Choosing Markets to Submit to

Sea Witch

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One of the things I struggle with is deciding where to submit a piece. I know it's best to see a publication's sample issue (or several), but there's no way I'm going to order and pay for multiple issues of a thousand (or even a hundred) different publications to be sure my work is right for them.

How do you handle this?
 

Lillie

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What genres do you write?
 

Sea Witch

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mainstream, general, offbeat and/or quirky stories. I've just started doing FF so I'm still exploring. Maybe mystery or thriller eventually, but definitely no sci-fi or fantasy.
 

Lillie

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Oh. You pretty much do the stuff I don't, so I can't help you much.

But try looking on the internet for old issues of the magazines you're interested in. Sometimes that will turn something up.

Or if you know writers that have published in those magazines you could try searching them, and see if you can find any of their fiction.

Otherwise, just look at what they say, and what duo says, and take a guess.
 

Polenth

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For print markets where I don't have any sample issues, I look for reviews of the market (which'll discuss the type of stories) and for copies of stories on author websites. And if that fails, if my story meets the submission guidelines, I send it anyway (as long as I know the market is a decent one).

It is worth your while getting sample issues of the top markets in your genre(s) if you can. You'll learn a lot from reading. I've never had a lot to spend on that, but I've brought a few here and there. Some came from taking advantage of special offers.
 

SmallThing

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Often publications that require a subscription will offer a few free stories as samples on their websites. It's not as useful as reading a whole issue, but it's better than nothing.

Polenth's suggestion about reviews is a great one. Reviews are a great place for market research. If nothing else, you get a sense of whether there's a flood of sadistic baker stories being published that will make your own sadistic baker story a hard sell. :)
 

horrorshowjack

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One useful feature on Duotrope is the "Users accepted here also had work accepted by." list at the bottom of each publications profile. If you've identified a market you really like, that can be a good way to narrow your search.
 

Literateparakeet

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Sea Witch, I'm glad you asked. I'm doing W1/S1 also and so I had the same question. I've gotten great ideas from the other responses...thanks everyone!

I have a couple magazines in mind that I think are my targets. (But I need to read them to verify that.)

So first I will try and get a copy at the library. If that doesn't work, then I'll order a sample. f they continue to be my dream after I read them, then I'll get a subscription. For the "other" magazines, that fall short of being my dream, I'll use the great suggestions in this thread.

I have two goals here: one to find the magazines I love and would like to write for and two to find homes for my stories. Hopefully those will eventually be the same magazines...but until then...
 

ShadowFox

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Anthologies and libraries... seriously.

Get ye to your library, and ask the nice librarian for short story anthologies in your genre, published in the last three or four years (if they don't stock any, they can look them up on the computer and order them).

At the end of each story there will be a description saying this story was fist published in Grotts & Spigots magazine or whatever. A single anthology can give you half a dozen markets that are not in market listings, but often pay pro money.

Best of all, the stories are fun to read too.
 

Aggy B.

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If they offer a sample story for free, I'll check it out. Otherwise, if it seems a story I have meets their guidelines (correct length, genre, style - if it applies) and I am satisfied with the kind of payment offered then I submit said story.

I also, of course, start with top paying markets and work my way down. The fastest responders in each pay category get first dibs. I usually put one story with a really pro market (The New Yorker, Tor.com, etc) even though the response times are super slow. Because otherwise I'll never break into any of those markets.

But researching markets is not quite as important as we are sometimes led to believe. (Not saying it's not useful, but don't stress over it.)
 

Literateparakeet

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Anthologies and libraries... seriously.

Get ye to your library, and ask the nice librarian for short story anthologies in your genre, published in the last three or four years (if they don't stock any, they can look them up on the computer and order them).

At the end of each story there will be a description saying this story was fist published in Grotts & Spigots magazine or whatever. A single anthology can give you half a dozen markets that are not in market listings, but often pay pro money.

Best of all, the stories are fun to read too.

I just have to say this is the best advice I have read on this topic. Thanks ShadowFox.

I did this, and yeah, it's just as Shadowfox promised. I am enjoying the stories, and getting a feel for the kinds of magazines that would be interested in the kinds of stories I want to write.

I'm also using this to explore other genres, and with that I must go because I have a mystery short story anthology calling to me at this moment.