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The Best Fantasy Websites/Magazine For a Beginner to Get Published?

Xaysai

Inkling
Can anyone recommend a magazine or website I can research in preparation for a future attempt at having something published?

I'm still very much a beginner, but would like to scope out the level I need to be on to try to get something in print on the web or in a magazine.

Thanks,

Dan
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Dan:

There is a wide range of variability, depending on pay rate, and even within pay groups the desires of various editors will vary. My recommendation is to go to a market-listing site like Ralan's (Ralan.com - Home Page). Start with the "pro" listings and go through them until you find one that accepts works that match up with your style and kind of story and then read through a few.
 

Xaysai

Inkling
Dan:

There is a wide range of variability, depending on pay rate, and even within pay groups the desires of various editors will vary. My recommendation is to go to a market-listing site like Ralan's (Ralan.com - Home Page). Start with the "pro" listings and go through them until you find one that accepts works that match up with your style and kind of story and then read through a few.

Amazing, thank you!
 
@Steerpike: How does Ralan match up with Duotrope? I've never heard of Ralan before your post here and curious if you've (or others have) compared the two?
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
@Steerpike: How does Ralan match up with Duotrope? I've never heard of Ralan before your post here and curious if you've (or others have) compared the two?

Ralan is limited to speculative fiction. Duotrope is more in-depth, has useful statistics, and a submission tracker. Duotrope is also moving to a subscription model in January, so you'll have to pay to use the site. That's the primary reason I listed Ralan. I used them both, though I've used Duotrope more in the past. After January 1, I'll be using Ralan instead.
 
Ralan is limited to speculative fiction. Duotrope is more in-depth, has useful statistics, and a submission tracker. Duotrope is also moving to a subscription model in January, so you'll have to pay to use the site. That's the primary reason I listed Ralan. I used them both, though I've used Duotrope more in the past. After January 1, I'll be using Ralan instead.

GAHHHH! I had no idea they were moving to a subscription model :( ...although I've always felt guilty at not being able to contribute to Duotrope.

Thanks for the heads up!
 

Xaysai

Inkling
If you're going for a magazine, that means you're probably trying to create short stories. I did some research recently on this subject and posted what I found on my blog. It helped me a lot. Here's the link:

How to Make Your Short Story Short | brianwfoster.com

Brian,

Thanks, I will check it out right now!

As an aside, I've been working on setting up a wordpress blog today to publish my work to, would you mind if I included you in my Blogroll?

I don't think its going to net you much (read: any) traffic, but I think your site is great and would like for anyone who might happen across my blog to find their way to yours.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Brian,

Thanks, I will check it out right now!

As an aside, I've been working on setting up a wordpress blog today to publish my work to, would you mind if I included you in my Blogroll?

I don't think its going to net you much (read: any) traffic, but I think your site is great and would like for anyone who might happen across my blog to find their way to yours.

Xaysai,

I'd be honored to have you add me to your blogroll. I'm glad that you found it useful!

Thanks.

Brian
 
Xaysai,

When I wanted to get a short story published, I wanted to do it to join SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America). To join, you have to have proof that you've sold one of your works at a qualified publisher. So they made it easy by providing a list of fantasy/sci-fi magazines that they have dubbed as 'qualified', which you can find right here: SFWA Membership Requirements

-Adrian
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
There are two kinds of writers in the world – those who struggle to extend their ideas into novels and those who struggle to condense their ideas into short stories.

Nah...there's a third kind - the ones like me who seem condemned to write novella's.
 
Nah...there's a third kind - the ones like me who seem condemned to write novella's.

How do you define a novella? I always go 2000-8000 is a short, 8K-12500 novellette, 12.5K - 50K novella, and 50K+ is a novel, but technically anything above 12.5K is a "novel" as defined by the US copyright people (50 pages @ the standard 250 words/page).

Edit: I had always heard the 50 pages requirement and read it in presumably valid sources (or at least those I had considered valid at the time), but I have been unable to find it anywhere presently. Still, few people argue that novel length is not subjective. I think of anything below 100K as a "short novel".

Wikipedia has this to say about the lengths.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
How do you define a novella? I always go 2000-8000 is a short, 8K-12500 novellette, 12.5K - 50K novella, and 50K+ is a novel, but technically anything above 12.5K is a "novel" as defined by the US copyright people (50 pages @ the standard 250 words/page)

Mostly from looking at the guidelines put out by the various magazines and publishing houses.

2000 - 8000 words is in the range cited for short stories for most of them - though many prefer under 5000 words.

8000 - 12,500 words is the figure I see batted about for Novelletes, but most of the magazines have a cap of either 10,000 or 15,000 words. I've also seen 15,000 words put forth a time or three as the breakoff point between novellete and novella.

Novella's range up to around 40,000 - 50,000 words, depending on the publisher. (I did find a couple publishers that seem to prefer novellas.)

At the moment, 'Labyrinth' looks like it will be about 40,000 words, give or take a couple thousand. I don't think it could easily be padded up to a true novel. It was originally concieved as a short story or novellete of 10,000 - 15,000 words, but despite a couple serious efforts on my part, can't easily be knocked down to that level.

I do have a sequel for 'Labyrinth' in mind, involving some of the same characters but set twelve or fifteen years later. That should run around 30,000 - 40,000 words, so combined I suppose they might make for a short novel.

'Empire: Country' looks like it will be on the order of 25,000 - 35,000 words, depending on how a couple of plot issues are resolved. I do have a number of direct sequels in mind for it as well, but they're more series than serial.

'Shadow Sea'...well, the first part, a full story in itself, currently sits at just under 30,000 words. When I get it properly edited, it'll drop to about 25,000, I think. There are three closely linked sequels to it which probably would constitute a novel, but at the moment, I intend to write those sections to be free standing as well. I doubt any of them will be much over 20,000 words.

'Falling Towers', as it now sits, probably would be a 100,000+ word novel in rough draft - but it will probably edit down to something less than that.

There are others, but its been a while since I looked at them.

The Toki / Hock-Nar stories are supposed to be short stories...but there are a couple of fairly crucial ones that I suspect will hit the novellete range.
 
Technically, the numbers are:

<7500 words - short story
7500-15,000 words - novelette
15,000-40,000 words - novella
40k+ words - novel

That's based on the numbers for several major awards which use all those categories. Most awards do NOT use all those categories, so definitions will vary a little.

One of the things I enjoy most about the new publishing paradigm is the idea that the story can be told at the length it ought to be, and is no longer limited to some sort of preset length. A number of folks out there making a decent living now selling novella ebooks for $2.99.
 
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