Secrets to a Publisher Relationship

by Robert Fleming

You’ve published three works. You have the acceptance rate of +-3%. Fed up with the time and submission costs of rejections? Resubmit to a magazine editor who published your work before. This may lead to a relationship with a magazine publisher/editor. Why would you want that? Aren’t editors grinches handing out rejection coal? Some editors are coal distributors, but other offer something you may want:

They publish books in your genre and may publish your book.
They repeat the same writers: either multiple works in the same or different issue. How can you figure this out? If your published work is digital (online), find an author you like, who was published in the magazine you were published in; type their name in “search.” Does the search results list only their current work or multiple works? If only one, try again with at least two different authors you like.
Nominates writers for awards (magazine award, Best of the Net, Pushcart)

How do you know if the editor is interested in a relationship with you?

They accept your work in three days or less from submission.
They locate your work in the first three pages of the issue.
They publish more than one of your works.
In the issue forward, they mention your name.
They ask you to publish previously submitted rejected work from their slush (reject) pile.
Nominate you for an award

The benefits of having +-10 magazines with repeat publications are

Create 120 works a year = 10 magazines * 4 submissions a year * 3 works per submission
Create enough work for a full-length book of +-70 pages
Be selected as a featured reader: Robert is a repeat writer for Oddball magazine, I want him to feature for me.
Be invited to be an associate first line editor of a magazine

Show appreciation for the editor/publisher:

Once your work is published, put a posting on your social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), that announces your publication with links to the publisher’s magazine.
When you read work, say it was published by “editor name” in “magazine name” and announce the magazine’s next publication with their links.

Once you are a repeat writer for a magazine, submit quarterly.

Even yours truly, with over seven hundred publications, only has a +-33% acceptance rate with a new magazine. One of my publication strategies was to create and now maintain a relationship with +-10 magazine editors.

Yours Truly is: