How I did it: I heard about an anthology that was coming up, and submitted a piece for it. I procrastinate wildly, so I ended up sitting in my chair with a laptop for 11 hours til I wrote the piece. With only coffee making and toilet breaks allowed. They were asking for a minimum of 1,500 words and I am a really concise writer, so it was mainly a process of constant word counting as I went - and sending it by email as soon as I reviewed and edited it, before I could chicken out. The result is published in this book (volume two) http://femmethology.com/

It took them more than a year after I submitted my piece to let me know I was accepted though, so be patient with this bit of the process.

Lessons & tips: Keep an ear out for calls for submissions. Small and independent publishers are more likely to publish new writers, but don't expect to make money from an independent anthology...I see this phase as recognition building, and making it easier to get published in the future, especially once I've finished my first book.

Oh, and just do it, writing is easy to put off, for me writing in the one session and not allowing myself to put it off any longer was the answer.

Resources: try googling call for submissions - and check out community specific, genre specific or interest specific publishers

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Apr 28, 2009, 11:09PM PDT | 1 comment | 3 cheers