Fiction Editors Offer Tips for Publishing Short Stories

One of Slushpile.net’s most respected readers passed along this tip about a panel discussion involving editors from four respected literary publications. Presented on Poets & Writers website, the podcast captures editors of The New Yorker, Open City, The Paris Review, and One Story, discussing the odds of being published and how to increase your chances. The discussion does begin fairly ominously when Open City reports a less than one percent acceptance rate, The New Yorker acknowledges thousands of submissions and fifty publications, The Paris Review clocks in with 20,000 manuscripts and publication of twelve, and One Story claims 5,200 submissions and eighteen publications. However, it’s not all bad. The editors then tell you how to improve your odds. So there’s hope yet!

You can access the podcast by clicking on the link for “How to Publish Your Short Story” in the Podcasts section of the page, on the right.