Submitting to Magazines

WriterJosh

WriterJosh

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A few years ago I found a website that listed various magazines in our genre that accepted submissions. Some were online, some were print. The list also detailed what the editors were looking for.

The only thing it didn't detail was the reputation and/or stability of the magazines listed. I ended up getting a short story published in an online horror mag that no longer exists (this is why I don't usually mention that story, or that publication. I was not paid, the story is no longer there to read, so really, it's not a credit).

What I'm looking for now is a similar list. I have found various lists of online mag's but what I would like to know is what magazines have solid reputations as serious professionals and which ones actually have active readership. I have a story to submit, but the only magazine that seems universally touted (Clarkesworld) already rejected it.
 
ratsy said:
Here you go Josh, I think this is what you are after

The (Submission) Grinder
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Wow , thanks very much for this.

I have a question; most places don't want reprints, would a story I'd uploaded onto a free site (Figment or Goodreads for example) where chances are almost no one has seen it be classed as already having been published? What if i took it down from the site and/or edited it a fair bit?
 
In general, any publicly viewable website counts as being published. Be that a well visited website or otherwise. Taking it down doesn't undo that. You would have to substantially edit the story for it to be considered as a new story.
 
You could always explain the circumstances and ask if they wanted to see the story. I did that with my only paid ($10 US) story credit, after the publishing webzine died 13 days later.
 
The Grinder, Ralans, The Black Hole are what I use.

Ralans seems to update their info faster. They also send out updates to your Facebook page if you "friend" them.
The Grinder is searchable.
The Black Hole is easier to read quickly.


NAMASTE

C.E. Gee aka Chuck
 
Really great with all these links!

I can see on Ralan that there is a Pro and Semi-Pro list. Does anyone know how Pro you need to be to try the Pro list?
 
Also another question: I am trying to find magazines that are looking for climate fiction. I have found Terraform, but I am not entirely sure my writing style is what they are looking for... I have looked at a whole lot of other magazines, but can't really find anything suitable. I am not looking for magazines where there is focus on aliens or space adventures. I am thinking that maybe Clarkesworld might be a good place to start?

Has anyone come across any other magazines?
 
If the guidelines on the submission page say no climate change stories then don't send them such. Otherwise you can submit them. Analog, Asimovs, Interzone and F&SF are possibles. There have been several in Interzone eg Ray Cluley's 'Fata Morgana' Interzone 238. There are others but I'd have to search them out.

Sometimes you will find anthology calls specifically requesting climate change based stories.
 
Roy1 said:
If the guidelines on the submission page say no climate change stories then don't send them such. Otherwise you can submit them. Analog, Asimovs, Interzone and F&SF are possibles. There have been several in Interzone eg Ray Cluley's 'Fata Morgana' Interzone 238. There are others but I'd have to search them out.

Sometimes you will find anthology calls specifically requesting climate change based stories.
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(y) Will check them out! Thanks:)
 
Does anyone have a "strategy" for getting short stories published in magazines? E.g. once you have been published in one, do you then move on to try another magazine? Or do you keep approaching the same one? And should I be considering how often I submit short stories?
 
A magazine's guidelines usually cover policies on multiple submissions. One story to one magazine at a time is usual but if you have more than one ready to go then you can submit to as many magazines/anthologies as you have stories. If you get rejected by say Interzone you can send the same story to any of the other possibilities and keep doing that until there are none left to try. The only caveat is check the guidelines on content to make sure it is suitable to the 'target'. For instance Analog has different critera on SF to most other magazines. Magazine websites often have a free story or samples from stories if you can't buy copies to check. The webzines you can read easily.
Beyond that worry about strategy "once you have been published in one". Submit to several if you have enough stories ready and see what happens.
 
Tanja Bisgaard said:
Does anyone have a "strategy" for getting short stories published in magazines? E.g. once you have been published in one, do you then move on to try another magazine? Or do you keep approaching the same one? And should I be considering how often I submit short stories?
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E.g. once you have been published in one, do you then move on to try another magazine? Or do you keep approaching the same one?

Well usually a publication will wait to publish the same author for at least six months, but that's not a hard rule. Career wise (in every way), it's best to have been published is a number of DIFFERENT publications.

Most genre (example SF) have a number of potential publishers (usually called markets, as in 'is this a good a market for my SF story'), so if you have a few stories, send them to different markets.

However, word of warning re 'how often'. It's best to look at the submission guidelines of a publication (market) Most professional or semi-pro (who pay between 2-6 cents a word upwards) don't like you to send the SAME story to different markets, . They say 'no simultaneous submissions' - others, are ok with it. whatever they say, do.

The best 'strategy' is to read the work of a magazine, and then you will get a sense of the type of story they like. Plus, what the previous poster, Roy1, said.

Best of luck

S
 
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