After I published my first short story in 2009, and becoming addicted to receiving acceptance letters, I spent several hours scouring the internet for possible markets. Little did I know about Duotrope.com back then.

I ended up making three lists that day. One contained the names of smaller markets I wanted to submit to, and the second the name of that one market I had been published in, Be-A-Better-Writer.com.

The final list held the names of the larger markets I wanted to be published at one day. I knew I was only a beginner and that I would need a lot of patience and hard work to get into those markets, but the lists really motivated me.

Now, after writing for just over three years, I am quite happy with my progress through those three lists. I’ve managed to considerably lengthen the list of markets where my stories have been published. I’ve been published in all the smaller markets I originally aimed for. And I’ve recently made my mark with a couple of the bigger names as well.

It all started last year with my story The Battle In Osroth, which was published by Silver Blade Magazine. As well as my story Always Come Back, which was published by Dark Moon Books in their Frightmares anthology.

All this success gave me the courage to take on a market that had me sweating for years. Since I started writing I’ve always wanted to make it into Short-Story.Me. After being rejected five times, I realized I just wasn’t good enough yet, and stopped submitting. And towards the end of 2011, I got my acceptance. The story’s name is The Great Wall of Rubin, and you can read it here.

A few other markets I was really happy about breaking into were Tales of the Zombie War and Morpheus Tales.

For some writers these markets are still relatively small, but for any writer, this is where it all starts. Now it’s time for me to take on the rest of that list.

A few markets I’m aiming at are of course Apex, Shroud, Glimmer and The Gloaming. But I think this year I’ll also have a go at a few more print anthologies. I am already included in the Darker Minds anthology with a few well known names in horror, such as Gary McMahon, Gary Fry and Stephen Bacon (Edited by Anthony Ross Warren). Who knows who else will be added to that list?

All the best.