My New Strategy for Getting Published (+ a Discount Code)
Deep in the throes of memoir writing a couple of years ago, I started feeling an itch to submit my work again. This makes sense to me because when you spend literal years working on a long-term project, there’s nothing like the fresh burst of energy you get from having one poem or one essay accepted for publication. It adds another outlet to my byline, but also reminds me I can do this. I can write. I am writing.
When I was in college, I subscribed to Poets & Writers, and whenever a new issue arrived in the mail I flipped straight to the classifieds section and highlighted places to submit my poems. It’s a long-term ritual that I still do this sometimes, only now, there are so many other ways to find good homes for our work.
In the past, I relied on a rudimentary spreadsheet I’d created to both track my submissions and also keep a running list of journals that felt like a good fit for me. Now I use Chill Subs and I honestly don’t know how I lived without this tool before.
I was basically sold by their tagline: “Making your writing life not so freaking exhausting.” Yes please!
Use the code NICOLE for 10% off your membership.
Here are a few things you can do:
Search and filter: Search by keyword, genre, contests, fees, etc.
Bookmark your favorite listings: I save journals to categories/themes that are relevant to my work—very handy!
Track submissions: You can add them manually or import your list from Submittable.
Never miss a deadline: Every week they send curated emails with places to submit to, and they also send reminders for upcoming submission deadlines, open reading periods, and writing contests.
I can’t tell you how many hours of research this has saved! It also led to me submitting a poem that became a semifinalist in a contest earlier this year. 🙏🏻
But one of my favorite features might be their custom lists. For $50 (the membership price) you can send them a handful of poems, or a story, or an essay. A very kind human will read it, then give you 10 journals they think you should submit to, along with an explainer as to why they think your work is a good fit there. I did this for my essay on pet loss and now have it out on submission to a lot of places I didn’t even know about before.
It’s rare that I join an affiliate program, but since I love this service so much I wanted to share in case you’re looking for a new way to stay on top of submissions without sacrificing your time to the abyss of the internet.
