Since one of the goals of this site is to help other writers, it would be practically criminal if I did not say a few words about an e-zine called Every Day Fiction. Not only is this my favorite magazine to read, but it’s also a great market for short story writers—especially those who are just starting out.

Every Day Fiction is exactly what it sounds like: a magazine that publishes a new short story every day. Their word count limit is 1,000 words, and they publish all ranges and genres of fiction, from literary to romance to horror. So, no matter what you like to write about—whether it’s talking zoo animals or the zombie apocalypse–they probably have an appropriate category for it.

While EDF is an excellent market for writers at all stages and levels, there are several things that make this magazine an ideal place for beginning writers to submit:

1.) EDITORIAL FEEDBACK. Every Day Fiction critiques every single piece submitted to them, whether they accept it or not. If your story is rejected, at least you will know why—and maybe learn to write better as a result. If your story is accepted, you’ll hear what the staff liked about your story (and what they didn’t like), and you’ll be given a chance to adjust your story before it’s published. In an industry where form letters are the norm, these editors truly care about working with writers and helping them grow as professionals.

2.) READER FEEDBACK. EDF has a lot of readers, and they’re a vocal bunch. If your work is published, you’ll definitely hear numerous reader opinions on what worked, and/or what didn’t. Most often, there are enough reviews to make general trends visible, so you can analyze your story’s performance (e.g. if ten people thought your 13-year-old character sounded way too mature, two people thought he sounded just “teen” enough, and one person thought he sounded babyish, then, based on that trend, you can probably conclude that your character did sound a bit too old for his chronological age, and the next time you write a character in that age group, you can work on making the voice sound more authentic).

3.) PUBLICATION. Sad fact is, many magazines care whether or not a writer has been previously published, and will be biased for or against you based on that. EDF is not one of these. They are happy to be the home of any budding author’s first published work, and, once you’ve been published with EDF, some other magazines that wouldn’t look at your stories before might be willing to give you a chance now that you’ve got that magic p-word in your cover letter.

4.) HIGH DEMAND. Their aggressive publication schedule means they have a high demand for new stories. The more stories a magazine publishes per year, the more chances you have to get accepted. Some fiction mags only publish twelve (or fewer) stories each year. EDF publishes 365. You do the math.

5.) PROMOTION. Every Day Fiction is awesome when it comes to giving authors a chance to promote their personal websites. EDF will even set up and host a free author forum, just for you and your fans. Plus, if you get published, your work will remain in their online archives, where it can serve as a free sample of your work to share with readers, agents and publishers. EDF also has a print anthology, a cool and informative blog (Flash Fiction Chronicles), a forum, and tons of other goodies.

All in all, it can be a great first step for new writers, and a beneficial boost to writers at all experience levels. So, whether you’ve been published twenty times or never at all, I would highly recommend Every Day Fiction, both as a potential market for submission, and a great magazine to read over your morning coffee. Free fiction, every day. It does not get better than that!

http://www.everydayfiction.com/

-Gretchen =)