50 Lit Mags Who Published Kevin Wilson Before He Was Famous
with an essay on where To Submit When You’re Not the Most “Literary” Writer by Hurley Winkler
Our guest writer this week is writer and founder of Lonely Victories,
! Read her essay below, where she discusses a workshop critique that led to a period of self-doubt, which was amplified by rejections from literary journals. Eventually, she found solace and direction by focusing on writing that appeals to a broad audience, including submitting to themed journals and embracing their unique voice despite literary criticism.“This short story feels more like a TV show,” a fellow writer once told me during a workshop.
Immediately, I wanted to thank this writer for such high, generous praise. My writing, I thought to myself proudly at the workshop table, is as pleasurable to read as Gilmore Girls is to watch. I am a miracle. I am a genius! How am I not going to get a seven-figure book deal someday?
Only this writer wasn’t complimenting me. He went on to ask, “Like, why wouldn’t I just watch TV instead of reading this? What’s making me read this story instead of putting on Hulu?” Around the table, heads nodded, emboldening this writer to go on. “This story just needs more substance,” he said. “It’s not, like, literary to me.”
Ah, yes. Literary. In a workshop setting, “literary” writing seems to be what most writers are aiming for. I’ve been in workshops where the term “upmarket” was used as a slur… by the workshop facilitator. And don’t even get me started on the word “commercial,” which has, essentially, become a euphemism for “basic.”
I can laugh about it now, but when that writer told me that my work lacked substance, I let it bother me for a long, long while. It especially got under my skin whenever I’d receive rejections from literary journals. Upon receiving a form rejection, I’d think, “Well, I must not be literary enough for that place. Or anywhere.” And whenever I’d get one of those close-but-no-cigar personal rejections, encouraging me to please try us again!, I’d think, “I guess my writing just doesn’t have enough substance.”
My therapist has taught me to notice when my core wound is vocalizing itself. Indeed, “I’m not literary enough” contains the accusation that “I’m not enough.”
The thing that brought me out of this self-sabotaging thought process was considering my favorite books. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.
’s The Brittanys. Sarah Ruh’s memoir Smile: The Story of a Face. These books are sharp and intimate and moving. They’re also downright fun to read. I can’t imagine anything better than writing something that might appeal to tons of readers.If you’re finding yourself in a similarly “unliterary” conundrum with your own writing, here are some things that have helped me.
Submit to themed journals or calls for submissions. I’ve noticed that, whenever editors organize their published work around a theme, they’re looking for a variety of types of writing in order to demonstrate how the theme might be explored in a variety of ways. One favorite of mine (and everyone else, it seems!) is the tremendously popular Taco Bell Quarterly, which only publishes Taco Bell-related writing. One great example: the writer Nicole Zhu had an ultra-fun romcom short story accepted there.
When you’re feeling down on submitting, give pitching a try. This advice mostly applies to essayists and nonfiction writers: I write both fiction and nonfiction, so I’m always thinking about the processes for both mediums. The pieces I am proudest to have published were all accepted via pitch, not submission! I had no idea what a successful pitch looked like until I took a workshop with R.O. Kwon in 2019. She broke the pitching process down in simple terms. “Make sure you’re answering two questions,” Kwon told us. “The first: why now? The second: why you?” In other words, why should the piece you’re pitching be published now, and why are you the person to write it?
But before any of that, get honest with yourself about your reasons for submitting. Do you really want your work to exist in the world? Or are you submitting because you see it as a stepping stone toward another goal, like attracting the attention of a literary agent? The minute I acknowledged to myself that I was much more interested in writing (and selling!) a novel, I set shorter work and the submission process aside and focused fully on finishing the novel. For me, this worked out well: I finished the book, signed with an agent, and I’m currently on submission with my book. But as I’ve begun drafting my second novel, I’ve found my interest in short stories and essays returning. I’m going to keep doing what feels right in my process, and who knows? Maybe I’ll have better luck with submitting this time.
Keep writing what you like to write, even if someone says it’s “not literary.” I’ve never subscribed to the notion that art has to be offbeat and underground and lesser-known in order to be worth a damn. You know what I’m talking about: the “I knew so-and-so before she was famous” mindset that reeks of 2010s hipster culture. Who decided that taste should be competitive? To me, little is more thrilling than talking to someone and realizing we’re both into the same book or album. Disregard the haters by writing what you write.
Hurley Winkler is the founder of Lonely Victories, a lively Substack community for writers and readers, where she facilitates the Book Club for Writers. She’s the web editor for Rose Books, a regular interviewer for The Creative Independent, and host/producer of the Jax Music Hour on Northeast Florida’s NPR station. Her writing has been featured in The Millions, Rejection Letters, Hobart, and elsewhere, and she’s currently on submission with her first book. She has lived in Florida for her whole life.
Now, for something a little different. Kevin Wilson is a writer who encapsulates everything Hurley mentions in the essay above. He walks the line between literary and mainstream extremely successfully. No joke, here is his bio:
Kevin Wilson is the author of two collections, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (Ecco/Harper Perennial, 2009), which received an Alex Award from the American Library Association and the Shirley Jackson Award, and Baby You’re Gonna Be Mine (Ecco, 2018), and three novels, The Family Fang (Ecco, 2011), Perfect Little World (Ecco, 2017) and Nothing to See Here (Ecco, 2019), a New York Times bestseller and a Read with Jenna book club selection.
So we figured, what better way to share the lit mags who are into non-literary/literary works than to hunt down all the lit mags who’ve published Kevin Wilson? He writes a lot of magical realism with literary elements and plenty of humor. He has a running trend of having characters spontaneously combust. So, if that doesn’t sell you on him, I don’t know what will.
And, WOW. We found over 50! We’ve listed them below, along with the direct link to the lit mag’s website, a short description, founding date, fee, payment, and genre information.
Here they are.
50 Lit Mags Who Published Kevin Wilson Before He Was Famous
And maybe after? IDK. Is he famous? To us, he is.
This is one of our paid subscriber lists this month. Our paid subscriptions are what give us the ability to gather all of this information and maintain our database. If you have the means, you can upgrade here.
Of course, we are always happy to help those in need; just let us know.
 | A guest post by
|