Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Dead stories, a graveyard?

This is topic Dead stories, a graveyard? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by cgamble (Member # 2009) on :

I officially have 2 stories that are not accepted by the places that I know to publish them, and are at a point where i feel they are as good as they will get for some time (or i just dont want to revisit the horse). however, myself and a few of the people that i have had read them appreciated the stories.

I have place one on my web site, and havent decided what to do with the other. I am not necessarily in this for financial gain, although compensation does provide a sense of accomplishment, so I am left wanting to share and entertain without an audience..

So my question is, for a story that is not a complete waste, unpublished/able?, and can be slightly entertaining, where do you put them?

Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :

in the top drawer of your fileing cabinet in a folder named read next tuesday. Save it for a rainy day. One day perhaps they'll be an anthology and this will be billed as a "lost story". I've got a few of these.

Posted by Rahl22 (Member # 1411) on :

You could also drop your standards just a touch, and start submitting to semi-pro and even "for the love" markets. You won't get much in the way of compensation, but you will get just one more pip behind your name!

Posted by cgamble (Member # 2009) on :

i've thought of those markets, but the only ones ive ever found was for colleges.. and im a bit beyond college...

not too much though

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

http://engine.freeshell.org/

and

http://www.ralan.com/

I find it difficult to believe that you have exhausted all options.

In any case, profesional markets are few and highly competitive. I, personally, currently have 10 short stories out in the ether. The break down is:

1: Writers of the FUture (counts as pro market)
3: at professional markets (realms of fantasy, strange horizons, weird tales)
5: semi-pro markets (all of which pay fairly well, some pay as well as professional markets, but they don't meet SFWA standards for whatever reason.) Of these, two have been previously sent out to pro markets and failr, the other 3 I sent to semi-pro right off the bat....let me go to my records to see why: I see, one was a flash short and I find that pro markets typically don't take flash. The other 2 I just wasn't quite comfortable that they were up to professional standards. (Probably stupid lack of confidence and I shoul have tried, but hey...)
1: paying market...this one I sent to First Lines and wrote specifically for that magazine...it amounted to a writing exercise one morning when I was feeling blocked.

My point is there are LOTS of markets...the only place I will personal draw the line is non-paying. Even First Lines, which only pays $10 and a copy of the magazine in which the story appears, ranks higher than a totally non-paying market. I guess what I feel about non-paying is that absolutely no good will come of it...my name won't get known, I won't have even a few dollars in my pocket for my time, and honestly, I don't think I'd even get that good feeling for having managed to publish something.

Even if you draw the line where I do, though, there are lots of possibilities. Start with pro, then go to semi-pro, and once you've exhausted that, fish for a few paying markets.

[This message has been edited by Christine (edited May 08, 2004).]

Posted by cgamble (Member # 2009) on :

Thank you so very much for the information. Looks like I was just completely ignorant of the market....

Posted by October (Member # 2012) on :

Christine,

Why did you choose the mags you sent your stories to? Do you actively read them all? Did you first request a for a copy and read it before submitting? Do you have a set list of, say, 20 markets, that you've researched? Do you just work your way down that list?

I'm at the point where I want to start sending some things out, but I could use some help (or some guidelines) how to go about researching the market.

Thanks.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

My goodness, I don't think it's reasonable to expect us to read all the magazines we submit to, although most of them suggest we do so.

I would say that getting hold of at least on issue is a good idea, but often this is not necessary. I already posted two links above. The top one is a search engine, wher eyou can select things like grnre and word count and a few other things and it give syou a list of magazines that might suit you, each complete with submission guidelines.

And that's what I mainly do, even if I've read issues. The submission guidelines are often clearer than a single issue, because you never know how representative those stories are, or what it was about that story that got it accepted. They always say if they take only scifi, only fantasy, or both. They may mention if they want dark material or not. Sometimes they list cliched ideas they've seen too many times. I also listen to rumors. For example, while Fantasy and Science Fiction accepts short shorts, they never publish them because, according to the editor, he's just never seen one that he ended up being interested in. Abyss and Apex, meanwhile, is a great market for Flash and short shorts. (This is rumor, not guidelines.)

Here's an example:

http://www.analogsf.com/information/submissions.shtml will take you to Analog's submission guidelines. I've never submitted anything to them, although I've got two works in progress that might meet their guideliens. They are very hard core scifi and their guidelines make this clear. I rarely write anything like that, but like I said, I've got two shorts that might fit the bill this time around.

You can select a minimum price, SFWA pro markets only, etc. As a general rules, it's better to start with a SFWA pro market or two, and if they don't want your story, then you send it to a paying, semi-pro market, and then just a paying market, and then, if you're me you file it away as a failure. But there are even some non-paying markets to try as a last resort if you want.

All of these have guidelines, and those two links I posted, especially the first ones, are excellent resarch tools. I use them almost exclusively, and only rarely take the trouble to really read the stuff for the market I'm submitting to. There are only so many hours in a day, after all.

Posted by October (Member # 2012) on :

Thanks, Christine.

Like you, I think non-paying markets are a bit creepy. Kind of like paying to have your novel published.

I think what I'm going to do is get at least three mags in the three categories (pro, semi-pro, and paying), get a copy of the mag, and stick with something like 9 to 12 markets.

Thanks for your help!!

BTW -- Have you published anything yet?

Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :

I used to be a member of a local writers group that would spend a good twenty minutes at each of the monthly meetings exchanging details of non-paying markets that they'd found. Sorry -- most of them would give you a free copy of the magazine or two, and expect you to be grateful, as far as I could see.

I often wondered why they weren't so enthusiastic about paying markets. Until I realised that there were only about three of us there who actually understood what proper use of POV entailed.

Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :

quote:
I often wondered why they weren't so enthusiastic about paying markets. Until I realised that there were only about three of us there who actually understood what proper use of POV entailed.

Boy. Is that a telling statement.