Why are writers all worked up about a magazine accepting their stories?

[Guest]

The magazine is taking your story for free. So what's the excitement about?

[Ruthanne]

Um... They're excited because their work is getting published. Jealous much?

[Ken]

Wow. Pretty harsh there Frankie. For some people, getting published, perhaps for the first time, gives them a boost and gets them more exposure than they'd get if their story languished at home on their computer.

It's encouragement they need and deserve, especially from other writers. Also, offering a story to be published by a print or electronic medium, is not the same as offering up a novel, and the author still maintains the rights to their work.

So chill out buddy. It's all good. Let them be them, and you be you.

[Bernard]

If you are in the business of writing then you write, and if you are in the business of selling then you are a salesperson and not a writer. If a magazine accepts your ms and publishes it, then presumably, as a writer, the editors have a) affirmed the quality of your writing and b) have provided you with a pool of readers you would otherwise not be able to reach. If your focus is on sales then sure, you are not likely to be excited by the magazine's offer. Horses for courses.

[Chad]

It can build your confidence as well as your portfolio. If you want a job in writing, it's great to have published work. If you want to be an author, it can give you the confidence to keep pushing because it can be very disheartening to get rejected one after the other and that can wear down your confidence a lot.

[Lisa]

I was recently over the moon to have 4 poems published in The Readers and Writers Magazine’s issue for emerging writers. It didn’t pay, but for me currently, it’s not about money. It’s the fact that they believed my poems were worthy of publishing.

[Frito]

Because it's one way to establish credence as a writer, to have your work picked up via a competitive process. If readers see your name in a magazine they enjoy, they're more likely to click buy on your book.

If you don't care, no gang of thugs will break into your house to force you to submit.

[Batman]

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