Fantastic (or SF) magazines and what to send them

[VRlass]

Hey guys I am just wandering…
Magazines have certain angle which they try to follow (if i my understanding is correct). Some trends can be clearly distinguished, and they will reject good stories just because they dont fit in. Do you know if there is some mapping, or could we create a map/table like this?

 

[alexvss]

Hey guys I am just wandering…
Magazines have certain angle which they try to follow (if i my understanding is correct). Some trends can be clearly distinguished, and they will reject good stories just because they dont fit in. Do you know if there is some mapping, or could we create a map/table like this?

The best thing you can do is read the magazines you want to be in and keep sending them your best work. By reading, you'll have a taste of what they like, but even then there's no guarantee you'll sell your stories. I wasted a lot of time studying what editors liked, just to get summarily rejected by them. Also, if an editor were to make a call about what they want, that would be a short-lived phenomenon and he would receive a ton of similar stories. There's a Clarkesworld editoral that talks about this.

You also have to read through the guidelines. Most publishers state what they don't want to see. Asimov's, for instance, asks that you please don't send them Sword & Sorcery.

 

[VRlass]

yeah I know. Someone even structured it as “good story can make editor swallow his preconceived taboos”. Dunno who but seems poetic.
I don’t want to write to fit a magazine. I want to put my story in probably most wanting hands.
But yeah maby you’re right. Just write my best and drag it to everyone.

 

[Tirellan]

Write you best and keep sending it until someone buys it. Write another while that one is in the slushpile, and another.

 

[VRlass]

Yeah. Sent one to analog. Wrote 4in the meantime, am they still have about 2months to go…