So I’ve had anthologies on the brain and it occurs to me this morning that I’ve been seeing a trend. And so have other people.
When I attended Oasis a while back, Toni W. from Baen was giving a presentation. She mentioned an upcoming anthology edited by Esther Friesner. At which point one of the audience members asked her how he could get into a Baen anthology. Her response? Baen anthologies (or maybe it’s just Esther’s) are invite only. You can’t submit to one unless the editor in question has actually asked you to submit.
Several weeks later, another author I know mentioned that anthologies are trending toward the invite only methodology.
So I started thinking. All three anthologies I was published in, I did get a direct invite from the editor(s). The two anthologies I’m working on now, I got an invite for, but only after hearing about them through other sources and putting a query to the editor. Allow me to clarify one point. An invite is NO guarantee of getting published. It just means the editor will read your story if you send it in. You can still get rejected. You just have a better chance of not getting rejected if your story was requested to begin with. This holds true for even the most famous writers.
As far as sources go. My main one, SFWA has a monthly market update they send out with open cattle calls for submissions. Sometimes, these updates are posted in multiple places with the SFWA newsletter just being one of them. For those saavy authors, you can find these opportunites at other locations. Other times, this information is "members only" and quite frequently the editor will say "Don’t share with anyone not in SFWA." And in one case specifically, SFWA members were given a 2 month window of "members only" before the information was made public. The IAMTW opportunties work the same way.
The caveat is, you have to be a member of SFWA / IAMTW to get these market updates. And to be a member of either organization, you have to be published in at least one qualifying professional market. But finding the pro markets are hard if you don’t know where to look. "Ecetera, Ecetera, Ecetera." So if all anthologies are going to the invite only model, how does one get in?
By writing short stories for other venues. Ralan.com is one excellent resource for the budding writer. Also, check out the genre magazines to see if they accept short stories. And there are online e-zines that publish too. I tend to stay away from contests that charge entry fees or submissions that require reading fees, etc. Money should flow TO the author, not from. I also don’t tend to submit to freebie mags. Meaning "I’ll publish you, but I won’t pay you." That limits me, but I’m okay with that. I’d rather get something for my work than nothing at all.
Also, pay attention to the people around you. One of my invites I got from a totally unexpected source. A fellow author in a non-writers organization mentioned an upcoming anthology to the people in that group and I asked her if she was still seeking writers. I got the invite nearly immediately. Now I just have to finish the story.
Anyway, I hope this information helps someone out. Personally, I’m waiting for the invite to contribute to one of Mercedes Lackey’s "Heralds of Valdemar" anthologies. Not that I’ll actually get one, but I’d be thrilled if I did. @=)
