Writing Isn’t My Career, Should I Still Submit My Work?
By: Angela Kaufman
Tags: Writers, Writing, Literary Journals, Publishing, Freelance

You just write for fun. You don’t plan on breaking through with your next big book idea, and maybe you’re even a little terrified of anyone reading your stories outside a trusted writing group.

Should you submit if writing isn’t your career?

I frequently hear this question asked at Writer’s Retreats, or at least I used to back in the old days when it was less contagious out, and even now it is brought up in platforms online.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of submitting, and what, if any, benefit this process may have for you.

Reasons not to submit…

Maybe it’s because I’m cynical, or maybe just to get the negative out of the way first, but if there are any reasons not to submit, let’s just clear the air on these before we move on to the reasons submitting may be good for you.

If your writing group has fallen in love with a piece you shared and are unanimously pressuring you to submit your work to magazines or a publisher and the very thought of doing this is enough to make you want to skip out on the next meeting and hide under the covers, you’re not alone.

While I would love to say “trust your peers!” and take the encouragement as a catalyst to push yourself outside of your comfort zone, I’m also a big proponent of trusting your own instincts. If you don’t feel the piece is ready for additional eyes, don’t let peer pressure dictate what you do.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t submit. It just means you may need to take a few more steps to feel comfortable and ready. If you find yourself in this situation, it may be worth examining what your anxieties and resistance is all about. Rather than just ignoring it and pushing through it, try to learn from it.

Do you not think the quality is there? If the source of your anxiety is fear about your piece lacking quality, there are a few steps you can take. Share it with Beta readers outside your immediate circle. Hire a developmental editor or other professionals who can give you feedback, or simply stash it away for a week or a month and then give it a read again, you may see it with new eyes after time has gone by.

Are you afraid of feeling vulnerable/exposed? For better or for worse, once your writing is out there, it is open to the scrutiny and opinions of people you may not know and who may not be as supportive as your writing group. If you are ready to put it out there, great. But if you are terrified of negative feedback, it may be best to wait until you are truly ready to face criticism. Though I would love to encourage everyone to submit their work and learn from the reception you receive, the bottom line is you know yourself better than I know you. A writer in an emotionally vulnerable state may be turned off from ever writing again if they aren’t ready to receive whatever feedback their work generates.

The submission process is complicated- Of all the reasons not to submit, this is the one I won’t be as lenient with you on. Why? Because many reasons to not submit are a matter of personal and emotional preparation and confidence. But when it comes to learning how to use platforms like Submittable, there is so much more that is in your control. Enlist a friend to help you set up an account or to help support you as you walk through the submission process. Of all the obstacles that could stand in your way, being intimidated by the actual submission rules, be it formatting or technological platforms that are new to you, can be overcome with the help of friends.

Time- Ok, now you’re not being fair. We all have the same 24 hours in each day. But there is something to be said for being judicious with your free time. For instance if you are working on a major project and need to divide your time between finishing one major work or submitting smaller works on a regular basis, I am in favor of not distracting yourself. But don’t let time constraints keep you from EVER submitting work, just give yourself permission to prioritize how you use your time. If the cons of submitting outweigh the pros at a given time, focus on what is most instrumental to your goals.

If I could sum up all the reasons not to submit, I would rephrase it as giving yourself permission not to submit until you/the piece are ready. This is highly subjective of course but I would encourage you to submit to magazines, contests and publishers at some point rather than ruling out submissions altogether.

Why?

Enter the pros…

Reasons to submit your work…

“But I don’t want to be a writer, why should I submit my work?”

I didn’t want to be a writer either. My career began as a social worker. I stumbled into writing sideways and as a collaboration with a few friends about a decade ago. “Ok,” I told them when we sent out our first book proposal, “but I worked hard for my career and that will be my main focus, the writing is just for fun.”

And I meant it.

But things change.

By giving yourself permission to submit, even if it is “just for fun,” you never know what doors you may be opening. I listened to a podcast recently in which a professional firefighter who likes to write as a hobby applied for a fellowship on a whim. He won.

You never know what doors may open- Maybe you’ll get a major publishing deal. Maybe you’ll have a handful of stories in literary magazines. Maybe you’ll win a contest. Maybe nothing will happen. Either way, if you don’t try, you’ll never know.

Submitting can make you a better writer- Even the abstract thought that someone, somewhere, may read your work can make you feel accountable to refining your craft. You may take yourself more seriously as a writer even if your pieces are never published. And if you are, all the better. Submitting can make you more careful, intentional and prolific.

Submitting builds confidence- The first few times I submitted my work, I nervously obsessed over getting all the right criteria. I hovered with the mouse over the button before hitting “submit.” You would have thought I was pushing the nuclear launch button and not submitting a short story to a magazine. But in time and with practice, it gets easier to send pieces out there.

You learn what works- The benefit of submitting is you occasionally get feedback. The downside of submitting is you may get feedback. The chances of having work published are very small, many magazines have a 99 percent rejection rate. So as discouraging as that may sound, you can sometimes glean some insight along with the rejection. I’ve learned to decipher a form email from a show of genuine interest in my style, just not a particular theme or story. This can be highly encouraging, validating that you have talent as a writer, even if every story isn’t an ideal fit for a particular magazine.

You could be on the cutting edge of something new- I know, I know, I just said it’s important to submit because it will teach you what works, but how do we know what works? Things appeal to society when society is ready. And sometimes these changes in priorities and trends just can’t be predicted. For years, Peter May shelved his manuscript for a book that publishers and agents told him would never fly. His concept, that a major pandemic would cause a significant lockdown in London, was the backdrop for a crime drama. A scenario that was inconceivable in the time May was attempting to pitch his idea made perfect sense in 2020 and his book finally found a publisher and an audience. But sometimes it doesn’t take years. Your idea may be on the cutting edge and the only way you’ll know is to submit and wait.

Ultimately, the decision to submit or not is one only you can make. But there are plenty of reasons to submit your work that have nothing to do with quitting your day job. Whether to build skill or build confidence, or just for the personal satisfaction of seeing your work in print. If you decide to submit, try to look at the entire process as part of your growth as a writer, not as a one-time event. Though I won’t say it’s impossible, it is highly unlikely to have work accepted the first time out, but over time you’ll become more comfortable with the process and learn to refine your craft.