Stephen King can spend a few days writing a short story and sell it for $10,000 as the lead-off story in an anthology. His name and reputation have serious curb appeal.
I can't. I am paid from the profits from the published anthology, split between 12 to 24 contributing authors. Quarterly. I'm lucky to make more than $50.
For all the famous writers on the best seller lists, there are hundreds that just made $50. The magazines, the few that remain in paper, and the digital monthlies that come and go, pay more to their Regulars, but it'll seldom pay the rent.
This sounds like I'm about to complain about per/word compensation or to cry about poor, starving short fiction writers. I'm not, nor am I going to wax poetic about Why I Write. I'm in a practical mood since I have two short stories about to gestate, one noir mystery, one yound adult SciFi. When the stories approach the editing plateau of diminishing returns, what am I going to do with them? Who buys this stuff?
The magazines have a process, a specific process about format and content. The better ones tell you what they Don't want (excessive violence, sex, politics, true crime or sword and sorcery) and they try to tell you what they Do want - altho often in general terms like Coming of Age, or "Funny". They list their rules and wants on their websites under "Submissions".
Anthologies are often built around a Theme, a word or short statement the editor hopes writers will build their story around. You might see Dieselpunk, military, What Lies Beneath, the Decade of the 60's, or Teenagers on Mars. I've sold almost a dozen mystery and SF to theme anthologies. They were fun to write and they made me the usual $50 each. One anthology that received several award nominations still resulted just in that $50 bill.
Submissions are announced in one of two ways: in marketing lists and by word of mouth. Many sub-genres have a web presence where editors announce the anthology, what they are looking for etc, and the opening and closing dates for submissions. Horror, Splatterpunk, True Crime, 1890's mysteries, Steampunk, romantic suspense, historical mysteries, New England mysteries. Genre specific lists present genre submission openings, from amateur, to semi-pro, to pro. Ralan lists speculative fiction across a broad spectrum of classical SF, New Age and juvenile. They list a web spot for more info, length limits, possible pay. Duotrope lists short and longer fiction market openings, some non-fiction too, I think. The paid version of Duotrope includes considerable marketing information, like similar markets to consider, and a submissions tracker.
Word of mouth is generally very genre-specific. You can catch word of an opening on message blogs like the Short Mystery Fiction Society, horror groups, writer's blogs, Facebook. Too often, editors solicit privately. I've never seen an announcement for the many NOIR Mystery volumes, for example. Editors develop their reliable favorites too. Sometimes the resulting anthology was a co-development between the editor, the publishers and writers, and no announcement was ever intended. To be successful, you learn how to search for possible markets.
So you submit - - and then you wait. Many calls for submissions will result in a hundred or more 15 to 25 page stories, and a small reading group will take months to read and vote on the submissions. Sometimes the editor will reject your story quickly if your story Is Not what they were looking for. Rejections can be harsh, but sometimes they can say "I liked your story but I already accepted another with a similar plot". The best rejection asks you to submit again to a future call.
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