Do you want to see your creative work published? Literary journals can be a fantastic outlet for writers and seeing your work printed can be beyond motivating. Every writer should have the chance to become a published author! It offers experience in the publishing industry, provides an opportunity to form connections and gives you the full right to tell everyone you know. However, submission guidelines can vary. Journals can have specific requirements that, if not met, may lead to your piece not being considered. It's important to adhere to their rules and make life a lot easier for the editorial team. Here are a few tips that I've learned from submitting … 

If you're a teen writer, you might have a collection of poetry or a handful of short stories that you would like to see published. Awesome! Fortunately, there are magazines that do accept pieces by young writers. 

However, many will have a restriction that prohibits young creatives from submitting. Whether their published work is aimed at adults or too explicit for young readers, or they decided to simply not work with young people, they may decline your submission on the basis of your age. If you are under age eighteen, make sure you stick to teen-friendly journals. 

Depending on the magazine, some only accept submissions as a Word Doc or Doc. The most popular choice of file tends to be Word Docs with the traditional formatting but this can vary based on the individual journal's preference. Generally, I've found that the majority of journals do not accept PDF. Except others exclusively accept PDF. Moreover, many request double-lined spacing but others won't accept pieces with spaces at all. Magazines may ask for a certain font or paragraphing with the exception of experimental poetry and will strictly enforce these rules. 

What if they don't specify guidelines? Don't panic! This generally means that you can decide how to format your submission providing that it is legible. As a rule of thumb, I'd suggest double-lined spacing, size 12, basic font, black ink. Is this giving you school flashbacks?

Unfortunately, not all literary journals will be a perfect fit for your piece. Take this as motivation that there will be one looking specifically for your unique style! 

Many magazines have set themes for their issues. From Fantasy to Football, this can be a wider prompt or a very specific requirement. If the journal is requesting submissions around the theme of Peace, a story about unleashed chaos may not be a right fit. However, a journal with the theme of Destruction may be the perfect home for your piece. Remember to adhere to their rules and carefully check whether the journal as a whole or one of their issues has a certain prompt. 

Similarly to the theme issue, you should try to see what the literary journal has already published in previous issues. You will most likely notice a pattern in the styles and genres accepted by the editors, or you might spot the ratio of short stories to poetry. In my experience, I would say most journals get an overload of poetry submissions but not a ton of short stories. If a journal has a certain mood, be mindful of this when selecting which piece to submit. A literary magazine's previously accepted works may seem irrelevant but rejection letters consistently include the phrase not a right fit for a reason. 

Many journals may ask for you to write a cover letter for your submission. Personally, this was one of the most daunting aspects of submitting my work. Did I have to write a formal letter? After researching and taking chances – with my fingers crossed – of submitting cover letters, I've found that this rule-of-thumb has been quite helpful. 

In general, literary journals will ask for this to be in the body of your email. Include your full name (or pseudonym), where you are based, the title of your piece(s), trigger warnings, whether or not it is a simultaneous submission (simultaneously submitted to other literary journals) and the word count. At the end, remember to thank the editor(s) for their consideration. 

You can provide a short third-person bio, which is often requested, detailing your experience. For example, where you have been previously published, your education or writing achievements to date. Competition successes, publications, a writing blog – whatever you choose! Or you can simply add that you are a short story writer or poet and that your current work is a WIP (work-in-progress). Here's a quick example:

“(name) is a writer based in … their work has been published by… they were the winner of (writing competition) … they write short stories/poetry/plays … when they are not writing, (name) likes to …” 

Many journals have a specific platform that they use for submissions. To make life easier for the editors reviewing your work, follow their wishes!  The most well-known way would be via email, however, an increasing amount of magazines use Submittable to keep track of all their submissions. Other methods include a form on their website and rarely mailing your physical piece to their office. Triple check before you email the EIC (editor-in-chief) that they haven't shared a form link or Submittable in their website guidelines. 

As much as many literary journals wish to pay their contributors, this is not always realistic due to funding. However, there are magazines that do offer payment for selected pieces – and accept teens! Every paying journal will have different rates. Some pay 5p per word, some have a set payment amount, some decide payment based on your writing (particularly the length of it) and some pay young writers in book tokens. You will often find this information in the submission guidelines. 

Others will ask for a submission fee and there is no set cost for all journals. There are exceptions to this such as asking for an optional donation to the magazine or only charging for multiple submissions.

Though an upcoming trend in the publishing world seems to be adding payment links to work so readers can tip you which is pretty sweet. 

One of the toughest questions for young writers. My honest answer is that once you get sucked into the writing world like a literary portal, you will discover an overflow of opportunities. Follow the literary journals that have published you (or that you're tempted to submit to) on social media and through that, you will uncover more journals connected to that one. So on and so on, you will find upcoming magazines eager to read your work and the writing competitions they host. 

Signing up to literary newsletters or searching on the internet can be a great tool as well. There are many regularly updated lists of teen writing competitions and blogs that share submission opportunities. For me, social media has been the most useful way of finding submission opportunities by following the right hashtags (#openforsubmissions, #literaryjournal, #teenwriters). 

Good luck with your submissions! Whether you're an aspiring writer or an established one, may your inbox be filled with acceptances.