Comic Markets

Since reading Murky Depths I've become quite keen on comics. My first, a one-pager, was published in Murky Depths #15, a second has been accepted for publication, this time a 5 page script, and another 2 pager is under submission there. Murky Depths accepts completed comics and also scripts which they will match up with an artist.

Of course, not all comic scripts I write will necessarily be suitable for Murky Depths, so where else might I submit them? I had a quick scout around the internet, and this is what I came up with so far:

Future Quake accepts completed comics of 5 pages or less.

2000 AD (which even I had heard of in my pre-comic days) accepts 5 page scripts for their Future Shocks section

OrangUtan Comics wants completed comics of 6-8 pages

Panini Comics publish a wide variety of well-known comics and are looking for sample scripts

Engine Comics wants scripts of 8 pages or 3x8 page serials

Markosia are looking for completecomics or graphic novels

There are more details on each of their websites.

There are probably others - I didn't spend a huge amount of time searching. The usual market listings like Duotropes and Ralans don't seem to include comic markets. Maybe I'll drop a hint.

How Not to Submit Your Novel

I came across this mind-boggling post at the Zeno Literary Agency, wherein several unbelievable submission errors are detailed.

It reminded me of a comment made by a panelist at BristolCon last year, who said that if you manage to send in a query letter typed on white paper you're already in the top 25% of submissions.

New UK-Based Podcast

While searching through Duotropes this week I came across a new audio fiction podcaster I'd not seen before. CossMass Infinities is a UK-based science fiction and fantasy podcast that pays for submissions, one story per month. They started in January, so I've missed them for six months. I've had three stories podcast so far - one in Catalan and two in English, but both with American accents. It would be interesting to hear one of my stories, particularly one with a British setting, read with a British accent.

I submitted four stories to four different podcasts this week - including CossMass Infinities.

Ralan's Revised

I’ve discovered that Ralan’s now has separate sections listing Twitterzines, podcasts and flash fiction markets, which makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for. I write a lot of flash fiction and I’ve become fascinated with twitter fiction and only one of my stories has been podcast so far, so I shall be working my way through the listings to see what else I can submit.

Three Nays in Three Days

Like the proverbial Number 9 bus, three rejections arrived in quick succession. Two were form rejections, which are bad enough, and both of them were from postal submissions, which somehow makes it even worse after the extra effort compared to email subs.

The third was much more cheering though. It was from a small-press anthology and wasn’t just the usual ’didn’t fit current editorial needs’. Here are a few of the comments that dragged me back from the doldrums:

...it was a very good story, and this was the most difficult editorial call I've had to make so far...

I really enjoyed your writing and I think the anthology would benefit if I could find a way to include some of your work.

That made everything seem more positive again.

I need to adjust my expectations somewhat now. I’ve decided to set myself higher goals in terms of the markets I’m going to submit to. This may mean in the short term that there’ll be more rejections, but I’ll know that anything that gets accepted has met more stringent editorial requirements. I’ll either improve as a result, or never have any more stories accepted. I’m hoping for the former.

So far this week

Books Received: The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederick Pohl
Celebration – BSFA 50th Anniversary anthology

Just finished reading: Jupiter XXI – enjoyed the whole magazine as usual.

Waiting to be read: Interzone #217

Review submitted to SF Crowsnest: Incandescence by Greg Egan

Critiqued: 2 stories from my Orbiter writing group, and received 2 sets of comments on my latest short story.

Stories submitted: 1 English, 2 other languages

Stories written: None. Drat.

Submission Statistics

Looking through my Great Submission Tracking Spreadsheet, I noticed a few interesting facts:

I've only received acknowledgements from 1 in 3 submissions. Most English language subs are acknowledged, but most other languages aren't. I was under the impression that I made more foreign subs than English; this is because you can sub to as many diffeent languages at the same time as you want. As I generaly have to wait months before writing the sub off - because of not getting a reply - it turns out that over a year the foreign subs average out at only 1/4 of my total.

I currently have 6 new stories out under submission, but with reprints, anthologies, foreign languages and podcasts I have a total of 36 subs outstanding. Lucky I have my spreadsheet to keep track of it all!

Naturaly Optimistic

I've submitted a story to Nature magazine! You can't accuse me of not being optimistic!

That's the way to go, or so I've been told: aim high. If the professionals don't want it, go for the semi-pro markets, and so on. At what point you decide the story is obviously rubbish and decide to give up is difficult to determine.

Two of Each

In a brief flurry of activity I sent off 4 submissions today - 2 to magazines and 2 to anthologies. One is an original anthology and the other accepts reprints, so I thought I'd give them a shot. I get the impression that anthologies are harder to sell to. I don't really know if that's true, but being one-off publications they probably get far too many subs, even more than a magazine would. I've selected stories that fit in with their themes though, so I'll just sit back and wait as usual.

Submission Update

I've sent another two stories on their way to different magazines this week, joining the four that are already sitting in various slush piles. I don't count the foreign language submissions as you mostly never hear from them again, so I don't know whether they're still waiting or have been rejected.

I currently have two stories accepted and due for publication next year, along with three foreign language submissions accepted. Also lurking on the computer at the moment are two completed stories that have yet to be reviewed and edited.

The most shocking thing is that I only have three items on my list of stories to write. That's the lowest total I've had ever. This is partly due to the fact that lots of new ideas have been turned into flash fiction pieces, and some ideas that have been hanging around for years have gone the same way with the realisation that I was never going to make a full-length story out of them.

Submitting to the Right Market

While looking at some information on Duotropes I was shocked to read that on average only 25% of stories submitted follow the submission guidelines and even less have been formatted properly.

Why would a writer do that? Why make a tough job even more difficult? Especially as response times sometimes drag on for months, you really don’t want to waste your time sending a story to an inappropriate market.

Of course you don’t have the time or money to read a copy of every magazine you might ever submit to, but it doesn’t take long to read their submission guidelines and see what they do and don’t like.

If you’re an aspiring writer, do yourself a favour and concentrate your efforts where it will do some good!

Reading and Writing

I received a note from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine today that for the fourth time one of my stories has reached the 2nd round of submissions. The previous three reached the third round and fell at the last hurdle. ASIM publish the kind of light-hearted, entertaining stories that I like to write, so I'm hoping to be in with a good chance again.

Meanwhile I've read the new edition of Fiction magazine, which includes a story by fellow Friday Flash Fictioneer Gareth L Powell. I've written a review of it for UK SF Review and will be following that with the new issue of Dark Tales that arrived in the post this week.

Collaborative Conclusion

After many more months in the making than I could have imagined, my collaborative story The Blind Collaborators has been accepted by Aphelion and is scheduled for September's issue.

That makes 10 stories appearing this year. I'm hopeful that I'll reach 12 to average 1 per month. I've sent off 2 more submissions today to make a total of 7 floating around out there somewhere, plus a few others I've submitted for reprints, translations and anthologies.

Two Submissions

I sent The Blind Collaborators on its way to Aphelion today, and just because I'm feeling optimistic also submitted Gap Years to Interzone simply because they're accepting electronic submissions this month.

That's 7 stories now under submission and 3 accepted and awaiting publication.

Fiction Contest

If you fancy an hour of hysterical laughter, then have a look at last year's winners of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. The aim is to write the opening sentence to a truly awful novel.

I've sent in a couple of entries, in the SF catagory of course, and with each entry a permission form to allow my entry to be reprodcued in their compilation book. The book is due out in August, but I'm not entirely sure whether either of my entries will be in it; it may just contain the winning entries. Either way, it's worth a read.

String Theory

This week I've submitted a story to a new anthology based on the subject of String Theory. Now that's an unusual idea for a book. As it happens, my story Fluctuations happens to fit in with it quite well. They're not making a decision on the contents until June, so I'll have a while to wait.

100 Submission

That's right - I've sent off my 100th submission. By a quick bit of maths you may think that I've had lots of rejections, but actually there are several stories still out there waiting, and lots of the foreign markets have never replied. Add that to the magazines that turn out to be dead and it works I've had two rejections for each acceptance.

I'm quite pleased with that.

Holiday

Well, I'm off on holiday for a week tomorrow. I may have time to relax and write something, but I could be too busy doing nothing. I sent off two more submissions today, so there are now six stories working their way through slush piles while I relax.

Fifty Submissions

Today I sent off my fiftieth science fiction story submission to an English language market. In case you thought getting published was easy, that shows how much effort goes into finding the right home for your story. There are so many markets looking for different things, you just have to find the right one for your story.

I was lucky when my very first submission was accepted. Since then I've had another nine published and six more still doing the rounds. None of this includes the foreign language submissions.

The important thing is not to loose heart. As long as you believe in your own story, someone else will too.

A Plethora of Publications

I've spent quite some time since I started submitting stories attempting to find suitable markets. There are very few professional SF magazines, quite a few semi-prozines and plenty of small press and webzines, and they all have slightly different audiences.

You can get information on them from such websites as Ralans and Spicy Green Iguana. If you want to submit to any market, you need to read their submission guidelines every time. They may have changed, or they could be on hold so you really need to know your market.