Breaking Into the Big Leagues: How to Get Your Writing Featured in National Publications
By: Rebecca Morrison
Rebecca Morrison is a lawyer, writer, and editor. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost, The Today Show, Newsweek, NBC News, Salon, and The Independent, among others. She’s completing a middle-grade novel based on her childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into her family, school, and new American homeland.
Meet Rebecca Morrison, a lawyer turned writer who's written for several national publications. In this post, Rebecca talks all about why and how to get your stories in front of national audiences. Whether you're dreaming of seeing your name in print or just love to write, Rebecca's got the publishing playbook you need.
Want to learn directly from Rebecca? Join Rebecca’s workshop about publishing on March 27, 2024, to talk to her directly,
Finding My Voice Through the Power of Essays
Can you walk us through your journey as a writer? What sparked your initial interest in writing?
For over two decades, while practicing law, my far-off dream was to write about my fight to belong to my adopted American homeland and my Iranian family and culture. After losing my legal contracting job at the pandemic's beginning, I finally put my fears aside and pursued my dream. I didn’t know much about writing creative non-fiction. So, I signed up for an online writing class, hoping it would push me to pursue this impossible-seeming goal. With each class I took and each story I wrote, the fire that had been burning for years within me to write grew. Bit by bit, I learned to improve my writing and tell my stories.
Can you share a pivotal moment in your writing career that shaped your path forward?
In the early stages of writing my book, I went to a publishing panel moderated by author and teacher Susan Shapiro. I met Pronoy Sarkar, a Senior Editor at Little, Brown, a publishing house in New York. I told him about my book. He told me to start publishing essays before writing the book. He said writing essays would do several important things: 1) help me find my writing voice; 2) show which stories resonated most with me and my readers; and 3) make it easier for me to know if I want to dedicate years of my life writing about these parts of my life. Pronoy was right. Publishing essays helped me fine-tune my voice and determine which stories connected most with my readers.
What themes or subjects inspire your writing?
I wanted my stories to help others feel connected, seen, and less alone in their struggles. In terms of the subject matter, I stayed within the areas that were most meaningful to me: mother-daughter relationships, body issues and eating disorders, immigrant stories, and the struggle to belong and find one's identity.
Navigating the Publishing Landscape: From Idea to Published Piece
What was your first published piece of your writing?
My first national piece was for HuffPost, and it was an incredible experience. The piece went viral the day it came out, shooting up to the number one trending story on Apple News within a few hours. It was republished a year later and again went to the number one trending story on Apple News. It’s gotten over 4 million views. I will never know what took it to those heights, but I guess it was because of the universal message of American identity and belonging that resonated with people. Also, getting it in a publication with such an enormous viewership helps a lot (they have 10.9 M followers on Twitter, 11M on Facebook, and 3.2 M on Instagram). I promoted the piece on my social media, but that’s nothing compared to the power of HuffPost. Once they saw that the piece was getting a positive reaction, they posted it on all their platforms.
Could you describe the journey to publishing your work? Where did the idea for the piece come from? What steps did you take to get your work published?
I went to a small in-person writing workshop where we were assigned a piece. I thought of something that had happened to me over a decade before (being dismissed because my name didn’t reflect my ethnicity) that had both an impact on me and also could be used to talk about the bigger questions in my life of identity and belonging as an immigrant in America.
I wrote it, and the teacher said I should submit it to HuffPost. I emailed it to the editor, who passed on it. I sent it to the Washington Post's op-ed section. They responded that they would not take it but were kind enough to give me an idea about how to improve.
Then, I searched for similar pieces on Google and found an essay published on Popsugar. I expanded the piece and sent it back to HuffPost, which is not something that people do, but I took a chance and said that I had gotten a response from the Washington Post and saw that Popsugar just published a piece like mine and asked if they’d consider the revised version. The editor said he’d love to take it. Here’s a link to the piece.
Are writers usually paid for their submissions?
Yes, for the most part. Some places like Newsweek’s My Turn don’t pay, but they have an enormous readership, which can be helpful. Other big publications pay anywhere from $150 (how much I got for my HuffPost piece) to several hundred dollars. Some places pay in the low to mid-thousands for longer feature pieces, but those are much more difficult to get.
When pitching to editors, how do you find their contact information and initiate conversations?
The first thing I do is go to the publication's website and look at their masthead. It’s usually at the bottom of their page and lists the names of editors, writers, and owners, as well as the title of the newspaper or magazine. Then I see if they have submission guidelines. If they do, I read it carefully to follow their instructions. If they don’t, and many don’t, I find the best editor for the piece I’m working on. If they don’t include the editor’s email, I go to Twitter to see if they include it in their bio. If not, I google the format of the publication’s email (usually first name dot last name @ publication name dot com). Then I put my guess into the subject line and see if the email address changes color or if their face comes up. If it’s their email, the email address will look slightly different than the usual blue. If nothing changes, I just take a chance and email them using what I know. If it bounces back. I will try again. It’s like being a detective.
Facing rejection is part of a writer's journey. How have you dealt with it?
Honestly, it’s hard. I wrote a piece recently that I loved and was determined to get it published before the Oscars. I got nos from a few places I wanted and started getting discouraged. Even after publishing many pieces, I question my piece every time I press send. I read it, sharpened it a bit, and kept sending it out. Then, a few days later, I got a ‘yes’ from the Huffington Post. This is a tough market; we have to keep going to get our stories out in the world!
Have you discovered any helpful resources for learning to pitch effectively?
One of the best things I learned was from Susan Shapiro. She says in her book Byline Bible and pitch class that when emailing editors, you first should write something nice about their publication or something they’ve written. Whenever I email a new editor, I look them up and try to read a recent piece they’ve written or published in their section. I read through a handful of them, and when I find something that I like or resonates with me, I mention it in my email opening. This does two important things: one, it tells the editor that you know and have read their publications, and two, it makes them feel like their work is appreciated.
What advice would you give aspiring writers about publishing for magazines or online publications?
Get to know the publication you want to write for. Study the titles (titles are so important, especially when sending an email pitch. You want the email's subject line to be a strong, interesting title). Look at the length of the pieces they publish. Cut and paste one into a separate document, and then do a word count. Try to stick to about the same length for your piece. It doesn’t have to be exact, but if the pieces they publish are around 800 words, you don’t want to send a 1500-word piece. Then make sure you read your piece out loud a bunch of times and, if possible, have another writer read it before sending it to the editor. A second pair of eyes on a piece is invaluable. No matter how great we think our piece is, we’re close to it and might miss an important element.
How Strategic Essay Publishing Can Lead to a Book Deal
Are you working on a book?
I recently finished writing a middle-grade novel based on my childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into her family, school, and new homeland in America. Writing for children challenged me to take big issues, such as eating disorders, and put them into a digestible story that fits into their world. The wording, the dialogue, and the concerns of young people are distinct, and I had to work to understand their lives so that I could tell the story in a way they would connect with. Writing essays for adults was much easier since I could draw directly from my experiences without adjusting my language or experiences to fit a younger age group. I enjoy writing for both and plan to start a novel for adults in 2024.
How did you connect with your agent?
After an essay on the Today Show website about my complicated mother-daughter relationship went viral, an agent contacted me. She said she’d been following my writing for some time, and this piece made her want to reach out. We had a Zoom meeting, where I told her about my writing goals and the projects I was working on, including a middle-grade novel. She said she was interested in representing me for my adult books, which I was thrilled about since I respected her enormously. She connected me to a great agent that represented children’s books. I sent him a handful of pages of my children’s novel. We had a Zoom meeting where he told me he’d like to represent me, which I was so incredibly grateful for since I loved the books the authors he represented had published.
Launching a Writing Career & Community with the Power of the Internet
In what ways has the internet played a role in advancing your writing career?
I started using Twitter regularly a few years ago. The writing community I found there, and later on IG, Facebook, and TikTok, has been enormously important. The people in the writing community have become my inspiration, guides, mentors, and friends.
What’s the next career milestone you’re working towards?
I’m teaching a Craft Talks webinar on March 27, 2024, at 2 pm EST on how to pitch big national publications. I’ll share ways to understand the commercial publication industry and tools writers can use to increase their chances of getting a yes from editors. It’s the first time I’m doing it and I am nervous, but also super excited. I want people to know that you don’t have to have decades of experience or degrees in writing to get your stories out into the world. I want to share the things that have helped me publish over 20 pieces in big pubs in the last few years. It IS hard out there. We need to keep writing, trying, and dreaming because our stories matter. Join us here.
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