1. The Process of Publishing

2. Step 1: Write Write, revise, re-write, seek feedback– do everything possible to make your writing excellent

3. Step 2: Research Use reliable sources such as Writer’s Digest magazine or Writer’s Market books to find valid contests, magazines, or publishing companies

4. Step 3: Follow Protocol Follow the submission guidelines for the market you are trying to break into. (Are simultaneous submissions allowed? What is the maximum number of poems I can send?) Format your manuscript(s) correctly and write a cover letter. Mail your submission, along with an SASE Wait patiently for an acceptance or rejection letter.

5. Step 4: Beware! Scams Exist If you are asked to pay any fees, do some research. If you are asked to purchase anything, be very skeptical.

6. Publishing Vocab

7. submission A manuscript sent to editors who will decide whether to publish it

8. markets Magazines and contests accepting submissions for publication

9. submission guidelines Rules for submitting manuscripts to a market

10. cover letter Introduces the writer, his/her manuscript, and his/her publishing history or qualifications

11. SASE Self-addressed, stamped envelope (for the return of a MS, or for an acceptance or rejection letter)

12. slush pile The many manuscripts that editors receive and glance through in search of something that will quickly grab their attention.

13. rejection slip A photocopied letter saying “Thanks, but we will not be publishing your work.”

14. agent A person who will try to sell your manuscript to publishing companies without payment until you get paid.

15. contributor’s copy Common payment for short stories or poems.

16. vanity press A publisher that will print anything, as long as the writer pays for it.

17. JANUARY 22, 2010 The Death of the Slush Pile Even in the Web era, getting in the door is tougher than ever From the Wall Street Journal

18. JUDITH GUEST When Minnesota mom Ms. Guest sent out Ordinary People in 1975, it was refused by the first publisher. Another wrote, "While the book has some satiric bite, overall the level of writing does not sustain interest and we will have to decline it." It became a best seller and a movie.

19. Agent Adriana Alberghetti only reads scripts sent to her by producers, managers and lawyers whose taste she knows and trusts. The agent says she receives 30 unsolicited e-mails a day from writers and people she doesn't know who are pushing unknown writers, and she hits "delete" without opening. Book publishers say it is now too expensive to pay employees to read slush that rarely is worthy of publication.

20. STEPHENIE MEYER Ms. Meyer sent 15 query letters about her teenage- vampire saga. She got nearly 10 rejection letters; one even arrived after she signed with an agent and received a three-book deal from Little, Brown. She doesn't need to send out query letters anymore.

21. In 2003, an unknown writer named Stephenie Meyer sent a letter to the Writers House agency asking if someone might be interested in reading a 130,000- word manuscript about teenage vampires. The letter should have been thrown out: an assistant whose job, in part, was to weed through the more than 100 such letters each month, didn't realize that agents mostly expected young adult fiction to weigh in at 40,000 to 60,000 words. She contacted Ms. Meyer and ultimately asked that she send her manuscript.

22. ANNE FRANK Diary of a Young Girl had been published in Holland and was headed to France. But Doubleday's Paris office had marked it for rejection. Judith Jones, then a "girl Friday," disobeyed her boss and alerted Doubleday's New York editors, and the English- language edition came out in 1952.

23. Harry Potter was submitted to 12 publishers (by an agent), all of whom rejected it. A year later, Bloomsbury published it in the U.K.

24. The Paris Review— has college interns and graduate students read the 1,000 unsolicited works submitted each month. Each short story is read by at least two people. If one likes it and the other doesn't, it is read by a third. Any submission that receives two "Ps" for "pass" as opposed to "R" for "reject" is read by an editor. "We take the democratic ideal represented by the slush pile seriously," says managing editor Caitlin Roper.

25. In 2008, HarperCollins launched Authonomy.com, a Web slush pile. Writers can upload their manuscripts, readers vote for their favorites, and HarperCollins editors read the five highest-rated manuscripts each month. About 10,000 manuscripts have been loaded so far and HarperCollins has bought four.

26. While away on vacation last week I (Nathan Bransford) received 327 queries, all of which I have now answered. I kept stats on those 327, and here they are in all their glory: By Genre: Young Adult (of all kinds): 73 Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: 53 Fantasy (includes paranormal and urban fantasy): 28 Historical Fiction: 26 Literary Fiction: 25 Science Fiction: 18 Memoir: 18 Spiritual Novels: 12 Women's Fiction: 12 Mangst: 11 Middle Grade: 8 How-to/Self-Help: 7 Misc. Nonfiction: 7 Short Story Collection: 6 Religious Manifestos: 5 Biography: 5 Romance: 3 No freaking clue: 6

27. Word Count: Out of the 327 queries, 214 listed the word count of their work: less than 25,000: 5 25,000-50,000: 16 50,000-75,000: 65 75,000-100,000: 72 100,000-125,000: 31 125,000-150,000: 7 150,000-175,000: 9 175,000-200,000: 7 200,000+: 2