This fortnight, I learnt a bunch about SEO copywriting, got on top of my fiction submissions, copped some painful rejections, copped a nice win, and withdrew a pending story to make it way better (and did).

Short fiction

When you submit a story for publication, you’ve got to read the publication’s submission guidelines. Some publications, for instance, don’t want you to submit your story elsewhere while it’s pending with them. A lot of them don’t mind, though, and I really hadn’t been taking advantage of this.

This fortnight, I submitted some of my already-pending stories to other places. More lines in the water is obviously a good thing. I feel less precious about each submission (and rejection), and my stats are looking a little healthier too.

In other news, I found out I didn’t make it through the first around of the Best Australian Yarn competition. This sucks. But looking back on the story I wrote (during a very turbulent time in my life), it makes sense why I didn’t make the top 50. With some clarity edits, I know I can get the story, called This Red Land, where it needs to be.

More pain arrived on my doorstep when I found out my submission to Ghost Orchid Press’s Les Petites Morts: An Anthology of Erotic Horror Fairy Tales, which had been on hold for a new months, didn’t make the cut. I doubt I’ll find a more perfect home for my story, but we shall see.

I also withdrew my story One Hundred Metres From Shore from a submission opportunity this fortnight to make it better. Some insights from my writing buddy Katie helped me to take the character development up a notch, and I’ve sent the polished version back into the ether. Fingers crossed.

Now, about that win: Etherea Magazine, who I read for, will be publishing my Australian alien (Australien?) story in this month’s issue. Stay tuned for more news about that.

Here are this fortnight’s stats:

Pending: 10 (5 stories)
Submissions: 7
Rejections: 3
Withdrawn: 1
Acceptances: 1

Copywriting: SEO

Honestly, for someone who writes website copy, I didn’t know all that much about SEO copywriting until this fortnight. I understood the basics, enough to get by, but now I feel I have a firm grasp of it, and I’ve found some awesome (and free) tools to help me along.

As for Google plugins, I’m using:

• Keyword Surfer
• SEOQuake
• Keywords Everywhere
• SEO META in 1 CLICK

I’m also using a few headline analysers now (these need to be taken with a grain of salt, of course):

• Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer
• Sharethrough’s Headline Analyzer
• Monster Insight’s Headline Analyzer
• Advanced Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer

On my actual website, to fill in meta data and such, I use Yoast.

I even went as far as to read, like, all of Google’s SEO ranking factors. A lot of these have nothing to do with copywriting. How quickly your site loads, for instance, is crucial to SEO.

Copywriting: Frontier Media

As I mentioned a few posts back, I’m stepping away from writing for Frontier Media’s YouTube channel The Front. However, some of the videos for which I wrote the scripts have yet to come out, so I’m still gonna share them here.

Thoughts

Looking back on it, I got a lot done this fortnight. That’s the main reason I write these updates: to prove to myself that I’m taking steps to become a better writer almost every day.

Thanks for reading <3

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