Market Report: 

Mar's Market Report #7

By Margaret McGaffey Fisk
© 2005, Margaret McGaffey Fisk

Publication announcements from members of online writing communities are valuable resources for writers at the beginning of their careers. Though the communities may contain members at many levels of publication, overall, markets listed in these announcements tend to be open to new writers. Originally, the bigger markets were excluded because they are already known. However, this gave the false appearance that new writers should not submit to the top markets. Therefore, this policy has been changed.

All the markets presented in this column came from a publication announcement. I receive announcements from various sources including Vision; The Critter's Workshop; Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror; and the SF and Fantasy Workshop. These announcements are all available online. They list markets at varying levels of payment so if you use these resources, be careful to research the market yourself before submitting. Even the list below should be used as a signpost, rather than a definitive answer about any market as situations do change. Reputable sites such as www.ralan.com are good places to get the latest news. Ralan's and Quintamid Market Database have been known to have information not yet listed on the publisher website. However, always check the publisher's guidelines as well.

While some of the markets that appear in this column might not offer "pro" rates, they all provide some compensation.  In my opinion, offering payment is an indication of the editor/publisher's commitment and so, in many cases, markets with some compensation are more likely to stay around.