Seeking a market-hard to pin down genre

[DeniseK]

Hello, I am new. My name is Sarah.

I have a short story I'm having a heck of a time finding the right market for. It is 3000 words, sort of a romance, but it's not romantic, though it has a few flashbacks about the former romance of a married couple, it does mention the great sex they had, but doesn't contain any actual sex scenes, it is more about deceit in a long marriage, revealed in increments, but I don't think it would be suited for a romance magazine for it has a wicked and violent twist for an ending, very macabre. But I don't think it would be suited for a mystery magazine either, because of the long stretch of talk about the marriage, plus,the fact that the wife has a lesbian affair, poses for a porn magazine, which both are spoken about but not described, and the wife has turned into an alcoholic. I have never written erotica, but I suspect this might be considered soft erotica.

Does a good paying market, either web or print, come to mind ? Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. The story is called, "Twenty Years in a Shoebox."

[Greer]

Hard to say without reading it, but Nerve.com is a good market for erotica.

[DeniseK]

Thanks, Greer. I'll check it out right now

[DeniseK]

I guess my story really isn't erotica after checking out that site.

I wrote this a few years ago, before I learned that it's more efficient to find a market and see what they do and don't want before you write the story. Or that's my take on it anyway.

[AprilBoo]

Sarah,

Maybe Chippewa Publishing - www.chippewapublishing.com. They are online/print, and they take single stories. They have a submission category called Dark Romance that sounds like it might fit your story. And they have a good submission response time too.

Best of luck, and welcome!

[DeniseK]

Thanks, Aprilboo, that's sounds very promising, will check it out.

[DeniseK]

Mmmhh, interesting concept. But I wonder how many readers actually buy short stories online when there are so many to be read for free. It would be illuminating to hear from someone who has published a short story with Chippewa.

[veinglory]

I am trying them now.

The single best place to look for erotic markets is the ERWA link at the top of the forum. But if you are still seeking 5c a word I cannot think of anyone who pays that except for first person hard-core.

[DeniseK]

Veinglory, you are probably right. I sent this story to Zoetrope in February and waited all these months, never receiving a response. I was going to wait till October and try for Glimmer Train, but I feel maybe I am setting my sights too high too soon. I have saved the link you mentioned to my favorites. Someone in your other forum had mentioned that there were lots of links there that actually seemed more mainstream than hard erotica. I think that's where I will find my market.

Thanks for your help, everyone. Have a great weekend!

Sarah

[veinglory]

You may as well aim high. If you hit it will save a lot of messing around in the lower leagues--if you don't they are still there for later. You might also try storypilot.com because you can search it by genre, length and pay.

[DeniseK]

Well, I guess that's what I'm going to do, veinglory. :Shrug: My story just doesn't have enough erotica in it to fit any of those markets I looked at, though that is a great site. So, I am taking a leap and sending it to Harper's. :ROFL: Of course I expected to get rejected, but I have a backup plan.

I will redo it, take out most of the talk about sex, add more mystery elements and send it to Ellery Queen. If they reject it, I'll try some other mystery markets. Still rejected? I will edit out some of the mystery, add hard core porn and go the complete other direction.

I really like this story, it was one of my first, and it is quite unique, so I want to give it the best shot I can, and get paid decently for it. :)

Thanks again for your help.

Sarah

[alleycat]

The story sounds like something for True Romance or True Confessions (I wasn't sure whether those magazines were still published so I checked Amazon and, yes, they are). It would be a high-end market, and a long shot, but even something like Redbook could be a possibility if you're willing to tinker with the ending. They would probably want something upbeat or at least not macabre.

ac