If you write shorts, factual or fictional, you should seriously consider
joining Duotrope. On site, you’ll find up-to-date information, with links, for
4588 publications. The information is extensive and gives a really useful guide
to help you decide whether to visit the publication’s website for more details.
This is a real time-saver. Magazines, journals, online publications,
anthologies and some contests are all listed here. You can search by
publication name, subject, genre, word length and many other search topics.
BUT, here’s the real clincher. I bet you have difficulty keeping track of
your work once you send it out there into the wild world of publishing. Well,
fear not; Duotrope has a very efficient and comprehensive submissions tracker.
Use this, and you’ll never again wonder where or when you last sent that story,
or whether you’ve already sent it to the publication you’re currently
considering. No more egg on face, no more embarrassing responses from fed-up
editors telling you they’ve already seen this piece, thank you, and ‘no, they
still don’t want it, and, oh, by the way don’t send the effin’ piece again! In
fact, don’t send me anything again!’
Now, none of us want that sort of response from an editor, I know I
don’t. It’s never happened to me, but I’ve kept my own spreadsheet of
submissions for over a hundred years, so it isn’t likely. But I make use of
Duotrope’s submission tracker as well, as it’s actually easier and more
comprehensive than my own. And, since it’s online, I won’t lose all those
details next time my PC takes a nosedive.
No, I’m not on commission for Duotrope. I doubt they’ll even know I’ve
done this piece. I just think that when one of us finds something that’s
clearly of use to writers, we should share the information, spread the word,
encourage the usage. The site, once a free resource, has recently become a
subscription service, costing £31.51 ($50)per year or £3.15 ($5)per month.
So, there you have it.
Have a look, and if you feel you can’t spare £31.50 on spec, try it for a
month and see whether you feel it’s worth that small annual sum. If you’re a
serious writer, you’ll make the subscription back with your first sale anyway,
and it’s tax-deductable!
12 comments:
Thanks for this. I've never heard of it but I'll head on over. I have sent the same piece to an agent/publisher before. It smacks of panic and they can all smell it.
Thanks Stuart. I use the spreadsheet method like you a hundred years. I have an online backup system, thumb drives, and Dropbox on all my computers.
Indeed, Roger; must seem like desperation to them! Thanks for the comment.
I keep intending to use Dropbox; but I do have an external hard drive and use Norton 360, J.L., so the back-up is more or less well catered for. The thing I like most about Duotrope is the way it makes it so much quicker to select a possible market. Thanks for your comment.
Stuart, I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not, but there are several new Duotrope replacements coming online. One is already up, and it's very good: The Submission Grinder, created by David Steffen and Anthony Sullivan. (I'm not associated with the site at all, so I have nothing gain by writing this.) I've found The Grinder to be an excellent replacement for Duotrope and I've been using it for about a month now. Best thing: it's free.
Thanks for this. I hadn't come across it. But, having visited the site, I see it is only a submission site. Duotrope's primary value to me is its listing of 4500 publications and the ease of search and access to those publications. The submission tracker, whilst useful, is a secondary concern, since I've always used my own. Interesting to note that The Submission Grinder is starting out with the same intention as Duotrope; i.e. keeping it free, but asking for donations. I suspect they will soon discover what Duotrope discovered, that few people bother to donate and the whole thing becomes unsustainable without some income. But, we will see.
Thanks for your comment, Thomas.
I never used the submission tracker at Duotrope (I maintained my own chart), but when I was writing short fiction, they were one of the places I checked for possible markets.
Duotrope recently went from free to charging for access, and as such, I strongly suspect that other websites will emerge to take their place--beyond the spread sheet/tracking mentioned above. Don't know if the upcoming ones will be as useful and easy to navigate, but who knows.
Yes, Terry, I've actually subscribed, after a few years of using the free site. It's the massive selection of markets that attracts me. By the way, it's actually an improved site, with both the search and tracking facility improved. I suspect it will take a very long time for the newcomers to catch up in terms of variety of markets and I'm willing to part with £30.00 for a year's subscription, since a single sale will easily pay for that. They do a monthly fee for those who want to try it. Thanks for your input.
Stuart, indeed the Grinder is behind on markets (about 900 listed so far), but they are adding several hundred a week, and as a speculative ficiton writer, they cover most of the markets of interest to me. I found Duotrope's market database to be somewhat bloated with closed and defunct markets, so I'm not sure how many of those 4,500 are actually viable.
You're also right that the Grinder is attempting to go it without subscriptions, and it will be interesting to see if they can make. The two gentlemen building it did so in direct response to Duotrope going paid, and they are currently very committed to keeping it free. Unlike Duotrope, the developers of the Grinder are also willing to explore other funding models, something Duotrope never appear to be interested in trying.
It'll be interesting to see how the new sites develop, of course. Duotrope's filtering system allows you to remove the dead and dubious markets from any search. You can even keep your own list of those markets that are never likely to interest you, and these are automatically excluded from any search: I have a list of about 68 so far! Being familiar with Duotrope, I'll be sticking with them for the time being. But I'll dip into the newcomers from time to time, to see how they're doing. It always struck me as a shame that so few of Duotrope's many free users never felt the need to support them with a minimal donation to help keep it free, but that seems to be human nature.
Can't agree with you more; I donated every year to Duotrope, but I also felt a bit put off by their heavy handed approach to converting to a subscriber format. I don't think they handled it well from the PR perspective, and I know many writers who felt the same. I migfht have stayed with them if they had done things a little differently.
I think they are a great service as a market database (I loved the ignore market feature too!), but when considering the cost-benefit, it simply wasn't worth to me what they were charging (granted I'm also in a position now where I know the spec-fic markets fairly well and have enough writing connections that I hear about new markets quickly). Good luck with your writing.
Ah, I'd been absent from the site for a while due to being busy with other things. I went back to find the changeover already in place; quite a surprise. But I had a look and liked what I saw. I write in many genres, so a specialist knowledge doesn't apply and their wide-spread data base is therefore worth it to me for the small price.
Good luck with your writing as well.
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