The Splendor and Sorrow of Small Press Publishing
To most would-be authors, there are only two routes to publication - get an agent and go for a big publisher or self-publish. But there...
dmjohnston3
- Apr 20, 2021
- 6 min
The Fail-Graceful Method: On Writing a Salvageable Novel
The publishing world is not a friendly place. I hope I've impressed this upon you by now - this is an insular, name-driven world where...
dmjohnston3
- Dec 14, 2020
- 7 min
So Your Book's Been Rejected 900 Times: Six Things to do With a Manuscript No One Wants
By this point, you've walked down publication road long enough to know that it doesn't really head anywhere. The "We're all friends"...
dmjohnston3
- Dec 7, 2020
- 2 min
Speculative Short Story Acceptance Rates - 2021 Edition
A new year is coming up, and some of you will decide that this is the year that you will be published. I'm terribly sorry to hear that....
dmjohnston3
- Nov 25, 2020
- 5 min
Finding Your Literary Agent: 6 Things You'll Need in Your Submission Packet
Pressed for time? Why not listen to the post instead? If you've reached this point, then you have a finished work of fiction and you're...
dmjohnston3
- Nov 23, 2020
- 7 min
Query Letter Conventional Wisdom: 3 Reasons Everyone is Full of Crap
For those of you who were a little bit lost in my rambling podcast, here's the essence of my plan: I have two query letters, each of...
dmjohnston3
- Nov 22, 2020
- 2 min
The Query Process: It's On
I hate sending query letters. I hate it to the depths of my being, if for no other reason than the time it wastes. Oh, it's no epic feat...
dmjohnston3
- Oct 4, 2020
- 1 min
Short Story Master Post
Here are the collected short story posts as of October 4th, 2020. This post may be updated if new posts are added. Writing a Short Story:...
dmjohnston3
- Sep 9, 2020
- 4 min
Three Tips to Protect Your Unpublished Novel from Sinister Manuscript Thieves
No one wants to steal your book. No one wants to steal your book. No one wants to steal your book. Well, that was simple. Or were you...
dmjohnston3
- Sep 2, 2020
- 6 min
How to Spot a Scam Agent
Pressed for time? Listen to the post instead! A few weeks ago, I made a video covering some of the common scams plaguing publishing right...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 31, 2020
- 3 min
How Long is a Short Story? A Brief Guide to Short Story Length
Story length is an important factor for anyone writing for short fiction markets, which often have specific word count requirements. So...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 26, 2020
- 7 min
Publishing Short Stories: The Nuts and Bolts of Submitting
Pressed for time? Listen to the post instead! Aspiring writers can get tunnel vision. People get so focused on getting a novel published...
dmjohnston3
- Jun 28, 2020
- 4 min
Story Rejections and You: Lessons Learned From 700+ Rejections
Before I continue with the series on flash fiction, there's a side topic I should probably touch on. If you've been following my series,...