posted
At what point do short stories become too long for magazines? Do longer stories have less of a chance of getting published? I have one that's just creeping over 10,000 words now and my brain keeps telling me it's too long.
Posts: 69 | Registered: Oct 2008
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posted
It just depends on the market, but there is a trend toward shorter stories in many of them. There are however plenty that accept long short stories (and theres all manner of different definitions of what constitutes a "novellette", "novella" etc etc.
A lot of the pro markets have somewhat low word count limits. Clarksworld and Chizine won't take anything over 4k words, 6k for Fantasy Magazine. I think F&SF takes pretty long stuff tho.
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What with the recent shrinkage of the Big Three magazines, the market there for longer stuff is likely tighter than ever.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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In general, the longer the story (above about 6k) the fewer markets tend to be interested. There are exceptions, and most of the big/pro-rate markets will take long stories, but many of the longer stories I see in those venues seem to be ones by established names.
I think as a beginner it is probably easier to sell flash, or shorts up to 4-6k, than anything longer.
If you haven't already, sign up with www.duotrope.com and do your research there on lengths - it's an invaluable site.
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