#publication advice

[purplecowbell]

If only one of my posts gets read by amateur authors let it be this:

SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO THE TOP PUBLICATIONS FIRST AND WORK YOUR WAY DOWN!

What do I mean by top? Standards of quality, audience, pay rate, legal contract; it can be anything. What matters is that you set the metric you prefer and aim for the top.

I say this because most new authors think that when submitting short stories, or flash fiction, or poetry, you need past credentials to publish with the highly-ranked publications. That's probably true but the logic is backwards. By the time you're good enough to publish in the highest ranking magazines, you've probably already published in a lot of others. Don't settle, you have nothing to lose.

Let's look at two scenarios. One in which you believe in your writing and one in which you don't.

The confident writer starts submitting to all the top publications. They submit, wait for a rejection, and submit again to a different one. They slowly work down the line until finally they hit the very top of the range of publications that are willing to accept their work. They now know what market they have a chance in and what markets to read from to improve.

The insecure writer starts submitting to all the unknown/unpaid/unvetted publications. They need to build credentials before they can submit to the preferred publications, right? If they don't get scammed out of rights they slowly move up the line of publications. They stop when they get accepted by the very bottom range of publications that will pay them the least amount, or give the least exposure, and think themselves lucky. And now they find themselves gaining much less confidence, and much less understanding of the markets, than if they started from the top. They'll have markets they believe they have to learn from when really they've surpassed them.

Even in the worst case publishing scenario: only one market accepts your publication at the very bottom, the only thing that is lost by being confident is your time. With any other publications willing to accept your work, you're guaranteed to get the better deal by being confident. Starting from the bottom is only self sabotage.

You may get more rejections (or even fewer than you think), but if you keep your head up and keep pushing, it'll be better for your writing and your confidence in the long run.

Besides, you'll probably be scammed less if you start with the ones that everyone trusts.

[notbecauseofvictories]

do u go out alone usually?

At some point, I figured out that my options were (a) find a partner and/or a tight-knit group of friends who happen to be into historical walking tours, operas, 17th century plays, and art museums, or (b) be brave and do things anyway.

Since no one miraculously appeared to take me up on option a, and staring at my apartment walls lost its luster pretty quickly.....I do things anyway.

[isawthismeme]

[that-butch-archivist]

"The New York Femmes, 1991" by Morgan Gwenwald

source: The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader, edited by Joan Nestle

[phantomrose96]

Fun bit of etiquette difference between Reddit and Tumblr is if someone misuses a word on Reddit (wrong "their", "peak"/"pique", whatever) it's common to see someone in the replies correct it and the OP will be like "oh thank you. edited my comment to fix grammar error"

If you do that on Tumblr you get mauled with teeth.

[j-jonah-jameson-official]

Hey J^3 have you or the daily bugle have to write a retraction on an obituary due to resurection

I’VE HAD TO RETRACT MY OWN OBITUARY, GODDAMNIT!! I CAN’T KEEP TRACK OF ALL THESE CONFOUNDED WIZARDS AND SPACE-TIME WHAT-SITS AND DEALS WITH THE DEVIL!! I HAVE A FILING CABINET FILLED WITH DEFUNCT SPIDER-MAN OBITS. NEXT TIME THE SPIDER-CREEP DECIDES TO UP AND KICK IT IN DOC OCK’S BODY I’LL JUST PULL ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES.

[clearedpaths]

[anzuhan]

[detroitlib]

[covid-safer-hotties]

Dear Friends,

Do you want to fight mask bans? We want your help to protect the right to mask and defend public health.

The World Health Network (WHN) has a Legal and Advocacy Team that fights proposed mask bans and engages in advocacy on other key legal issues. There is dangerous legislation currently proposed in New Jersey and other areas in the U.S., and unfortunately we expect more to follow. We believe that the right to wear a mask is essential, especially for vulnerable communities, and we need your help to protect it.

We welcome people of all backgrounds and skill sets. You do not need to be in the legal field to join!

Join our WHN Legal and Advocacy Team meetings to strategize and take action.

Meeting Details: Day & Time: Tuesday Evenings at 6:15-7:00PM Eastern Time Location: WHN Slack Workspace, #Act-Legal-and-Advocacy-Team Channel

You do not need to attend every week in order to participate.

If you’re a legal professional, advocate, or simply passionate about protecting public health, we invite you to join the fight. Your voice is needed now more than ever.

[sniped-hugger]

this is what I’ve been doing when I need a break from Borderlands

[gent-illmatic]

Reminder:

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted. Then used against you by the people who have the wrong perspective of you.

You can't control what people say, but they can't control what you choose NOT to say!

[gayferrari]

one thing I will say is that I think sometime white bloggers (it's me I'm white bloggers) could stand to be quiet for a second on certain topics, and take a cue from people directly affected without speaking over them. especially if it's an ~issue that for you is a thought experiment at the most and it's somebody else's lived reality. no one needs to weigh in on everything. not every topic has to become a blorbo dick off competition

[aeb-art]

most normal interaction on a subway (another earth bot has invaded my sketchbook)

cat belongs to @8um8le

[peppermintmochafem]

Hey how’d your date go? What’d you end up wearing?

-🧎

aww thank you for asking!!

Here's the look <3

MEN DNI

[fizoda]

Ok you’ve seen “Jason adopts Tim “ now get ready for “Dick adopts Tim” *jazz hands*

Jason and Tim duo are all cool and snazzy but I feel like they would have “siblings who mess with eachother energy” and dick would be much more big brotherly energy to tim

Both are good tropes but everyone sleeps on the dick and tim duo