Jul 12, 2015
So this one's for a week back. One of the things I do as an author (apart from write) is to shop the work that I write. This is more than just giving all of my work to all the available publishers I can find. No. The same way you may be more discerning about what shoes to buy, where to bank, where to buy a home, etc., this is how I approach the business of submissions: placing my work - you want to go with something that you think will be a good fit.
As part of the process, I look for publishers to place work with as well as track what's under submission, what's rejected (which is part and parcel of being an author) and what's accepted. 'Accepted' is cool, which leads to contracts, money, exposure and ultimately the joy of getting new product into the marketplace and hopefully thrilling your audience. Back to the matter.
Last weekend, I'm handling my submissions, remembering that mid-Feb this year, I submitted a short called Divine Liquor to the Australian Horror Writers Association for an annual short story competition. This is probably a good time to mention that this piece has been rejected by a few publishers. One felt the story took too long to develop and was too slight for the word count, but also added that another publisher may see it differently. FYI, I've not placed Divine Liquor yet - but if/when it hits the proverbial shelves, feel free to tell me if it works for you or not. Anyhow. Chasing up on my submission, I headed to the AHWA site and felt a little winded to see that said story Divine Liquor didn't win but did earn an Honourable Mention. And why not feel a little winded? It's humbling and cool to get your props.
So I hit up one Cameron Trost, who was the competition coordinator, in addition to being the AHWA Vice President and a published author. He was good enough to engage me with a Q&A, which can be found here. Thanks, boss - it's appreciated. Like I've said before, it's just humbling and cool to produce work that moves people. And maybe scares the shit outta them.
#submission #publishers #divineliquor #AHWAAustralianHorrorWritersAssociation #HonourableMention #CameronTrost #QA