I'm just beginning to send out pieces to magazine contests for poetry and short stories. I would like to have a collection published; does anyone out there have any references for publishers who specialize in formats besides novels? Barring that, anyone have suggestions for anthologies and magazines to submit to?
Have you tried www.duotrope.com ? It really should be your first port of call. And you're not likely to be able to get a short story collection published as an unknown author. Publishers only go for authors with a proven track record, such as having been widely published in magazines and anthologies. Those are the places to start.
yup!... what banzai said... however, that applies to the us... in the uk [and possibly canada] it may be a different story...
Can't comment as to Canada, but it's certainly the case in the UK. I wouldn't imagine it's any different in Canada, because it's surely just commercial good sense?
Yeah, I kinda gathered as much trough my own (directionless haha) browsing. I hadn't seen duotrope, though I saw it mentioned on this forum.. So I guess the question is: what are some anthologies or magazines I WANT my pieces to be published in? Many that I've found just kind of seem like a dumping ground.
A good way to judge quality is by pay scale. Anything that pays is probably a good thing. If it pays semi-pro or pro it's probably a very useful place to be published. What genre(s) are you writing in? EDIT: Just poking around duotrope will probably give you a clue, actually.
For poetry it's mostly erm... Atwoodian? Not to sound vain or anything lol. I tend to write about the loss of self, transitions; existentialist kind of stuff I suppose. Short fiction is almost always fantasy based, at least to some extent. What's considered a "professional" pay scale? For poetry submissions, or short fiction.
You shouldn't find it too difficult to find a market for that sort of thing, I would have thought. I'm not sure how poetry pay scales work, but "professional" as far as prose goes is 5c or more per word.
keep in mind that some highly respected literary journals and regional/university magazines only pay in copies, but they're still good venues for establishing yourself... so, it's not just money you should consider as 'pay'...