My first published short story went live today, and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. Mad Scientist Journal did a phenomenal job; I even like the artwork. :)
In other news, another market has dropped from the list of those meeting my criteria for evaluation. Brutarian will no longer be included in my MarketWants analysis. But I'll write more about that another day, after I take a little more time to relish in my first victory....
Monday, August 26, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Preliminary Pro Markets Summary and Exclusions
So, after a somewhat cursory evaluation of the SFWA pro markets, a few immediately dropped from my list of prospective publishers. These markets of course have their own bases of support, so other writers will naturally want to look at these markets and see if they meet their needs, but for me personally, I can't imagine myself ever submitting to them. This is mostly due to restrictions they add to their submissions requirements, and I would imagine that most writers of short fiction would feel the same way.
Dragon seems more geared toward players of Dungeons & Dragons-type role-playing games, which I am just not really interested in and wouldn't really know how to write for. Rather than just writing a story and submitting it, you have to submit a pitch first, which is a downside for me. I'd rather write what I want and then find a home for it, rather than trying to tailor my writing to a single market. It fails to meet L. Ron Hubbard's 5 market rule.
Grantville Gazette is similar, recommending you submit a short sketch first and see if they're even interested. If they're not, you're just out of luck, even if you've written a great story. You're also restricted to writing within their specific universe, which again, just doesn't appeal to me.
Odyssey requires a query first, Subterranean Magazine doesn't accept unsolicited submissions, and ChiZine, The Pedestal Magazine, and Redstone Science Fiction appear to be on temporary or permanent hiatus. Cemetery Dance may have potential, but they don't have a "What We're Looking For" section posted on their website, so I won't be considering them in my analysis.
Writers of the Future has a lot of potential as a market for a good story, and David Farland has written quite a bit about what attributes the judges of the contest are looking for, but since his recommendations are overly broad and not posted on the WotF site itself, I'm excluding this market as well, at least for the purposes of this particular analysis.
That leaves a remainder of 22 markets which accept general submissions and have posted guidelines for what kinds of stories they're looking for. I'll post some of the preliminary results of what these markets want next time....
Dragon seems more geared toward players of Dungeons & Dragons-type role-playing games, which I am just not really interested in and wouldn't really know how to write for. Rather than just writing a story and submitting it, you have to submit a pitch first, which is a downside for me. I'd rather write what I want and then find a home for it, rather than trying to tailor my writing to a single market. It fails to meet L. Ron Hubbard's 5 market rule.
Grantville Gazette is similar, recommending you submit a short sketch first and see if they're even interested. If they're not, you're just out of luck, even if you've written a great story. You're also restricted to writing within their specific universe, which again, just doesn't appeal to me.
Odyssey requires a query first, Subterranean Magazine doesn't accept unsolicited submissions, and ChiZine, The Pedestal Magazine, and Redstone Science Fiction appear to be on temporary or permanent hiatus. Cemetery Dance may have potential, but they don't have a "What We're Looking For" section posted on their website, so I won't be considering them in my analysis.
Writers of the Future has a lot of potential as a market for a good story, and David Farland has written quite a bit about what attributes the judges of the contest are looking for, but since his recommendations are overly broad and not posted on the WotF site itself, I'm excluding this market as well, at least for the purposes of this particular analysis.
That leaves a remainder of 22 markets which accept general submissions and have posted guidelines for what kinds of stories they're looking for. I'll post some of the preliminary results of what these markets want next time....
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