Submission Grinder: Quick Reference Guide: Finding a market

To find a market without opening a Submission Grinder Account:

Go to Submission Grinder and open the "Search" pull down menu from the menu bar.

Choose from the market types listed in the menu. For example, if you have written a short story, you would choose Advanced Search (Fiction).

Then begin filling out the pertinent fields in the form. I always fill out genre and word count. I often start out with markets that pay in money (some markets pay in copies instead of in money). I usually go for "pro" short story markets first, which means markets that pay 5¢ a word or more. (The minimum pay fields are just that - MINIMUM pay, so if a market pays 5¢ a word or more, then it will be found.)

So, I begin by picking the Market Genre. Let's say that my story is about an AI that a writer is using. The writer has developed a way to input his feelings into the algorithm and the AI gradually takes the writer over, looking for more interesting sensations.

So, my story might fit in markets for Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction (depending on how it is written, Thriller might work also). On my Mac laptop, if I hold down the Command Key, then I can choose more than one item from the list. (On a Windows computer, I can do the same with the Ctrl key.)

The word count is 4250.

I put in that I want a minimum payment of 5¢ a word.

This is what my screen looke like:

At the bottom of the screen you can set Exclusions.

I don't see any point in submitting work to closed markets. I don't want to pay a fee for someone to read my submission. I don't want newsletters. I don't think I'm smart enough to navigate a non-standard contract. I feel like any market that accepts AI generated manuscripts is not a place I want to be. So my exclusions look like this:

Click the Search button (right under Exclusions) and you will get a list of markets that fit your criteria.

The list goes on - there are 19 possibilities. You can see that it brought up markets for any of the three Market Genres I selected. The results list shows the pay rate and the average time for a response. If you need further information to interpret the data listed, there is a help link ("Show help for results columns") at the right hand top of the results list.

Remember that this is the beginning of your research - not the end. To avoid wasting your time and the editors' time, check a few issues of the publication to find the best fit for your work. Go to the publication's website and find the writer's guidelines. Read them carefully and follow them. Then send your manuscript off. 

If you want to track your submissions, create an account and look at the next tab of this guide to find out how to use your Submission Grinder account.

Remember, this is a donation supported resource. A lot of time went into creating it and goes into maintaining it. A lot of time goes into helping users who get stuck. It is lovely that the developer does not demand that you subscribe, they clearly understand that there is not generally a lot of money in writing. But, if you can, the "Donate" button is on the home page of the site.