The State of Pro Markets

One of my New Year's resolutions--which actually kicked off last week--is to first and foremost target pro markets (5c/word or more) with my writing from now on (unless there is an anthology I love the sound of, or am asked to contribute somewhere by someone I respect). To get a clear understanding of the state of pro markets, I browsed Ralan's market report and this is what I found.

There are currently 47 pro markets listed. Of that number:

• 4 are closed til Jan 1, 2012 or later
• 1 is indefinitely closed
• 2 are merging
• 5 are closed until further notice
• 1 is dead
• 1 is not recommended due to lack of response to submissions and queries
• 1 is listed as having subs open by assignment only 
• 1 is closed to unsolicited submissions

That leaves 32 currently open to subs. That's a pretty healthy number of markets. Response times range from a few weeks to 4 months, which is also pretty good.

Breaking this down even further to remove those who do not accept the type of story I write (ie horror/sci-fi), I find that:

• 1 is open to adventure fantasy only
• 1 is Canadian and only publish a limited number of international stories
• 2 are for readers aged 9-14
• 1 does not accept horror
• 2 publish mystery/crime only
• 2 publish stories set in an existing 17th century world 
• 1 is a 'magazine of wholesome fun' for children up to the age of 12
• 1 is a literary magazine for children
• 1 is medieval fantasy and set in an existing universe

This now leaves 20 pro markets currently open to horror/sci-fi submissions. Still a good number but not as good as the 32 I first thought were available. But for someone like me who only manages to write 2 or 3 short stories a year, this should be more than enough to keep me busy. 

I also found 2 pro rate anthologies currently open to submissions, although one seems a bit dubious...