I'm very interested in getting some of my work published in magazines. Some of you, I know, have been successful in doing this, and I was wondering if I could get some advice from you. I don't know what kind of magazines I should be looking for, or which ones accept what, etc. The only thing I've really researched this on is science fiction, and I still continue to write more fantasy than anything. And I haven't even begun to look into the world of teen magazines.

Advice? Lists? Resources? Success stories? Any thing you can give me is much appreciated.

Here's an overview of what my personal experience has taught me:

1. Submit often. (I haven't been doing this one. )

2. Expect to have the vast majority of your submissions rejected.

3. Expect some harsh criticism from editors, or to be entirely ignored in some cases.

4. Just because they accept your story doesn't necessarily mean it will actually end up getting published.

5. Just because it gets published doesn't necessarily mean they will actually pay you.

6. Editors often want major revisions, so compromise--give them some of what they want, but don't change anything that would alter your artistic vision.

7. No one but you seems to get very excited when you finally get published.

8. The pay (if any) is extremely low.

What style do you write? There's Digital Dragon Magazine, Alethia Christian Magazine, and Ray Gun Revival. Those are just the ones off the top of my head.

Haha, Jonathan. Points 1-3 and 7-8 I knew. The rest were most helpful. I think that if I published anything, my parents would take me a little more seriously about my writing.

Varon: I write a lot of styles. I don't even know how to classify myself anymore. So anything that accepts science fiction, fantasy, or poetry I'm interested in.

Ray Gun Revival is a good one, even though it's actually an e-magazine. www.raygunrevival.com

There's also Digital Dragon, which does family friendly speculative fiction.
http://www.digitaldragonmagazine.net/

1. You might need a cover letter. It basically describes your work.

2. Expect people to want a lot of revisions.

3. Don't do it for a lot of pay, because you won't get it [the pay]. Do it for fun, and to glorify God.

4. If you don't hear back in a few weeks, they probably won't want your work.

5. Don't expect to hear back the next day. Give it at least 5-7 business days.

6. Remember that a LOT of people submit, and that they can't all get in. (Unfortunately. ) So these editors are looking for what really matters. So try to be understanding if they don't respond or decline.

7. Contact a lot of people.

I might disagree with one of Elly's points. When researching magazines, look and see if, in their submission guidelines, they have an average wait period. I know listings in Writer's Market books usually include this information. Some publishers will tell you to give them 4 months or more, so patience is key. Don't necessarily toss a publisher out after a few weeks. Now I haven't published with a magazine yet, but I just wanted to add that.

Bug Jonathan for links to the two magazine catalogs he uses, Katie. He gave them to me once; they might be useful to you. (I can also dig them up - I've got them somewhere.) Try a Writer's Market that includes magazine listings.

Even if publishing doesn't pay, it does go down on your record as evidence of your writing's worth. Every bit counts towards your resume.

I expanded my list, since I decided to turn it into a post for my blog:

1. Submit often. (I haven’t been doing this one).

2. Pick the magazine carefully to make sure it will be open to your story and is reputable, then follow their guidelines carefully.

3. Expect to have the vast majority of your submissions rejected.

4. Expect some harsh criticism from editors, or to be entirely ignored in some cases.

5. Expect to sometimes wait a long time for a response, though most magazines have an estimated response time in their guidelines.

6. Just because they accept your story doesn't necessarily mean it will actually end up getting published.

7. Just because it gets published doesn't necessarily mean they will actually pay you.

8. Editors often want major revisions, so compromise--give them some of what they want, but don't change anything that would alter your artistic vision.

9. No one but you seems to get very excited when you finally get published.

10. The pay (if any) is extremely low.


The easiest way to search for magazines to submit to is to go to http://www.duotrope.com/ and use their search engine, which allows you to choose what genre you wish to submit to and if you want a Religious/Spiritual magazine (though this also brings up some New Age and other non-Christian stuff, so be careful) or Teen, etc.

That looks... time consuming.

Can you tell me what magazines you've submitted to or been accepted by, etc? It seems to me that if one CFW had success another one might...

Thanks for the link though. I've never seen anything like that. I didn't realize there were so many magazines out there.

Part of the point of this exercise is to get paid though... hm.

And that's the easier one.

I'll see what I can do about gathering my submission and publishing information.

Thanks for the helpful list, Jonathan! That's great.

Publishing is a time-consuming process, especially during the "pitch and wait" period. I speak from experience, from pitching "A House for Marge." I think, all told, I went about 6 months from sending the first email to coming to an agreement, and that time included periods of weeks or even a whole month of just waiting. Because I was dealing with indie producers, some of whom were my friends, and money wasn't part of the equation, I probably got really good time.

It's hard. It's not nearly as much fun as writing.

But it is worth it.

(Marge's composer promised that we'd see something within 3 weeks! So excited!)

It was around a year from acceptance to publication with my first story, and a bit less with the others.

I'd suggest this database. It's been instrumental in helping me with Team PYP. It's a database of magazines that you can use.

www.duotrope.com