Can anyone tell me of a good place for me to find places to submit short stories. I know of the Writers Market but is it worth the price if I am only looking for short story subs? Monthly Subscription: $5.99 6-Month Subscription: $24.99 Annual Subscription: $39.99 I guess I could take to six month deal and simple copy and paste to info my favorite publications. I don't know how often their short story subs are updated but I would not think it to often. any suggestion are appreciated - thanks
I personally like the Submission Grinder as a way of finding short story markets, especially since it's free. https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com That said, it does seem to have more info on genre markets, so something else might serve you better if you're a literary writer.
I use Duotrope which is $50 per year. I find it to be a must-have for anyone who want to seriously give submitting a go. It will let you do several different searches and provides statistics, including acceptance rates, pay rates and response times. It also allows you to keep track of all your submissions is a very user-friendly way. There are also interviews with the editors from a lot of the publications, talking about what they look for and stuff. The Submission Grinder is basically the free version, but it's not as good when it comes to literary fiction, at least. Duotrope used to be free and The Grinder popped up when Duotrope started charging. I have also found that not all the stuff on The Grinder is up to date on some of their literary listings. Part of what also makes Duotrope more appealing to me is that it has more users, which make the statistics more accurate. For each listing it will tell you how many users have submitted to a place in the last 12 months. It will also tell you how many users have submitted and are currently waiting for a response and how long those submissions have been out. You can see how more users might make this more helpful. I think you can try Duotrope free for a month. There is also an option to pay $5 a month. Duotrope also lists calls for submissions from anthologies and has agent listings that are searchable the same as publishers. I had thought about switching to The Grinder when Duotrope started charging, but it just wasn't the same and wasn't going to work for what I needed. It might be better now. I would suggest either of these over Writers Market. You are still going to need to read the specific submission guidelines of the websites for each place you submit. And in addition to that it will only benefit you to also read the publications you're thinking about submitting work to.
I have a related question, and this seams as good a place as any. I feel silly asking this, but I honestly don't know the answer. Do you submit one short story to one magazine and wait for a reply, or do you submit it everywhere you can and hope for multiple offers? Do publishers have exclusivity rules in their submission guidelines? I've only given a few of them cursory glances, because I'm not there yet, but I'm getting close.
Hi, @Rzero. Some places allow simultaneous submissions others don't. You'll have to check the specific guidelines for each publication to know. But I do play by the rules on this. There are some publications that I feel are worth waiting for. Other times I will send a story a few places at once. However, you never get multiple offers. If a story is accepted, you must immediately withdraw it from any other place that has it under consideration. That's sort of why it's good to know the publishing landscape a bit. I always suggest trying the places you really want to publish and think your work is a good fit for first. If you think you're close to being ready to submit your work, read these publications like crazy. Really knowing the market you're submitting to gives you an edge. Good luck!
This is very helpful, thank you. I was just googling "where to submit short stories" and this seems so much smarter than doing that - ha. I'm aware of the more mainstream publications that publish short stories (e.g., The Atlantic or The New Yorker), but not as familiar with the solely literary-focused publications. I'm a noob to all of this (to use my kids' Fortnite term). But I'm nearly at the point where I think my years-old novel is finished. (At least until I don't think that anymore - it wouldn't be the first time. Or second. Or third.) I have one short story drafted, but it needs work. And relatively solid plans for two or three others. I'm ready to get my head out of the novel and into something shorter. Editing the novel is exhausting. Fun, but exhausting.
Hello @HeathBar -- Welcome to the crazy world of short story markets. It's a wild ride, harder than it should be, and often discouraging. But I will say that all those tries can lead to amazing things and even the big guys pull stories out of the slush pile. My advice to to aim higher than you think you should. A good story has a good chance of getting picked up just about anywhere. There's nothing wrong with the smaller markets, but do check them out before submitting. I've been turned off by a few places I thought I would send work to, but after reading them I realized that wasn't exactly where I wanted my work published. I'm no snob, but not all publication credits are the same and editors do know that. Get a copy of the Pushcart Prize. It's an anthology that comes out once a year and it's the best of the best from all publications. It's sort of like a cheatsheet to get a feel for many publications at ones. And it's always good to submit to places that nominate their writers and win prizes. Most MFA programs have literary journals. I feel safe about submitting work to places associated with universities. A lot of it just comes down to reading what's out there and seeing what feels like a good match for your own work. Brace yourself for rejection. Like a ridiculous amount of rejection. I got over 400 rejections before I sold a story. But that story was picked up my one of the top publications in the country. It was someplace I never thought I had a chance with. So, submit often and a lot. I wouldn't just send one story one place and wait around to see what happens. Producing new work is key. We get better and our stories get better. Keep at it, and it will pay off. Another thing is to check out the rejection thread on here that's been going on for a few years. It's sort of like a small community within the community here. I try and post all my rejections and include where they are from and how long it took me to get a response. You can see on there where we're submitting. And join us. Rejection suck, but our efforts are worth celebrating. Anyway, welcome to the club of short story writing! Everyone is welcome, and once you start putting your work out there, you're in with us. Good luck!
