Hello from the Writing Attic!

Summertime and the livin’ is easy-ish. Prepping for next week’s business class (you should def sign up), putting finishing touches on a reported piece that I’m both excited and terrified about, and happy to say that I’ve restarted work on book two. The days really are better when they start out in story.

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Special Announcement:

I’ll be teaching The Business of Creative Writing (Four weeks) with The Porch starting Tuesdays, June 8 from 6-8 pm Central via Zoom.

If you like this newsletter, need some gumption when it comes to submissions, or just need someone to pull back the magical curtain of publishing so you can figure out what the heck’s going on around here, this class is for you.

Sign up!

Another class coming up:

Welcome to Kidlit! (Three weeks)

Get your spot reserved and sign up now. These suckers fill up.

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Now, let’s gossip.

Submission Success Story — “You Know How Much I Do For You” by K.K. Fox in Joyland Magazine

Turning it over to friend of the ATW fam, K.K. Fox!

“I first submitted “You Know How Much I Do for You” in October of 2015. After 13 more submissions over the year, I heavily revised it while at a writing residency in October of 2016. The new version circulated for another 25 submissions and two years. I had both given up zealous hope while also maintaining a firm belief in the story. Then, on January 1, 2019, I received the acceptance email from Joyland Magazine, a perfect home.”

Here are the details:

Total time spent on submission: 3 years, 76 days.

Response time from Joyland: 119 days.
Total rejections received before an acceptance: 37
Pay: $25

Read it here.

Writers Ask: Should I self-publish?

I’ve been fielding a few consultations lately on publishing picture books for children (one of the BEST genres in publishing and you can fight me on it), which means I’ve been getting this question a lot lately.

A lot of people think there are only two journeys to publish—the traditional route and the self-published route. Au contraire—there is a third way: the indie route.

And the answer to which one is right is, of course….It depends.

Let’s dive in.

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(Do you have a writing question? Email me at lisa@allthingswords.com and I may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.)

Must-Have Resource: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Following the kidlit questions I’ve been fielding lately, I wanted to point out SCBWI. If you are at all interested in writing for children and teens or illustrating children’s books or working in children’s publishing in any capacity, you NEED to join SCBWI.

They have FAQs for publishing on their site, tons of resources, and chapters all over the country where you can meet up with other writers like yourself, join crit groups, and visit conferences by region. Also, they have The Book—basically the Writer’s Market equivalent reference guide for kidlit. Available only to SCBWI members.

Learn more about The Book.

News of the Pub World

Roxane Gay is starting a new publishing imprint and she’ll be taking unagented submissions—for now.

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Do you have some good news? Email me at lisa@allthingswords.com. I love to hear it!

So long, farewell!

(Psst… Like what you read in this newsletter? Toss a tip in the virtual tip jar. Venmo: @lisabubert)