Six Online Market Lists for Fiction and Poetry

So you've written a poem or short story and you'd like to have it published, but you don't know which magazine would be the best fit. You could look through Writer's Market, but at more than one thousand pages, the task is overwhelming. Luckily, there are many sources online that make the process of finding the right market for your work a little easier. Here are six:

New Pages

New Pages (www.newpages.com) lists literary magazines, independent publishers, alternative publishers, and more. Click the links in the left sidebar to see separate lists for print, online, and alternative magazines. Sponsored magazines in each list will appear along with descriptions, which include the cost and size of the magazine (if it's print), frequency of publication, website address, contact information, and previous contributors. Click on "Complete List" in the right sidebar for hundreds more, all with links to the magazines' websites.

New Pages also has a contest page, which includes the magazine name and genre, the deadline, and a link the magazine's site. Don't forget to take a look at the review page where New Pages posts reviews of specific issues of magazines to help writers get a feel for the style and tastes of the editors.

Laura Hird

Laura Hird's website (www.laurahird.com) showcases both individual writers and magazines. Click on "Lit Mag of the Season" to get to Lit Mag Central. Here you'll find one magazine featured each season, along with a list of other literary magazines, both online and print, which can be shown alphabetically. Listings include a description of what each magazine is looking for and a link to the website.

Laura Hird also has a review section, which features "Small Press Roundup" and "Best of the Small Press" columns written by Kara Kellar Bell. There are also reviews of specific magazine issues which describe what each magazine looks like and the style and genre of the stories. These reviews also discuss specific stories within the magazines to give writers a feel for what the magazine is looking for in submissions. Be sure to read the discussion board, as well, where writers talk about everything music and writing related.

Ralan's Webstravaganza

Ralan's Webstravaganza (www.ralan.com) specializes in humor and speculative fiction, but lists other genres, as well. Speculative fiction, also known as specfic, consists of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. The sidebar on the right lists links to market categories, including response time, genre (general, adult, humor), and pay rate. Markets are listed alphabetically within these categories.

The latest news and new markets are posted at the top of each category page. Below that is the regular market list, which includes pay rate, genre, date of the last publication, type of submission (email or snail mail), deadlines, and market notes for each magazine.

The sidebar to the right also has links to helpful writing information such as associations, classes, online writing groups, contests, and articles about marketing and submissions.

Spicy Green Iguana

Spicy Green Iguana (www.spicygreeniguana.com) specializes in speculative and alternative magazines. Their market lists are categorized by print, online, pro, semi-pro, and small press. Magazine descriptions, which are listed alphabetically within each category, include contact information, genre, word count and payment range, frequency of publication, any applicable market notes, and links to the magazines' sites.

The sidebar to the left contains a link to "Spicy News," which lists contests and other information. The resource section includes links to newsletters, articles, and critique groups. There is also a forum where writers discuss markets.

Writer's Planner

Writer's Planner (www.writersplanner.com) is the newest of the bunch. Writers create personal accounts where they can store their work, track current submissions, and plan future submissions. The Writer's Planner market list is still growing and users can add magazines as they go along. The market list is alphabetical and include links to Duotrope's statistics, along with general information and links to magazine websites.

Duotrope

Duotrope (www.duotrope.com) is one of the most comprehensive market lists on the internet. It includes well over a thousand markets of all genres, updated once daily. Markets are categorized by short fiction, poetry, and novels/collections. Within each category is a detailed search function, which includes genre, word count, pay range, and submission type. Users can also search the list alphabetically. Each magazine on the list has its own page, which includes genre, market notes, pay range, response time and acceptance statistics, and a link to the magazine.

Writers can create user accounts, which allow them to track their submissions. The submission tracker includes the estimated response time as provided by individual magazines and the average response time as reported by Duotrope users. The submission tracker will also notify the user if a submission has been out for longer than the expected amount of time so the writer can send a status query to the magazine.

Writers have a control panel in their account which lists the number of submissions sent out and how many are still pending. It also lists their favorite markets, markets on their ignore list, and where they've sent submissions.

At the top of Duotrope's webpage is a "What's New" link. This link shows recently added markets, along with updates on already listed magazines. It also lists all market responses reported by users in the last seven days.

The Theme Calendar lists upcoming publication themes and contests. It also shows how many days are left before each deadline. Writers can click the "Track This!" link to add specific themes and contests to their personal control panel.

With all the information available at these sites, you should be well on your way to finding the right market for your masterpiece. Good luck and enjoy the process.