I have heard that many semi-pro, token, and non-paid markets are very difficult to get into as well, but in some cases the acceptance percentages are much better. For instance, Duotrope lists Bewildering Stories (a non-paying market) as having a 60% acceptance rate. This is probably higher than the reality because people tend to under-report rejections, but compare to many other markets with 1 or 2% acceptance rates on Duotrope.

Fair warning: Getting published in non-pro markets may not help you get published in pro markets. I've heard the opinion of at least one major editor (Mike Resnick) that you should leave non-pro writing creds out of your cover letter, because they will only hurt your chances. If you have published nothing, they may consider you a fresh new face and will look at your writing with an open mind. If you claim non-pro credits, they may assume you couldn't "cut it" in the pros, so will give you less consideration. That's not my opinion, so I'm not going to defend that view, but something you might want to keep in mind.

 

It's much more helpful to know the highest level your writing will sell at, than the lowest.

I sold the first time out of the gate to a pro market. It can be done.

And most magazines won't take any notice of your other publishing credits unless they are from markets they know and respect. Building up a portfolio of "published" work is pretty meaningless in terms of moving to the "next level up", though that isn't to say it's necessarily without any purpose or merit.
 

(Or so I thought before realizing how many people no brighter than I am got where they were by going to "the right schools," and so on, and so forth.)
 

Better to aim high, and keep aiming high. Dave Wolverton recently addressed this in one of his e-mails. And Dean Wesley Smith harps on it endlessly. Keep your stories out to pro-pay markets as long as is humanly possible. If you're always selling to the low-end, how can you prove you have what it takes to make it on the high-end?
 

For profit? Not much money in the short-story marketplace, from none up to 10¢ a word, and at a thousand to one odds, slim chance of publication and payment, perhaps a little higher pay for a very few outlets through contests and such, but greater odds. Though the shorts marketplace is the traditional apprenticeship track toward a breakout in novels, a very few writers breakthrough into novels right out of the box.

Novel profits, though?
"On average it takes 475 hours to write a fiction title."
"The average royalty is 10.75% of net."
"[Publishers]Most had print runs of 2-5,000 copies."
"40% of manufactured books are returned."
"Many advances are between $1,500 and $7,500."
"70% of books published do not earn out their advances."
"5,000 novels, 200 first novels and 100 scripts are purchased [acquired for publication] each year."
For accomplished authors, 475 hours of work to make between $3 and $15 an hour, the lower end being closer to the norm. However, at least one publisher, Peachtree Publishers, reviews 25,000 unsolicited manuscripts a year and publishes only 20. Lots of unpaid 500 hour committments to novels.

Then there's the attraction created by the rare anecdote of a first novel paying a million dollar advance, earning out the advance, and resulting in bigger and better contracts for future titles.

From personal interviews with agents and publishers, and Department of Labor statistics, $30,000 is the average annual gross income for full-time novelists in the US, roughly 80,000 full-time novelists worldwide, 8,000 in the US.

Writing can't solely be for the money, but for a very few talented, blessed by Providence, or fortunate authors. Perhaps the anticipation of profits is a motivating force, but not if the money is for so few and far between.

What else? For the recognition of an approving audience. Lots of heartache and frustration on the way to market, shunning, rejection, disapproval, humiliation, solitude for an emerging writer.

To share a story?
"81% of the population feels they have a book inside them.
27% would write fiction.
28% would write on personal development
27% would write history, biography, etc.
20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.
6 million have written a manuscript.
6 million manuscripts are making the rounds.
Out of every 10,000 children’s books, 3 get published.
--Jerrold Jenkins. 15 May 99.
http://www.bookpublishing.com.

For me, recent writing epiphanies have shown me why I read, why I write, to connect meaninfully in what ways I can. Reading a good story vicariously places me in deep connection with thinking, feeling social beings and their vivid worlds. Writing a story explores my needs, my wants, my hardships, my world in ways that I seek to connect meaningfully with my world. Part catharsis, part therapy, part entertainment, part wishing for profit as concrete reward, recognition, and approval, I know now why I write. So for me, yes, the top-end approach first, of course, to reach a wider audience; but solely for approval's sake, nonpaying or token markets aren't out of the question.

[Cited stats from Dan Poytner's Parapublishing, http://bookstatistics.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm.]
 

I understand the "art" and "ctharsis" side of this whole thing, absolutely. And the few non-paid publications I've had -- especially the radio serial -- were a gas when they happened.

But I want more than that now. I'm not content to just fiddle on fanfic or 4-dah-luv fic. There are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fanfic and 4-dah-luv fic writers in the U.S. alone. And while I hate to sound like I am trashing on them, my goal is to prove that I am BETTER than just a fanfic or 4-dah-luv fic writer.

My goal is to be a 4-REAL pro fic writer. Even if it means only 1 short story in 100 sells. Even if it means only 1 novel in 10 sells. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am willing to take the hits, and the sorrow, if it means I can at least secure some bona fide pro success.

Maybe that means I am just being a sheep and playing The Game, as it were. I know lots of writers think that Business As Usual in the pro fiction world is bunk, and that writers who work hard to sell and who only pursue pro sales, are literally selling themselves out.

Me? I want to walk into a Barnes & Noble or a Borders or even a (dream high!) grocery store or Wal-Mart, and see my novel(s) sitting on the shelves. With (dream high!) awesome, expensive covers on the front. Foil, embossed lettering. End-cap stands. The whole enchilada.

Maybe I'll never get there. But I've learned that the things in this life which are worth doing and pursuing, are usually the things that are the most difficult.

The level of satisfaction and reward is directly tied to the level of difficulty in achievement. That's my life axiom.
 

I should say that I'm not totally ruling out my submitting to some so-called bottom market...I have in the past and may do so again...for reasons like, say, I like the market, or I'm doing a favor for a friend, or maybe I just felt like it that day.

But right now I generally get a couple or three bounces from the pros, and zingo! I put the story up on my website. (Not that there's any new activity; I've written a good deal, but not put anything in a finished state since sometime last year.)

[edited to correct a spelling error---hope it's the only one.]

[This message has been edited by Robert Nowall (edited December 18, 2008).]
 

[This message has been edited by honu (edited December 18, 2008).]
 

In one episode, Dr. Soong (Data's creator) asked Data why he thought humans procreated. It is actually a very philosophical question. Soong's arguments against having children were very practical at many levels. And though children do provide an altruistic effect, which is very self-satifying, there is definitely more to it than that.

There is something amazing about having this little person, who is a part of you and who you contribute to in character and knowledge (even for those who adopt).

In the episode, Soong suggested procreation was a means of obtaining a kind of immortality. Part of you continues living on in this person and in his/her descendants.

In some ways, not nearly to the degree of having children, I believe writing serves the same purpose.

[This message has been edited by philocinemas (edited December 19, 2008).]
 

The probability of a bad novel being published is very very very low indeed (this i not the same as saying "but novels I don't like get published all the time!". Novels many people don't like are published all the time. Novels NOBODY likes are published very very rarely indeed). The probability of a really good novel being published is much hgher. But it will take time, which will take persistence, and probably luck as well.

That's the magic triumvirate: persistence, talent, and luck. Without at least two of those three, you'll never get anywhere. With all three, you stand a MUCH better chance than most people.
 

"Be wary of statistics on reading. Numbers will vary depending on how the question is phrased. When asked if THEY read books, many people will inflate the figure to appear knowledgeable and scholarly.

'40% of people admit to lying about having read certain books, according to a study published last year by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.'
--BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7178598.stm″ Para Publishing, http://bookstatistics.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

As far as royalties are concerned, it's not about whether buyers read, but that they buy.

[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited December 19, 2008).]