Hi All, I have managed to complete 4 short stories (yay!), and have decided to try submitting them to see what happens. Trouble is, I'm finding it difficult to find markets that suit. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm not being confident enough (I'm looking at these mags and thinking 'No, my stories aren't NEAR good enough to appear in that one!') or that I'm not looking in the right places. Does anyone else have these problems? How do you go about finding markets suitable for your work? Best, Daisy xx
Daisydaisy, Let the editors decide if you're good enough or not. Sure you might get a lot of rejections, but you'll never find out if you don't try. I have a lost of markets (and market search sites) on my website that may facilitate your search. Most divide markets into categories such as genre and some allow you to put in other parameters such as rate of pay, length, etc. Here are the links (I think you'll find Duotrope and Ralans as the most useful): ervin-author.com Markets ervint-author.com Market Search Websites Check the submission guidelines for each market, as well as the 'about' page to get an idea of what they generally publish. If possible quickly read through a couple stories they may have posted to get an idea for what they accept. Make a priority list and then begin the submission process, making sure to track where you sent and when. While waiting for replies, keep writing! Good luck! Terry
As my stories are in a very large niche market, I've never really given that much thought. But submit your story to them, anyway, at least the ones you don't really care about. You might get lucky.
i find duotrope to be the best listing site... if you're doubting the quality of your work, post the first couple of paragraphs in our short story section and we can give you feedback on whether it's marketable, or not...
Thanks for the replies. I will check those sites Terry - thanks. Perhaps I do just need to be a little bit braver.
I was in your shoes once. Now I've published many short stories. What I did was not think about how good or bad my story was, as I'm way too critical of my own writing, and let the editors decide if my story was proper for their magazine. I did check out the magazines first to make sure that my stories were in the same genre, which may be easier to do in some genres the others, but make sure that it's close. Once I sent it out, I waited sometimes a week and sometimes three months to hear back. The biggest thing that I learned while doing this, and still do, is that editors want stories, obviously, but many are willing to work with the writer to make the story a little more polished and to fit better within the guidelines of the magazine. And don't think that just because you haven't published that they won't take the time to help you work out your story. If the story is good and they like it, it doesn't matter who you are or what credentials you may or may not have. The bets of luck to you!!
