A while ago I wrote about the importance of finding your genre and researching what’s popular and what’s selling to tailor your work a little bit better before you send it out to publishers. Here’s a little bit from editors of SF&F short story magazines describing the things they’ve had enough of. Y
Keep in mind, these editors are aware that things can change from month to month. The editors, like all publishers, are aware too that a glut of certain types of stories doesn’t mean they’re not going to find something unique in the next story they’ll read.
So, how do you be unique? Research. In this case, go find back issues of the magazine you want to send your short story to and find the stories that feature characters similar to yours – and by that I mean, zombies, ghosts, steampunk stories. The same would apply to a publisher for your novel – go and research.
Magazines listed include Clarkesworld magazine, Apex and Asminov’s Science Fiction. Editors polled list everything from zombies, time travel stories, parallel universes, steampunk and fairytale retellings to mermaids, selkies and pregnancy horror stories as the types of stories they’re tired of seeing.
