Hello and welcome,

As I mentioned in my previous post I wanted to tell you about my experience with being published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul® book. When I first began considering submitting my stories I started by visiting their website. The website is very clear and easy to navigate. The “How to Submit a Story” category is made up of 4 separate pages – Possible Book Topics, Story Guidelines, Submission FAQ, and Submit Your Story. After reading the first three pages I felt like I knew everything I needed to know about how the submission process worked and what type of stories they were looking for.

Another thing that helped identify what my stories should be like were reading stories from the books. I also signed up on the website to receive their Free Story Newsletters. The stories taken directly from their books can be emailed to you daily or weekly. You can also select from a few specific categories of interest. I enjoy finding that story in my email each day.

Once I had my story(s) ready to submit I returned to their website and went to the “Submit Your Story” page. This process was easy (as long as you know how to copy and paste). It started with filling out a form with name, email address, address, and phone number. The next step was to select the book (topic) that the story was being submitted for. There is a drop-down menu to select from. It then it asks for the title of the story and lastly copy and paste the story into the box provided. Once it was pasted into the box, I made sure to re-read to make sure it copied correctly. There are also a built-in spelling and grammar check in that box, so it was a great time to correct any errors before the story was submitted.

The last step was to read and agree to their Term of Use and Privacy Policies and to assure them I am not a robot. I was sure to follow their instructions to only click submit one time and then I waited on that page until I got a notice that they had received my submission. This happened almost immediately.

My first two submissions were for the same book and had a deadline of November 15. After that I waited. I didn’t expect to hear anything before the holidays. I also knew that if my stories were not selected I would not hear anything. I continued to submit stories for the other books while I waited.

On January 12 I received an email telling me that my story had made it to the first round in the selection process and that most of the stories that make it that far are selected. They asked me to complete a permission form for them to publish my story. Completing this form was required in order to continue to be considered, but it did not guarantee that my story would be included.

About two weeks later I was sent a finale copy of my story (how it would appear in the book) for approval. Then on February 6, I received confirmation email that my story would be in the book, and the book was on its way to the printer. This message also included a timeline that detailed the release date, when I could expect the 10 free copies of the book and when I could expect to receive a check.

I continued to get messages over the next couple months including one with a PDF file of a bookmark, that matched the book, that I could print and give out, another that had marketing information, and one inviting me to join a zoom call to meet Amy Newark, the publisher, D’ette Corona, VP, Associate Publisher and the other first time contributors who were published in this book. This was my first zoom call!

In Early April I did receive my 10 free copies and since I have 3 sisters and 4 (adult) children it was not hard to decide who those were going to. Since they all wanted their copies signed, we met at a coffee shop on a Saturday morning for a book signing.

I also printed some of the bookmarks, I wrote the release date on them and gave them out to people like my dentist and hygienist, my doctor and nurse, some neighbors and the girls at our credit union.

Last week I received the $250 check for payment for my story, but that is not necessarily the end of this experience. As a contributor, and now part of the Chicken Soup Family, I can, if I choose, do book signings. They say that Barnes and Noble likes to have book signings or I can order books at a discount and sell them (perhaps at a craft or vendor sale). I can also purchase books at a discount for nonprofit fund raising. I have not yet decided if I will do any of that.

I consider it an honor to have my story published in a Chicken Soup book, especially knowing that there are thousands of submissions for each book that they publish and only 101 are selected. The only difficult part about this experience is the waiting (something I’m sure anyone who has ever tried to get published understands).

I have found this to be a really great experience and would encourage any fellow writers, who may be interested to submitting a story, to check out their Story Guidelines and the other pages related to submitting a story.

I would also encourage anyone who likes Chicken Soup stories to sign up for their free newsletter and or check out their Chicken Soup for the Soul Podcast with Amy Newmark | Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Thanks for reading.