Get Published at Every Day Fiction

If you want to get published, flash fiction is a great place to start. Don't be deceived though: writing a story in under a thousand words is not as easy as it sounds.

Every Day Fiction is an online magazine that publishes a new flash fiction story every day. Getting published in Every Day Fiction is a great way to develop an audience and build some publishing credits. At three dollars a story, you won't be able to quit your day job – but the point is to get your work published out in the real world.

Here's my strategy and guide for getting published in Every Day Fiction.

1. Read the Stories. If you want to get published in any publication, you need to be familiar with it. Read at least a dozen recent stories. These are the stories that the slush readers and the editors liked. Think about what these stories have in common. Make sure your story has this. Think about what makes the good ones stand out.


2. Read Comments and Make Comments. Like many online sites, readers are encouraged to make comments and rate the stories. Get a feel for what the readers like, and what the readers don't really like. The slush readers and editors will be reading the comments and tuning their radar accordingly, so you should too. Contributing comments is helpful for the authors, and gets you more involved in the online writing (and reading) community. Be professional and courteous in all your comments (especially if others are rude to you), and please don't make obvious grammatical and spelling errors. You're a writer now, and everyone is watching you.


3. Read "About the Staff". You don’t often get an opportunity like this. Go to the About the Staff page and read the mini bios about all the staff. This will give you some insight into the type of people that are running Every Day Fiction. Like it or not, the slush readers need to like your story before an editor even sees it. The editors need to like your story for it to get published. Look at your flash fiction piece and then ask yourself, "Will these people like this?" At this point you may choose to submit your story elsewhere, or even decide not to have anything to do with Every Day Fiction. That's fine: you don’t need to waste any more of your time, or theirs.


4. Read the Editors' Websites. The above point is a good start, but the mother-lode is at the websites of the executive and managing editors. These sites give not just a feel for what they like (and what they hate) - they go into details. Read their blogs for a bit, and you'll learn how to approach writing with a professional attitude, and how to improve as a writer. You'll learn about how to get published at Every Day Fiction.


5. Read the Writing Guidelines. You need to click on "Submit a story" to find this. Read it through, several times. While you're there, read about the submission process and all the terms and conditions. Don't skip through this stuff: it's important. Agreeing to these is a type of contract, and breaking the rules because you're too lazy to read it is stupid, and will ruin your relationships with the editors.


6. Write Your Story. Then edit it at least a week after writing it. Then proofread it. Twice. No, do it again. The shorter a written piece, the less tolerance there is for errors of any kind (especially if you don't yet have a working relationship with the slush readers and editors). This is less than a thousand words. Even a loss of brilliance in the last sentence is unforgivable. If your story is really short, please don't pad it up to a thousand words. At Every Day Fiction, they prefer them shorter. So if you can: make it shorter still.


7. Submit Your Story. Every Day Fiction have a very easy-to-use system for this. They use the OpenID system to log you on (I use my Google account). As usual, read everything carefully. Fill in the forms accurately and completely. The first time you log on you'll need to fill in a lot of personal details, including your bio. Keep your bio short and make sure you write about yourself in the third person. Mistakes in your bio may be human, but they make you look stupid: so proof-read.


8. Track Your Story This is where Every Day Fiction get's real slick. Each story is tracked with an ID number, when it was submitted, and its status. For example, I see right now that my first submission was submitted eight days ago, and is still in the slush pile. A bit sad, but at least I know.


9. Wait. What I really mean, is do something else. Write another story. Be patient with the review process, and use your time productively for other things. Do not, under any circumstances, contact Every Day Fiction before the 60 day review period is over. If you do, title your e-mail with, "Message from Idiot."


10. Contact. Hopefully, they e-mail you and tell you they'd love to publish your story. Perhaps they reject the story (see next point). If the 60 days pass with no answer, contact Every Day Fiction with a query that is polite, concise and professional. List the story title, ID number and word count, as well as when you submitted it.


11. Accept Rejection. Chances are, they don't want your story. (Chances are, they won't want mine). Get over it. Submit it somewhere else, or put it on your blog, or enter it in a writing competition. Whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, contact Every Day Fiction asking for an explanation, making any demands, or worse: making any insults. This is not only unprofessional; it shows that you're a goose. If you want to, submit another story. If you don't want to, don't.

If you want to get published, online literary journals specialising in flash fiction are a great place to start. Every Day Fiction makes the process easier with its clear editorial guidelines and online submission and submission tracking system. Use the experience to help you grow as a writer, and maintain professional behaviour in all your interactions. Persevere, and you will get published.