# Recommend a market for short stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-market-for-short-stories/228225 "2004-02-09T03:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-market-for-short-stories/228225/1 "2004-02-09T03:50:17Z")
I know I’m not the only writer here, and unlike me, some of y’all are published. Although I’m working on a novel, I’ve also been doing occasional writing exercises just to try and keep the juices flowing. I have somebody give me a starting point, such as an occupation, an opening line, or a one-word theme, and then force out a story in under an hour. (Well, that’s the theory. Typically it’s taken about an hour and a quarter.) So I’ve got these little 1200- or 1500-word stories, and I decided to polish one up and actually submit it. So, I’ve been doing some searching for good markets, but it occurred to me that I hadn’t touched on my SDMB resources. What I’m looking for is either a print magazine or online publication that: a) accepts submissions from unknowns; b) actually pays for publications; and c) might publish a humorous, dialogue-driven contemporary vignette-type story. (Am I a few decades late? It seems like there were a lot more magazines publishing short fiction when I was a kid.) Getting rejections wouldn’t bother me; I just don’t want to waste my time submitting stuff to the wrong place. So, I’d appreciate any recommendations from people with personal experience. Scornful ridicule is okay too; even if it makes me cry into my pillow, I appreciate the effort involved. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-market-for-short-stories/228225/2 "2004-02-09T13:38:17Z")
It’d be a good start to find the latest Fiction Writers Market (your library should have a copy). My expertise is in science fiction, so I can’t recommend anything, but the book should have possibilities. Though, depressingly, the paid market for all stories is slowly vanishing. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-market-for-short-stories/228225/3 "2004-02-09T15:14:00Z")
Thanks, RealityChuck. I’m hoping to publish science fiction and fantasy too. My girlfriend is on the case now; her hobby is geneology, and she’s good at research. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-market-for-short-stories/228225/4 "2004-02-09T16:33:52Z")
[The Write Market](http://www.writemarket.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=viewlink&cid=1) list of mainstream and genre markets is the best online site I know of. (There might well be better, of course.) Good luck, but remember that virtually all magazines get from 100 to 10000 submissions for each one that gets printed.