Inland, Dreaming of Waves

I hate fiction

I didn't get any blogging done Sunday--in fact, I didn't get anything else done Sunday--because I was trying to find markets for my stories. I spent most of the day hopping from one literary mag website to another. You know, the kind of place that says, "Our only criterion is excellence. No, we don't take simultaneous submissions but we'll keep your story for 4 months. Please enclose it in a 9 x 12 envelope enclosed in a 12 x 16 envelope, and your SASE [stupid assholes send envelopes] must be as big as the Milky Way."

When are these people going to drag themselves into the Internet age? They want me to buy 3 or 4 issues of their magazine so I'll really understand what they want, but when they take only 1% of submissions, I'm likely to get rejected anyway. So why should I drop $20 per magazine? I need to send my stories to about 80 mags or so to have a decent chance of getting 3 or 4 published, and I don't have the cash or the time to read 3 issues of 80 magazines. The ones that really piss me off are the ones who just list the contents pages on their sites, as if I'm supposed to be so impressed that they published fiction writers I've never heard of.

Most people have email now! So stop making me send that stupid SASE, especially when you're in Canada and I have to get the postal coupons! Just reject me electronically! It's quicker and easier!

Whew.

I feel better now. Reading a lit mag for pleasure is one thing; reading one to see if there's any chance in hell that they'd like your story is another. And after you read stories from 5 or 6 mags, they all begin to blend together anyway.

posted by Price of Silence @ 8:49 AM