m. c. de marco: To invent new life and new civilizations...

Dean Wesley Smith posted recently about keeping short stories in the mail to high-paying markets. I have a couple of stories which have made or almost made all the sf/f genre rounds, so his advice will come in handy as always:

The key for many markets is in your cover letter. If I am sending a story with sf or fantasy in it to The New Yorker or Glimmer Train, I mention my literary and poetry sales in my cover letter and never once use the science fiction term. If I am sending a story to an airline magazine, I also stay with the more familiar stuff I have published, slanted to literary a little. In other words, I slant cover letters to the market, often changing the cover letter on the same story from market to market as it comes back and goes out.

But now let me talk for a moment about the big issue here.

Fear.