The universe works in mysterious ways. As I was trying to figure out what my next column would be about, I got a bit of a promotion here at DIY MFA. I am now the Web Editor (among other responsibilities). While reviewing the contact page and submissions guidelines, inspiration struck! I could write my next… Read more »
One of the most fantastic things about writing short form work is the ability to submit it for publication in a literary magazine or journal. You can write something you’re truly proud of, have it published in print or online, and (in many cases) get paid for your words. It’s exciting to start collecting professional… Read more »
Hello and welcome to another exciting episode of DIY MFA Radio! Today I’m interviewing Calee Lee, the founder and CEO of Xist Publishing, the largest independent digital-first children’s publisher. She is also the author of more than 15 books for children. Dedicated to helping kids develop a lifetime love of reading, she founded Xist Publishing in… Read more »
Hello and welcome to another awesome episode of DIY MFA Radio! This episode is part of a new series where I take you behind DIY MFA, and introduce you to members of the team as well as why we do what we do. On the show with me today, I have the DIY MFA podcast producer,… Read more »
For all too many writers, the short story market is like a black box: stories go in, rejections come out. I’ve been on the receiving end of those rejections, even when I’ve been notified I’ve made the ‘final round’. So, I decided to find out just how one gets from the slush pile to the… Read more »
Today I am so excited to be hosting literary agent, Mary Kole. Aside from her role as Senior Literary Manager at Movable Type Management, Mary is also the mastermind behind the website KidLit.com where she shares tons of excellent information for writers. While her primary focus is children’s books (affectionately called “KidLit” by those in… Read more »
“Writing is a fairly lonely business,” Marc Lawrence wrote, “Unless you invite people in to watch you do it, which is often distracting and then you have to ask them to leave.” This is true: we face the blank page alone. But writing doesn’t have to be a lonely business. Indeed, at DIY MFA, we… Read more »
Ever wonder what literary agents look for when they read your first pages? While at the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar I had the opportunity to sit in on some small group workshops and observe how agents responded to the opening pages from different writers. By listening to agents give feedback, I got an inside look at… Read more »
This week we’ve discussed how to submit your work. While we’ve focused on submitting to literary magazines and online literary markets, many of the same ideas also apply when querying agents. Today’s prompt works equally well, whether you’re a writer of short fiction or poetry and looking for markets for your work, or if you’re… Read more »
While I was in grad school for my MFA, I spent the first year working on campus literary magazine. For the staff, the primary responsibility was to read submissions and decide what went in the magazine. That year, I learned a lot about submitting work to literary magazines, and applied what I learned when submitting… Read more »
