I got a question last week about how we list items in NSSWM and I thought others might have the same question.

Dear Editor,

I was just going thru my 2006 edition of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market (I know, I need a new one, but right now I only have one story I am trying to sell), and comparing it with my previous edition of the same book, from 2003. I noticed that several publications were no longer listed in the 2006 edition, but when I looked up these journals online, I saw that they were still in existence. The ones I noticed were: Evansville Review, Cairn, Pembroke Magazine, and Santa Monica Review.

It made me wonder whether or not Novel & Short Story Writer's Market really has the most complete listing of short story markets available. Perhaps there is something I don't understand going on here, for instance, maybe journals only get listed if they want to be. Can you help clear this up for me?

There are several reasons why some of the magazines/journals, contests or publishers may no longer be listed, even when they're still publishing. NSSWM is a voluntary listing, and some journals request removal since they can't handle a larger volume of submissions or for other reasons. We will also remove a listing if we have been unable to verify or update their information for several years. There are also some publishers with bad business practices, and we might remove a listing for that reason. Of the magazines mentioned above, all but one are in the 2008 edition.

We do try to be the most complete, and I believe we are the best resource for the range of fiction we cover. I hope I've been able to address any lingering questions. If you have a question about NSSWM, or anything writing related, write me at nsswm AT fwpubs DOT com.