pdr said:
Morning, Jen, still on our own I see!
The most important thing is to read recent copies of the magazines or lit journals!
Meg at Wooden Horse has a great chapter on how to analyse a magazine for an article. I use her recommendation about studying the adverts to work out if the readers who would buy or use the ad article would enjoy my story. Works quite well for me for women's fiction markets and the more commercial fiction for general interest magazines.
Literary journals usually don't have adverts. Then it's a gut feeling after reading several copies or back issues on their web site. If I like the contents and enjoy the stories then that's a good market for me providing I have work that fits their needs.
If I find the magazine dry or pretentious or hate the stories then I usually don't bother submitting as my stories won't be what the editor(s) like.
They just don't know what they're missing, do they?
We'll get others involved, eventually.
You're right in that Wooden Horse is a good resource. I was wondering, though, what you personally do to add to/augment what the pro's say to do in analyzing markets.
I have a multi-step process myself. But it will, unfortunately, have to wait until tomorrow to post. (My nephew is here for the night.)
