writermag.com • The Writer | 27Interested in repurposing deleted sections of your book-length
manuscript? Check out the following resources, as well as the
“Markets” department at the back of The Writer.Duotrope.com – Includes a
searchable database of fiction
and nonfiction markets, along
with a calendar of upcoming
deadlines. Also offers a per-
sonal submission tracker.NewPages.com – The “Calls
for Submissions” page lists
literary magazines and
anthologies with editors
interested in stand-alone
pieces and excerpts.TheReviewReview.net –
Allows writers to access calls
for submissions from anthol-
ogy and collections editors, as
well as offering them informa-
tion about literary magazines.a more complete character conclusion by the end.”
She agrees that publishing cut pieces helps to
build an audience for longer work and points out
that writers who publish short stories in literary
journals sometimes receive emails from agents
interested in representing their book-length work.
“When you’re working on a long book, it can take
years and years to finish,” she says. “Publishing cut
pieces or excerpts allows you to get your work out
into more places and build a bigger audience.”
Mari Christie, a Colorado author, keeps a file
of material she’s cut from her historical and
romance fiction to repurpose in myriad ways.
“There’s good stuff in there – kernels of informa-
tion that can become scenes or short stories or
novellas,” she says.
Christie often uses cut material for anthology
submissions, blogs posts, and chapter giveaways
for subscribers to her newsletter. “Part of my
marketing strategy is to use those extra pieces
that fell out when I shook the machine before I
ever published the book,” she explains.
One of these pieces is a party scene from her
first historical romance novel, Royal Regard, which
was written under the pen name Mariana Gabrielle
(CreateSpace, 2014). In her newsletter, she wrote to
subscribers: “Remember that party scene the char-
acters referenced in a chapter? Here’s a story about
it!” Then, she gave them a special code that
enabled them to read it on her website.
When she found that her Civil War novel Blind
Tribute (CreateSpace, 2017) was simply too long,
she looked for sections to delete. One of these
sections was an editorial about Sherman’s March,
which became a post on her blog.
“It’s an interesting and fun way to market and
give added value to readers,” she notes. “The writ-
ing ends up in someone’s hands, and they say,
‘This is really cool. I like this character, and I can
go buy a whole book about them.’”Make deletions work for you
I admit, my filing system isn’t as tidy as that of my
colleagues. I print out paragraphs I’ve cut and
thumbtack them to a bulletin board. Entire
deleted chapters of my nonfiction and fiction
books sit on my computer’s desktop as well as on
top of my actual desk. Some would view these
discarded pieces as failures. I see them as rich
with possibility for publication and a paycheck. I
spend an hour each week reading up on new
magazines and what editors are looking for and
then spruce up my darlings and send them off
into the world.
A chapter deleted from my new middle-grade
novel will make a terrific short story for a chil-
dren’s magazine. A section cut from Better with
Books is perfect for an op-ed submitted to news-
papers across the country.
As my fellow authors point out, it’s wise to save
deleted pages and paragraphs, no matter how
short. “When the time comes and I want to pub-
lish another book,” says Oestreicher, “I have
plenty of material.”Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the author of Better
with Books (Sasquatch, 2019) and Avenging the Owl (Sky
Pony, 2016). Twitter/Instagram @WildMelissaHart.