The "Where can I send this story?" thread

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EmadHegab

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I'm finished a web site in a few days or 2 weeks at the most
it will display stories from egyptian writers but will make the users put stories for free but the admin will approve it asap .. it will allow 3000 word for the story.

just wait for it and i'll announce for it soon


Mohamed EMad Hegab
 

Polenth

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uh, hello, d'racae'lyn here, i was sort of wondering where i could post this story. one of the members suggested that some of you might know. they said that it sounded like a short story. but i do not even know what genre it would be.

I'd suggest deleting the story from your message immediately. Most places consider any appearance in a non-password protected forum as being published, and therefore won't buy the story.

After that, you can post it in SYW (Share Your Work) if you want feedback - that set of forums is password protected. If you want market suggestions only, just give us a quick summary (not the whole plot... something like "zombies attack in 1920's New York").
 

Raphee

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My story is mainstream, MC is Afghan boy, setting Afghanistan, style is humorous.
Someone in my beta group suggested that I should start at the top e.g. The New Yorker; because the story is good (their words not mine.) I don't know if it is that good.
In any case, it's my first short where should I start submitting?
 

MumblingSage

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My story is mainstream, MC is Afghan boy, setting Afghanistan, style is humorous.
Someone in my beta group suggested that I should start at the top e.g. The New Yorker; because the story is good (their words not mine.) I don't know if it is that good.
In any case, it's my first short where should I start submitting?

If you do try the New Yorker, be prepared for a long response time--but then you'll have time to write more stories and research markets for this one.

Have you tried looking on Duotrope yet? You have nothing to lose by starting with pro markets and working your way down, except some time--but you can get long responses with less well paying markets, too.
 

stormie

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Yep, as I said on the previous page here, Duotrope is a great way to start your search, then look into each magazine from their links. I've used that site a lot and have found great magazines that have published my works.

Everyone is going to have a differing opinion based on given synopsis, of what magazine would be a good fit.
 
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Raphee

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Thanks Sage and Stormie.
I did try Duotrope. The sheer number of journals and magazines does throw me off. Particularly because I don't know much about the styles they accept or which ones I should write to first.
Since I don't live in the US, it is difficult for me to subscribe to literary journals. Put in the cost of overseas postage, and then I can't even afford them. The New Yorker I read online and keep searching for others. Most of the top journals are not available online.
 

stormie

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You can get sample pages online from many of the magazines. I don't subscribe to any magazines, yet get to know their style by going to duotrope, doing a search, then clicking on the link to each mags website. I've been doing this for years and have been published in several.

Also, use the search function on duotrope to narrow it down.
 

MumblingSage

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Thanks Sage and Stormie.
I did try Duotrope. The sheer number of journals and magazines does throw me off. Particularly because I don't know much about the styles they accept or which ones I should write to first.
Since I don't live in the US, it is difficult for me to subscribe to literary journals. Put in the cost of overseas postage, and then I can't even afford them. The New Yorker I read online and keep searching for others. Most of the top journals are not available online.

Yeah, I know the overwhelming feeling. It can help to try narrowing things down in your search criteria: start with pro-paying markets, and preferably ones that accept e-submissions (although I'm not sure the New Yorker does). Duotrope now allows you to search for style as well as theme, though sometimes that narrows things down too much and cuts out markets that might like your story.

Quick confession: I don't read much of every market before I send to it. Sometimes, as with an anthology, you can't. Or I can't afford to buy copies, or don't want to wait for them to ship. Sometimes you can tell what might fit in a market by reading the editor's comments in the submission guidelines or on a blog, or by looking over the TOC of recent issues for names you recognize, or by reading reviews. Not as surefire as acutally reading an issue, of course. But it works often enough.
 

Raphee

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Thanks again
Yep, you select Pro and it is as if the pubbing world has gone away. Still, it's better than to check everything.
One question: Is there a way I can check what are the top journals to be published in; I mean those whose credits can be mentioned in novel query letters. In other words is there a list somewhere that says e.g. that these are the top 20 literary/mainstream journals.

Sage: when you select style on Duotrope, what is the best way to use it. E.g. My story may fall in humor, politics, multi-cultural categories. Some of these are actually related to theme but I'm using these as examples.
 

MumblingSage

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One question: Is there a way I can check what are the top journals to be published in; I mean those whose credits can be mentioned in novel query letters. In other words is there a list somewhere that says e.g. that these are the top 20 literary/mainstream journals.
To the best of my knowlege there is no 'list', but some things to keep in mind
-I look for wikipedia articles on the market. If it's notable enough to be there, people probably know about it.
-It helps, of course, if you recognize the name (ie the New Yorker)
-As Uncle Jim says: can you find it in a bookstore? Some print magazines do still appear in bookstores, you can try to check those out.
-Search for reviews of issues of the 'zine

As for style: humor is probably predominant, as a funny political piece wouldn't go to the same place as a serious one. Personally, I think 'multi-cultural' isn't a useful category to search by, as few markets would reject a story for being too multicultural (there might be some, but I doubt it). I'm still learning to use style myself, but I think if often helps to reach by the most 'objectionable' category. For example, in a humorous story with LGBT characters, I might search under 'theme-LGBT', because some markets still don't want stories with LGBT, while humor in this case would be more commonly acceptable.

Hope this helps. I've never really laid out these rules in my own mind, so I'm trying to do it as I type.
 

Raphee

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Thanks Sage,

I was going through Duotrope yesterday and found the section called TOP 25 markets. They label it as least approachable, most approachable etc. The least approachable are those with a low acceptance rate, hence with a tighter selection criteria presumably. Thought I'd share this.
 

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Thanks Sage,

I was going through Duotrope yesterday and found the section called TOP 25 markets. They label it as least approachable, most approachable etc. The least approachable are those with a low acceptance rate, hence with a tighter selection criteria presumably. Thought I'd share this.
Thing to keep in mind is that, iirc, that list doesn't mention markets with a 0.00% acceptance rate.

(of course, a 0.00% acceptance rate on duotrope doesn't meant the mag never accepts any stories, just that not all writers use duotrope. All writers should, though :D)
 

Raphee

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Thing to keep in mind is that, iirc, that list doesn't mention markets with a 0.00% acceptance rate.

(of course, a 0.00% acceptance rate on duotrope doesn't meant the mag never accepts any stories, just that not all writers use duotrope. All writers should, though :D)

And that the rejections are under reported as compared to the acceptances.
 

MumblingSage

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Somewhere on Duotrope there's a list of all the markets they don't have a reported response from. It's very long, though, and some of those markets don't seem challenging so much as neglected--that is, nobody ever submits to them.
 

Gray Rose

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Ok, here's my market question:

I have a 1300-word literary experimental story about Soviet Jews, which contains elements of magic realism.

I am unpublished in mainstream venues, but published in a few good SFF markets.

This is the second piece of Jewish-themed short fiction I will market, but not the last; the next Jewish story is fantasy, so no problems there. The WIP novel is also about Soviet Jews, but with more magic realism (probably just because there are more words in it?)

My options:

1) SFF route: Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, maybe Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, LCRW. Of these some are very fast. But story probably unsuitable due to low spec content.

2). Mainstream route: New Yorker, AGNI, etc. - all taking forever.

3) A Jewish-American venue. These pay minimally.

Your advice?
 

Polenth

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I have a 1300-word literary experimental story about Soviet Jews, which contains elements of magic realism.

What I'd do would be...

4) Mix and match between SFF markets and mainstream markets. Start with fast responding pros from either area. Then do the slow responding pros. And so forth for the payscales as you move down.
 

MumblingSage

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What I'd do would be...

4) Mix and match between SFF markets and mainstream markets. Start with fast responding pros from either area. Then do the slow responding pros. And so forth for the payscales as you move down.

This. Also, perhaps you could look for specifically magic realist markets? I'm not a regular reader of Fantasy magazine, but they do mention magic realism in their header and I've read a few beautifully written stories in there with very minimal speculative content.
 

Gray Rose

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Thanks, Polenth and Mumbling Sage! That's what I decided to do.

This. Also, perhaps you could look for specifically magic realist markets? I'm not a regular reader of Fantasy magazine, but they do mention magic realism in their header and I've read a few beautifully written stories in there with very minimal speculative content.

It's true, and I haven't thought about it... but I already have something else in the FM slush :p
 

jaksen

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I'd do the mainstream mags first, citing your writing creds up front. It might push you to the top of the pile and/or have someone take a more serious look. I've read some of your stuff and I know you're good. You need the 'big boys' to know it, too.

(I don't usually talk/write so casual, but am in a casual mood today.)

But my post is all seriousness!
 

Gray Rose

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I'd do the mainstream mags first, citing your writing creds up front. It might push you to the top of the pile and/or have someone take a more serious look. I've read some of your stuff and I know you're good. You need the 'big boys' to know it, too.

(I don't usually talk/write so casual, but am in a casual mood today.)

But my post is all seriousness!

Thank you very much for this.
 

eva3taylor

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I have a 2,500 literary short story about a nurse who is depressed. I'm searching for markets but other than the Bellevue Literary Review I do not know where else to send it.
 

Raphee

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eva,
look up duotrope. There are lots of zines where you might fit in. You'd need to check the word count requirements.
I've been looking at literary/mainstream on duotrope.com, and for a first timer it is a lot of hard work.
 

MumblingSage

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I've been looking at literary/mainstream on duotrope.com, and for a first timer it is a lot of hard work.
As a first timer it was hard wading through the science fiction & fantasy markets, to. There are a LOT of them, and the numbers are always changing as some start up and some fail. But with time you get to know the markets. And hopefully they get to know you :D
 
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