Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

The trials of finding places to submit to. It used to be relatively easy to do this. It has gotten harder as more and more social media has cropped up. Some are only on twitter or facebook or instagram. It becomes a full time job to keep up.

With that in mind I have considered a subscription to Duotrope. It's 50$ for the year. It may be worth it. Of course it has all the genres so you still have to weed out to find yours. Others might say why bother? Self publish. There is more credence to that now than there has ever been. Why do I hesitate? I have had publishers behind me with their marketing and still failed miserably. Going it alone seems like it would be even harder.

There is still ralan but it has a lot of token or free markets you need to weed through. I'm okay with the token payments at this stage but not so much free.

I think what's getting me down right now is the relative loneliness. I'm separated from my writer friends. Yes I do the WED challenge which is nice but I'd like to see a group of writing friends exchanging at the end of the week this is what I wrote (a few lines at least) or hey I found this market... ah well.

At least I can share my links with you all

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Comments

[duskpeterson]

Have you tried The Submission Grinder? It's free. Its strength lies in genre fiction listings. For literary fiction, I understand, Duotrope is still the best option.

https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com

What I like about The Submission Grinder is that you can set it up to e-mail weekly a customized list of the latest listings.

https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Home/Newsletter

[cornerofmadness]

I have never heard of this! thank you. Yeah that's why I've always dragged my heels on Duotrope. I do not do literary fiction.

[kerk_hiraeth]

Not sure who said it; they were on the radio, but it went something like, "You write?" ~fill in reply~ "Then you're literary."

Tried sending a reply a few hours ago, but it turned into a litany of my miseries, so I deleted it.

First line though was 'I feel cut off myself' ~ meaning from the fans & fandoms that made me want to write. So connected I don't feel connected to those that matter at all.

I send all the best wishes the Goddess permits me,

kerk

[cornerofmadness]

There's probably some truth to that. That said I'm happy to be a genre writer (and to hell with anyone who doesn't think that's good enough, yeah I'm looking at you former teachers)

Hope things get better soon.

Yeah fandom has become...odd. There are so many social medias now that none of them feel like 'home' not like LJ/DW did back in the day

[duskpeterson]

Last I heard, Duotrope was good at genre fiction too, but no more so than The Submission Grinder. Free is extra good. :)

[cornerofmadness]

Yes free is and as I said elsewhere, I just want a couple markets. short fic is NOT my jam. I just get a wild hair every so often

[duskpeterson]

I'd say Ralan is your best bet in that case. Comparing it to The Submission Grinder, I've found Ralan very reliable in listing the main short fiction magazine markets. (You don't have to do any weeding at Ralan if you stick to the pro-pay markets, which I'd definitely suggest.) SFWA's qualifying markets list is great for that sort of thing too.

But if you run out of pro markets listed at those two places, it's worth checking The Submission Grinder, as well as Aswiebe's Market List: http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/markets.html. Those two resources sometimes find anthology markets before Ralan does.

[cornerofmadness]

thanks again. Yeah I much prefer to write novels (and then never do anything with them) but try to write short stories a few a year to keep my hand in and my name out. I appreciate the help

[sylvanwitch]

I use Duotrope and like it a lot. I find that the search function is pretty flexible and allows for you to choose many variables. I also subscribe to the weekly newsletter, Fiction Edition, which puts new markets, themed submissions, etc., all in one place for me. I use that A LOT when I'm searching for a place to submit. Also, their submissions tracker has been great tool for keeping track of what I've sent where, so I don't embarrass myself by sending the same magazine the same story it already rejected, for example.

All of that said, your mileage may vary, of course. Also, I am not in any way being paid to endorse this product. ;-)

[cornerofmadness]

that's all very good to know. Right now I submit SO little I can keep track in an excel spreadsheet but that function of Duotrope is good to have. I'm also in that place where I want to do a few short stories but don't want them to be the only thing I'm doing so rock meet hard place

Can your writer's group meet online?

[dauntless_heart]

You're also welcome to join ours, if you want an invite...

Re: Can your writer's group meet online?

[cornerofmadness]

I have two that meet online but even on discord it doesn't have the same feel but thanks. What's the genres on yours

Re: Can your writer's group meet online?

[dauntless_heart]

So our group has not yet had fan fiction posted, but we could. The most active members are writing science fiction, fantasy, steampunk and mystery.

Re: Can your writer's group meet online?

[cornerofmadness]

Oh I wouldn't waste time with fanfic. Those are my genres. Just doubt I have time for a fourth group