Writing short stories for magazines

[efreysson]

I'm still trying to find an agent for my fantasy series, but in the meantime I've thought of a short story that can stand completely on its own. Maybe actually getting some publishing credit, however small, will help me get representation.
Problem is, I have no idea how to publish in a magazine, how to contact them, or even what short-story magazines there are, since I don't read them. Could someone please tell me how its done? And what the general word count frame is?
For the record, the short story is a dark fantasy.

[Siddow]

www.duotrope.com

Look up some markets, and visit their websites for submission guidelines. Good luck!

[Adam Israel]

It's not uncommon for writers to use short fiction as a way to break in. That's certainly the way I'm going about it.

Duotrope is a great place to start, too. Shorts typically run anywhere from 1k-10k words.

[JamieFord]

Also, it will save you time in the long run to read the mags you're submitting to. Just to make sure your stuff is a good fit.

[Siddow]

A lot of the magazines listed on duotrope have online content, so yes, certainly, check them out.

[maestrowork]

If you like to write short stories, that's definitely a good outlet. Or if you really enjoy certain magazines and you'd like to write for them (Penthouse, for example. ;) ) Duotrope is an excellent source.

Personally, I find short stories a good distraction for me, creatively, but my main focus is still my novels.

[Gillhoughly]

Not to worry about being in Iceland-- my ol' pal Thorarinn Gunnarsson (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/002-1433808-6348055?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Thorarinn%20Gunnarsson)has done well in the U.S. fantasy market!

Venues:

http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/glines.htm

http://www.asimovs.com/info/guidelines.shtml

http://www.baensuniverse.com/subguide.html

http://www.analogsf.com/information/submissions.shtml

http://ww2.wizards.com/books/Wizards/default.aspx?doc=main_faq

Only ever go for PAYING venues if you want solid stuff on your professional resume. Those are the only ones that count with the print publishers.

There are a few venues out there that pay 5.00 for stories---they don't count. Trust me on that. E-zines are a dime a dozen and pay (or not) accordingly.

Technically Baen Universe is an e-zine, but they're part of Baen Publishing, and they do pay. Rather well!

Good luck!