posted
I'm sending out my psychic story this week, and I don't know what market to try for. I'll probably be ambitious and send it to Playboy first, but after that, I'm at a loss.
Does anyone have any suggestions? It's not sci-fi because it doesn't use new technology, it has a mystery element but it's not a crime solver, it has one or two literary touches, but it's not literary, it's not adventure, and I have no clue what publishers mean when they say experimental.
posted
Whenever I'm looking for a market, I start with the listings at Duotrope. There are approximately seventy gazillion, so you should be able to find something that you think is a good fit for the story. For best results, read a few issues of the magazine first; that should give you some idea of whether your story belongs there or not. You probably won't be able to get most of them at your local convenience store like you can with Playboy, but it's usually easy to buy copies via the internet.
If you don't know what "experimental" means, there's a very high chance that your story isn't. Basically it means you're experimenting with language, structure, form, etc. Typically very literary or on the literary side of genre.
posted
Thanks for the explanation, when I think experimental, I think test tubes and lab coats, and when I looked for a definition on the web, I couldn't make sense of that, either.
I'll check out Duotrope and go check out my writer's guide again, too. Since so many publishers seem to frown on simultaneous submissions, I'm looking for the best bet out there. Well, except Playboy. That's a lousy bet. They don't encourage new writers to submit at all, so I probably shouldn't bother, but I'm tempted anyway.
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I wish I'd heard of Duotrope a long time ago. As late as last night would have been fine. I submitted something to Glimmertrain, it's listed as #1 most daunting. Apparantly, they reject everything, although you wouldn't know it from looking at their website.
Posts: 187 | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
Duotrope is golden. I've been using them since they had only 700 listings and they're now up to near 1100. They also started carrying novels/anthology markets. Their search is invaluable.
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Rumor has it that ralan.com is going to switch to a database so it will be searchable. It's a great resource even without the ability to search.
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I didn't know Glimmertrain was that difficult... Maybe I should dust off the story they rejected and send it somewhere else...
Posts: 507 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Glimmertrain lists as daunting. On the other hand, Glimmertrain has an easy to use and friendly online submission form. *Shrug* Maybe it's not a good idea to take rankings like those to heart, even though the rest of Duotrope is insanely useful.
Edited to correct myself: Duotrope has some listings for longer short fiction. I guess the word length is novella.
[This message has been edited by Louiseoneal (edited July 20, 2006).]
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