Earlier this semester, I introduced you to an online database that lists both online and print journals soliciting short fiction submissions. This database is known as NewPages. As part of your final portfolio, your job this semester will be to: 1) visit NewPages; 2) visit the websites for those journals that interest you most; and 3) locate and report on ten (10) journals that publish the type of fiction you are composing for this course.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you compose your journal list:
- Does my story deal with LGBTQ, Latinx, pop culture, environmental, political, or any other specific themes and/or issues?
- Is my story experimental, humorous, in the vein of speculative fiction, or something else?
- Do I see my story in a print publication or online?
- Does it matter to me whether I receive monetary payment for my short story?
- Based on all or some of the criteria above, which journal best suits the short story I am composing for this course?
These are just some of the questions you can ask yourself as you visit the journal sites via NewPages, vet them to see whether or not they fit in with your current short story, and decide on the ten best choices for your journal list. Ultimately, the goal of this assignment is to get you to understand the importance of researching prospective publication venues before submission, and in order to avoid the pitfalls discussed in the articles discussed during Week 2 (see Readings). Hopefully, after this course has ended, some of you will take that next step and submit your short stories to some/all of the publications on your list.
To get your journal list started, you'll want to create a Google Doc in your Google Drive shared folder. Name the file like this: JournalList-YourFullName (ex. JournalList-JohnDoe).
YOUR LIST SHOULD INCLUDE TEN (10) DIFFERENT PUBLICATION SOURCES AND IS DUE WITH YOUR FINAL PORTFOLIO.
Here is the format you should follow for each individual publication entry on your document:
Publication Title: provide the full name of the journal or magazine
Website: provide the website address for the publication
Medium: designate whether this is a print or online publication, or both
Reading Period: provide the reading period for this publication
Justification: no more than three short sentences detailing why you feel this publication is a perfect fit for your short story
And here's an example:
Name of Journal: 100 Word Story
Website: www.100wordstory.org/
Medium: Online
Reading Period: January 1 thru December 31
Justification: 100 Word Story specializes in short fiction of 100 words or less. Since I am interested in composing flash fiction that is brief and where every word matters, this site seems like a good fit for my work. Also, one of my favorite authors, Stuart Dybek, has published on this site previously, and it would be cool to publish my own work in the same publication.
To get your journal list started, you'll want to create a Google Doc in your Google Drive shared folder. Name the file like this: JournalList-YourFullName (ex. JournalList-JohnDoe).
YOUR LIST SHOULD INCLUDE TEN (10) DIFFERENT PUBLICATION SOURCES AND IS DUE WITH YOUR FINAL PORTFOLIO.
Here is the format you should follow for each individual publication entry on your document:
Publication Title: provide the full name of the journal or magazine
Website: provide the website address for the publication
Medium: designate whether this is a print or online publication, or both
Reading Period: provide the reading period for this publication
Justification: no more than three short sentences detailing why you feel this publication is a perfect fit for your short story
And here's an example:
Name of Journal: 100 Word Story
Website: www.100wordstory.org/
Medium: Online
Reading Period: January 1 thru December 31
Justification: 100 Word Story specializes in short fiction of 100 words or less. Since I am interested in composing flash fiction that is brief and where every word matters, this site seems like a good fit for my work. Also, one of my favorite authors, Stuart Dybek, has published on this site previously, and it would be cool to publish my own work in the same publication.
