How to Work with Small Presses and Literary Magazines—Episode 335 with Terena Bell

Listeners, you KNOW we got granular with this one because there are just plain so many links! Terena Elizabeth Bell has been writing all her life. Her first short story was published in a literary magazine when she was in college—almost thirty years ago, and she’s published many since and won multiple awards. She’s also written for more than 100 publications, including The Atlantic, The Guardian, Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Playboy, MysteryTribune, and Santa Monica Review. Platform-o-rama, right?But she could NOT find a publisher for her debut novel or debut short story collection. As she puts it: It wasn't for want of trying. Her novel was turned down by 64 agents.That novel, RECURSION, and Terena’s short story collection, Tell Me What You See were both purchased within two weeks once Terena decided to turn to the small presses associated with the lit mags she’d been a part of for so long.We talk about the glories AND problems with small presses, how to be sure you’re talking to a small press and not the kind of hybrid publisher we often warn you about (there are legit hybrids, but be careful out there, many take advantage of writers who don’t understand what they offer), finding the right small presses and literary magazines and what it’s like to be a more literary and experimental writer. It’s a great episode with a lot of information we haven’t covered before. BONUS: Read Previous guest Joni B. Cole’s When Is It Smart to Submit Your Work to a University Press? (You’d Be Surprised!)Big Literary journals Duotrope, The Submission GrinderAssociation of Writers and Writing Programs ConferenceSMOL Fair ReadingsNYT article on how Billie Eilish’s platform didn’t sell her bookCamCat BooksJustine Bateman’s book, Fame: The Hijacking of Reality, which her platform also didn’t sell.The 10 National Book Award Finalists for 2022 include 4 books of short stories.Beacon Press: an American left-wing non-profit book publisher.Soho Press: a New York City-based publisher founded by Juris Jurjevics and Laura Hruska in 1986 and currently headed by Bronwen Hruska. It specializes in literary fiction and international crime series.Best Short Stories of 2022Malarkey BooksAuthors Guild Model Contract Brooklyn Book FestivalFSG—Farrar Straus Giroux does/does not take unagented submissionsSubmittableThe controversy surrounding Roxane Gay’s PANKThrillerFestFind Terena at www.terenabell.com or on Twitter @TerenaBell#AmReadingTerena: Edith Wharton’s A Glimpse of the Moon, A Son at the Front , and The Custom of the CountryNight Rider, All the Kings Men, both by Robert Penn WarrenKJ: The Letters of Shirley Jackson, as well as the four book omnibus that has Sundial in it (and Alexis Hall’s Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble and Glitterland) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe