Strange Horizons: The Best Online Sci-Fi Magazine?

I haven’t checked every online sci-fi mag in existence, so I suppose I can’t answer this question with absolute scientific certainty. But I am guessing yes. Strange Horizons is an Internet success story: the work they publish gets nominated for the biggest awards in speculative fiction (Hugo, Nebula, etc.); they have built a lively community of readers; for Pete’s sake, they publish new work weekly. Easily one of the best markets out there for spec-fic writers: a high end market that, due to its rigorous publishing schedule, needs a lot of new work. Yay!

Two New Literary Market Clearinghouses

Hey gang, updating with two good (and very different) places on the web to help you find markets for your writing.

#1 — Mary Anne Mohanraj’s Collection of Literary Markets. This is a personal and very helpful assemblage of markets from a very busy writer. You may not agree with every single rating she has given her markets, but there’s no doubting that this is an immensely helpful link for writers looking to place work. Especially good for writers with a few publications under their kilts.

#2 — Duotrope’s Digest. While Ms. Mohanraj’s clearinghouse is personal, qualitative, and idiosyncratic, Duotrope’s directory of literary markets is huge, well-organized and, best of all, searchable. A great place to browse and find new markets for short stories, poetry and novels.

And remember, keep sending out!

I Heart The Speculative Fiction Review

Just found this web site, and I’m wondering why it took me so long. To my mind, the Speculative Fiction Review presents one of the most positive visions for book publishing out there for everyone involved. Readers get cheap books that fall outside the formulaic plots traditional publishers prefer (they somehow think rehashed ideas and cookie-stamp characters are a safer economic bet), writers get a 40% cut of profits without having to submit work through an agent, and, through the web site, a community of writers and fans is created. Web 2.0 at its best, if you ask me. The only limitation I see right now is that I don’t have a full-length manuscript in a genre they’re accepting. If I did, I would submit it to them in a heartbeat.

Agentquery.com: If you need an agent and don’t know anybody, start here.

Let’s face it: if you are trying to break into the writing business without connections, most likely you’re going to have a rough time. Almost to a one, publishing houses of any size and stature require you to have an agent before they will look at (and most likely reject) your manuscript. But getting an agent is increasing becoming as hard as finding a publisher.

About the hardest way to get an agent is by sending an unsolicited query letter to one who doesn’t know you from Adam. Better ways may include going to conferences, learning the art of the so-called “elevator pitch,” etc. And even then your odds suck salami.

So you might want to add the unsolicited query letter to your repertoire of options. And if you’re going to do that, the first thing you need to do is spend some time finding the right agent to submit to. Not only will this maximize your chances of getting a response, but it will minimize the amount of time you need to spend reading piles of demoralizing form rejection letters — or worse, spending months waiting for form rejection letters.

Enter agentquery.com. It is, I think, one of the best agent search sites on the Web: if not the best. The comprehensive contact information is the least useful thing you’ll get from agentquery.com: much more helpful are the “search by genre” feature and the pretty through biographical information. You can also find agents who will accept queries by e-mail, which I strongly suggest — e-mail makes the whole process faster and cheaper for everyone.

Agentquery.com gives you pretty much everything you need to send an effective query letter — in the top-left corner, be sure to read their advice about getting an agent. Even with all of this help, your odds are crap, but at least you will have avoided amateur mistakes that would make your chances even crappier.

No, I’m not bitter. Why do you ask? :)

Ralan–one of the best writer sites out there.

Really, you can just stop reading here and head over to Ralan.com. Just go and start reading. Really.

If you’re still here, you need more convincing. Fine. Ralan.com is, to my mind, the single best site for anyone interested in publishing science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, erotica, and/or humor, and if you’re interested in other genres, it’s still a great and useful site or you. Easily the most up-to-date market reports on hundreds of places to publish, from small zines to major publishing houses. You simply have to put it on your list.

Resources for Writers

So one of the reasons I want to keep a blog is purely selfish: I just want a quick place to gather all the Internet tools and resources I regularly use — all those sites and links and whatnot. And hey, if it turns out to be a public service to other writers, so be it! The next two posts list two ery good sites for writers to get to know, and more will be on the way.