Little bit of research for my short stories book. How hard is it really to sell a story to a top professional SF market?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Methodology:<\/strong> I consulted The Submission Grinder (thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com<\/a>), and considered only those markets that are SFWA-recognised (since these are longer established and are likely to give the most conservative figure for acceptances). Most of these have submission numbers in the high hundreds – if not over 1000 – recorded in the database, so the figures should be reasonably accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Things that could make them less accurate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. People who submit successfully may be more likely to use the paid alternative to The Grinder (duotrope.org<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. People may not record all of their rejections (but they are highly likely to record an acceptance to such prestigious markets).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n I ran the figures only for science fiction, since most of the fantasy markets are also science fiction markets, but not necessarily vice versa. (The only SFWA-recognised fantasy short story market that isn’t also an SF market is Beneath Ceaseless Skies, with an acceptance rate of 4.71%.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Acceptance rates (in percent) for the 12 SFWA-recognised markets for SF short stories:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daily Science Fiction\t9.89<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlikely Story\t8.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review\t7.69<\/p>\n\n\n\n Escape Pod\t2.95<\/p>\n\n\n\n Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show\t2.77<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analog\t2.75<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lightspeed\t2.43<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grantville Gazette: Universe Annex\t2.08<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strange Horizons\t1.86<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fantastic Stories of the Imagination\t1.74<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asimov’s\t0.81<\/p>\n\n\n\n F&SF\t0.53<\/p>\n\n\n\n Average\t3.63<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, consider this, which I’ve heard from several editors: Ninety percent of what is submitted to these magazines is completely unpublishable drivel. If you can actually write a story, you should multiply the number by 10 to get a more realistic figure.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n That still leaves your chances with F&SF at about 1 in 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Little bit of research for my short stories book.
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