Business suggestion...

[j_cheney]

OK, so I've fluffed up "The Dragon's Child" and it's ready to go out...only the market I want to send it to is still closed. Hmmph!

I think that Ralan should start a side business...where you can send him your story and he'll suggest 5 good market matches for it. All for the reasonable cost of...say $5. (Somehow, I think he's going to ignore this suggestion.)

It's very difficult to 'know' all the markets. I currently have subscriptions to: Shimmer, Black Gate, Baen's Universe, Asimov's, Fantasy (actually, I think this issue might be my last)and Speculations. In addition, I have recent copies of ROF, Weird Tales, Locus....And I still don't feel like I've seen a tenth of what's out there.

OK, so if anyone knows of a good market-niche-locater out there, (who's willing to work dirt cheap) let me know!

Comments

DC

[namelessarchon.livejournal.com]

This was a great story. Too bad Black Gate isn't open, it seems like it would be right along their lines. Or have you sent it to them already?

Re: DC

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

That's the market I'm waiting for. I know they're reading now, I just don't know when they'll open the floodgates again...

(And if it bombs there, it'll go to IGMS)

[kara-gnome.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I love your idea of a market locator! It's freaking brilliant. I honestly think this whole market thing is the worst part of writing.

I think it's now clear why people write novels, and it has nothing to do with that whole "more room" myth. No! It's because they can legitimately send out one thing a year, and that is to someone who will do the market nasty for them. :)

Pipe Dream....

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

The big problem for me is that it's super hard to know what mags want. Honestly, I think I have a feel for Baen's, Shimmer and Black Gate, but that's only because I read them. I read some of the others and I have no idea.

The bad part is that whoever starts this business (I don't think Ralan will volunteer--he already does enough) will have to charge way more than $5 to make it worthwhile. Probably more than we make selling the stories. ;o)

[stinabat.livejournal.com]

speak on, my sister. i'm waiting on blackgate too. grrr.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I have it on my favorites bar, and check it a couple of times a day!

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

:snickers: For the low, low price of ongoing subscriptions to every speculative fiction market out there, I will happily read over your stories and suggest, not merely five, but ten top possibilities, in descending order of appropriateness, with payscales. But maybe that's not quite as dirt-cheap as you were hoping for? ;-)

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Could work, if you got enough takers... add the $$ together and you have your subscriptions.

Of course, then you'd make all those writers Rich and Famous and they'd leave you high and dry without renewing anything.

[keesa-renee.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, but that's why I specified magazine subscriptions rather than money. Money evaporates; with magazine subscriptions, you still have the copies you recieved, and you still have all that familiarity with the magazines. Just because I gained that familiarity to market other people's work, doesn't invalidate it for marketing my own! :-D So even if they didn't renew, I'd still have as much as I gave them left over for myself. If that makes any sense....

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

So you're saying that if everyone pitched in and bought you subscriptions to...all the important ones, you'd do it for free?

Interesting thought....

[david-de-beer.livejournal.com]

you never use Duotrope? I prefer them to Ralan, tbh.

Why are you cancelling Fantasy, out of curiousity?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I'm looking for general information fast, I start at Quintamid, and then do further research on Ralans....but that's the point. I'm lazy, and I want someone else to do all the research for me. ;o)

Actually, I'm not cancelling Fantasy, I just think it lapsed. In fact, I don't think I was supposed to get #5, but I did (I suspect that I may have gotten it becasue I'm a SFWA member). The next time I sell something (or get a nice BD present) I'll renew. I like Fantasy.

I've had subscriptions to F&SF and Locus before, too, but just can't afford them all right now...subscriptions are expensive.

On Duotrope, I use the response time page more than anything else, but mainly as a back up to the Black Hole.

[displacedtexan.livejournal.com]

Are you dropping hints for BD?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

No....

[rcloenen-ruiz.livejournal.com]

I also like your idea of a market-niche-locater. I love the writing part, but the searching for a market part takes up a whole lot of time (which I don't have much of) and causes more headaches than writing does. I also wish there was some sort of machine where I could just feed the story into and it would be sent wherever...I suppose that's what agents are good for. But one can't get an agent for short stories (wah).

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Wishful thinking on my part....