5 unusual tips for getting published

The thing about editors is that anybody can claim to be one. I could start a website right now and publish my own set of writer's guidelines. Starting an e-zine is often a refuge of the not-particularly-successful writers, the person you have looking at your work is also your competition. Do you see what's wrong with this?

The keys to finding online markets for your work:

1. Know your market. Every magazine or e-zine is going to say "read before you submit", mostly so that you will buy back-copies or give them hits, but there is merit to this idea.
Avoid magazine that publish the same set of writers over and over again. It usually means the editors are promoting their own clique, or that the editors are publishing their own work under pen-names.

2. Never ever submit to an e-zine or magazine that does not pay you for your work. The value of having your name on the Internet is questionable, you are providing free content for publishers. Why would you do this?

3. Try find out who your editors are and search their names. If they are also writers, read their work. Try to see why this person is editing and not only writing. You want to be better than them. You also want to figure out their aesthetic, what will appeal to them.

4. Keep in mind that no writer is going to be all that happy publishing work that is better than theirs. Keep in similar in tone, but throw in some flaws that will make them feel good (you are good but I am still better).

5. If a market tells you to not send them simultaneous submissions, do it any way, but keep a record in case you have to withdraw the piece at a later date.

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