Becoming a successful writer is hard work (I assume, since I’m not yet a successful writer). Still, you will never get published if you don’t put yourself out there and submit your stories, essays, poems, etc. Once you’ve written something you’re proud of – what next? Where do you go? I have found one resource that helps me with these questions – Duotrope.
Duotrope is a website that helps connects writers with publishers. It mostly deals with places to submit shorter works like individual poems, short stories, or essays, but there are a few publishers listed that take unsolicited larger works for consideration as well such as novels and poetry or short story collections.
There is a $50 annual fee to use Duotrope, but I think it’s worth it. If you’re not so sure, consider giving their free trial option a try and check it out for yourself. Duotrope allows you to search for the perfect home for your writing. You can put in your genre and the length of your work, and it will give you places that are looking for that. You can even limit it by how much you want for your product: no payment, token payment, semi-pro payment, or professional payment. They are constantly adding new publishers or contests for you to consider. This website has helped me cut down on my googling considerably by bringing the publishers to me.
I have wanted to be a writer since I was six, but I still feel like I’m still at the beginning of my journey as a writer. I’m taking baby steps and still trying to find my voice, but I’m going to get there! And you can too! I’m glad that I’ve found Duotrope to help me along the way, and I just wanted to share it with you in case it helps you too.
Tiffany Renee Harmon 
Interesting topic. I I would like to write books also but have yet to start. I do have a space on my blog reserved for that though. Have you looked at Amazon publishing? They offer free publishing, the ability to sell your books on Amazon and take a percent when you sell. They offer several ways to publish: Kindle direct, Create Space, and even audio publishing. They have a couple of free book making software programs you can download to make your product “Kindle friendly”.
Here is a link to take a look.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.html?topic=200260520
You can also just make your own pdf e-books and offer them here on your blog. Nowadays it’s easy for a person to self publish without paying royalties to big book publishers. I would suggest looking into these free options first.
Let me know what you think about this.
Thanks for your reply! At this point, I’m not interested in self-publishing, but I agree that this is a great resource for people who do want to self-publish. My dad has had success with Amazon.