Expert: Cathy Clamp - 2/6/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi, Cathy   Since mid-summer I have written and completed 8 "creepy" short stories (I have 2 more that I haven't finished yet)and I was wondering if you could suggest a publisher and/or magazine that I might send them to. I think they would be classified as Paranormal Fiction and are similar to Twilight Zone. I would like to avoid an Agent, as I can not afford one, nor can I afford to pay for publishing. I have no experience in this field, nor am I sure they are worthy of publishing, but I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions you might have. Thank you for your time.
~Richard

ANSWER: Hi, Richard!

Sorry for the delay in responding. Your first email must have gone missing so AllExperts sent me a reminder you had a question.

First, an agent wouldn't represent you for short stories, and magazines don't require them anyway. But I did want to touch on the agent aspect because an agent won't cost you a dime out of pocket before you sell. They earn their money by selling your work and then only take a cut when you have money coming from the publisher. But because of that, they don't like to represent short stories because there's not enough money to pay for just about the same amount of work it takes to sell a novel.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great magazines out there to sell the stories to. It'll take time and effort to submit them but that's how the game works. Probably the best place to find magazines that would suit your stories is at Duotrope (http://www.duotrope.com ) You can search by genre (most likely "horror") and choose the theme or subgenre. It'll put up a list of magazines that might suit your story. The only thing is, the more specific you are about your story, the less magazines will show up, and really--most every magazine will take most every kind of story if it appeals to them, so the more "Any Subgenre" type of answers you give, the bigger your pool of potential magazines. But DO choose "Semi-Pro or above" for payment. The higher the pay, the more likely more magazines will take your work. "Pro" is considered to be 5 cents per word and above. Semi-pro, I believe, is 1 cent per word. Stick to paying at first and if something simply doesn't fit a paying market, then you can look at other options. It'll help if you read through their Definitions page (look for the link at the top of the form)

Oh, and if you want to move out to anthologies and such, instead of magazines, try Ralan's (http://www.ralan.com) for lots more places to sell the stories.

Hope that helps! Good luck.

Cathy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again, Cathy
  I don't want to be a pain-in-the-ass, but I have spent time going through the links you sent me above (when not working and doing other obligations)and can not seem to find anything in my genre. My stories do not seem to meet their requirements. I am not into Science Fiction at all, or even fantasy, as they define it. My short stories are more "Classic" type. I said Twilight Zone before because they don't end happily. I can only best describe them as "Creepy". Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and creatures with a twist, so to speak.
  Also, I mistook the Ralan link as books, not magazines, which is what I found. I would prefer a creepy collection BOOK of short stories like I have of M.R.James, Edith Wharton, and scary compilations by Hugh Lamb, etc. Is there anybody out there that would want something like that without any space or science fiction connections?
  Thanks Cathy, and I have appreciated your previous responses.
Richard

Answer
Hi, again, Richard!

"Creepy," in genre parlance would most likely be considered "speculative fiction". There are publishers of spec-fic, but it's sort of difficult to query a collection of your own stories without any prior publishing credits. Most collections are geared toward the "here's some stuff you've read before in magazines, with new stuff you haven't seen before," or they're anthologies of different authors.

James, Wharton and Lamb are publishing collections because some of their works have already appeared elsewhere---telling a book publisher that they're good enough to already have an audience that would buy the book.

Now, that's not to say that you CAN'T get a debut collection purchased. I know of several who have in general fiction. But it's harder. Unless you want to go the electronic publisher route, you should really consider seeking out an agent to sell the book. Many of the publishers are closed to unagented works, so an agent can open doors you can't by yourself.

You should probably pop over to the "Agent Query" website, where you can search for a list of agents who accept spec-fic and story collections. Usually, if an agent accepts horror or dark fantasy, they're willing to look at spec-fic, which is a blending. Even if you decide not to hire an agent, the site is TERRIFIC in teaching how to write a query letter--which you'll need whether you're querying agents or publishers. Here's the link:  http://www.agentquery.com

Hope that helps a little!

Good luck.

Cathy