Publishing Short Stories

TheMandolorian

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I'm not sure where to put this, so I'm sorry if this is incorrect.

I'm looking for any information you all might have regarding publishing a short story. I've written one that I'm very proud of and have gotten good feedback on, at about 8k words.

Are there agents that take short stories? Or is my only option a contest of some kind?

Thank you!
 

Marlys

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You won't get an agent for a short story--there's not enough money in it to be worth it for them. There are, however, plenty of places to submit. Try a search at Submission Grinder, and good luck!
 

gtanders

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The internet is teeming with literary magazines and journals. One way to find them is to hop on Twitter, find one small journal, go to their profile page, and hit "Follow" on that page. A "slider" will come up with 3 similar accounts. Keep opening them in new tabs (so you're on the profile page when you hit follow), and the algorithm will go and go. The number of journals is infinite. :)
 

pdichellis

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You might also take a look at accomplished s/f author Douglas Smith's book Playing the Short Game: How to Market and Sell Short Fiction.

The material was originally published as a series of articles at Amazing Stories a few years ago. The series was so popular Smith compiled the material into a book. I read it all at Amazing Stories and found it really helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1928048226/?tag=absowrit-20
 

redrobin62

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I really like Grinder as a market. I did find out something interesting, though. It seems like Grinder is oriented towards the action writers whereas Duotrope is for the character driven set. Could be wrong, but it seems plausible. In any case, I like Grinder since it is free and the publishers are an action-oriented lot.
 

Lady MacBeth

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Grinder is great for all genres of short fiction.
 

Denevius

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Many contests charged fees, so they're best to be avoided. I also recommend Submission Grinder or Ralan.com. Two really good sites for information on venues accepting submissions.
 

Maria Ale Barrios

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I would recommend spending some money on contests. Pick one that you're interested in and submit your story to it. You never know!

And then obviously, do your research. I heard that your first round of submissions should always be to your dream magazines. If those get rejected, try smaller magazines. Good luck.
 

mrsmig

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I would take issue with the above advice. Most contests charge a fee to enter and many are in the $25 range and above. Most what those fees are about is providing an income stream for the entity sponsoring the contest, and most authors are not in a position to fund a company without the guarantee of getting something in return.

Do your homework at Duotrope or Grinder instead. Find the right market for your story and submit. That costs you nothing.
 

David Odle

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I've always used Duotrope as my main resource for the submission tracker. The Grinder is also good, I just started with Duotrope so had everything there.
 

Maria Ale Barrios

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Mrsmig,

Everything you say is true. However, I just think that is a matter of being confident enough in what you submit. If you think you have a great piece you might as well risk it. Someone has to win them, right? And even if you don't win them at least you get some exposure. Obviously, this is only if you have a great piece of writing that you feel super confident about and if it is a great contest. Some of them do have great prices. They are super expensive so you should only do if it's worth it.

Oh, yeah, I discovered duotrope recently. I love it.
 

mrsmig

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Mrsmig,

Everything you say is true. However, I just think that is a matter of being confident enough in what you submit. If you think you have a great piece you might as well risk it. Someone has to win them, right? And even if you don't win them at least you get some exposure. Obviously, this is only if you have a great piece of writing that you feel super confident about and if it is a great contest. Some of them do have great prices. They are super expensive so you should only do if it's worth it.

Oh, yeah, I discovered duotrope recently. I love it.

Confidence has nothing to do with whether you win or not. And how do you get exposure from entering a short story contest?

"Someone has to win" is the same mindset that makes people spend hundreds of dollars on lottery tickets against astronomical odds. It's a win-win for those who sponsor the contest, but for the entrants? Not so much.

I repeat: if you want to get your short story published, do your homework. Polish your piece until it shines, research available markets and submit to the ones who'll be the best fit and who will pay YOU for your work.
 

Maria Ale Barrios

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You get exposure if you don't win but your story gets shortlisted. In any case, that's just my experience. I have gotten good things after risking it with those paying fees (and I've only done it like three times in my entire life with a story I was very happy about)

I repeat: that's just my experience and we can only talk about what we know. Obviously researching paying markets is the way to go but I don't think winning/getting shortlisted in a contest is as difficult as winning the lotto. Btw, Mrs. Mig, not trying to be polemic here. Just my two cents.
 

Lady MacBeth

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Confidence has nothing to do with whether you win or not. And how do you get exposure from entering a short story contest?

"Someone has to win" is the same mindset that makes people spend hundreds of dollars on lottery tickets against astronomical odds. It's a win-win for those who sponsor the contest, but for the entrants? Not so much.

I repeat: if you want to get your short story published, do your homework. Polish your piece until it shines, research available markets and submit to the ones who'll be the best fit and who will pay YOU for your work.


Agree!
 

Elenitsa

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I submitted to contests and I got published in anthologies. Yes, the prize is being published, but this is for free. There is no payment for entering the contests in my country.
 

Elle.

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Confidence has nothing to do with whether you win or not. And how do you get exposure from entering a short story contest?

"Someone has to win" is the same mindset that makes people spend hundreds of dollars on lottery tickets against astronomical odds. It's a win-win for those who sponsor the contest, but for the entrants? Not so much.

I repeat: if you want to get your short story published, do your homework. Polish your piece until it shines, research available markets and submit to the ones who'll be the best fit and who will pay YOU for your work.


This was actually discussed on another thread and it seems like things differ a lot depending on markets and genres. For general and literary fiction, all contests have an entrance fee, including the most prestigious ones. In the UK, a lot of the bigger contests tend to have agents as guest judges where they get to read the shortlisted stories and it is known for writers to be approached and signed after winning or being shortlisted by the guest judge or other agents reading the published shortlisted stories. Also winning or being shortlisted always look good on a query letter (in the UK, can't speak for other countries)

In the general/literary market, the vast majority of publications do not pay for short stories so if you were to only submit to those that do you would be extremely limited.
 

mrsmig

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In the general/literary market, the vast majority of publications do not pay for short stories so if you were to only submit to those that do you would be extremely limited.

Hmph. I'd have to disagree with your last statement.

While I'm primarily a novelist, I have had a couple of short stories published - both in literary anthologies - and was paid for both. It wasn't a lot - maybe $40-50 - but I still got paid. I wrote those stories, then researched paying markets that would be a good fit for those stories, then submitted. It cost me nothing but the time I spent researching.
 

Elle.

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Hmph. I'd have to disagree with your last statement.

While I'm primarily a novelist, I have had a couple of short stories published - both in literary anthologies - and was paid for both. It wasn't a lot - maybe $40-50 - but I still got paid. I wrote those stories, then researched paying markets that would be a good fit for those stories, then submitted. It cost me nothing but the time I spent researching.


I never said that general/literary market had no paying publications at all. What I am saying is looking for example at Submittable which is one the biggest platforms used for submission by magazines and reviews, from what I've come across about 70% of them are non-paying. You only want to consider paying publications and that's great for you but not everybody does and some people don't want to limit themselves to just 30% of publications. Also some people want to see if their stories are good enough to place in a contest and enter those and are happy to pay the entry fee.

I wonder whether there are statistics or numbers somewhere of the % of paying publications within the general fiction/literary market. I might be wrong but as I say from what I've come across so far the majority are non-paying.
 

pdichellis

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I wonder whether there are statistics or numbers somewhere of the % of paying publications within the general fiction/literary market. I might be wrong but as I say from what I've come across so far the majority are non-paying.

I write genre stories (mystery, suspense, crime-horror, humor) but am always interested in paying vs. non-paying breakouts. Quality markets for mystery and crime stories include both paying and non-paying, though the trend seems to be toward token payments.

For general/literary I checked the Duotrope database (older and larger than Submission Grinder, but not free). I searched for open markets with Genre = General and Style = Literary.

Results:

1,047 total markets
101 paying markets

So just under 10% of these 1,000+ Duotrope-listed markets pay.

Hope this is helpful. Good luck!
 

Elle.

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I write genre stories (mystery, suspense, crime-horror, humor) but am always interested in paying vs. non-paying breakouts. Quality markets for mystery and crime stories include both paying and non-paying, though the trend seems to be toward token payments.

For general/literary I checked the Duotrope database (older and larger than Submission Grinder, but not free). I searched for open markets with Genre = General and Style = Literary.

Results:

1,047 total markets
101 paying markets

So just under 10% of these 1,000+ Duotrope-listed markets pay.

Hope this is helpful. Good luck!


Thanks pdichellis for finding that out and for sharing. That's really interesting, the paying markets are actually less than what I expected.
 

Double

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Thank you for the great tips you all have shared! I have only submitted my works officially to local magazines and newspapers in addition to the online platforms. I've never tried Submission Grinder, though. A contest looks like a way to test my skills in a sense. Winning is an excellent bonus, but not all of them promise to publish the winner. I won't depend on it.