Short fiction markets
Since the loss of Talebones and Lone Star Stories in the last week, many writers seem to be in a state of panic about where to sub and sell their fiction. While I admit that things are not as good as they were last year, let me offer this as a comparison.
I've only started really trying to sell my fiction since 2006, but I first flirted with the idea of becoming a writer back in 1984. Wow, that was a great time to be alive. Cyberpunk was happening, along with other interesting developments in SF/F. I wrote a few stories back then and subbed a few of them, before abandoning the idea of being a writer for several years. But here were the markets I remember available for me to sub to:
Asimov's
F&SF
Analog
Amazing
Omni
I also remember Aboriginal SF, which was what you'd call a semipro zine. There was no Internet back then, of course, and while there were probably a few other semiprozines, I don't remember them or ever saw them. I remember looking at Writer's Market back then and for SF/F short fiction there wasn't much there. Here's the deal. After I subbed to the pro markets, I trunked the story.
Here's my list of quality zines to sub one's fiction to today.
Asimov's
F&SF
Analog
Abyss & Apex
ASIM
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Black Gate
Black Static
Brutarian (My first pro sale if you don't count my sale to Aeon)
Chizine
Clarkesworld
Fantasy Magazine
GUD
HUB
Ideomancer
IGMS
Interzone
Jim Baen's Universe
RoF (when they reopen)
Shimmer
Strange Horizons
Weird Tales
And then there are small little zines that I've had success with that I like to appear in, like Polluto and Kalideotrope (both print), and Three Crow Press which I have a little story coming out in soon, and the latest issue has a Jay Lake story in it so that says something.
I'm sure I'm leaving someone out here (like Farrago's Wainscot, LCRW), but if you look at it compared to what I had to sub to in the 80s, it doesn't look that bad. Just saying...
Thoughts?