You've spent weeks, months, or even years struggling to pound out your book, and now it’s time to polish that manuscript before submitting it for publication. You may have proofread the work yourself, but a writer often sees his or her own text as it ought to be, not as it is. You don't want to expose that manuscript to the scrutiny of a reader who will immediately notice the glaring homonyms you missed. There are hundreds of editors, however, who are currently offering their

A new hobby has taken wing these past two decades, and it has come to roost on the internet: fanfiction. Fanfiction is a generic label used to group together a variety of stories based on movies, television shows, and books—stories written by fans. The phenomenon is so pervasive that students have even written papers on this new genre of literature. Although the characters who come to life in these stories—such as Mulder and Scully of the X-Files—are often the property of o

Having trouble publishing your poetry and short stories in literary magazines? To avoid instant rejection, avoid these seven pet peeves of literary magazine editors. I have experienced each one repeatedly in my twenty years of editing Ancient Paths literary magazine. (1) Lack of Professionalism Remember to treat e-mail communication with an editor as you would a formal letter. Use proper spelling, grammar, and capitalization, and don’t use internet shorthand. Maintain a