Publication Resources

I've had a few people ask me where I get the links I post each Wednesday, so I thought I'd do a quick post about where to find publications. My focus is on short stories right now, so most of these are going to be short story publishers. I'm also going to list resources I've stumbled across, but don't use for my Wednesday blog posts, so you may find lots I'm not posting at those sites (found at the end of this post.)

Unfortunately, I don't have any magic bullets. For the most part, I get my links from LinkedIn groups and Facebook groups I've joined that are related to writing. People post markets they've heard about, or the publishers themselves post. I check these out as people post to be sure they're paying markets that don't cost for submissions, and then I add them to a spreadsheet in date order so I can post them. I recommend you do searches in these two places for groups related to your genre. Once you add some groups in LinkedIn, they send you other recommended groups. For Facebook groups, I typically find them through friends who belong to them when they share something. Or they get recommended by Facebook. I'm in several that are specifically for posting paying markets. I try to share back since I get so many links from them, but sometimes I forget.

When I find a link posted on someone else's blog, Twitter, or Facebook, or if someone posts it in my comments, I mention them with the link to give credit. I don't get so many this way, but I do get a few here and there.

Occasionally, I just do random internet searches for "submission guidelines" and "horror," so this would work for others in their genres. However, this one can be a waste of time, so it's rare.

I've also gone through the back of "Best of" type collections to see what markets those stories were originally published in. Then I'll look them up online to see what their guidelines are. Check out "Best of" collections in your genre. Or see where someone who writes similar content is getting published.

A lot of my links are updated deadlines for markets I've posted before, or new editions/themes/anthologies from publishers I check in with occasionally. If I do a post for an anthology from a specific market, but it also has a list of future anthologies and their deadlines, I add those to my spreadsheet to come back to closer to that time.

Not terribly helpful, right?  But hopefully something below will be more helpful.

While these are not places I usually get links from, these are excellent resources if you're looking for updates on new markets:

The big daddy of them all is Duotrope. I don't go through Duotrope to find the links for my publications posts, but I'm pretty sure most of the links I stumble across are listed on Duotrope, and that's where I go when I have a story to submit. There have been some I've submitted to after finding them elsewhere that were not on Duotrope, so don't depend on it exclusively, but boy does it make life easier. There is a $50 annual fee, or you can pay $5 monthly. I don't just find markets here; I track my submissions through the website. (I also have a spreadsheet, so it's okay that not all the markets are listed there.) It breaks down how many days you can expect to wait before hearing back, as well as other helpful stats, such as average time for rejections and acceptances for that market. They also send a monthly newsletter with new markets. Note: You can find publishers interested in novels here, too.

If you don't want to pay, you can go to the Submission Grinder. It does the same things as Duotrope, though it may have fewer markets, as it's newer and is still in BETA. Plus, it's free. I tried to start tracking on each, but I was doubling my efforts. So possibly when I'm not as active with short stories.

The following are resources I've kept the link to with the intention of visiting them more often. I suck at doing so, and I'm terrible at getting around to reading newsletters, but when I do, they have tons of helpful information.

My Little Corner is a blog where Sandra Seamans posts open markets. I think her main focus is mystery/thriller, but she may post other genres (and I may have misread that as being her focus). She sometimes does multiple posts per day. Each post is for a single market.

Ralan.com posts various markets. There may be a focus on speculative fiction, but I'm not positive. They have an index so you can search by pay and type.

Coffintree Hill is a blog that posts speculative fiction markets. I believe it's also one market per post, like My Little Corner.

I don't know if this one is currently being updated, but a list I ran across at some point and copied the link to is Mary Soon Lee's Speculative Fiction Markets. It is just a list of markets. Simple and straight forward. They're separated by pay.

Horror Tree posts ongoing markets irregularly. Despite its name, I think it focuses on speculative fiction, not just horror.

Writingcareer.com posts multiple posts per day with open calls. I think it's all genres. They have an index on the right that breaks the categories down into fiction, poetry, anthology, and nonfiction.

For those who write primarily flash fiction, there's a Yahoo Group with a regular newsletter. It's Pamelyn Casto's Flash Fiction Newsletter. Her newsletter has publishing information, news, and links to contests and publications.

Another Yahoo Group is The Practicing Writer. They list grants, publications, and contests. All genres, I think.

Hope Clark runs FundsforWriters. You can subscribe and get a free email with writing information, news, grants, contests, freelance markets, and writing jobs. I think this is another that does all genres, though it appears to tend toward literary.

A lot of times, the same market will pop up in a bunch of places at once. These markets want you to be able to find them. As you can see, there are a lot of resources to get you closer to them. I only posted one paying site, though I'm sure there are more out there, but I find Duotrope to be invaluable. If you are submitting a lot, it's worth the cost. If you aren't, and are just dipping your toes in, I'd stick with the free resources if they work for you.

Good luck, and happy submitting!

Do you have other go to resources for markets you're willing to share? What is your favorite one? Do you use Duotrope or Submission Grinder? Are there any other similar sites? 

May you find your Muse.

Bullet Bill image, clker.com, OCAL
Calendar with Note, clker.com, OCAL
Big Bag of Money, clker.com, OCAL