After the MFA

We’ve been talking a bit about journals lately: from commiserating with other frustrated voices to listing the usual suspects in high-quality and popular publications. In the process of all this, I just learned about a site that has made me happy. I may be late to the party, but I am digging Duotropes Digest Markets for Writers.

Duotrope is primarily a database of journals and magazines for fiction and poetry. Only about 1,600 different publications. Along with the expected literary fiction, it also includes outlets for the relatively maligned (in MFA circles) genre fiction, like science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism. And there are intelligent ways to find markets that fit your interests, goals, and patience.

I feel saved by Duotrope’s online submission tracker — something I’ve been wishing for since I started trying to use Excel to track my many rejections, and hating the process.

But maybe best of all is Duotrope’s repository of statistics, showing how quickly and how often publications review and respond to submissions. To my mind this is powerful. But it’s also dependent on you and me to give them the data. If you write and submit, you should visit Duotrope and let them know about your rejections and successes.

Much love to the folks who put Duotrope to together. On the one hand BookFox calls for a boycott of the #1 slow-responder (which I fully support). But Duotrope also makes it easier to find, support, and frequently submit to the publications that swiftly go where many editors fear to fly.

All this has gotten me very fired up. Time to go through the trash bin of rejections and get recycling.

(Many thanks to Elaine in BookFox’s comments for linking to Duotrope. She made my day.)

Related posts:

1. Confessions of an Unpublished Mind
2. Maybe We Should Just Stop
3. Most Wanted Journals