This Week on Friday Live: Leo X Robertson, Robin Malcolm, and Brandon Crilly

Our PSA (Pulp Submissions Advice) for New Writers

Here at Pulp Lit we delight in the discovery of great work from new and unpublished authors, and regularly find literary gold glittering in what is commonly (and rather unceremoniously) known as the slush pile. For many writers, weeks, months, even years of toil culminate in this, fiction’s final frontier. Here are some tips to help your literary lily pad float to the surface of the slush.

Grab your reader’s attention — and keep them reading

We receive submissions with everything from a light dusting of 250 words to hail storms of 10000. When the first lines offer the promise of time well spent, an editor is more likely to keep reading, and to look favourably on a piece, even if it falters later. Don’t lose your reader before they’ve even begun.

Know the publication

This is vital to finding a good fit and a great platform for your work. Nothing puts a first reader in a bad mood faster than pieces that aren’t remotely a publishing match. If the magazine explicitly states that it does not publish memoir or YA, don’t send memoir or YA. You will spare yourself many months of uncertainty, waiting for a rejection letter that was inevitable from the start.

Know your genre and story

Before reading your submission, editors take a peek at the genre and short description. This gives them an idea of what to expect, and might even land your piece in the hands of a compatible first reader. Accurate details about your work lend it a helpful step forward. 

Send something unique — but keep it editorially workable 

I like a post-apocalyptic-killer-cat-online-love-story-gone-cannibalistically-wrong tale as much as the next editor, but haven’t accepted one yet.  

Font and font size matter

Pick a friendly-to-the-eyes font and size. Unless stated otherwise, you can’t go wrong with Arial or Times New Roman in 11- or 12-point.  If you are visually impaired and need to use a larger font for the writing stage, kindly resize before submitting.

Enter your title correctly

Manuscripts do come in from authors who err in their own titles. When an editor opens the file and sees something different than in the submission form, confidence wavers.

Attach the file

A writer’s attention to detail from start to finish — from submission to publication — makes an editor’s heart sing. And of course, we can’t read an absent file. 

Be patient 

Submission and publication cycles take time. Let this reassure you that all the necessary attention is being paid. If your piece is accepted, it still needs to be placed in just the right issue and move through the editorial process. And if not, we truly do wish you well in finding a home for it elsewhere.

So when the time comes to click submit, remember: although the manuscript heap runs deep, we are just as delighted as you to find your literary gem sparkling in the slush.  

Tune in every Friday to enjoy readings from authors whose work surmounted the slush. And be sure to stick around for the Q&A to ask your questions on building a submissions survival kit. 

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Friday’s live line-up

Every Friday, from 10:00-10:30am Pacific, we are livestreaming readings featuring three authors who will read their work and answer questions from the audience. This week on Friday Live, we bring you Leo X Robertson, Robin Malcolm, and Brandon Crilly.

Leo X Robertson

Leo X Robertson is a process engineer, writer, and filmmaker, currently living in Stavanger, Norway. His story ‘Snapshots’ appeared in Pulp Literature Issue 22. Leo has work published in Best of British Science Fiction 2019, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Vol 5, and Flame Tree Publishing, as well as novellas published by Unnerving Magazine, NihilismRevised, and forthcoming with Aurelia Leo. In his latest book, Greev, all the mothers in the city of Los spontaneously die — but a team of scientists stumble upon a technology that will bring anyone back to life. To find out more, follow him on Twitter @Leoxwrite or check out his website at leoxrobertson.wordpress.com.

Robin Malcolm

Robin’s muse is a hoarder, collecting ideas from all the places she’s lived and then piling them up in a corner in case she needs them. Her short story ‘The Bumblebee’s Daughter’ won the Surrey International Storyteller Award in 2018, and appeared in Pulp Literature Issue 24. Her story ‘The Chapel in the Mud’ was shortlisted for the same award in 2017. In recent days, she has been working on a memoir of her life in Africa and a novel about growing up in the Vietnam era. Connect with Robin via @AuthorRobinMalcolm or read about her daily life and work at frenchkinbirdie.wordpress.com.

Brandon Crilly

An Ottawa teacher by day, Brandon Crilly has been previously published by Daily Science Fiction, Abyss & Apex, On Spec, Flame Tree Publishing, and other markets. His short story ‘Clearing Out Nests’ appeared in Pulp Literature Issue 16. Brandon’s first comic, ‘True Balance’, was published by Markosia Press in 2020 and is available on Comixology. He received an honourable mention in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards, reviews fiction for Black Gate, and serves as a Programming Lead for Can*Con in Ottawa. With Evan May, he’s the co-host of the podcast Broadcasts from the Wasteland, described as “eavesdropping on a bunch of writers at the hotel bar.” You can find Brandon at brandoncrilly.wordpress.com or on Twitter @B_Crilly.

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