Do the groundwork before you send anything

Most rejections happen long before an editor reads a single line of your work. They happen because the piece went to the wrong place. A literary magazine that publishes tightly plotted flash fiction is not the right home for your 4,000-word family saga, however good that saga is. Research is not the boring bit you do before the real work — it is the real work, and it is what separates writers who get published from writers who get tired.

Start by building a shortlist of eight to twelve magazines that genuinely fit what you write. Read two or three pieces from each. Ask yourself honestly: could my poem, story or essay sit comfortably alongside these? If the answer is a polite maybe, keep looking. A smaller, well-matched list will always outperform a scattergun approach.

Keep a simple spreadsheet with the magazine name, what they publish, word count limits, reading periods, average response time and whether they allow simultaneous submissions. Ten minutes of admin now saves you hours of confusion later.

Read the submission guidelines properly

Submission guidelines are not a formality. They are the editor's way of telling you exactly what they want, and ignoring them is the fastest route to the rejection pile. Read them twice, then read them once more on the day you submit, because magazines do update them.

Look out for the details that catch people out:

• Reading windows. Plenty of magazines only accept work between certain months. Sending in July when they open in September usually means your email is deleted unread.
• Word counts. A limit of 2,000 words means 2,000 words, not 2,300. If you are close to the ceiling, trim rather than risk it.
• Simultaneous submissions. Many magazines accept them, provided you tell them in your cover letter and withdraw promptly if the piece is placed elsewhere.
• How to send it. Some want a submission portal, some want an email attachment, some want the text pasted into the body of the message. Follow the instruction exactly.
• File formats and naming. If they ask for a .docx named with your surname and the title, do that. It sounds fussy; it is not. It is how they keep track of hundreds of files.

One more thing: check whether they want your name on the manuscript itself. If submissions are read blind, a name in the header can disqualify you.

Make your manuscript easy to read

You are not trying to look clever with formatting. You are trying to make an editor's life simple. Use a standard, readable font at a sensible size, double spacing if you are submitting prose, and page numbers. Include a short header with your name, email address and the title of the piece unless told otherwise.

For poetry, follow the magazine's own preference on line spacing and stanza breaks. If they publish a sample poem that uses a particular layout, that is your clue. Proofread on paper as well as on screen — the eye catches different things. Read it aloud. You will hear the clumsy sentence your eye has been sliding past for a week.

Write a cover letter that gives editors exactly what they need

A cover letter is a short, polite courtesy note, not an audition. Three short paragraphs will do.

Open with the practical facts: the title of your piece, its form and its word count, plus the magazine and reading period you are submitting to. Then add one or two sentences about yourself that are genuinely relevant — a previous publication, a prize, a connection to the subject matter, or simply that this is your first submission. Do not apologise for being new. Everyone starts somewhere, and editors know it.

Close by thanking them for their time, noting whether the piece is a simultaneous submission, and signing off with your name and contact details. Keep the whole thing under 200 words. Avoid flattery, avoid explaining what your story means, and never tell an editor that your mother loved it. Warm, brief and specific beats long and clever every time.

Send it, then keep going

Once you press send, record the date in your spreadsheet and get back to writing. Waiting by the inbox is a slow form of torture and it will not make the decision come any faster.

Most magazines state a response time. Respect it. If three months have passed and the guidelines said eight weeks, a single, courteous follow-up email is entirely reasonable. Chasing after ten days is not.

If you are submitting simultaneously, remember that accepting another offer means withdrawing your piece elsewhere straight away. Editors talk to each other, and your reputation travels with you.

Rejections are information, not verdicts

A rejection usually means the piece did not fit that particular issue on that particular day. It rarely means the writing is bad. A personal note from an editor — even a single line — is a genuine gift, so take it seriously and thank them for it.

Build a rhythm: submit, forget, write something new. Aim to have three or four pieces out in the world at any time. The writers who get published are rarely the most gifted in the room; they are the ones who kept the submissions going, learned from the guidelines, and treated every editor with warmth and good manners. Start with one magazine this week. That is enough.