FAQs

Writer’s Relief is a team of expert personal assistants—not a literary agency, publicity firm, publishing house, or writer’s “organization.”

We are an author’s submission service. Working with us is no different than hiring a personal assistant to help prepare your submissions in your home office—except that instead of getting a “one size fits all” aide, you’re getting a whole team of specialized experts (and we won’t clutter up your office or need you to hold our hands!).

I know you want to be confident about Writer’s Relief services before trusting us with something as personal as your writing. I also know that it’s difficult to get to know a company via a Web site.

As part of our commitment to the writing community, we strive to be as open and transparent as possible. Our goal is to make our clients’ and potential clients’ lives easier, and for that reason we’ve compiled a number of resources to help you get to know us.

How do I know Writer’s Relief is legit?
How much money will I make from using Writer’s Relief?
How do you target work to the best-suited markets?
Do you charge a fee for Review Board consideration?
Do you work with self-published books?
Can you tell me what books you helped get published?
Who works at Writer’s Relief?

How do I know Writer’s Relief is legit?

There are many publishing industry schemes out there: fake contests and anthologies, unscrupulous “literary agencies,” literary magazines that don’t respect writers’ rights.

Writers have every reason to be suspicious of companies that claim to help them. We frequently warn our clients and our readers when such things come across our path. You can find some articles we’ve written to warn our readers about such issues here: The Seduction of Shady Poetry Contests, How to Spot a Bad Literary Agent (Part One), How to Spot a Bad Literary Agency (Part Two), Who’s Who Directories.

With Writer’s Relief, you can rest assured. There’s a reason we’ve been in business since 1994. We are what we say we are: a team of highly specialized personal assistants here to relieve you of the burden of submitting your work and to improve your submission strategies.

Our clients love writing but don’t love mucking around in the business of it. Many people can learn how to change the brake pads on their car or learn HTML to build a Web site. But often they don’t have hundreds of hours to spend acquiring such expertise. That’s where we come in—we give you the time you need to do what you love most: write.

Want more reassurance? Here are some ways you can get to know us:

How much money will I make from using Writer’s Relief?

Writer’s Relief works with creative writers, not with freelancers who wish to submit their work for profit. As you most likely know, there isn’t a lot of money to be made in creative writing. There are a number of reasons for this.

Regarding shorter works, most literary magazines and journals are affiliated with colleges and universities, and they are increasingly underfunded and can’t pay their writers. Those that can pay offer small honorariums and/or contributor copies. This segment of the publishing industry thrives because of its commitment to the arts, not to profits.

As far as submitting to literary agencies, there is no guarantee of profit. Often it can take awhile before advances on a book contract are paid out. If you want to get an idea of how long it might take before you see a return on your book, read A Top Virtue for Creative Writers.

To learn more about writing profits, read How Much Money Can I Make Writing Poems, Stories, and Books?

We do not take a commission and never charge reading fees. Our clients use our services for many reasons. Some just want the pleasure of seeing their creative writing published in highly reputable literary magazines. Others want to build up (and diversify) their portfolio so that if/when they approach an agent, publisher, or potential employer, they will be more warmly received. Others seek our help in finding those agents most likely to enjoy their book. Whether you’re seeking an agent, an academic position, or a publisher, building “smaller” publication credits for your short prose and poetry is vital to success. Read our article Building Publication Credits to learn more.

How do you target work to the best-suited markets?

Our submissions are designed to be strategic and effective. We base submissions on many elements, including your publication history, length of work, content of work, reading dates, editorial preferences, topics included in your work, and other important criteria.

We target books to literary agents, not publishers (click to learn why). We target short stories, creative essays, and poems to literary magazines (to print magazines and to some reputable online literary magazines). Clients must be capable of making submissions both online and via traditional mail from their homes.

What makes our targeting process different than what you could do on your own? First, we have thousands of literary journals on file, so we know what the journals are looking for and what topics they have previously published. Second, in addition to researching guidelines on a continuing basis, we receive daily, updated information from our clients’ responses (rejections and acceptances), and we know agents’/editors’ preferences down to their feelings about point of view or verb tense. Because we receive so many responses and do so much research, no other source (including print market books) updates their records in such a timely and regular way.

Do you charge a fee for Review Board consideration?

All writers applying for inclusion in our Full Service client list must first submit writing samples to our Review Board for review. We do not charge a fee for our Review Board. Although our Review Board cannot offer you a critique of your work, our response will give you an honest indication of whether or not we believe your writing is strong enough for serious professional submission services. Also, we don’t submit our clients’ work to any markets that charge a reading fee.

Do you work with self-published books?

Provided that the writing is strong and that you (the author) hold all rights, we will work with self-published novels that are accepted by our Review Board. We create cover/query letters that specifically emphasize the positive aspects of self-publishing and that downplay any drawbacks.

Can you tell me what books you helped get published?

We have had some rather big name clients working with us, including major award winners and bestsellers, but when writers get agents using our services, they move on to bigger and better things. After all, once they have an agent, our job is done!

Please view our Client News for updated information on some of our clients’ recent achievements, including recent releases.

Who works at Writer’s Relief?

Our staff members have diverse backgrounds. Some begin their careers in the publishing industry with us, while others have been here for a very long time. Both staff members and clients have been editors at literary magazines (both major and minor). Some have literary agency experience, and one of our staffers is a multi-published author of novels with one of the biggest publishers in the world.

But, as much as it’s important that we have experience in publishing, what may be more important is our talent for research, organization, and successful targeting. The bulk of what we do is the “grunt work” of making submissions; our time-saving research and organization skills go to work for you. You focus on constantly improving your writing, and we’ll handle the paperwork of making submissions.

Since we’re creative types, we have something of an alternative workplace. We work a shorter workday than most and we always have a canine mascot or two! Click here for a slide show of the Writer’s Relief staff (including me!).