Today I mailed my short story to Writers of the Future. (woo hoo, first time ) At any rate, I've been reading around online and I understand that results won't be released for several months.

I'm wondering if I can submit my story to other magazines now. Chances of me winning (and therefore being published in the WoTF anthology) are slim, so why not move on to the next try?

Since the deadline for this quarter of Writers of the Future isn't until the end of next month, I'd recommend that you wait to send the story there, and send it to another publication first. If you hear back soon enough, and they don't want it, you may be able to send it to another before you have to meet the WotF deadline.

Serial publishers buy exclusive first serial publication rights and rarely buy reprint rights. Anthology publishers buy either the equivalent exclusive first serial rights as first anthology publication rights or reprint rights, depending on their slant. Some publish exclusively original work, some exclusively reprint work, some both in the same volume. Galaxy Press, publisher of the W&IOTF anthology, buys exclusive first publication rights, currently paying $500 per published story. I suppose there's a contract clause stipulating the time period, probably a year, but I've not heard explicitly that that is so.

A short story publishing contract typically stipulates exclusive publication rights for a period of time ranging from one publication cycle, like a month or two for a monthly publication, up to a year or more depending on house preferences. First publication consumes first publication rights. Reprint rights are all that remain after first publication.

Essentially, WOTF functions as a screening process. Galaxy Press actually publishes the W&IOTF anthology. WOTF contest rules don't expressly prohibit simultaneous submission, but a successful submission that had been previously published elsewhere would disqualify it from the contest. Rule 2: last clause, "Entries may not have been previously published in professional media." As it takes a year or more for anthology publication to come out after a contest year ends, a winning entry could potentially be under contractual obligation for several years.

A minority consensus supports silent simultaneous submissions even to publishers who prohibit simultaneous submissions. Theoretically, a single short story could be submitted to every house. Duotrope currently indexes 2550 houses. I've heard of overlapping story publications. I've also heard of houses that void a contract because of publication elsewhere. Further, I've heard of houses that blacklist writers who they know practice simultaneous submissions. A writer's reputation is as important as anything else is in the publishing industry.

I can see that it's probably in my best interest to wait. As you said, it kind of all boils down to rep, and I don't want to screw that up when I've just barely gotten into the game.