stout Cortez with eagle eye

[truepenny]

A couple of my pieces seem to need markets geared more towards the mainstream (for the theoretical background, see here and here). This is a completely unforeseen development. In fact, I don't think I can stress enough how completely unprepared I am to discover myself writing something that might be classified as non-genre. I'm at a loss.

I hate the first stage of researching markets, in which one feels overwhelmed, ignorant, and helpless. So, basically, I'm asking y'all to do it for me. *g* (Out of your own experience, I hasten to add; no one should go doing research on my account.) I'm looking for markets more or less in the literary mainstream, or at least slipstream, that are interested in magical realism, surrealism, things like that. Also, if anyone knows of any good, reliable market listing sites (like ralan.com), that would be incredibly cool.

Comments

[renenet.livejournal.com]

(Out of your own experience, I hasten to add; no one should go doing research on my account.)

Are you intentionally taunting me?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Well, I did think of putting in a disclaimer:

unless you're a mad librarian like renenet and do research for fun as well as profit

But I thought that would be taunting and unkind, especially since it would be presupposing that you'd want to do research on this topic, and what if you didn't?

[renenet.livejournal.com]

what if you didn't?

Heh. You're funny.

The personal recommendations from other writers is a different kind of useful thing, and I can't do that for you. But I am at work, where it takes under a minute for me to lay my hands on and start browsing Novel & Short story Writer's Market (2003 ed.) and the like and only slightly longer to get over to our pretty decent selection of literary journals. And, see, it looks like I'm working. You know, on the stuff they actually pay me to do. In fact, in the middle of typing this paragraph, one of my colleagues came into my office to ask me a question, and I was sitting in front of my computer holding the aforementioned book open in my hands, and I'm quite sure she thought I was doing my job. It's a beautiful set-up, really, and I do it as much for my own enjoyment as your edification because who knows if I'll come up with any useful suggestions and see above re: it not being the kind of insight you can get from other writers.

But now I'll stop talking about research go do some.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

*cough* If you get any useful information, would you mind sharing? I, too, have been bemused to finding myself writing mainstream.

It's all scary and huge and alien. I don't get it.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

It's all scary and huge and alien.

Yes. Yes, exactly.

And of course I will share info. Gladly, even.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Scary and huge and alien ?

Fantasy is a huge great realm, in which the region constrained by plausible science is the tiny little box called SF. Which is itself a relatively huge region within which exists the tiny little box bound by slavish adherence to the accidents of our history, which is called mainstream.

I find this a useful perspective. Heartening, anyway.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I was speaking about marketing. I know the SF/F market extremely well--the pro zines, the publishers, the editors, who is the best market for what kind of fiction. I don't know this, except in the vaguest way for mainstream book publishing and some of the most famous mainstream magazines. I don't know who's small and reputable, who's small and disreputable, who's small and unknown, who's huge but welcoming to writers without previous mainstream credits, who's not.

So yes, it's huge and frightening.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. SF/F is a much smaller group of people than it looks to be from the outside. People know people who know people. I think that's partly due to self-preservation--the geeks hang out together--but mostly due to cons, at which writers and publishers and editors and potential writers all interact.

And just the small size--there aren't really that many sf/f magazines in the scheme of things, not compared to everything else in the world.

And, finally, when one reads a lot in a particular genre, be it sf/f or mainstream, one is more familiar with its borders and customs and taboos.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Abyss and Apex (http://klio.net/abyssandapex/guidelines.html)? They mention magic realism and genre-bending stuff. They pay .03 a word.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Got a (different) story with them now. But thanks. I hadn't remembered they did magic realism stuff.