Friday 9 October 2009

places to send your work to: part 1 - Tomlit

I'm going to start a regular thing.

It will happen every, let's say: Friday.

It will happen here.

It will be about how I've found an interesting thing and how I'm sharing it with you.

The interesting thing will always be about a place accepting submissions of short stories.

Sometimes it will be a publication, like a printed thing or an online thing, sometimes it will be a competition or a prize.


This is not a groundbreaking thing. You should know that.

There are websites, good websites, with submission listings as far as your eyes can see. Well, with far more places listed than one per week.


But, I think it's nice to share, and I'm always looking for new places to send work to, or read work at. And I like being pointed in directions by other writers myself. And I'll try to make it meaningful, I won't just copy and paste from somewhere else. I'll, like, really try. I'll email editors and ask them questions. My word, there'll be no stopping me.


*FIRST UP*
Seems fitting to point my finger first at Tomlit. Not because they've been very good to me this week, but because the editor, Alex, and I have been in contact a fair amount and I know he really wants to expand this place for fiction, poetry and artwork. First though, he needs more good quality submissions coming his way, so I offered to give a little shout-out here.

So, as well as showcasing original and interesting work on the website, a free-to-sign-up-for web based magazine is in the pipeline. This will be emailed directly to subscribers' inboxes and will include completely new work as well as features.

In print, the Tomlit Digest is a single sheet of A4 comprised of a few select pieces of poetry and fiction, and is free to anyone who picks one up (it's mainly found in bookshops in Charing Cross Road). This is a tool to 'get stuff out there', generating interest in Tomlit and the writers included.

Each week, Alex reviews a short story he's read online, with a link to the story and the webpage of the writer. I think this is a fab idea, and again is very supportive of writers out there trying to make it and be heard. (And I'm very grateful to have my story Ex reviewed there.)


Send flash fiction up to 1500 words, short stories 1500-4000 words, features up to 5000 words and poems of no more than 80 lines (all attached as word documents). Artwork should be attached as a jpeg.

alex.notebook@hotmail.com

"Tomlit is a home for writing, art and friends. We set up to give us somewhere to display the work we believe in by people we love. If you're not our friend yet, please get in touch because I'm sure it'd be great to meet you. "


Check the website for more guidelines and to get a feel of the place.


And, if you send something, good luck.

6 comments:

essygie said...

I love this idea - there're so many places to submit to, that finding for the right one for your story can be like the searching for that proverbial needle! - will follow your posts with interest.

PS - I like your flash at tomlit :-)

Teresa Stenson said...

Hi Essygie - I'm so glad you like this idea, that's excellent and just what I want it to be about. Do let me know if you sub anything, especially if the outcome is good!

Thanks, too, for liking my flash.

Teresa Stenson said...

PS - I tried to comment on your blog but couldn't - I always have the same problem when there's no seperate comments box - the thing I write just disappears. Odd. This happened on a friend's blog and was remedied when he changed his settings to 'open comments box in seperate window' or similar... could just be me, of course.

Clowncar said...

I just submitted to tomlit 2 days ago, after hearing them here.

Spoooky...


Nice idea, and a nice service to other writers.

Christian Bell said...

This is a good idea. It’s good to hear from another writer about places to submit. The firsthand experience beats a generic listing you might find somewhere.

Teresa Stenson said...

Thanks, Clowncar and Christian, I'm very happy you and others like this idea.

I've heard from Alex this morning and he's had several submissions and has accepted a piece already.

Excellent stuff!