You have just written a great short story. Let’s call it “Trucking.” It is, afterall, about the guy who picked you up in his truck while you were hitch-hiking in Chile. Though the story is funny and light-hearted, it goes deep into the characters' minds and probes socio-economic conditions. In short, what you have in your hands is a work of literary fiction.

Now, what do you do with it?

In the old days (circa 2005), you would get a copy of Writer’s Digest's Short Story and Novel Guide. You would scan the list of literary magazines and submit your story to your top five to ten journals, maybe places like The Paris Review or Glimmer Train. If these places rejected your piece, you would go back to your list and send out your story again. This time, you would submit to journals with a smaller circulation but which were still credible, places like Alaska Quarterly Review or Nimord. If you got accepted, you’d dance around your living room. If you got rejected, you’d shrug and move on down the list until, eventually, you found a home for your work.

As originally posted on E-Reads. Reprinted by permission.

If you were browsing a book in a store and the jacket blurb said,

"This is one of the best books of the year!"
– amazon.com

...would you be inclined to buy it?

Before you say no, here's something to think about.

Any author who wants to get published successfully must run a gauntlet of "gatekeepers" who judge whether the work has artistic and commercial merit. Among the Cerberuses guarding the franchise on taste are literary agents, editors, bookshop and chain store buyers, critics and reviewers. Today's Big Publishing establishment is dominated by such gatekeepers. They also guard tradition and guard it fiercely, and who can blame them? If the gates are breached a way of life comes crashing down.