How to Get a Short Story Published

There are many different outlets available to publish your short story.  Magazines, book publishers, and writing competitions are a few of the choices available to authors.  Publishing a story requires persistence and an ability to handle rejection without losing confidence.

• Edit your short story to reduce errors and grammatical blunders. 


• Format your story to catch the attention of the editor.  Do not allow a lack of proper manuscript formatting to decrease your chances of publishing your story.  For instance, it is recommended to use a double space between lines, and wide margins to make your story easy to read quickly.  Include the word count at the top of the page so the editor can determine if the story fits.


• Consider submitting your short story to a writing contest.  Many publications, like Writers Digest have contests that award winners by publishing their story in an issue.  Authors may even make royalties from the sale of the publication. 


• Submit your short story to many publications to increase your chances of publication.  Popular national publications like Time magazine and others have larger amounts of submissions and very high guidelines for the authors that they accept to publish.  Realize they may require an impressive resume, publishing experience, and notoriety as a writer.  Start with publications like literary magazines and specific journals.  For example, if your story is a science fiction genre with a father-son relationship theme, consider submitting your story to sci-fi publications and magazines that explore parenting relationships.


• Pay to self-publish your store if you wish to publish your story but have not been published.  This can help you to make a name for yourself as a writer, and will present your work in a published format.