We all have them. Those top publications you've been dreaming of getting into since you first started writing. Some of these places might even be the reason you started writing. Maybe you like to dream big-- The New Yorker? Maybe you like to dream small.
What are your top five markets? Those places that slap you with enough rejection slips you can wallpaper your livingroom with, yet you send off another piece the second it hits your inbox.
1. Shotgun Honey - I still want in there.
2. Hardcase Crime
3. Pantheon - oh wait... Lol
theres more but I can't think of them right now.
Granta, The Paris Review, McSweeney's, Tin House, Electric Literature (made the final editorial round there once, which can be more heart breaking than a straight rejection).
Apex Magazine and Clarkesworld are mine!. But I've only sent them one submission each. I'm almost too embarrassed to keep trying. I'M NOT WORTHY!
I'm looking to revamp Jellyfish and get it into Out of the Gutter. I have a few hundred more words to work with there.
Kidding, it didn't bother me. I only cried for two days.
I laughed so hard at this. I suspect there are some spec-fic writers who do actually do this.
I got excited because it took Clarkesworld 6 days to reject one of my stories. I thought I was getting close! hehehe.
For me:
1. PANK
2. Word Riot
3. SubTerrain
4. Fiddleblack
5. Paper Darts
Yeah, I'm one of 'those' guys. But, big thanks to Matt for turning me from writer to author. Thanks, buddy!
Spec fic mags all the way for me.
- Clarkesworld (very popular today)
- Fantasy and Science Fiction
- Lightspeed
- Nightmare
- Some other one that comes up when I search sci-fi pro-payment in Duotrope
Matt, there's Fiddleback and Fiddleblack. Both look pretty amazing, design-wise, though.
- Grain Magazine: a Canadian (based in Saskatchewan where I gre up) lit magazine. I've had some other family members publish there, so I would love to join them.
- Shotgun Honey: Finally submitted my first piece there, but I don't have high hopes. Crime/noir etc is not really my strong suit, though I am working on it.
- Glimmer Train: may as well shoot the moon.
- Nightmare Magazine: John Joseph Adams curated, and recently published a Laird Barron story, and Laird Barron is GOD.
- Dragon Magazine: But only the print edition Dragon Magazine circa 1987, because it would have made the younger me so bloody happy.
@Jeffrey: Is Grain magazine really like...hoity-toity "literary", or are they more accepting of more mainstream edgy kind of stuff?
Glimmer Train, Tin House, Black Clock, The Puritan (Toronto-based and awesome, check em out), and a "review" named after a good-sized city... don't care which one.
Sound, I've glanced @ DSF, but ever given it a lot of thought. It ca stand in as 5 on my list for the time being though.
Hey wait this was what I was trying to do only I guess I didn't do it very well. :)
@MES - Top 5 beats desert island. I guess people don't like hypotheticals.
The Collagist
Black Clock
PANK
One Buck Horror
Needle
Asimov's
Lightspeed
Daily Science Fiction
Apex
Strange Horizons
@ J.Y. - That's as good a reason as any! Regardless, I made this thread a favorite. It's an exclusive group. :)
Those top publications you've been dreaming of getting into since you first started writing. ... What are your top five markets? Those places that slap you with enough rejection slips you can wallpaper your livingroom with, yet you send off another piece the second it hits your inbox.
I can only think two places I sent a second piece, and one of those was both queried and a joke.
- 'Oxford American' --- never submitted. They're the 'New Yorker' of the South.
- 'The New Yorker' --- never submitted. They're the 'New Yorker' of the world.
- 'The Kenyon Review' --- rejected twice (one poem, one flash; this is not the one referenced above). I don't know why I want to be there.
- 'Clarkesworld' --- rejected once. Once accepted to any of the three above, wouldn't it be great to also get into one of the leading SF/F markets?
- 'Poetry' --- rejected once. Once you've conquered both the literary and genre markets, wouldn't it be great to also be accepted at the leading American magazine devoted exclusively to poetry and its discussion?
It's truly no worry at all! I actually thought as well it could be misconstrued as such but the site was running so slowly and I kept getting fun replies and I was tired. :)
@Bekanator: I believe they show a decided lean toward the former, but they take chances as well. I have to say, I've seen more than a few stories about sex (though not graphic) in Grain. It's a gov't sponsored deal (isn't everything up there), so probably one of the important considerations is Canadian citizenship/residency.
Lot's of Clarkesworld love. One of my good friends got in there last year, and I'll say they do pay well.
I've never seen a copy of the Oxford American, but have read an article about them (I think a change of editor recently?) and I definitely want to check them out.
Never held an issue of Black Clock either, but they definitely have a mystique. Seems like every time I check them out they're not accepting submissions.
For me, it's more about finding the right story for the right mag, and not the white whale itself, but I will say that I have the most rejections from PANK and Jersey Devil. The one place I'd like to be in is of course The New Yorker, because they pay phat stacks, but I've yet to write a story worth sending them.
I agree with you, Gordon.
I still have my white whales, but not every story is worth sending to them. Most of my stuff is too profane or sexy for most "literary" mags, but every so often I'll write something a little more generic, so I do try to send them out. It's definitely not easy when you realize that your work isn't for everyone, but when you find the right market for your stuff it is really cool.
Lately I've been finding a lot of success with noir markets, a sort of genre I never much saw my work fitting into, but now that I've been finding acceptances there it's been really cool, and I feel like I can write more work and add more of a voice, have more success there.
I may never get into PANK, but at least at this point I've got other well-known noir and hardboiled authors friending me on Facebook and leaving nice comments on my stories, so it's a nice build up. Small steps and all that.
BEKANATOR IS A LITERARY MEGALITH!
. . .
And you never know, that familiarity you breed with other writers may eventually lead to some name recognition that helps oil the hinges on those doors that had once been closed to you. (I was gonna say "grease the wheels," but whatever: some form of lubrication is what's important here.)
I know who to call on when I'm in need of lubricant then.
.... what's important is that it's water-based.
I've gotten some pretty encouraging rejections from some higher-end places, PANK being one of them. Nice to know they probably got all the way through my stuff.
I just realized I've never submitted to my top five. Fuck. I should probably get on that.
- PANK
- Neon
- The Kenyon Review
- AGNI
- McSweeny's (I won't be submitting to this one for a long, long time.)
I'll just leave off The New Yorker, The Paris Review and Playboy, as they'll likely never happen. I have 39 places listed under "white whales" in my where to submit article here at LR, but here are my top 5:
1. Cemetery Dance - kings of horror (0% acceptance rate at Duotrope)
2. The Missouri Review - a top literary journal, very tough (.51% acceptance rate)
3. F&SF - i don't write much straight, traditional fantasy and SF, tough to fiind a fit (.35% acceptance)
4. Shock Totem - i love what they are doing (1.31% acceptance rate, those whores)
5. Ploughshares - another top literary journal, very tough (.9% acceptance rate)
Glad to see you all aiming high!
@Bek - for sure hit up PANK, with every story you have. the one i got in there was a weird format, a choose your own adventure, so also consider somethign atypical. roxane writes some dark, sexual stuff, so don't let that deter you at all. send them all.
i've been lucky enough to get stories in Word Riot, One Buck Horror and Shotgun Honey, so they're definitely possible, keep hitting them up.
Glad to see you all targeting Needle, love them, and Black Clock, too. Clarkesworld is a white whale of mine, but they are so hard, very picky. I usually get kicked to the curb in 24 hours or less.
I also love Nightmare, Apex, Lightspeed, Paper Darts (perfect for you Bek, keep hitting them up), Strange Horizons (just sent them a story TODAY!), Electric Literature (although I think they're closed to submissions moving forward) and The Collagist.
Obviously, Tin House, McSweeny's, and Granta, those are all top notch, very tough.
1. Cemetary Dance
2. Shock Totem
3. Shimmer
4. Nightmare Magazine
5. One Buck Horror (which I managed to get into!)
6. Apex (I know its only supposed to be 5, but whatever).
I'm probably gonna hear back from Cemetary Dance any day now for a sub I sent back in early December. It's really nerve wracking, caues I know how much it will mean to me as a horror writer to get accepted by them.