Introducing Market Monday! Each week I’ll spotlight a magazine worthy of your micro & flash fiction submissions.
We apprentice writers have to keep the submissions going almost as much as the writing. Almost every day I’m thinking about submissions, researching markets for submissions, doing submissions. The process can be grueling, and it helps to have support.
I focused on contests for fiction chapbooks at the end of 2016, then contests for individual stories. Now I’m working on general submissions, and I’ll be very pleased if others can benefit from all this doing. So: Want to know where to submit your micros and flashes? Daily Shorty to the rescue!
As a thank you to the editors, I’ll be covering in my first Market Monday posts the magazines that have been kind enough to publish me. Today I’m spotlighting The Citron Review, which published two of my micros this past summer, “Waiting” and “Unwritten.”
You will have your own criteria for judging markets. I look for these things:
Do I like what the magazine publishes? Here’s a micro at TCR I really like, and oh look here’s another. And hey don’t miss this flash, and take a long moment to savor this one.
Is the website aesthetically pleasing? If the work is published online, does the magazine do a good job of highlighting it? I like the minimalism of TCR’s site, the eye-catching banner atop every page, the straightforward menu bar, and the overall clean but stylish look. Each piece is printed simply and clearly in a pleasing font against a soft background that doesn’t tax the eyes.
Does the magazine nominate its authors for awards? See here TCR’s nominations for the 2017 Pushcarts.
Do the guidelines speak to me? TCR’s guidelines are my favorite kind–plain, clear direction on how to submit–so this question doesn’t really apply. When applicable, I’ll note in these Market Monday posts the sort of work the editors are calling for, because when there is such a call, it can carry a lot of decision-making weight. If the editors say in their guidelines they strive to publish work that showcases the invitational splendor of generational micro-divisions, or they pine for stories that comment on the residual soul-mannerisms birthed by our primal makers… I’m outta there.
If you submit to The Citron Review and your work is accepted for publication, please let me know so I can congratulate you here. If TCR doesn’t move you, have faith–there are so many lovely places wanting your work, and I’ll be showcasing many of them.
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Daily Shorty 
Thank you for launching this series! Many markets that publish micros and flash fiction publish flash cnf as well, so I definitely benefit from this. TCR appeals to me as well. I’m a fan of both its content and style.
It’s such a sweet site, isn’t it? Unpretentious, focused, doing it’s thing–that’s what I want to be! Thanks for the encouragement, Suzanne, and yes, I have noticed more mention of flash cnf when researching mags for very short fiction, which I find very exciting. Maybe that will be my invitation to cnf one day! All Hail Flash Everthing!
great idea!
Thanks, I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. If I can save one writer 10 minutes of submissions research, I’ve done my job!
I spent the last year focused on writing, but I did very little submitting. My goal for 2017 is to submit, submit. I’m so excited for this series! And I love The Citron Review. Thank you for the helpful info!
Oh, thank you so much for commenting, Sarah, you are exactly the writer I’m hoping to reach. Yes, you must send all your babies out, they need good homes! Good luck!
Thank you, Claire! By the way, I love your micros at TCR. “Waiting” is so visceral, I could feel it in my body as I read it. Gorgeous work!
Oh, thank you so much!