What to do with a short story?

[EndlessDestiny]

I have a finished short story and I was wondering how to go about getting it published somewhere. It's science fiction and a little more than a thousand words. I've never published anything so I have no idea how to go about doing that.

[dempsey]

Topic discussed here: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89080

More for fantasy, but a lot of those markets take both.

Good luck :D

[Nicole_Gestalt]

Take advantage of Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com/)'s search facility. You can input the number of words and the genre as well as many other things.

Also Ralan (http://www.ralan.com/)is a good one for different and interesting markets with a lot that take sci-fi/fantasy

[Stijn Hommes]

After you found a place through one of Nicole's links, find the submission guidelines for the market you found and follow the rules they've set.

[pdr]

1. Use the market resources stickied at the top of this board and find some magazines.

2. Go to each magazine website and read what they publish, read a lot.

3. Make a short list of which magazines you think best suit your work.

4. Now print off the top magazine guidelines and follow them exactly to submit your story to that magazine.

5. Take note.
If the guidelines say that the editor does not mind Simultaneous Submissions than you are free to send your story to two or three magazines if they ALL allow Simultaneous Submissions. (Sim Subs) If your magazine does not allow Simultaneous Submissions don't send your story anywhere else until you have heard from Number 1 mag.

[astonwest]

And make sure they don't plan to take all your rights for nada in the payment department...

[Gray Rose]

Have you gotten critiques on your piece? If not, it is wise to do so before sending anything out to professional markets, IMHO.

For SF I would try Analog and Asimov's first - but this is if you want pro. Duotrope.com is a great resource.

I second pdr's advice about reading the markets (numbers 2 and 3).

Best of luck with your submission!

[DonnaDuck]

Don't forget a Writer's Market. They don't list to much by the way of sci fi or fantasy but it's a useful resource nonetheless.

[Soccer Mom]

If it is just over a thousand words, you might consider slimming it down to under 1K. That opens up a whole new list of markets in the flash fiction field. Here is our flash forum. (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=150) *the password is "flashed"*