Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin October 4, 2011 - 12:20pm

I am making this thread as an attempt to bring a positive resource to us all, while I certainly would appreciate such a list it is not entirely for my benefit, and I hope that we can all more effectively find places to submit finished short stories and poetry.

The question of the thread is, when you have a finished short story and you are prepared to see it off, who do you send it to? I am as interested in paying as in non-paying, although to be honest most of the articles and stories I've been paid for have been more locally focused in their market so most of the sites I list are probably not going to be paid sites.

For me this is not a problem, I have this massive portfolio, more time than I know what to do with and enough food to eat, I can afford not to get paid for my writing and I feel like the non-paying sites do still help me reach an audience with my writing as well as serving to pad my resume (which was a big concern when I was sending out 8 query letters a day, but for now I am mostly interested in such markets for the former purpose, some place where I can put a short story and the bio has a mention of my novel).

Fear of Monkeys: http://twinenterprises.com/the_fear_of_monkeys/submission_guidelines.htm

Non-Paying

Fear of Monkeys works primarily with "Politically and Socially Concious" writing, so its pretty much a niche market. I don't know how many of you are familiar with AdBusters, but Fear of Monkeys is a low budget version of AdBusters, with more fiction and slightly less DaDa. My writings there go on my resume, but I don't know how well-reputed they are in the literary world, I suspect not much. For one, "Politically and Socially Concious" writing doesn't neccesarrily get top billing these days and also sometimes when I read the descriptions they put for my stories I wonder if they understood them, which might be indicative of a suboptimal evaluation procedure.

Splash of Red: http://splashofred.squarespace.com/submissions/

Non-Paying

Sadly I am less experienced with Splash of Red, and what I can tell you is this, if you were to write your first Fantasy story, and it is some sort of middle-fantasy weirdness that serves as a parable for Trotskyist philosophy, well they wouldn't be interested in something like that. That story is a mess in any event, keeps me clear of fantasy for the immediate future. But if you would like to try your luck Splash of Red is good with poetry and their rejection letters are very polite.

Blood Lotus: http://www.bloodlotusjournal.com/p/submit.html

Non-Paying

Another magazine that has never done anything but reject me (the ezines I have mostly gotten published in have since gone terribly bankrupt, places like Apathy is Easy and changingthetimes.co.uk, which is probably not a ringing endorsement of my prose). Passed on Do Unto Others, but now that I realize that I'm probably going to find something newer to fire off at them. (Wow, this process is extremely nice, going through my sentbox and updating this submission graph in my notebook, I hope that you can also benefit),

Dark Sky Magazine http://darkskymagazine.submishmash.com/submit

Non-Paying

Good turnaround, efficient editors. 3k word limit.

-

This of course does not include contests or my experiences with Asimov's, but Asimov' in't an eZine anyways, and in any event I was hoping to illuminate new territory and to be honest when I first started thinking about literary magazines Asimov's was personally the only one I knew about because it's Asimov's and I assume that everyone is always working on a "sci fi story good enough for Asimov's." If that isn't on your writer bucket list I don't know what is.

I also have submitted to madhattersreview, but their submissions are closed for the rest of the year. 

Your turn. What magazines do you submit to?

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break October 4, 2011 - 12:23pm

The best thing to do is to go to duotrope.  It's basically a masterlist of all this stuff.

http://www.duotrope.com/

Nathan's picture
Nathan from Louisiana (South of New Orleans) is reading Re-reading The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste, The Bone Weaver's Orchard by Sarah Read October 4, 2011 - 6:04pm

Splash of Red is one of my favorite mags -I would love to be published through them. Check out the story "Red Barn People" by Hunter Liguore. That's on their front page right now, I believe. 

Hey, nkwilczy -what was the response time for them? 

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin October 4, 2011 - 6:17pm

It looks like it was about 17 days.

Admittedly I haven't been as good about doing actual submissions lately as I should have been, but now seems a good a time as any to try to remedy that.

Alex Kane's picture
Alex Kane from west-central Illinois is reading Dark Orbit October 4, 2011 - 8:14pm

Here are the places I've submitted my work to:

  • F&SF
  • Weird Tales
  • Electric Literature
  • Asimov's
  • Dark Discoveries
  • Writers of the Future (contest)
  • Strange Horizons
  • Clarkesworld
  • Lightspeed
  • Ideomancer
  • Brain Harvest
  • Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
  • Bull Spec
  • Analog Science Fiction & Fact
  • Abyss & Apex
  • The Pedestal Magazine
  • GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator
  • Every Day Fiction
  • Daily Science Fiction
  • Apex Magazine
  • Electric Velocipede
  • Pseudopod
  • Shimmer
  • Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
  • Tor.com
  • Shock Totem
  • M-Brane SF
  • GigaNotoSaurus
  • Dark Highlands Anthology
  • Ray Gun Revival
  • Crossed Genres
  • Contrary
  • Basement Stories
  • Redstone Science Fiction
  • Nil Desperandum
  • Cosmos
  • Tin House
  • Digital Science Fiction

It's probably worth noting that they all pay -- many of them, professional rates (5 cents/word or more). I'm one of those writers who preach the gospel of Harlan Ellison: The writer should never work for free.

"Payment in exposure" is bullshit. Sorry. You want a career in writing, you have to have standards about who you want printing your work. That standard can change over time -- and some non-paying and token-paying markets are really great publications -- but you can't possibly make a living if you're never getting paid.

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin October 5, 2011 - 10:39pm

You don't have to apologize to me for calling bullshit on "Exposure is payment," and I never claimed it was. I simply have enough food and a warm place to sleep and I care for little else in monetary terms (To quote the Slimmest of the Shadiest, I don't give a fuck). I also have a ton of time on my hands, and a massive portfolio, so I am able to avoid "simultaneous submissions" by simply submitting different stories all over the place.

In fact, let's be honest, these paid magazines have much more inventive to actually publicize and promote their stuff, they get higher exposure. When I get something published on Fear of Monkeys I know that only a dozen people will read it. That small number has its own peculiar advantages, but they hardly outweigh the advantages of widespread exposure of the sort that paid magazines must provide you just to perpetuate their business model.

Which is why I made this thread, my present markets are insufficient. I appreciate your contributions.

Alex Kane's picture
Alex Kane from west-central Illinois is reading Dark Orbit October 5, 2011 - 11:04pm

Oh yeah, that wasn't aimed at you specifically. Just writers in general; we're all on the same side. And you're spot-on about the business model. It's evolving, and the best ones are staying afloat while others are rightly falling into oblivion. Glad to help out when it comes to finding reliable markets (sometimes you're lucky to ever get a response), and especially when it comes to ones that are well-publicized and pay well.

There are a lot of themed anthologies cropping up out of thin air -- I've seen so-called "small presses" posting submission calls for upwards of 50 anthology projects simultaneously. And the one I'm thinking of offered no payment to contributors. Not even an author's copy -- just "exposure only." To me, that's just exploitation.

Americantypo's picture
Americantypo from Philadelphia is reading The Bone Clocks October 6, 2011 - 5:49am

Alex,

Any luck with Weird Tales? I submitted something to them back in July but haven't heard back yet. I figure I'd give it till mid-October then just send it elsewhere. But did you happen to notice it taking a longer time than expected to hear back from them? I understand they're a "pro market", but still... it's been like four months.

-Bill

Americantypo's picture
Americantypo from Philadelphia is reading The Bone Clocks October 6, 2011 - 5:52am

Plus I think "exsposure" as payment is sort of a right of passage for a lot of people here. You start there then move up to paying zines, and hopefully pro after that, if they even still exist. I don't think its bullshit, but it is something we should also eventually work our way up from.

Brandon's picture
Brandon from KCMO is reading Made to Break October 6, 2011 - 7:03am

@Americantypo

You're absolutely right about this.  Those little ezines and webmags should be the bread and butter for those just starting out in the game.  Having something like The Paris Review or Ploughshares as one of your first publications--although it would be nice, is going to fucking crazy difficult.

Pros get paid.  Pros get printed.  There's no denying that.

We all start out at the bottom rung though.  My advice to anyone just starting out would be to get some of that exposure, at least for their first few pieces.  

Alex Kane's picture
Alex Kane from west-central Illinois is reading Dark Orbit October 6, 2011 - 7:51am

"Any luck with Weird Tales? I submitted something to them back in July but haven't heard back yet."

Bill, it's kind of a long story, but in short: Weird Tales was just purchased by a new publisher, who fired all the existing staff and replaced them with his own people. He is now the editor. From what I hear, he's a cool guy and suited for the job, but they recently posted on their website that any writer who hasn't received a response should consider their story "returned," and that they're closed to submissions until further notice.

A lot of people are really upset about this, as I was, but an e-friend of mine had sold Ann VanderMeer not one, but two stories -- his first professional sales -- and so far, they haven't appeared in the magazine. With this new editorship, he's not sure they ever will.

So send the story elsewhere. Who knows when they'll reopen.

Mike Mckay's picture
Mike Mckay is reading God's Ashtray October 7, 2011 - 10:40am

@ Alex J. Kane

If you were to pick the 10 best sites to submit any work. What would they be?

 

This can apply to anyone else reading this as well. 

Alex Kane's picture
Alex Kane from west-central Illinois is reading Dark Orbit October 7, 2011 - 10:58am

Depends on what you write, mostly. Who are your biggest influences? What genre do you best fit into?

One method I've used to find new, additional places to send my stuff is by going to the websites of my favorite authors and looking at their bibliography pages to find all the magazines, anthologies, and e-zines that have published their work. Oftentimes you'll run into a few that don't take unagented or unsolicited submissions, or markets that don't exist anymore, but usually you'll also find some new markets you hadn't heard of that you can send stuff to.

Anthologies probably comprise the biggest chunk of the short fiction market right now, but they also generally pay less well than magazines, or are invite-only. If you can find anthologies that pay, and for which your work seems to fit the guidelines, they're the ones who need fiction now. Magazines are fewer, pay better, and so are resultantly the hardest to break into.

"Fight Club" in its original short story form was first published in a one-shot literary fiction anthology.

I've sold eight pieces of fiction, and all of them were to anthologies. One of them paid $327.00.

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies October 27, 2011 - 9:11am

Here's my current list, forgive the formatting, just cut and pasted it from Duotrope.com

3 AM Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
751 Magazine   Update
A cappella Zoo TEMP CLOSED   Update
AGNI   Update
Alaska Quarterly Review   Update
Albedo One   Update
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine   Update
alice blue   Update
Analog Science Fiction & Fact   Update
anderbo.com   Update
Annalemma   Update
Another Chicago Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Apex Book Company TEMP CLOSED   Update
Apex Magazine   Update
Apodis Publishing TEMP CLOSED   Update
Aqueous Books   Update
Arcane TEMP CLOSED   Update
Artifice Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Atlantic, The   Update
Atticus Review   Update
Aurealis TEMP CLOSED   Update
Avery Anthology TEMP CLOSED   Update
Barrelhouse TEMP CLOSED   Update
Bat City Review   Update
Beat to a Pulp TEMP CLOSED   Update
Beneath Ceaseless Skies   Update
Berkeley Fiction Review TEMP CLOSED   Update
Big Lucks   Update
Birkensnake   Update
Black Clock TEMP CLOSED   Update
Black Heart Magazine   Update
Black Lawrence Press   Update
Black Static   Update
Black Warrior Review   Update
Blackbird TEMP CLOSED   Update
Blink-Ink   Update
Blue Earth Review   Update
Blue Mesa Review   Update
BOMB Magazine (First Proof Literary Supplement) TEMP CLOSED   Update
Borderlands 6   Update
Boulevard Magazine   Update
Bourbon Penn   Update
BULL SPEC   Update
Caketrain   Update
Camera Obscura   Update
Candlemark & Gleam   Update
Cannoli Pie   Update
Canteen   Update
Capilano Review, The   Update
Cavalier Literary Couture   Update
Cemetery Dance TEMP CLOSED   Update
Chicago Review   Update
Chiron Review TEMP CLOSED   Update
ChiZine (Chiaroscuro) TEMP CLOSED   Update
ChiZine Publications   Update
Cimarron Review   Update
Cincinnati Review, The   Update
Citron Review, The   Update
Clarkesworld Magazine   Update
Coachella Review, The   Update
Coffee House Press   Update
Collagist, The   Update
Colorado Review   Update
Comet Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Conjunctions   Update
Contrary   Update
Copper Nickel TEMP CLOSED   Update
Crazyhorse   Update
Cream City Review   Update
Crimefactory TEMP CLOSED   Update
Crimewave   Update
Criminal Element   Update
Curbside Splendor chicago Update
Dark Discoveries TEMP CLOSED   Update
Dark Faith 2 Anthology TEMP CLOSED   Update
Dark Horizons TEMP CLOSED   Update
Dark Sky Magazine   Update
decomP   Update
Descant (Canada)   Update
DIAGRAM   Update
Dirty Noir   Update
DOGZPLOT   Update
Drollerie Press CLOSED TEMP CLOSED   Update
Dzanc Books   Update
EDGE   Update
Electric Literature   Update
Electric Velocipede TEMP CLOSED   Update
Eleven Eleven   Update
elimae   Update
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine   Update
Emerson Review, The   Update
Emprise Review   Update
Etchings   Update
Existere - Journal of Arts and Literature TEMP CLOSED   Update
F Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Fairy Tale Review TEMP CLOSED   Update
Fantasy & Science Fiction (F&SF)   Update
Fantasy Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Featherproof Books TEMP CLOSED   Update
Fence TEMP CLOSED   Update
Fiction International   Update
Fifth Wednesday Journal   Update
Flambard Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Flying Pen Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Flywheel Magazine   Update
Freight Stories   Update
FRiGG   Update
Fringe TEMP CLOSED   Update
Frogmore Papers   Update
Fugue   Update
Fugue State Press   Update
Full of Crow Quarterly Fiction   Update
Gargoyle TEMP CLOSED   Update
Gettysburg Review   Update
Going Down Swinging TEMP CLOSED   Update
Granta   Update
Grave Tales TEMP CLOSED   Update
Graywolf Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Greensboro Review, The   Update
Grift Magazine   Update
Grist: The Journal for Writers   Update
GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator TEMP CLOSED   Update
Harpur Palate   Update
Hayden's Ferry Review   Update
Heavy Feather Review   Update
Hobart (Print) TEMP CLOSED   Update
Hobart (Web)   Update
Horror Zine, The TEMP CLOSED   Update
Hotel St. George Press   Update
Hyperpulp magical realism Update
Ideomancer   Update
Ig Publishing   Update
Ilura Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Indiana Review   Update
Interfictions TEMP CLOSED   Update
Interzone   Update
Jabberwocky   Update
JMWW   Update
Juked (Print) TEMP CLOSED   Update
Juked (Web)   Update
Kenyon Review   Update
Keyhole Magazine   Update
kill author   Update
KNOCK   Update
Lake Effect   Update
L'Allure des Mots   Update
Leodegraunce   Update
Lightspeed   Update
LIT   Update
Literary Fever   Update
Literary Review, The   Update
LITRO: Stories Transport You   Update
Lowestoft Chronicle   Update
MacAdam/Cage Publishing TEMP CLOSED   Update
MAKE: A Chicago Literary Magazine   Update
Manic D Press   Update
McSweeney’s Books TEMP CLOSED   Update
McSweeney's Internet Tendency   Update
McSweeney's Quarterly   Update
Meanjin TEMP CLOSED   Update
Medallion Press   Update
Memorious   Update
Metazen   Update
Mid-American Review   Update
Midnight Echo TEMP CLOSED   Update
Midwestern Gothic   Update
Missouri Review   Update
Mixer Publishing   Update
Molotov Cocktail, The   Update
Monkeybicycle   Update
Moon Milk Review   Update
Morrígan Books TEMP CLOSED   Update
Moulin Review   Update
Mundania Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Murky Depths CLOSED TEMP CLOSED   Update
Natural Bridge   Update
Needle: A Magazine of Noir   Update
Nefarious Muse   Update
Neon   Update
Nerve.com   Update
Nervous Breakdown, The   Update
New England Review   Update
New Genre TEMP CLOSED   Update
New Horizons   Update
New Ohio Review (NOR)   Update
New Orleans Review TEMP CLOSED   Update
New York Tyrant TEMP CLOSED   Update
New Yorker, The   Update
Night Land, The   Update
Night Shade Books TEMP CLOSED   Update
Night Train TEMP CLOSED   Update
Ninth Letter   Update
NO COLONY TEMP CLOSED   Update
NOÖ Journal (NOO) TEMP CLOSED   Update
Noon Annual   Update
Normal School, The   Update
Not One of Us   Update
Notes from the Underground   Update
Notre Dame Review   Update
Offense Mechanisms   Update
Omnidawn: Fabulist & New Wave Fabulist Fiction TEMP CLOSED   Update
On Spec TEMP CLOSED   Update
Once Was Blip TEMP CLOSED formerly Mississippi Review Update
One Buck Horror   Update
One Story   Update
Opium Magazine   Update
Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show   Update
Otherworld Publications   Update
Out of the Gutter Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Outsider Writers Collective   Update
PANK Magazine   Update
Paris Review   Update
Pear Noir!   Update
Pedestal Magazine, The   Update
Permanent Press Publishing Company, The   Update
Permuted Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Phoebe   Update
Pill Hill Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Pinch, The   Update
Pleiades   Update
PLOTS WITH GUNS   Update
Ploughshares   Update
Poisoned Pen Press   Update
Portland Review, The   Update
Post Road Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Prime Books TEMP CLOSED   Update
Pseudopod   Update
Quick Fiction TEMP CLOSED   Update
Raleigh Review   Update
Red Hen Press TEMP CLOSED   Update
Redivider   Update
Reprint, The   Update
Revolution House   Update
River Styx   Update
Rotten Leaves Magazine   Update
Salamander   Update
Salt Hill   Update
Scintilla   Update
Sententia: The Journal TEMP CLOSED   Update
Severed Press   Update
ShadowCast Audio Anthology, The TEMP CLOSED   Update
Shadows & Tall Trees TEMP CLOSED   Update
Sheepshead Review   Update
Shimmer   Update
Shock Totem   Update
Short, Fast, and Deadly   Update
Shotgun Honey   Update
Shroud Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Shroud Publishing TEMP CLOSED   Update
Sideshow Fables TEMP CLOSED   Update
Sleepingfish TEMP CLOSED   Update
Slice Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Small Beer Press Kelly Link, Jedediah Berry Update
Smokelong Quarterly   Update
Snowbooks   Update
Soho Press   Update
Southeast Review, The   Update
Southern Review, The   Update
Spinetingler TEMP CLOSED   Update
Star Mill Review, The   Update
Steampunk Tales TEMP CLOSED   Update
StepAway Magazine   Update
Storyglossia TEMP CLOSED   Update
Strange Horizons   Update
Stymie Magazine   Update
subTerrain Magazine   Update
Subtropics   Update
Summerset Review, The   Update
Sun Magazine, The   Update
Super Arrow   Update
Swink   Update
Tarpaulin Sky Literary Journal TEMP CLOSED   Update
Theaker's Quarterly Fiction   Update
Third Coast   Update
Threepenny Review TEMP CLOSED   Update
Thunderdome: The Writer's Collective   Update
Tin House   Update
Titular   Update
Tor.com   Update
Torquere Press   Update
Troubadour 21   Update
Twelve Stories TEMP CLOSED   Update
Twist of Noir, A   Update
Two Dollar Radio TEMP CLOSED   Update
Unstuck TEMP CLOSED new, very cool, lindsay hunter Update
Vain Magazine   Update
Versal TEMP CLOSED   Update
Vestal Review   Update
Virginia Quarterly Review TEMP CLOSED   Update
Weave Magazine   Update
Weird Tales TEMP CLOSED   Update
Whitewash Dreams   Update
Wild Child Publishing.com TEMP CLOSED   Update
Willow Springs   Update
Withersin Magazine TEMP CLOSED   Update
Witness   Update
Wrong Tree Review, The TEMP CLOSED   Update
Yalobusha Review   Update
Zoetrope: All-Story TEMP CLOSED   Update
Zone 3   Update
ZOUCH Magazine & Miscellany   Update
Zumaya Publications TEMP CLOSED   Update

Bradley Sands's picture
Bradley Sands from Boston is reading Greil Marcus's The History of Rock 'N' Roll in Ten Songs October 27, 2011 - 9:38am

I'm pretty confused why most of the markets people are listing are print journals since "Ezine" is in the title of the thread, but ok...

I worked as an unpaid assistant editor for Weird Tales for a little while before Ann Vandermeer was its editor.

Probably my favorite Ezine is The Dream People, which publishes surreal and absurd stuff of a slightly experimental nature and pays contributors the cost of a martini.

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies October 27, 2011 - 11:38am

i didn't want to limit my response to online places, bradley. and i also didn't have the time to separate out my long list there either. both print and online have their benefits.

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin October 27, 2011 - 12:17pm

I don't have any problem with print journals, I appreciate the list. Thanks. Seems to be a lot of "closed" ones though (mostly "temp closed" though so I suppose that's fine)

Bradley Sands's picture
Bradley Sands from Boston is reading Greil Marcus's The History of Rock 'N' Roll in Ten Songs October 27, 2011 - 12:47pm

I like Black Clock a lot, and Steve Erickson its Editor-in-Chief (who is one of my favorite authors). And it's probably the only journal that's associated with a school that I like (I think Pank is associated with a college as well and I've heard good things and enjoyed a few stories that they published that were read by their authors during live readings, but I've never actually read an issue).

But it seems like Black Clock might only have an open submissions period of two weeks per year (I submitted this year and am waiting for a response). Or maybe they have other two week open submissions periods that I'm unfamiliar with.

I just checked and Black Clock's website says it pays contributors "a token stipend when the magazine can afford it." Perhaps the pay rate is a sliding scale considering some of the contributors are big names. And Pank doesn't mention anything about payment, so I assume they don't. But I don't really care about these things since both journals have a wide readership and just as long they hook me up with a contributor copy if they publish my work. As far as publications with small readerships that don't pay, I would be hesitant to submit my work unless it was something that I had spent little time on.

Richard's picture
Richard from St. Louis is reading various anthologies October 27, 2011 - 5:36pm

BC is amazing. Erickson is great. I think, like many places that are attached to universities, they are closed part of the time, usually the summer. Sometimes more often.

Sure, it's great to get paid, but even if you get .05 a word x 3000 word story, that's only $150. It's great to get some exposure, and if you're not published, exposure is more important IMO than pay. Getting your work out there, building an audience, getting some recognition, that all matters too. Especially when the top markets are all under 1% acceptance rate. That means you have to be THE BEST story out of ONE HUNDRED submissions. How insane is that? So, online, print, send your work to places that you really dig. Of course, aim high, hit up TNY, TPR, Harper's, whatever turns you on. But it's rough when you send a story to 40 places, all with a 1% acceptance rate, and get rejected by all of the, to not start doubting your talent.

Novels, anthologies, ebooks, there are lots of ways to get your work out there in addition to online and print journals. Just start reading, hanging out, seeing what's cool, and send your work. That's how I've met so many awesome people, such as Bradley here.