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Most of what I write tends to be 'alternate world' fantasy, so I am beginning to wonder if there is a market to accept my stories.
I study the markets as often as I can, I have been reading Realms of Fantasy, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Flash Fiction Online, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, any writer's magazines I can get my hands on, Jungian psychology, Wadsworth Anthology of poetry, and whatever else I can possibly fit into my day.
Is there something else I could or should be doing? Should I be tailoring my work to the market or just write what I want to write? What is the general mood of the market now? I am still so new to the professional world, I don't know the exact steps I should be taking. Any advice would be much appreciated.
I study the markets as often as I can, I have been reading Realms of Fantasy, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Flash Fiction Online, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, any writer's magazines I can get my hands on, Jungian psychology, Wadsworth Anthology of poetry, and whatever else I can possibly fit into my day.
Is there something else I could or should be doing? Should I be tailoring my work to the market or just write what I want to write? What is the general mood of the market now? I am still so new to the professional world, I don't know the exact steps I should be taking. Any advice would be much appreciated.
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Mon, December 15, 2008 - 1:05 PMAshley, that's not a rant! It's a perfectly good question.
The answer is... it depends what you want.
I once had the opportunity to ask Stephen King a similar question. He swears that he writes what he wants to read and considers himself fortunate that others want to read it, too.
My advice: write from your heart. The world doesn't need another bank account as much as it needs great art. And maybe you'll find that others like to read what you write, too.
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Mon, December 15, 2008 - 3:38 PMHi, Ashley -- I agree with Phil. Write what you love and what interests you, because that dedication will come through. Your post didn't read to me like a rant at all. It's a legitimate question.
Strange Horizons comes to mind (I have a poem forthcoming there) -- and Talebones, Clarkesworld, Electric Velocipede (I have a story in #14), Farrago's Wainscot, Space and Time (I have a poem in #104), and I'm sure there are a bunch of others. All the ones I've mentioned are paying markets -- some pro, some semi-pro. Alas, Helix, which published various types of alternative fiction (I'm in #10), is shutting its doors at the end of the year.
Market guides to check include:
Duotrope's Digest
www.duotrope.com/
Ralan's Webstravaganza
www.ralan.com/
Story Pilot's Science Fiction and Fantasy Market Engine
www.storypilot.com/
Spicy Green Iguana (though it hasn't been updated in quite a while)
www.spicygreeniguana.com/
There's also the market section of the SFWA Bulletin, which anyone including nonmembers can view, at
www.sfwa.org/bulletin/
The market report is a .pdf file.
Broad Universe, an organization supporting women sf/f/h writers, makes its listserv available to nonmembers for reading (you must be a member to post). Sometimes new markets appear in the posts, at
groups.yahoo.com/group/broaduniverse/
You may also find some leads at The White List over at LiveJournal: "a listing of writers, editors, and other publishing professionals that have LiveJournals or LJ RSS feeds"
domynoe.livejournal.com/80319.html
Sometimes markets appear in Writtenwyrdd
writtenwyrdd.typepad.com/writtenwyrdd/
Market lists and links also appear at
khivasmommy.googlepages.com/apag...iters
The Poets & Writers Speakeasy forum, at
www.pw.org
SFF net
www.sff.net/writing.asp
SpecFicWorld (subscription service, but they offer a free trial)
www.specficworld.com/
To check out markets, resources, and notices of scams and complaints, go to Preditors and Editors
anotherealm.com/prededitors/
That's all I can think of for now. Keep persevering! Sometimes it takes time to find the right niche. Case in point: my story "Another Place," which Asimov's rejected for lack of believability, found a home at Amazing Stories (May '88). Amazing had rejected my story "Moments of Clarity" as being "not amazing enough," and that story found a home in the first Full Spectrum anthology (also in '88) and reached preliminary ballot for a Nebula. So don't be discouraged!
Good luck -- and, as Willie the Shake sayeth, "To thine own self be true." -
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Mon, December 15, 2008 - 5:45 PMWhat they both said. And I've also noticed that when you really do touch gold and write what you want and what you know (and keep working on it) it will get acknowledged. Also, remember that editors have tastes and opinions just like we do. What one editor doesn't like, another one might. There have been times when no one seems to want a particular story, and then I take a really long look at it to see what's there to keep a bunch of people from saying yay instead of nay. Other times I've gotten comments like, "nice story, just not what we're looking for." So you know then that at least they might like to hear from you again with a different story. You just have to keep trying. It get's really discouraging sometimes, I know. But you have to remember why you're doing this. Do you like your stories? Do you like working on your stories? That's the most important thing to look at I think . -
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Tue, December 16, 2008 - 1:13 AMThank you, I really appreciate the advice. It does make me feel a lot better. I guess the post seemed like a rant in my head. But thanks to editing, I managed to pare down the frustration I was feeling when I posted. I've only been submitting for a few months, but I have always been the impatient type. Typically it serves me to get things done, other times it frustrates me.
I have managed to collect seven rejection slips so far, though they are only form rejections. If I could get a personalized rejection, I would be happy, then at least I know that I am climbing.
According to the work ethic of my family, if you aren't sweating, or bringing in regular money, it isn't a 'real' job, and therefore unimportant.
I have no emotional support at home, and seriously, it makes me feel so much better that there are those out there that would take the time to help me out with information and offer support. Your replies have made me feel so much better! ^_^
Thank you! -
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Wed, December 17, 2008 - 5:14 AMPlease read Marge Piercy's poem "For the young who want to"
rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1610.html
It addresses that lack of emotional support and is one of the most empowering pieces on writing that I know.
I spent more than a decade working double and triple shifts to support a household, which is why I essentially dropped off the face of the earth as far as publications were concerned. I published some articles here and there, but lacking the space, time, and presence of mind to truly follow my Muse almost cost me my sanity. On the other hand, my emotional experiences and the knowledge that I picked up during my long drought informed my writing, when I could finally return to it. One mantra I live by is, "Nothing is wasted."
Keep persevering and keep the faith... -
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Sun, December 21, 2008 - 9:15 PMwow, that is a great poem, and I definitely felt a connection with it. Especially, the third stanza really applied to me, as I am the last female in my generation in my family to not have a baby, ring, or boyfriend. haha... Thank you.
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Tue, February 24, 2009 - 4:47 PMcheck the definition of "rant". that was a direct query clear, focused and not reminiscent of borderline psychosis like the rants i love so much.
i think you should think much less about genre and more about writing as an art form in itself.
there are "great" writers that evoke a certain "artism" from wildly varying genres.
in scifi-and-fantasy there are lots of people who just...want...money.
they don't often REALLY write that well. legibly but...one can discern that
there is a difference between invalid pandering and creating...creating with words...
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Re: A rant, please ignore if you don't like rants.
Mon, March 16, 2009 - 10:31 AMAshley,
I know I'm getting in this late, but......
I just wanted to add my two and a half pennies to this thread....
I TOTALLY agree with what everyone said!!!
I'm coming from the stance of personal satisfaction. I have read other writers work that I knew personally where just trying to pay the bills, and it showed in their work. Trying to fit a niche' is all fine and good, but I have found that when I did that, I didn't like or respect what I had written. I have my own ideas (as I'm sure you do) of what's good and what's shit, but I always think, and forgive my language here, that what is one person's shit is another person's soufflé'. The "niche" will come, but if you try to please someone besides yourself, the work suffers, and you end up compromising who you are in your writing....
Now I'm all for making a buck, but if you don't like what you’re selling, what's the point? Stay true, and the public, and publishers, will catch up....
Tim
