…HERE ARE SOME more links for all those short stories you want to relinquish to the dark murky void of the inbetween, that place where your emails go, between you clicking send, and the editor receiving it.
Of all the short story submission site lists, Richard Thomas on LitReactor has provided the most exhaustive by far. Although they aren’t hyperlinked it’s hard to complain given the sheer number of places detailed.
Christopher Fielden provides an extensive list also, with the links and by country.
For even more links check out my previous post.
Both lists give you an idea of acceptance rates, rates of pay and some info on genre accepted.
Getting published is a tough business not just when it comes to novels. Here’s nearly thirty reasons why you might not be getting accepted, e.g. :
- 2. Overcrowded with characters. Seán Ó Faoláin said a short story is to a novel as a hot air balloon is to a passenger jet. Like a jet the novel takes a long time to get off the ground, carries a lot of people and takes them a long way from where it started. On the other hand, the short story takes off vertically, rises directly to a great height, usually carries only one or two people, and lands not very far from where it took off. So when you mention three, four, five and sometimes even more names in the first two pages, it is inevitable that readers will be turned off (unless you have created a virtuosic masterpiece that defies all critique, such as Theresa’s Wedding by William Trevor). Your story is likely to suffer from the following problem as well.
LionAroundWriting 
Thanks for sharing!
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Your blog is a blessing. Thanks for sharing this.
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You’re welcome, thanks for your readership 🙂
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My pleasure.
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Submitting is maddening, isn’t it? I’m about to start querying again, and I’m NOT looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing resources. 🙂
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Yeah it is.
The most irritating part once you find a dam place that takes the genre you’ve written, is all the different formatting..and then the 2-3 month wait to be told NO lol
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Best of luck.
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Thanks, I’ll need a few truck loads of it lol
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All writers do.
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Without a doubt.
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Useful post. Prompts me to maybe dust off a couple of short stories and get them out there.
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There’s nothing to lose 🙂
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Those are both good lists, but some of the markets listed are either defunct or no longer accept unsolicited submissions. I don’t expect a blogger to keep up on that stuff, which is why I use Duotrope. They’re the best database/submission tracker out there, in my opinion, and they do update listings on a regular basis. They charge you five bucks a month to use the service, which I think is a very small price to pay for all they offer.
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Yeah thats true. I’ll edit that in tomorrow. The majority that I have looked into, not that many in terms of the lists, are still running but there does seem to be a fair amount of publishers closing down.
Funny you mention Duotrope, I only discovered it last month, I think I’ll definitely sign up, it’ll save me a lot of time. Cheers for dropping by.
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