Walttriznastories's Blog

STRUGGLING TO GET IT PUBLISHED: FINDING MARKETS, DUOTROPE

August 26, 2014 at 12:32 am Leave a comment

Back in the day when I was on the road to becoming a famous poet, a hint on where that road led – picture the final scene in the movie Thelma & Louise, I used books and magazines to fine markets where I could submit my work. Pounding out poems on my electric typewriter, going through gallons of white-out, off they would go along with the required SASE. This was long before the home computer came into existence, before the internet was even a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye.   How things have changed since my early writing years. The books and magazines still exist, but I can guarantee, at least for the books, by the time they are published much of the information is outdated, unless the book is accompanied by a website to maintain currency, save your money.

My go-to source for finding markets for my work nowadays is the website Duotrope, providing over 4000 markets for poetry, fiction and non-fiction and constantly updated. Up until a few years ago it was free, now it will cost you $5 a month or $50 a year. If you register, you can get a free trial. If you are serious about submitting your work, you can’t go wrong giving this website a try. I’ve included a link at the end of this piece.

The site offers searches by the publisher’s name, or if you want to search all markets for your specific piece, you can do that too. In the later type of search, you are given the options of genre, length, pay scale, and a more specific breakdown within your genre. You can also query to see if the publisher accepts reprints, simultaneous and multiple submissions. Also available for most publishers is their response time and percentage of acceptances.

Upon completion of your search you are provide with a list of primary and secondary markets that meet your criteria. On the Duotrope page listing the publisher’s specifications you will also find a link to the publisher’s website. This feature saves tons of time in your submission process. Your search and then be saved if for some reason you first offer of the piece is rejected. I’m trying to be both ironic and humorous.

Finally, you receive a weekly email listing current market updates. One look at this list of weekly market activity will clearly demonstrate how rapidly a book of markets becomes outdated.

If you want to stay on the cutting edge of where to submit your work, I highly suggest you look into Duotrope.

https://duotrope.com/index.aspx

Entry filed under: OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS, STRUGGLING TO GET IT PUBLISHED, Walt Trizna, WALT'S OBSERVATIONS, WALT'S OPINIONS, writer's information. Tags: Duotrope, fiction markets, non-fiction markets, poetry markets, publishers, publishing, publishing fiction, publishing non-fiction, publishing poetry.