IWriteUWrite

I hope this is the right section. Also, I'm sure something like this has been aked before so if anyone can help me out or point me to another thread I'd be much obliged.

I feel I am ready to begin sending in work to agents. I am about to start work on a novel but first want to try my hand at getting a few short stories published. I currently have one in particular I feel best about. So my question is: Should I only send it to one publisher at a time, and in the meantime work on other pieces? Or is it appropriate to send one piece to several (is there a limit? Hundreds?) agents at a time.

Also, I am planning on going through agentquery.com. If there is a better way than that (Writers Guide?) I'm open to all ideas.

I'm sure I will have more questions as I try to navigate through this. Hopefully, someone will be kind enough to go over these two for now, though.

Thanks!

lisajane

If you're writing short stories, I wouldn't bother with agents, because they really only deal with novels. Look around for anthologies that publish poetry and short stories, and sometimes art, or pick up magazines and see if they've got a short fiction section. In my personal experience, I went straight for the anthologies, and I've had a few short stories published.

As to sending the same story to multiple places at once, first pick your magazines/anthologies and look up their guidelines. Some don't mind if you send your story to other places in the meantime (as long as you let them know if it gets published), and some won't want you to.

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kip

None of my stories have been published through agents. Write your story, write your cover letter, and send it in.

lin

Agents don't handle shorts, especially not for new writers.

Learn how to write a query, research the market. Use Duotrope

Start off with places that accept email submissions, perhaps those who accept simultaneous submissions. If you have target publications, google them up and look at their submission pages.

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IWriteUWrite

Hey, thanks everyone. I have never looked into getting a short published so I'm really starting from square one. I saw that there were agents on agentquery who, I guess, specialized in shorts so I figured that was the route to go?

But I'm still a little confused. For a short I should be bypassing the agent completely? Where am I looking to send a short then? Someone said anthologies. What about newspapers, magazines?

Sorry for being a dunce here. Hopefully someone won't mind clearing it up a little.

Thanks again.

Mike C

Lin gave you the link to Duotrope - that gives you pretty much every short story market you need.

Agents generally don't touch shorts with a barge-pole. Pay for shorts is meagre, and 15% of meagre isn't worth having.

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kip

^ Too true. Most I've ever made on a single story is 300. I've got two stories out this month (one in a journal, one in a book), and I'm more interested in getting the hard copies than in picking up the checks, as those will be next to nothing.

lisajane

I also mentioned magazines in my post - pick up magazines that are about the sort of themes you write about, and see if they have fiction sections to send your stories to. Magazines usually pay.

If you can write romantic, feel good stuff, then women's magazines almost always have a fiction section. At least, in Australia they do.

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'Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap. And he, a little charleychaplin man, who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence.' - Laurence Felinghetti, 'The Acrobat'

lancengym

Take part in our writing contest next year if you are good at romantic shorts. We are opening up to international writers in 2009. See our website and put yourself on our mailing list.

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Crimson Threnody

Good info guys!

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Loulou

What everyone says is pretty true - you don't need an agent for sending out short stories. Duotrope is great. Helped me totally. The key is picking the right venue for your work. It's no good sending sci-fi to a place that only publishes romance. Like I wrote a story that involved a dolphin and sent it to a magzine called Ocean and it got accepted. As others have said, look for those that accept email too, makes it a lot easier. An agent will also be easier to acquire, further down the line, if you're wanting to sell a novel and have a few short story publications under your belt. Good luck.

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OtherWorlds

Pretty much all I can do is second the others. No agent for shorts. Submit them directly to magazines and ezines (unless you're interested in anthologies). I don't know if you write spec fiction (sci fi/fantasy/horror), but if you do Ralan's Webstravaganza has a good listing of markets for that sort of thing. Also Spicey Green Iguana. Here's the links.

Ralan's Webstravaganza - Ralan.com

Spicy Green Iguana - The Speculative Fiction Magazine Resource Site

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PSFoster

You can also try fiction contests. Some pay quite well. Pick up copies of Writers' Digest or Writers' Journal.
Writers' Digest has a couple good contests every year for short stories.

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lin

How much have you gotten from them? Lotteries and slot machines pay off big, too, but most people figure out to save their money.

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OtherWorlds

PSFoster makes a good point. They say winning contests, especially if they're notable ones, is a good way to get your name out there. I wouldn't know; none of my contest entries have ever gotten me anywhere, but maybe others will have better luck. On that note, Writer's Market is another good place to look for listings of various writer's contests.

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A resource for writers of fantasy and paranormal romance.