i'm really coming from a place where i don't know sh*t about the publishing world. and glad i found this site to hopefully help me understand some things. (actually instead of writing all i was gonna write, i'm gonna keep this short and simple...) i have a couple short story ideas, and i'm just wondering if literary agents accept those? i just kind of imagine a literary agent is the person who takes your work and shops it around... so maybe to publishing houses, but also maybe to magazines and things like that. but often times, when i think i know something i'm proven wrong. so let me know what's what. thanks.
My understanding is that you should send your short stories to magazines yourself, without bothering with an agent. The only exception would be if you've written a whole book of short stories; in such a case, you could try to interest an agent in it. But agents would much rather try to sell novels than books of short stories, especially from unknown authors. You'd probably have a very hard time finding an agent to represent books of short stories unless you're already a well-known writer. Try duotrope.com. That site has listings for just about every short story market out there. It's a great place to start if you want to sell short stories.
thanks... i was all excited to sign up and than i read "Beginning January 1, 2013, most of Duotrope's features are now available to paid subscribers only." i'll have to come back as i'm broke right now... but thanks for the info. i clearly don't know sh*t LOL!!!
You can also check out listings in magazines like The Writer or Writer's Digest (and their websites) for info on story contests and magazine submission requirements. Everyone loved duotrope, and we'll have to see how it works out now that they're on a paid model. But it might be worth the $5 or so to give it a shot. As Minstrel said, most literary agents don't bother with short stories. You're better off shopping those yourself.
There's also the market listings at Poets and Writers. There's a link in one of the stickied threads. Last time I checked, it was still free.
agents do not rep short stories [unless they're by a bestselling novelist/whatever who's already a big-money-making client]... there's no money in it for them... you have to shop them around on your own...
