by Smrithi Senthilnathan
If you’ve been around the writing community for a while, you would’ve heard of people submitting their pieces to literary magazines. You probably might have seen various magazines sprouting up with a 'call for submissions'.
What are these magazines?
A literary magazine is exactly what the name says it is: it is a magazine specifically for artists where they usually publish stories, poems and art. They exist to showcase art that would otherwise not be able to reach an audience. If not for lit mags, there would be almost no market for short stories, poetry and personal essays.
Welcome to our brand new magazine, Rewrite The Stars. You can check out our website for more details but in today’s blog post, I’ll be explaining why literary magazines are important.
Literary magazines (or lit mags, as they are widely known as) are a great way to put yourself out there. As a writer we usually tend to write for ourselves, friends and family, but if you want more people to read your work, literary magazines are the perfect place for that. And if you want to publish a novel in the future, a short story is a good beginning. It is the first indicator of your writing style is accepted by editors, and readers in general. Sometimes agents may also notice your short stories, and reach out to you based on your writing style. I definitely recommend trying to get your pieces published, if your ultimate goal is to publish a book.
Moreover literary magazines also stand out on your CV/resume. Literary magazines are usually quite selective and getting published in one is the mark of a flourishing writer. You get the experience of working with and learning from editors and other writers which will help you in your writing journey.
If you submit your pieces and get them published, it adds to your author profile and you can gain some traction in the writing industry. It also serves as a way to publicize your work, broaden your base, and attract potential readers for when you do publish a novel in the future. With each story you publish, more people will know your name and you can establish yourself.
And the most obvious reason to submit is that literary magazines boost your confidence. From personal experience I can tell you that seeing my story in print, my name in a magazine that people all around the world were reading was one of the best feelings ever. While our magazine is not print (yet), we hope to give aspiring writers and artists all around the world a similar feeling by publishing their pieces! We work very hard for each issue by polishing the graphics, curating the best designers, and making the piece as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
To summarize, lit mags are a way to:
Put yourself out there
Get over the fear and let others read your writing
Boost your resume
Adds to your author profile
Gain traction and boost your fanbase
Increase your confidence and validate your own work
At Rewrite The Stars Review, we value each and every submission we receive. We are all young writers who were once in your position, and understand the fear and hesitation that comes with submitting to a literary magazine. Thus, we will not ignore your piece or leave you hanging for days without a response. We aim to respond to all submissions within 2-4 weeks. We may choose to publish your work, or we will give you feedback on how to improve. By submitting to us, you ensure that you boost your writing journey - either by adding a publication to your profile or by receiving personalized editorial feedback that will help you improve your skills.
Submit your work to us. Trust me, you will not regret it.
So to wrap up this post, send us your pieces. Whether you get published or not is secondary. Just by sending your piece, you’re taking a huge step on your journey of becoming an established author. I highly encourage you to send us your pieces. We look forward to reading your beautiful words and seeing your beautiful art :)
To learn more about the author, check out @theunwrittenstories101 on Instagram.
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