The Sunday July 20, 2003 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle was proud to report that its journalists are serving the Bay Area community well.  Arts and culture critic Steven Winn was among four Chronicle writers who placed in the 15th annual American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors’ Excellence in Writing contest.  This marks the second year in a row that he has won first place in the arts and entertainment commentary category for his:

thoughtful examinations of the San Francisco Opera’s “Saint Francois d’Assise” premiere, Baz Luhrmann’s pre-Broadway production of “La Boheme” and playwright Tony Kushner’s “Homebody/Kabul.”

In addition to his duties at the Chronicle, though, Steven Winn writes and publishes essays in a wide array of magazines from small literary anthologies to Parenting Magazine and publications of the American Association of Retired People.  Recently, I interviewed him on the topic of getting published.  I wanted to know his strategies for finding homes for his essays.  First of all, he advised, “Think about who you know, and then think about who you know who might know someone who might know someone, etc. Even at such a stretch, you might get your foot in the door.”

“After my daughter was born, I started writing about being a parent.  I thought about what I wanted to write and wrote in a blissful state of urgency.  When they were done, I started to market them in Sunday supplements around the country because at the time, you could sell one essay multiple times.  In addition, regional markets seemed less daunting than national markets.  I started close to home with a newspaper I’d previously worked for, The Seattle Weekly, and Travel Magazine, where I had connections.  Desiring more connections, I thought to look in the PR department of my company. Ultimately, I found out about someone who knew friends of mine and worked in San Francisco at Parenting Magazine.  She sent my essay on to someone else who edited in the right area for my topic and that editor took the essay. I’d gotten a foothold so I sent another essay.  They didn’t take this one but since I had a credit, I submitted this second one to another magazine, finding the editor’s name on the masthead, and indicated where I had previously published.  He wrote me a nice letter back and eventually took the essay with some revisions.  I think that because the publication I had published in first was a rival publication, I’d made him curious.  I went to see him personally to have a face-to-face conversation with someone who had expressed interest in my work. Eventually I did another piece for them.  When he moved on to a travel magazine, he told me to send something to him when I had something that was right. ”

“Once when I was on a jury, I wrote about it and sent the essay to a California lawyer’s magazine because I knew someone who was editing there.  She gave my writing to the right person.  Networking in this way is a habit you can develop,” Steven says.  He had a piece published in Good Housekeeping when a friend of his who’d written a lot for the publication gave him the name of an editor to send to.  Now that editor is at Modern Maturity. The husband of a friend of Steven’s has worked at Utne Reader, Sports Illustrated, and Time Warner.  “You don’t get published because you know somebody, but you do get your work seen because you know somebody or somebody you know knows somebody and getting your work seen is all that any writer can ask.”

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How can we take Steven Winn’s experience and advice and make it work for us, especially if we are not already publishing regularly and feel that we don’t have a way to find those who know the ones who know the ones we need to know? In other words, how can we help create our own big breaks?

You may not think that you know anyone who knows someone close to editors, but think again. If you contact 10 people and they each think of 10 people they know, that’s 100 people.  And you probably know many more than 10 people who might have some connection to someone in the publishing world.

Here are some ideas for organizing your search.  Remember, all it takes is one success and you have improved your chances of publishing many fold.

Make a list of everyone you know who works for a company or organization that places ads in magazines and newspapers and therefore knows the person in the company’s department that places those ads. See if that person knows someone at the magazines who sells the ads who then knows the editors of the magazine and might be willing to talk with you about using their name in a submission cover letter.  If you work for such a company or organization, make an appointment with someone in the PR department and ask them if they can help.

Make a list of everyone you know who works for a company or organization that has a newsletter or publication that goes out in-house or to clients and customers.  Look through your files for an essay or a feature article that pertains to human resource issues or talks about a topic employees are interested in.  Make sure of course that the writing is well done and that the piece is finished and ready for publication in some other people’s eyes (take your drafts to your writing group!).  Then ask the people you know at companies if they know people in the companies’ publication departments and if you can use their names when making submissions to these editors..

Make a list of everyone you know who teaches at a college, community college or university that has literary publications, newsletters, and alumni magazines.  Ask if they know professors or staff people in the publications departments and the creative writing or English Departments.  If so, ask if you can use their names when making appointments to see those people (if they are local) or when submitting a piece of writing to editorial staffs.  If you teach at such a school, make sure to make an appointment with the editor-in-chief or faculty advisor to the publications. If you don’t know anyone in particular at the schools, do some research through the college department directories and see if you can secure appointments to talk about publishing your work in the schools’ magazines.  Whether you are speaking to the faculty advisor to a literary magazine or the people in public relations, ask what they are looking for in terms of topics and length.

Make a list of every local newspaper in your community. Think about whether you know anyone who works for the newspapers who you could ask to refer you to an editor who might take a look at your work.  Even people who work in printing, sales and distribution know some of the editors.  If you do not know anyone and feel brave, call (late afternoon after deadlines are met is probably best) or email a writer or columnist whose work you are following and admire and introduce yourself as a writer in the community who admires their work and is hungry to learn the ropes of submitting work.  Perhaps they will offer to take a look at your work and allow you to use their name in submitting it to the proper editor. Although this may not seem all that probable, if you chose a writer who writes in an area in which you have expertise and credentials, he or she may want to see your work out of interest in the field.  I would not worry about them stealing your great idea.  Just stay in touch with them and remind them that you are hoping to publish.

Make a list of everyone you know who works in an area of expertise that might lend itself to a feature article or interview.  Write about them or their subject area and then see if they can help you place the article or interview in their company newsletter, community newspaper, or industry magazine.

Make a list of every store and agency you know that caters to an area that your essays are about.  If you love parrots and have written essays that feature them, for instance, you could list zoos and pet stores. Now, do you know anyone who works there and could they give you the name of someone connected with publications?  If you do not know someone, then call the stores and agencies yourself and find out if anyone there has published in magazines on the topic or puts out a newsletter or magazine on the topic. Make appointments to see these people or plans to email or call them.

What about TV stations and radio stations? Do you know anyone who works in any position at them? They may know someone who knows someone who knows an editor.

And don’t forget your community arts councils, commissions, and libraries.  Make an appointment to talk with people at these groups about how to make contact with editors and publishers in your community.

Go to writers’ conferences where “meet the editors” sessions are featured. Introduce yourself after their talks and ask if you can submit some of your work with a letter reminding them about meeting them at the particular conference.  If the conference offers sessions with editors to have them look at your work, do this.  Then follow the editors’ advice and send them a copy showing them what you have done and asking them if they know of an editor who might be interested in the piece if it is not the kind of thing they publish.

Being self-promotional and tenacious about following leads as well as living with your ears open can be tiring but it is also exhilarating and definitely builds the feeling that you are part of a community of writers.  If you are shy or fear seeming overly egotistical, you may actually be among the most graceful at quietly making new contacts.

Warning:  Never assume that an editor or writer or colleague or friend of a colleague owes you anything at all. Each time a request is met, however, with some information and willingness to help be sure to write a thank you note of some sort. People like helping others when they can and they like knowing their help, no matter how small, really made a difference.  Networking is all about asking for what you need, politely, and offering what you may have to give–sometimes it is only a thank you, but that matters, too!

I met Steven Winn because years ago he was dating and then married my officemate at a community college where I was teaching.  When my first book about writing came out and I was eager to get it to the attention of book reviewers, of course I asked him if I could use his name in writing to the reviewer at his newspaper.

Getting connected to people who know people who might give your work a read is a very worthwhile pursuit.  Go forth and begin.