F&SF, one of the best Magazines out there has a special rate for bloggers. Their idea is to create some buzz, so they give a nice yearly rate to bloggers. The price is about $7 less than their regular subscription rate and cheaper even than those magazine houses that advertise cheap rates for new subscribers.

If you write Spec-Fic and want to sell it, it stands to reason that you need to read a magazine from time to time. F&SF is one of the best places to send you stuff because they answer in under a week, even though you’d have to have a very good story to get considered. If you want to improve your chances, you ought to know what kind of stories they are buying. Personally, I find it difficult to write to a certain target style or mode – I write what I write. I’ve got one of their blogger copies and I’m reading it and I should have some reviews of stories in the next few days. Reading the mag at least helps me with seeing what ideas might be appropriate for F&SF.

I forget the name of the editor who yelled at a writer who thought his stories weren’t good enough for a magazine. “Who are you to do my job?” was the response. Only the editor knows when a story is good enough or not. I suffer from almost terminal fear of rejection, and don’t like the submission process. I will often submit to a softer market where I think I have a better chance rather than risk another reject. I wind up thinking that I should have tried harder. Now, although I don’t write that much, when I finish a story I make sure it gets a “Does Not Grab” from F&SF before I send it out to the easier sites.

Fantasy and Science Fiction: Special Subscription Offer for Bloggers