SemiPro Markets

Lillie said:

I don't know anything about this, but people here have had good results submitting to Bards and Sages.

Maybe that should be on the list.

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+1 They publish fun stuff.

Disclaimer: i've sold several stories to them.

dgrintalis said:

Electric Velocipede is another awesome semi-pro zine.

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+1--they're all kinds of awesome.

(and not just because they've pubbed me)

A few more to add (and by no means extensive):

Aurealis (though if you're outside Australia you need to query before submitting)
Futurismic--they tend towards hard SF
Interzone
Ray Gun Revival--recently upped their rates to semi-pro; they like space opera/pulpy stuff
GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator--they're awesome, but response times have really lengthened, especially if you make it past slush.
The Clockwork Phoenix Anthology Series
Basement Stories--still relatively new, but they look good so far
Kaleidotrope--they get reviewed in Locus from time to time, which is always good.
Three-Lobed Burning Eye
Drabblecast
Escape Pod--particularly for reprints
PodCastle--as above
Black Gate--but be prepared for a loooong wait
Arcane--only new, but the editor has a history of producing good stuff

Izz's list is great. I'd also add Black Static for Horror, can't think of much else off the top of my head.

-Suzanne

Interzone is semi-pro?

Alessandra Kelley said:

Interzone is semi-pro?

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Yeah, that's how they classify themselves. Strange, huh?

shelleyo said:

They used to be a SFWA qualifying market, but maybe they pay less than they used to, or they pay some contributors less than others.

Shelley

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I think it was disqualified due to pay rates and circulation. That being said, pretty much everybody views it as a top market anyway.

Izz said:

I think it was disqualified due to pay rates and circulation. That being said, pretty much everybody views it as a top market anyway.

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It is frequently grandfathered into a lot of pro market listings (frex, Locus includes it when it does its yearly state-of-the-field issue) and is generally treated as such in terms of reviews, but is semi-pro by SFWA rules, Hugo balloting, etc.

I suspect that if it was more widely/easily available in the US their circulation figures would go back up into pro territory; certainly, I think the quality of its fiction warrants it, and I'm not saying that because they print my stuff occasionally, but because they print stuff much better than mine all the time. (-:

-Suzanne

I just wish they accepted electronic subs

Izz said:

I just wish they accepted electronic subs

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Yeah. My local post office had never even heard of International Reply Coupons.

-Suzanne

Last one I was in was May of this year (#234).

I was also in 207, 217, and 223, if you've been a subscriber for a while.

If you track any of those down, I hope you find it worth your effort (-:

thothguard51 said:

Maybe its me, but the term semi pro seems misleading. Small publishers vs corporate publishers are both pro markets...

To me, I would never say my doctor is a semi pro, and I really don't go to semi pro lawyer. That would be dangerous...

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I don't think that analogy really holds up, mostly because to be a doctor or a lawyer, you have to pass a whole bunch of exams first, and really any noob with a website can declare themselves a publisher (and potentially make good of it.)

That aside, there are two functionally useful applications of those descriptions:

1) As set by SFWA based on a combo of criteria like pay rate and circulation. (I have no idea if BSFA uses/follows the same classifications, but if someone knows and wants to enlighten, I'd love to hear.) Some mags right on the edge, like Interzone, are considered pro by just about everybody but don't quite make the cut on figures for that rating, which is why it usually shows up in the Hugo "Best Semi-Prozine" category, but gets listed along with the pros in Locus' annual breakdown of the state of the industry.

2) As a simple measure of pay-rate to the author. I've seen markets listed as paying semi-pro where, by dog, I could put together something better in my spare time even while drunk, blind-folded, and trying to type with boxing gloves on, and I've seen markets paying much less that are just absolutely wonderful as both a writer AND a reader.

As an author, you should know what any mag pays (and buys for rights, because not all will actually cough up a contract) before you sub a story to them, and have at least some idea what the prestige-level of the mag is, because you want to get paid and you want lots of people to read your stuff. (For me, with it's the latter that I care about more, but that may not be true for everybody.) Not that those are the only considerations you should have before sending your work off -- frex, I've subbed to underpaying markets where I liked their concept and wanted to be a part of it -- but it gives you a place to start and a sense of how a market is regarded by the writing world at large.

thothguard51 said:

Does that make better sense?

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I understood what you were saying the first time, yes.

What I'm saying is that in the context of fiction *markets*, the term "professional" can refer either to meeting a certain pay scale, to a combo of pay scale and circulation, or in some instances to a subjective opinion of the quality of the production of the magazine/website (which isn't relevant right here.) How you want to think of it in terms of your sale is, really, totally up to you.