Ideas for short stories come in bursts and pieces. Some incubate for years. Some are too compelling to let go until you get them written. Sometimes the plot or characters don't do justice to the concept. Sometimes the plot is better than the idea. Sometimes nobody likes the characters. Sometimes you have to come back much later and use the concept in a completely different way. Good or bad, these short stories have one thing in common. Outside of your critique group, no one gets to read them until they are published.
These days it's easy enough to publish on your own. Simply select from the stories you've churned out, make a collection, wrap them in an electronic bundle, and publish them on your web site, or blog, or Amazon, or Kobo, or B&N, or Smashwords, or ... well, you get the idea. But that's still no guarantee that anyone other than your friends--and you're not entirely sure of them--will bother to read. The best way to get a shot at an audience for a short story is through a recognized magazine or anthology.
Science fiction magazines are numerous in some ways, and form a short list in others. The top tier magazines in terms of pay and prestige are those listed in the membership requirements in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, SFWA for short. (Full disclaimer: I am an active member of the SFWA) These include the classic print magazines such as Asimov's, Analog, and Science Fiction and Fantasy, and electronic magazines such as Clarke's World, Daily Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, etc. Among the qualifications for making the SFWA list are circulation size, longevity, and pay rate. Professional pay rate as set by the SFWA is $0.05/word and up. One way to qualify for membership in the SFWA is to sell three short stories of sufficient length with sufficient pay to markets on the SFWA list. There are other ways to qualify but you can visit the SFWA site to see those.
The magazines paying professional rates form a rather short list. There are more semi-pro markets and genre markets offering token pay to no pay. In my humble opinion, the worst recent trend is the rise of markets which charge writers to submit. For those yearning to write, I would advise you to skip markets which charge for submissions. I realize that there are a very few contests where an entry fee might seem appropriate, but for simple publication, any money flow should be toward the writer not away from the writer.
Selling a story is how I keep score of whether I've don'e a good job in telling the story: Tell-well, Sell-well. Of course there are great stories which may not fit any professional market. Most of the writers I know often are at a loss as to why a story that they thought was marginal sold to a great market, but they were never able to place their favorite story. Sometimes luck plays a role, but so does learning the craft, persistence, and learning to market.
Round about, but I finally got to the topic I wanted. Marketing. I am absolutely no good at marketing. Fortunately, the only people I have to market short stories to are editors. However, editors have different tastes, and magazines have different personalities. Some magazines have personalities that I grok, some are mysterious to me. Because stories must go through slush readers before the editor sees them, you have to satisfy at least two people to get to the final round of story selection. Even then, the upcoming issue may have a special personality into which your story does not fit. Lot's of variables in spinning the short-story wheel of fortune, but the only ones the writer can control are 1. The quality of the submission, and 2. Where to submit.
The quality of a submission is far beyond my ability to discuss in a single block or perhaps even in a hundred. Where to submit is a different question.
Until recently there were two major free sites to research markets for speculative fiction: Ralan's and Duotrope. Duotrope had the added feature of providing writers an account where they could list and track their submissions. Recently, Duotrope decided to charge for this service.
I never used Duotrope's tracking services although I would consult it every month or so to see which markets were open. I preferred to track my submissions using Sonar and an Excel spreadsheet. I'm sure there is other tracking software I haven't tried, but Sonar is the only one I've used. In a future blog, I will discuss the spreadsheet I designed for tracking submissions. As I've added features to my spreadsheet, it's become the workhorse for organizing my projects. In any event, Duotrope priced itself far beyond what little use I ever made of it.
How then can I keep up with the latest market listings and news?
Fortunately for me, David Steffan and Anthony Sullivan of Diabolical Plots stepped in to fill the void. (Full Disclosure: I've participated in a critique group with David for number of years, we are both members of Codex writers, and Diabolical Plots had some very nice things to say about one of my stories in Daily Science Fiction.). In an amazingly short time, David and Anthony had The Submission Grinder up and running.
I've tried the search feature, and it appears to work great. The latest note from David indicates that they have close to 1000 markets in the pipeline and about 700 are already accessible. I never tried the tracking feature with Duotrope, but I decided to start an account on The Grinder. I began by entering only the twelve stories I currently have on submission. So far, the experience has been pleasant and the statistical information interesting.
David pledges to keep The Grinder free, but it is supported by donations just as Duotrope used to be. To this point, The Grinder appears to have plenty of features, a good data base, a friendly user interface, AND the ability to track submissions.
I have not made use of searches for book markets, but some of the better known publishers turned up during my other searches. Similarly, I haven't done an anthology search yet. I'll try those at a later date.
Paranoid that I am, I'm now keeping track of short story submissions three ways: Sonar, Excel, and The Grinder. Three feels like too many to juggle. As The Grinder increases its capabilities, Sonar looks like it falls into third place. If I'm going to bet my Paypal money on this horse race, I'll place my wager on The Grinder.
These days it's easy enough to publish on your own. Simply select from the stories you've churned out, make a collection, wrap them in an electronic bundle, and publish them on your web site, or blog, or Amazon, or Kobo, or B&N, or Smashwords, or ... well, you get the idea. But that's still no guarantee that anyone other than your friends--and you're not entirely sure of them--will bother to read. The best way to get a shot at an audience for a short story is through a recognized magazine or anthology.
Science fiction magazines are numerous in some ways, and form a short list in others. The top tier magazines in terms of pay and prestige are those listed in the membership requirements in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, SFWA for short. (Full disclaimer: I am an active member of the SFWA) These include the classic print magazines such as Asimov's, Analog, and Science Fiction and Fantasy, and electronic magazines such as Clarke's World, Daily Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, etc. Among the qualifications for making the SFWA list are circulation size, longevity, and pay rate. Professional pay rate as set by the SFWA is $0.05/word and up. One way to qualify for membership in the SFWA is to sell three short stories of sufficient length with sufficient pay to markets on the SFWA list. There are other ways to qualify but you can visit the SFWA site to see those.
The magazines paying professional rates form a rather short list. There are more semi-pro markets and genre markets offering token pay to no pay. In my humble opinion, the worst recent trend is the rise of markets which charge writers to submit. For those yearning to write, I would advise you to skip markets which charge for submissions. I realize that there are a very few contests where an entry fee might seem appropriate, but for simple publication, any money flow should be toward the writer not away from the writer.
Selling a story is how I keep score of whether I've don'e a good job in telling the story: Tell-well, Sell-well. Of course there are great stories which may not fit any professional market. Most of the writers I know often are at a loss as to why a story that they thought was marginal sold to a great market, but they were never able to place their favorite story. Sometimes luck plays a role, but so does learning the craft, persistence, and learning to market.
Round about, but I finally got to the topic I wanted. Marketing. I am absolutely no good at marketing. Fortunately, the only people I have to market short stories to are editors. However, editors have different tastes, and magazines have different personalities. Some magazines have personalities that I grok, some are mysterious to me. Because stories must go through slush readers before the editor sees them, you have to satisfy at least two people to get to the final round of story selection. Even then, the upcoming issue may have a special personality into which your story does not fit. Lot's of variables in spinning the short-story wheel of fortune, but the only ones the writer can control are 1. The quality of the submission, and 2. Where to submit.
The quality of a submission is far beyond my ability to discuss in a single block or perhaps even in a hundred. Where to submit is a different question.
Until recently there were two major free sites to research markets for speculative fiction: Ralan's and Duotrope. Duotrope had the added feature of providing writers an account where they could list and track their submissions. Recently, Duotrope decided to charge for this service.
I never used Duotrope's tracking services although I would consult it every month or so to see which markets were open. I preferred to track my submissions using Sonar and an Excel spreadsheet. I'm sure there is other tracking software I haven't tried, but Sonar is the only one I've used. In a future blog, I will discuss the spreadsheet I designed for tracking submissions. As I've added features to my spreadsheet, it's become the workhorse for organizing my projects. In any event, Duotrope priced itself far beyond what little use I ever made of it.
How then can I keep up with the latest market listings and news?
Fortunately for me, David Steffan and Anthony Sullivan of Diabolical Plots stepped in to fill the void. (Full Disclosure: I've participated in a critique group with David for number of years, we are both members of Codex writers, and Diabolical Plots had some very nice things to say about one of my stories in Daily Science Fiction.). In an amazingly short time, David and Anthony had The Submission Grinder up and running.
I've tried the search feature, and it appears to work great. The latest note from David indicates that they have close to 1000 markets in the pipeline and about 700 are already accessible. I never tried the tracking feature with Duotrope, but I decided to start an account on The Grinder. I began by entering only the twelve stories I currently have on submission. So far, the experience has been pleasant and the statistical information interesting.
David pledges to keep The Grinder free, but it is supported by donations just as Duotrope used to be. To this point, The Grinder appears to have plenty of features, a good data base, a friendly user interface, AND the ability to track submissions.
I have not made use of searches for book markets, but some of the better known publishers turned up during my other searches. Similarly, I haven't done an anthology search yet. I'll try those at a later date.
Paranoid that I am, I'm now keeping track of short story submissions three ways: Sonar, Excel, and The Grinder. Three feels like too many to juggle. As The Grinder increases its capabilities, Sonar looks like it falls into third place. If I'm going to bet my Paypal money on this horse race, I'll place my wager on The Grinder.
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