June 2012

Check out writers’ markets in your genre

There are new contests and opportunities all of the time.

If you want to branch out in your writing career but you’re not sure where to start, a good idea is to check out various markets in the genres you are interested in. A simple way to do this is to purchase a copy of the annual Writer’s Market guide, which can help you find places to sell your writing all over the place. These books aren’t too expensive (you can always buy a previous year’s version to save money as well, though publishers are constantly changing), or you can check your local library for one.

Of course, there are plenty of places online where you can find various contests, publications accepting submissions, and other places to highlight your work. For example, I love the website Ranlan, which highlights speculative fiction websites that accept submissions. They even present them by which ones pay and which ones don’t, as well as which ones no longer accept submissions. This has been extremely helpful for me and I’ve had several stories and poems published just by using this site’s guidance. Of course, if you don’t write speculative fiction—which includes fantasy, sci-fi, steam punk, and so many other open genres—you may not like that particular site.