The Secret to Success

Say you’re standing at the grocery store in the produce section.  A bin of oranges freshly stacked catches your eye.  Anticipation of a delicious treat forces you to grab one of those annoying bags that can’t be opened unless your fingers are moist.  You stand before the bin, study the possibilities then reach for two oranges.  The fruit in your left hand has a bumpy texture, fresh scent, good color, and firm skin. The one in your right passes the same inspection, except it has a small soft spot.  Which orange do you buy?

Our manuscripts go through a similar process.  One could say we stand in a packed room, shoulder to shoulder with other writers.  How can we vie for an editor’s attention?  What can we do to help our manuscript be chosen?

Today’s post will focus on the article.

Editors know their readers; that’s their job.  Amazing issues are passed on to friends who hopefully rush home to subscribe.  As their market fluctuates, editors update writer’s guidelines found on the web and resources like Sally’s Stuart’s Christina Writers’ Market Guide.

I used the guide to offer a children’s story to a magazine.  I followed every instruction in the guideline.  My story had the correct word count, age range, message, dialogue, and action. A grammar person checked for problems, and I read the article out loud to insure flow before stuffing an envelope with an SASE and the manuscript. 

Two months later I received a rejection letter. 

I went to the web site to read previously published articles for the magazine.  Each one had the same components as mine—EXCEPT they were written in the third person while mine was written in the first.

I rewrote the story in the third person, rechecked word count, age range, message, dialogue, action, grammar and flow before resubmitting the article.

One week later I received an email from the editor.  She said she normally didn’t accept anything resubmitted, but this story caught her eye.  She read it over and loved it.  She wanted to use it as the featured story in her special Easter edition.

Thinking back to the oranges in the bin example, the consumer never gives a piece of fruit a second chance.  They look, find one with a good appearance, picks it up and examines it for quality. 

As writers we have an advantage over the orange.  We can read the guidelines, research back issues of a given magazine, and tailor our manuscript to fit the needs of the readers.  When the rules are followed, the likelihood of an editor accepting our article or story increases.

How about you? What success story can you share to encourage us?