short story market question

[minervaK]

Got my first form rejection today! So exciting. It was from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. The next title on my list is Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, but I think that it's published by the same company, so is there any point in sending it to them? Or should I move down the list to the next victim?

MK
www.minervakoenig.com

[Allie]

Bleu cheese with parmesan on top, but I love it.

[I. J. Parker]

They have different editors and slightly different slants. Thus, they get and handle their own submissions. EQMM is slightly edgier. By all means submit to EQMM.

[Sunny Frazier]

They are both sort of run by the same, but different editors. Have you really looked at the stories and broken down the elements to figure out what they're each looking for (I have).

If you don't mind not being paid, Mysterical E has expanded their guidelines and will take reprints. I'm submitting my stuff to them and hoping for some future nominations in the short story awards like the Derringers.

Are you subscribed to Short Mystery Fiction Society? They give out info on markets. You can also find markets at Ralan's Webstravaganza.

[Kris Neri]

Now you're official! Congrats are in order because you're submitting your story.

[Jessica]

Conrgats! I remember when I got my first form rejection - I was so excited, my Dad thought that it was an offer. Sometimes, we writers can be a bit needy. Even the tiniest amount of acknowledgement is enough.

Keep submitting, even if they are from the same publisher. If you make a nuisance of yourself for long enough maybe they'll run your story just to make you stop! Write new ones and submit those - make it clear to these people that you're not going away. This advice is a little on the sociopathic side, but you'll have to excuse me because I can't really think any differently.

[Dave Zeltserman]

I'd recommend reading the magazines you're planning to submit to so your can understand their tastes are whether your story is appropriate. IJ is right, they have different slants on the stories they publish, and the stories are not interchangeable between the two magazines. EQMM and AHMM are the premiere mystery magazines, and you want to make the best impression you can with your submissions, and that means researching them and not sending in stories blindly (of course, this is true with any publication if you have a serious intent on selling a story). As someone who used to publish a crime fiction web-zine, it was always obvious when writers hadn't bothered to read any of the past issues, and it never left a good impression.