Aswiebe's Market List Update 2012-08

[abracanabra]

http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/markets.html

The next update of Aswiebe's Market List will be after 09/15/2012.
Permanent link to this newsletter in the archives: http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/archive2012.html#081512

Editor's Note

How do you deal with post-project-completion letdown? When I wrap a project up, I feel incredibly disinclined to dive right into something else. My brain says, "Time to take a vacation! You've earned it!" For me, this happens when I finish a writing project, a day job project, or even when I wrap up a story arc in my ongoing serial story, The Circus of Brass and Bone. I find it especially vexing when this happens after a time-consuming day job project, because darn it, I haven't been writing and I should write! A little bit of a break may be in order, but too much of one just leads to more procrastination.

What to do?

I suppose I should continue freewriting to keep the creative pipes from freezing up and maybe do some different activities to refill the creative well. Not for more than a day or two, though.

And then, of course, I should dive back into writing.

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

Sky-Tinted Waters, an anthology written by local Minnesota SF/F authors, is having its release party this month. If you're in the area, stop by, get a copy of the book, and have it signed by all the authors! https://www.facebook.com/events/181301265334496/

Sky-Tinted Waters editor Michael Merriam and copy editor Eli Effinger-Weintraub have nice things to say about “These Things Take Time,” my SF story about how to fix relationship woes:
http://www.michaelmerriam.net/2012/06/22/sky-tinted-waters-toc-17-these-things-take-time-by-abra-staffin-wiebe
http://backbooth.thesane.net/2012/06/22/sky-tinted-waters-toc-17-these-things-take-time-by-abra-staffin-wiebe/

Coming up, I'm going to WorldCon/ChiCon at the end of this month. This will be my first time attending and I don't know many people there, so I have no idea what I'm doing! If you see me, stop and say hi and introduce yourself. I'll be the tall woman with a long braid and awesome knee socks. I know, that narrows it down tremendously, right? ;)

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!
- Abra Staffin-Wiebe

Things Shiny or Useful
Archive of all shiny or useful links:  http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/shiny.html

* How to communicate with customers/fans [writing business]: http://haikujaguar.livejournal.com/1119216.html

* Case Study of an Author 13 Days Before Release of a Novel [humor]: http://jimhines.livejournal.com/644243.html

* The Method of Fun [motivation]: http://mrissa.livejournal.com/827683.html

* All about marketing, blogging, and social media [marketing, social media]: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/marketing/

* In which Mike Resnick tells it like it is [writing business, writing craft]: http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=2633

* What Not to Put in a Cover Letter [writing business]: http://www.kith.org/journals/jed/2004/08/22/2205.html

Featured Market
This month I'm featuring two markets! Both of them are taking an interestingly different approach to the publication business.

Thanks to a wildly successful Kickstarter project, Crossed Genres has returned from the dead--and they've gone from paying a token amount per story to paying professional rates. Folks, that just doesn't happen! And yet, it has. The basics: science fiction and fantasy, themed issues, 1,000-6,000 words, no reprints, pays $.05/word. The August/September theme is "Boundaries."

Each month CG Magazine has a new genre or theme. Short story submissions must combine elements of either Science Fiction and/or Fantasy with the current theme. Do not send submissions to upcoming themes, they will be rejected without consideration!

We tend to favor character-driven stories, but that doesn’t mean we won’t appreciate a strong action piece. Any story which follows the above guidelines will be considered.

Things we want to see MORE of:

• Queer characters
• Characters of Color
• Women MCs, especially in stories where romantic love, protecting a child, or rape/threat of rape are not her driving motivation.
• Disabled characters
• Science saves the day!
• Far future
• Stories set outside North America

Read more at Crossed Genres.

Crowded is a new, pro-paying magazine that is crowdsourcing its slush pile and--this is key--forbidding the kind of social gaming and popularity contest voting that I've seen in similar attempts elsewhere. Paying subscribers, submitting writers, and professional editors determine which stories will get accepted. The basics: all speculative fiction, 500-20,000 words, no reprints, pays AU$.05/wd.

We want speculative fiction. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, whatever. If you aren't sure what speculative fiction is, google it. Then submit your story elsewhere. This is Crowded Magazine, not Clueless Magazine.

Most magazines have guidelines describing the fiction they want to see. These guidelines invariably include plenty of editorial chestnuts as to what makes a good story. To be honest, we really don't know what makes a good story. We know what we like when we see it. But we're willing to offer a few nuggets of wisdom that will help propel your fiction through the slush pile and into the magazine:

1. Speculative fiction is, arguably, a populist art. We're not looking for the next Faulkner. We're looking for stuff that people would read for entertainment. And, anyway, the slush reading is crowdsourced, so you're better off gunning for the unwashed masses as opposed to a specific editor's fetishes for gender bending or melodrama.
2. No purple midgets, gay pirates, or unicorns. Actually, that's a lie. If you have a great story about a unicorn-riding purple midget battling a fleet of gay pirates, drop it in the queue. Really. We don't see enough of that kind of thing.
3. In theory there are no restrictions on profanity, gore, sex, violence, and so on, but in our opinion stories that rely on profanity, gore, sex, etc for their whole effect are unlikely to be any good.
4. The story must have a speculative fiction element. Note that purple midgets may or may not be considered speculative fiction, but unicorns probably are.
5. Do not submit fan fiction.

Read more at Crowded Magazine.

Market List Updates
To see all the details about these new listings and what they're looking for, as well as hundreds of other listings, go to Aswiebe's Market List and download the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Name	What they want	Pay Per Word – Fiction	Flat Pay – Fiction (Lowest)	Website
Crossed Genres	Themed issues.	$0.0500		http://crossedgenres.com/submissions/magazine/
Crowded	All spec-fic	$0.0500		http://www.crowdedmagazine.com/guidelines.php
TM Publishing	All genres, no explicit sex or violence. Short stories, novellas, and novels.	$0.0500		http://tmpublishing.com/content/short-stories
Unidentified Funny Objects ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 08/31/2012	Humorous F/SF	$0.0500		http://alexshvartsman.com/ufo-unidentified-funny-objects/
We See a Different Frontier ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 9/14/12	SF themed to colonialism from the viewpoint of the colonized.	$0.0500		http://djibrilalayad.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/we-see-different-frontier-call-for.html
Nightmare Magazine	Horror/dark fantasy	$0.0500		http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/guidelines.html
Once Upon an Apocalypse ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 9/30/12 (deadline extended) OR WHEN FULL	Fairy tale retellings with zombies (vol 1) or Cthulhu mythos elements (vol 2)	$0.0300		http://onceuponanapocalypse.com/2012/04/21/guidelines-are-here-for-both-anthologies/
Insatiable	Paranormal romance	$0.0300		http://www.whitecatpublications.com/?page_id=1995
Dead North ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 9/30/2012	Zombie stories set in Canada	$0.0190		http://silviamoreno-garcia.com/blog/dead-north-guidelines/
Something Wicked ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY	Science fiction and horror	$0.0100		http://www.somethingwicked.co.za/submissions/
Aliens: Recent Encounters ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 10/15/12	Themed to aliens, reprints only.	$0.0100		http://www.alexdallymacfarlane.com/2012/07/aliens-recent-encounters/
Interstellar Fiction	SF	$0.0100		http://interstellarfiction.com/fiction-guidelines/
California Cantata (Kazka Press) ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 09/30/12	Historical fantasy set in California.	$0.0100		http://www.kazkapress.net/contests/california-cantata-anthology/
Passion for Weird Tales ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE UNTIL FILLED	Strange stories	$0.0025		http://www.greengeckopublishing.com/passion-for-series.html
Lamplight	Horror, dark spec-fic, and noir		$150.00	http://lamplightmagazine.com/submissions/
One Small Step ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 09/30/12	SF themed to "one small step"		$76.81	http://fablecroft.com.au/about/submissions
Quantum Realities	SF especially social science fiction		$25.00	http://www.jaxaspublishing.com/index.php/magazine/qr-submission-guidelines
eFiction	All genres		$20.00	http://efictionmag.submittable.com/submit
Urban Occult ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 11/01/12	Horror/dark fantasy themed to modern urban occult.		$15.66	http://www.anachronpress.com/open-submissions-urban-occult-weirdhorror-anthology/
The Again	Odd fiction		$15.63	http://www.iridumsound.co.uk/submissions/theagainsubmissions.htm
Doorways to Extra Time ONE-TIME ANTHOLOGY - DUE 10/15/12	Themed to getting extra time		$10.00	http://www.site.spencerhillpress.com/Doorways_to_Extra_Time.html
Obsidian River	Steampunk		$10.00	http://www.obsidianriver.com/about/
Deimos eZine	All spec-fic		$1.00	http://deimosezine.com/submissions/
Earthbound Fiction - DEAD MARKET	Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure and mystery	$0.0500		http://www.earthboundfiction.com/submissions#!__submissions
Title Goes Here - DEAD MARKET	All spec-fic except sword&sorcery		$5.00	http://www.title-goes-here.com/Guidelines.html
Late Late Show Online, The - DEAD MARKET	Dark		$15.00	http://www.latelateshow.net/submit.htm

Aswiebe's Market List

• Aswiebe's Market List is a searchable, sortable spreadsheet of paying fantasy, science fiction, and horror markets. This way it's easy to find, for example, only horror markets that accept reprints greater than 10,000 words. For more information on what it is and how to use it, see About Aswiebe.com's Market Spreadsheet.
• If you find it useful, please consider donating via PayPal to help support it.
• To help prevent these from being flagged as spam, please add this email to your contacts. Thanks!
• Feel free to forward this email on to people you think might find it useful. If you're so moved, go ahead and link to Aswiebe's Market List on your blog or webpage.
• To report a new paying market, go to my contact page.

Links
Aswiebe's Market List
About Aswiebe's Market List
Abra Staffin Wiebe's main website
Abra Staffin Wiebe's blog

Keep writing, keep submitting, and good luck!

Abra Staffin Wiebe, Compiler of Lists

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