned.
• When you're reading other publications, read the bios of the writers you like and follow their publication paths. For example, many of those involved in the 2016 RiverTeeth Conference have been published in Hotel Amerika. So?
• Give your work substantial breathing room-- weeks or months-- and draft it until it "clicks."
• READ and research the lit mag first. Why? 

            It may cater to twenty-somethings or mature voices
            Maybe it's edgy but your work is traditional
            Maybe it's experimental but your work isn't
            Maybe it's long form but yours is flash
            Maybe it's just a practice in nepotism
            Maybe it's a nascent mag that has yet to grow
            Maybe it doesn't publicize itself
            Maybe it's closed up shop
            Maybe it's a travel mag and you write about food