I've had a question nagging at me for a while now, so I thought I'd toss it out here and see what floats back on the tide.
Do you submit your mystery stories to Ellery Queen or Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine? These two magazines seem to be the Holy Grail for mystery writers but when a zine gets thousands of submissions a month and takes up to eight months to respond, do you find it worth your time and effort?
Most of the time my stories aren't a comfortable fit for either of these zines, though I have submitted several times to both of them over the years. But something I noticed when reading them, especially in a bunch of EQ's that I had, was that nearly every author published is an award winner or has a novel published. Plus there seems to be a group of regulars that are published frequently enough that you know their subs land on the editor's desk without lingering in the slush pile. I'm not complaining here, these writers have earned a first class ride, but it does cut into the chances of those of us who do land in the slush pile.
Which brings me back to my question. Do you submit to EQ and AHMM on a regular basis and do you think it's worth the time?
10 comments:
Funny you should ask. I just dropped a story ("An Old Address") in the mail to EQMM yesterday. It will be the second one I've sent them. Turning down the violence and profanity isn't that hard for me but I know some other writers have difficulty in that department.
I can tone down the language and violence but my stories still have a too dark tone to them. I've written humorous crime stories but they don't seem to take as well as the dark ones, at least in the crime arena. Good luck with your sub, David! Fingers and toes crossed for you.
It is easy to get published; it is not easy to get published well.
The three best-paying markets that consistently publish short mysteries--AHMM, EQMM, WW--all take a long time to respond and all pay very well. And the two most prestigious markets that consistently publish short mysteries are AHMM and EQMM.
So, if your goal is to be paid well for your work, you'll submit to the top three markets. If your goal is professional recognition, you'll submit to the top two publications. (After all, once you've sold a story to AHMM or EQMM, it's on your professional resume forever.)
If all you want is to be published, you'll submit to non- or low-paying publications with quick turn-around on submissions.
Which approach is better? Depends on your goal as a writer.
Just remember, though: Every one of the writers filling the pages of AHMM and EQMM had to make a first sale to those publications, and many of those writers weren't award-winners and didn't have books published when they made their first sales to AHMM and EQMM.
(And, yes, I've sold to EQMM, and, yes, I continue to submit, and get rejected, from all three of the top markets.)
I did when I first started writing crime stories-and got nice letters but no keepers. They almost took one last year but hated the ending, which I thought was absolutely integral to the story. So after two stories to each, I gave up. It's not that my stories are violent, they just are not the kind of neat package traditional stories they favor. Neither the crime nor the whodunit aspect is that evident in what I write.
I don't really sub to them anymore. Most of the time, I'm convinced I'm not good enough. I write decent enough stories, but not "literary quality." I'm like junk food and reality TV when I write. Or to steal from Mark Twain:
"My works are like water. The works of the great masters are like wine. But everybody drinks water."
Besides the quality issue, I don't really think my stories or writing fit the style of EQMM or AHMM. I also don't really care for the stories they tend to publish. Just not my flavor, really. Sometimes, it saddens me. But I don't really feel like working to change my writing at this point in time. Mostly, I'm happy with what I write, even if it won't ever be published in the Big Ones. I still write for love of the task than for money.
The money question aside, Michael, is getting published in the top two the only way a mystery short story writer can be recognized as a professional crime writer? Is that stamp on your resume so important that it will actually lead to something more in the field?
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to crack those markets, but is it going to actually make me a better writer because I can say "Hey, I was published in EQ." Or is it just that those two are basically the only ones culled for award nominations?
I guess my goal is to be recognized as a writer who always writes the best story she's capable of and always striving to hit the better markets. Truth be told, I'm always afraid I'll fall over dead before I get out of the slush pile and never know that I "made" it. ;-)
I know what you mean, Clair and Patti, most the stories I write just aren't what they publish. The stories I do write to fit, get bounced back, maybe because they're not really my voice but one I'm using to fit their profile of what a story should be.
I think every mystery writer wants that recognition but is worth changing our voice and style for the prestige?
Sandra, being published in AHMM and EQMM certainly isn't the only way to be recognized as a professional crime fiction short story writer.
But, being published in either magazine gives you a shorthand way of identifying your level of success. You'd be hard-pressed to find a mystery writer/editor who hasn't heard of the two magazines. So, when someone asks where you've been published, you can say AHMM or EQMM and not leave your questioner scratching her head.
As Patti and Clair suggest, you might write wonderful crime fiction stories, submit until you're blue in the face, and never see your work grace the pages of AHMM and EQMM. That isn't necessarily an indication of the quality of your writing; it may simply be that you don't write stories that fit their requirements.
(It took me decades to crack EQMM, and I didn't do it until I collaborated with Tom Sweeney, who had also spent decades trying to crack EQMM. Go figure.)
But, if you stop trying to sell to AHMM and EQMM, you'll never know if you could have.
I'm convinced that I don't stand a chance of getting published in either EQMM or AHMM, but that isn't going to stop me from submitting. One of these days there may be a sudden shift in their editorial outlook and I want to be there when it happens.
Good point, Michael made. You can only write what your write. If you try to mold a story to their supposed needs, it will seem cramped, slight, false. Maybe someway one will come out and seem specific to their needs. It they're still in business.
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