This blog first appeared at our own H.E. Roulo’s personal blog and is being reprinted here at reader request.

Writers looking to be published often ask how they can find markets for their short stories.

The very best site I’ve found for learning about anthologies and other publishing opportunities is duotrope.com. There, they let you search, sort, and track markets. Speculative fiction writers can also use ralan.com. Horror writers might find the Library of the Living Dead forum useful, especially Other Publishers if you’re looking for a mix of opportunities.

Usually writers looking to publish are in one of two situations. Either you have a story and don’t know what to do with it, or you’re looking for ideas of what to write that someone will want. Duotrope.com will help you in both cases.

If you have an existing story you’re trying to get published then do a search on duotrope.com. You put in the genre, length, and what kind of payment level you’re looking for (from non-paying, token, through professional rates) and it will find fits. Then click on each match and use the link to the actual website. Find the market’s Submissions page to make sure your piece is a good fit with that market. Always follow the submission guidelines. I don’t say this to make you freak out, and possibly drive you to not submit at all. That is not the solution. Just pay attention to what they want, and the closer you match their needs the more likely you are to be selected.

If you are looking for interesting markets to write stories for, then I suggest looking at the calendar of themed magazines and anthologies on duotrope.com. I subscribe to Duotrope’s weekly email that lists these by the date they close. That way, I can see what’s coming up that I might like to submit to. I’ve found that anthologies give you the best odds of being selected for publication. You know precisely what they’re looking for and need right now.

Duotrope is also the site I use to track all my submissions. Using the information provided by all the other authors tracking their submissions, Duotrope creates metrics on numbers of submissions, how long it’s taking to get replies back, and what percent of submissions are being accepted. It makes me feel more in control than just waiting forever and hoping they’re actually going to reply at some point. Duotrope tells me if my wait is unusually longer than what other authors are suffering.

This is how I learned about the Live and Let Undead anthology looking for stories about working zombies. I already had a short story about zombies working outside the protective dome on a poisonous planet, but it was too long to meet their guidelines. Once I cut down the word count to fit, I knew I had a good shot at being selected. Now my story “The Killer with Eyes of Ice” is one of 18 stories in the anthology that just came out on Amazon.com.

I’ll also be in a couple other anthologies coming out this Spring. In addition to what Duotrope tracks, I’ve created a spreadsheet listing all my works and all my dream markets.

Once you know other people in the field and start making a name, it is easier to be invited to write. And wouldn’t we all like to have the work come to us for a change?

Would you like more tips on publishing? Indie writing? Kindle Publishing? Let us know in the comments whether this is what you’d like to see from Podioracket.com.

Heather Roulo is the co-host of Podioracket.com and the author of the podcast novel Fractured Horizon. She has stories scheduled to appear in three anthologies in 2012. Visit www.fracturedhorizonnovel.com for more tips on publishing from H.E. Roulo.

Michael J. Sullivan

Bio: Born in Detroit Michigan, Michael J. Sullivan has lived in Vermont, North Carolina and Virginia. He worked as a commercial artist and illustrator, founding his own advertising agency in 1996, which he closed in 2005 to pursue writing full-time. He currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife and three children.

Instead of a string of sequels, Michael’s six-book series: The Riyria Revelations was conceived as a single epic tale divided into individual episodes. All were written before the first was released so that plot elements are intertwined, yet each is self-contained and can be read independently from each other. They were released in six-month intervals and are now all available in three books from Orbit.


Website:  http://www.riyria.blogspot.com/
Email: michael.sullivan.dc@gmail.com
Twitter: @author_sullivan
Facebook (personal): www.facebook.com/michael.james.sullivan
Facebook (author): www.facebook.com/author.michael.sullivan
Facebook (riyria): www.facebook.com/riyria

Free short story The Viscount and the Witch from The Riyria Revelations By Michael J. Sullivan.
This short is currently free but we don’t know how long that will last to get your copy today in the Kindle book store.


The Riyria Revelations By Michael J. Sullivan
Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations Omnibus #1 contains The Crown Consipracy & Avempartha)

Amazon


Rise of Empire (Riyria Revelations Omnibus #2 contains Nyphron Rising &The Emerald Storm)
Amazon

Heir of Novron (Riyria Revelations Omnibus #3 contains Wintertide & Percepliquis)
Amazon

Robin Sullivan

Robin Sullivan – founder, president of Ridan Publishing Robin Sullivan gives us the scoop on self publishing, indie publishing, and how she got her start in the publishing industry.



Ridan Publishing website: http://www.ridanpublishing.com

Ridan Publishing on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RidanPublishing

Robins Blog: http://write2publish.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ridan_pub

Listen now

download the episode or subscribe to our feed.

In Summary

Rathbone dropped technical tips, shared links to freeware that he’s used to publish, and shared his experiences.

Listen to the entire Fireside podcast at Fireside Writer’s Workshop but be warned, it’s 2.5 hours long. You can also visit Brian at his New Fantasy Fiction web page and while you’re there download The Dawning of Power Trilogy and The Balance of Power Trilogy.

Brian Rathbone has just released Regent! Regent, Book One of The Balance of Power Trilogy, is the much anticipated continuation of the World of Godsland fantasy series, which began with The Dawning of Power Trilogy. Buy Regent now from Amazon.

Brian’s Link List:

Twitter Anyone? Follow Brian: http://twitter.com/brianrathbone

His Website: http://brianrathbone.com/fantasy-fiction-regent.html

EPub Editor: http://code.google.com/p/sigil/

EPub Manager: http://calibre-ebook.com/

Auto Recorder and Editor: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ (use BETA 1.3.12 or later)

Spoken Word Normalizer (sorta) Evens out voices at different volume levels
http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator

Transfer Files to Webservers: http://filezilla-project.org/

Can’t Afford Photoshop? Try gimp: http://www.gimp.org/

Record Skype Audio Calls: http://scribie.com/free-skype-recorder MP3 Converter

Run Report to see how well you target terms. Run one free report a day or $80.00 Month
http://www.seomoz.org/

Brian uses the free Rank Checker and SEO for Firefox add-ons. Track search rank, page rank, backlinks, etc from within Firefox. http://www.seobook.com/

Track usage of your website and blogs. More powerful and useful that you might imagine
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Shorten links for Twitter with the added benefit of tracking how many clicks the link gets
http://bit.ly/

Get his Ebooks on Amazon the first two free and the conclusion for only .99 cents.

Our Fireside Chat–about all things publishing related–continues as Brian Rathbone delivers the sixth part of the series.

Listen now

download the episode or subscribe to our feed.

In the 6th part of the series Brian continues his discussion of editing, publishing, GoodReads, people to make contact with, and print on demand.

Get his Ebooks on Amazon the first two free and the conclusion for only .99 cents.

Ignore Nothing.

Brian covers a myriad of topics while opening the floor to questions from the audience. He covers E-Publishing for Kindle, Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Barnes and Noble as well as Smashwords. Then he moves on to Pub It, how Amazon works for authors, and how to price you book. Finally he talks about formatting, print runs, ebook compilers, ISBN numbers and his publishing house White Wolf Press. He even touches on speech recognition software. Buckle your seat belt and get ready for some great information.

Listen now

download the episode or subscribe to our feed.

In the continuing open forum questions, Brian talks about ebook publishing with Amazon, Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo and Smashwords.com. He touches on contract info all authors should know and why it is important to ignore nothing when marketing your books. Learn what royalty structures look like,  and how to price your books. Go deeper into Ebook Compilers. Here are a few of the links he shares: EPub Editor: http://code.google.com/p/sigil/ EPub Manager: http://calibre-ebook.com/ Transfer Files to Webservers: http://filezilla-project.org/.

Get his Ebooks on Amazon. The first two are free and the conclusion for only .99 cents. This price won’t last!

Open Forum Questions

Listen now

download the episode or subscribe to our feed.

Brian Rathbone continues his fireside chat for authors.

In this episode:

• How to put your book up on Kindle.
• Your digital rights
• More about cover art-Photo shop and free software like photoshop.
• How to get stock photos you can use for a cover from deviantart.com, Istockphoto.com and others.
• Twitter to the rescue for your cover art.
• Podcasting equipment, the truth about equipment.
• Can’t Afford Photoshop? Try gimp: http://www.gimp.org/
• Twitter Anyone? Follow Brian: http://twitter.com/brianrathbone
• Track usage of your website and blogs. More powerful and useful that you might imagine http://www.google.com/analytics/
• And Brain tells everyone why he got involved with Podioracket.

Get his Ebooks on Amazon the first two free and the conclusion for only .99 cents. This price wont last!

A Wiener Blut Spin-Off
http://wiener-blut.com/

About the short story: Franz and Dorde come to our world with a gift for mankind, but find themselves stuck in the midst of the Siege of Vienna. What can a lowly coffee merchant do to help turn the tide of one of the most important battles in world history? “The Siege” is a glimpse into the past of the families and cultures visited in “Wiener Blut”.

Podioracket Presents-Glimpses is now available on Podiobooks.com.

Previous stories:

Emerian Rich’s short story “Holy Rites” is from the universe of Night’s Knights and is episode #8.

“Blind Curve” relates to Dave Donelson’s Podiobooks.com novel Heart of Diamonds and is episode #7.

Keith Hughes’s “Fleeting Time” is set in the same world as Podiobooks.com novel Borrowed Time. This is episode #6.

Falling on your face can be a good thing.

Listen now

download the episode or subscribe to our feed.

Brian Rathbone continues his fireside chat for authors.

• In this episode:
  Podiobooks.com vs audio books
• how falling on your face can be a good thing
• Social Media Networking and some great tools you can use to track your progress.
• Twitter
• Twitter vs Facebook
• Using Google Analytics.

Get his Ebooks on Amazon the first two free and the conclusion for only .99 cents. This price won’t last!

Listen now to part two of Brian Rathbone’s Fireside Chat

download the episode or subscribe to our feed.

Part 2 Give it to them free and then they will buy it…

In this episode:

• More about engaging fans and building a lasting platform.
• Book scan = cash register sales of print books.
• How to use Google adwords. Cover art and how important it is to your success.
• Ratings from fans and what they mean to the author. 
• Why we should  connect with other authors as allies and not competition. 

We also heard just last night that Brain Rathbone’s new book is at the editor for the first round of editing. Can’t wait for Regent to hit the shelves!

Get his Ebooks on Amazon. The first are two free and the conclusion is only .99 cents.

Listen to Episode 53

or download the episode or subscribe to Podioracket.com’s summer feed.

INTERVIEWS

Murdo Morrison

Roses of Winter

Bio: Murdo Morrison was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1950, spending his early years in a tenement room and kitchen near the shipyards similar to those described in his historical novel, Roses of Winter. His family has many links to the industrial history of Glasgow, particularly related to ships and shipbuilding. Several relatives worked in shipyards or served on ships during and after World War 2. In 1973 he moved to the United States with his wife Susan and lives in southern New Jersey near the city of Philadelphia. The website for his book www.rosesofwinter.com will be live very soon, until then please use his personal website.

Website: http://www.murdomorrison.com

Email: murdom6 (at) comcast.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/murdo.morrison

Brain Holtz

Doris & the Ankh (Family Friendly)

Brian Holtz is the author of Handbook for the Criminally Insane, Collapse at Hiddenverse Three-Three-Two, and Nephilim Push.

Brian is one of the editors for the Podioracket Presents anthologies.

Website: http://darksidesally.com/

NEWS

J Daniel Sawyer Releases Train Time

Description: Have you ever seen that well-dressed man at the airport, or the station, who stands patiently by as if he has all the time in the world? Have you wondered who he was waiting for, and how long he’d stay? Have you ever been that man, stuck in the hours between delay and disappointment, with no way to know if the person you’re waiting for will show?…

Get it here.

Shadowmagic by John Lenahan now on sale

The top rated Podiobooks.com novel of all time is on sale for $.99. We highly recommend this one.

http://www.podiobooks.com/charts.php

Get it here.

NEW AND COMPLETE

Now Releasing

Testing the Prisoner by Phil Giunta Horror/Dark Fantasy
Tio Jorge by Vincent Meis Fiction
The World of Unicellular by Oleg Seriy and MaRiCaBo Mystery
Remarkable Incidents and Modern Miracles Through Prayer and Faith by G. C. Bevington Spirituality FAMILY FRIENDLY: Safe for family listening

Now Complete

Doris and the Ankh by Brian Holtz Fantasy FAMILY FRIENDLY: Safe for family listening

Released Complete

The Little Dragons by Rowan Starsmith Fantasy