So this seems like a dumb question to me, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I am certain that it will be quite some time before I am able to write a read-worthy novel, in the meantime I am practicing with short stories. I've only fantasized about getting short stories published for money. I imagine the first step to actually getting a short story published is to read publication quality short stories. but the thing is, I've NEVER seen or read 'published' short stories. Where do you find them?? ~JG
www.duotrope.com You can find a whole selection there. A lot of genre short story magazines are either e-zines, or specialist. I have a couple of subscriptions to horror and sci-fi magazines. You find some great stuff in them
They are usually published in magazines, either in print or online. Make sure you read each magazine's guidelines before submitting. Every magazine has different ways of how they want you to format your story, etc. Some magazines will let you read short stories online for free while others require you buy their magazine. The choice is up to you.
Duotrop.com was really helpful! Thanks Bonzai Now, instead of clueless I'm overwhelmed! Any recommendations on specific online mags of good repor? Are there any quality pubs that are free?
On duotrope.com you can select what genre you want to submit and then select the payscale. The higher paying markets tend to be of higher quality (although this is not always the case). If you're interested in a particular magazine, check their website to see if they have any online stories for you to read.
they're published in magazines and literary journals... if the magazine is free, it usually means you won't be paid for your work, either... which means you can't claim it as a 'paid credit' when querying... and most paying venues, traditional book publishers and agents won't consider you a 'published author' until you've been paid for your published writings... one exception is if your work appears in a respected literary journal that only pays in copies, not cash...
From this pursuit another question has arisen... Who reads short stories? is it only aspiring writers like us? or is there a more general audience? I've never heard known anyone to subscribe to a short story magazine...
Plenty of people read short stories, writers included. Although the general reader probably reads novels more than short stories, there is still an audience for short stories. I have seen circulations as high as 80,000 for some short story and poetry magazines.
see above answer... and keep in mind that short stories are also published in many general interest [new yorker, the atlantic, harper's, et al.] and special interest magazines [woman's day, cosmo, penthouse, boy's life, seventeen, mags on pets, biking, hiking, yachting, etc.], not only in ones that consist only of stories... check out the duotrope listings and you'll see the wide variety of publishing venues for short fiction...
