Short story markets

[andyk]

Somebody asked about places to submit short stories, so...

 

Duotrope has a database which you can sort in a whole load of useful ways:

https://duotrope.com/

 

There's a small monthly charge to use all its features - I use it to help keep track of my submissions - but I think you can search the database without that.

 

I usually search by genre and length of story. I try to start by submitting new stories to places that have accepted my work before, or given me encouraging rejections. Seriously, never underestimate the value of a detailed rejection, they are rare, encouraging and useful for improving your writing.

 

Duotrope also has a calendar of deadlines for themed issues and anthologies. I sometimes browse that just for inspiration for story ideas, and if I finish the story in time to submit then that's a bonus.

 

There are also other sites listing markets. I've never used it, but Ralan is supposed to be good for speculative fiction:

http://www.ralan.com/

 

All the sites for magazines and anthologies will have pages detailing their submission process and the format they want the stories in.

[Robinski]

Andy, you's a star - thank you.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Robinski

[jagabond]

I would pose The Grinder as an alternative to Duo. It's free, and I use it to track my submissions. Lets you have favorite markets, and sort your searches by acceptance rates/response times/payments. It's also very hands-on; the people who run it are quick to edit mistakes and keep it updated. I also hate Ralan's interface and design, but they do have a lot of good info once you know what you're looking for. 

 

I am only one small voice in this conversation, but I did do my BA thesis on the short story market, very recently.

 

As Andy said, One of the hardest things to find is a magazine that gives good, personal rejections. Those are worth their weight in gold. Bastion Science Fiction (who accepted a story from me recently) has an editor who gives super detailed feedback, the guy is all over reddit's r/writing and other places. It's worth it to check a venue's page for % of personal rejections. 

Edited August 3, 2014 by jagabond

[Robinski]

Thank you, Jaga - you are also a star.

 

These sound like really good pieces of advice, and it's something we don't really talk about here, the next steps and strategies for rejection - so the benefit of your experiences is much appreciated.

[Mandamon]

Awesome!  Thanks guys.

I'll look into all those places.  I'd love to get some detailed rejections.  So far on the books I've submitted, I've just gotten form rejections.  It's hard to know what I'm doing wrong.

This will inspire me to write some short stories, I'm sure.

[Endurant Archivist]

@Andyk & @Jagabond great resources, thanks for putting these up here! How long have you both been in the writing market?

[andyk]

I had my first story published in 2007. Most of my sales have been what Duotrope labels 'semi-professional', which is really just writer talk for 'pays bobbins', and some I've given away free to see them out there. It's fun to do, and a good way of establishing some credentials as well as sharpening my craft and deadening the pain of rejection. But I don't think even a seasoned pro could live full time off the short story market.

[jagabond]

Realistically, it's statistically impossible to make a living off of shorts. They're for practice, publicity, and networking!

 

I've only been taking my writing "seriously" since last July. I wrote a novel back in the day in '06, and took it out every now and again to rewrite it, but I don't quite count that.

 

But last year, I'd been out of work, trudging along with school, and then I got a desk job with tons of time to listen to podcasts/audio fiction. Listening to authors talk about their books got me motivated, so I found all the pro markets, began doing research and writing and all that good stuff. (And so much reading).

 

Short answer: my first sale was very recent. Like, the 1st of this month recent. So I only have that, plus a story at my college won an award but who counts those... So I'd call myself an informed beginner. I've written tons of things, I'm submitting all over the place, etc. Just getting started, really.

[Silk]

Realistically, it's statistically impossible to make a living off of shorts. They're for practice, publicity, and networking!

 

 

Or because you like writing shorts.

[jagabond]

Psh, there's no room for passion in writing!

[Dysphoric Kitten]

I just have to ask - what exactly do you refer to when you say "the shorts market"?

 

There is this writer whose first book I love - I have not yet seriously read any of his others - and I know that he is most known for his collections of short stories. While he has some comics and films, those are largely unknown, especially not as his. And each of his stories - at least in that first book - is between a twelfth of an A4 and four of them in length. Does this count as living off the short story market?

[Silk]

I'm not really sure what you mean by the stories being four A4s in length (pretty much every market I can think of defines the length of a story by its wordcount), but--

 

"Short story market" usually means magazines, anthologies, etc., that specifically publish short fiction and pay writers for the individual short stories that they publish; I don't think whether short fiction collections, with the exception of anthologies I guess, are typically considered part of the "short story market" as such since they're typically published and sold by a single publisher, much like any other single book (and there are relatively few of them published because they are typically rather difficult to sell).