Finding the Right Market

I started this year with the ambition to improve on the previous. Every writer has their individual process; one I’m still trying to develop. The number of submissions I sent out in 2009 equals five. Not entirely impressive by some standards. Four months in to 2010, I’ve doubled that number. But I’ve had one problem: finding the right market for one of my short stories.

With some short stories, you have the market in mind while in the process of writing it. Others you develop the idea with hope you’ll find it a good home or two. In 2008, I finished a course with Long Ridge Writers Group. My final assignment was to write a short story. I wrote it in a supernatural setting with a satirical overtone. I figured the supernatural elements made it horror automatically. A year, two or three revisions and four submissions later, I’m still trying to find the right market.

The last rejection, and the only personal one for this story, suggested it was more drama than horror. I understand this is the opinion of one person versus the several who critiqued it prior to any submissions. Truth is I wasn’t quite sure where to submit this story. Thus, leaving me with a dilemma: continue to find the right market for it or consider changing some elements of the plot. A decision I will make after receiving a response from the last market I sent it to.

Finding the right magazine/anthology for your short stories may not always be easy. Knowing the market including what they have published in the past will help to find your story a home. Sometimes the opportunity has to be created by you where none can be found.

Courtesy of Write Anything. Check out my posts every Thursday and for this month [Fiction] Friday.