What have we learned from the T'nT sites?

[evcake]

You go. Coasties don't get near enough recognition.

[Linda]

You are right about that! But after Katrina, we got some recognition. We even got a special ribbon for that, with a hurricane symbol that attaches to the ribbon! But for years under the Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard was like the poor step sister of the military branches. It is better in the Department of Homeland Security.

[CoffeeCat]

Costies kick @$$!
(my brother and cousin are costies ;-D)

[blacknblue]

If you just want to get published so you can say, "I have such and such published," you might consider some of the online magazines. There are several online Sci-Fi magazones now that accept submissions without agents. They ostensibly pay so much per word, although I haven't tried them. Orson Scott Card runs one I believe, and there are others out there.

You could also try non-fiction, just to get yourself published. I have published several non-fiction articles like product reviews, editorials, etc. You might also consider starting your own blog and self-publishing your stories? Some people do that. Or maybe just post the first part of the stories on your blog as teasers?

EDIT:

Follow-Up:

The magazone that Orson Scott Card publishes on the net is called Intergalactic Medicine Show. It can be found at:

http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.co ... ticle=home

the link to their submissions page is:

http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.co ... ubmissions

Writers:

We are looking for stories of any length in the genres of science fiction and fantasy.

"Science fiction" includes hard sf, sf adventure, alternate history, near-future, far-future, psi, alien, and any other kind of sf you can think of.

"Fantasy" includes heroic fantasy (based on any culture's mythology), fairy tales, contemporary fantasy, and "horror" in the sense of supernatural suspense (not gory bloodfests, thanks).

Within these genres, we like to see well-developed milieus and believable, engaging characters. We also look for clear, unaffected writing. Asimov, Niven, Tolkien, Yolen, and Hobb are more likely to be our literary exemplars than James Joyce.

We pay 6 cents a word up to $500. Stories can be longer, but the word rate drops with increasing length to always yield a total of $500.....

If anyone is interested. It looks like it comes out quarterly.

It was also mentioned in "Asimov's Science Fiction" along with some other places. That article can be found at:

http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0702/Onthenet.shtml

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I could never get published as a fiction writer. The market for domestic science fiction is practically nil in Sweden and science fiction is more or less the only thing I'd want to write, fiction-wise.

I might be able to get published writing non-fiction. I have the advantage of working for a newspaper (op-ed section) so I write more or less on a daily basis. It's not uncommon for newspaper folks (journalists and the like) to start writing books. The problem is that it would take quite some time of my busy work schedule.

Still, writing non-fiction (in my case it would be history and political science) wouldn't be as much fun as writing (science) fiction. I have a lot of ideas. Sometimes I wish I lived in America or the UK since you actually have a market for it.

[TPoptarts]

^ Well that's what you Swedes get for using the metric system

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Well that's what you Swedes get for using the metric system

Pfft! The entire world except Britain and the US uses the far more logical metric system!

I have no idea what this has to do with published science fiction though. It's got more to do with the fact that it's a niche market and we're only 9 million people in Sweden. We hardly even translate science fiction stories into Swedish. Fans buy and read the English copies. But they do translate sci-fi novels into German, but there are over 80 million of them so...

[JadziaKathryn]

So, KTR, write it in English. Your English is good enough!

I want to get published someday (don't we all!) but currently my only publication is a history article in my school's online history journal. Actually I want to have more historical stuff published and then some fiction, eventually.

[TPoptarts]

^ Well that's what you Swedes get for using the metric system

Pfft! The entire world except Britain and the US uses the far more logical metric system!

I have no idea what this has to do with published science fiction though.

Still, writing non-fiction (in my case it would be history and political science) wouldn't be as much fun as writing (science) fiction. I have a lot of ideas. Sometimes I wish I lived in America or the UK since you actually have a market for it.

So you wish you didn't have to use the metric system?

Trek uses the metric system

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

So, KTR, write it in English. Your English is good enough!

Why, thank you!

So you wish you didn't have to use the metric system?

Um, no! Why on Earth would I wish something stupid like that!?

Trek uses the metric system

I know! One of the "evolved" concepts I do like!

[TPoptarts]

Um, no! Why on Earth would I wish something stupid like that!?

Uh... cuz you wish you lived in the only places that don't use the metric system?

[tennisgirl]

Hey, don't mess with the metric system! Dividing and multiplying everything by ten works just fine by me.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Um, no! Why on Earth would I wish something stupid like that!?

Uh... cuz you wish you lived in the only places that don't use the metric system?

So? I'd wish to live there despite the non-metric system.

[TPoptarts]

Hey, don't mess with the metric system! Dividing and multiplying everything by ten works just fine by me.

Yeah well it works fine by me too. What really sucks though is dividing and multiplying stuff by like 2.54 (inches) or 2.20462 (lbs) etc

[Bookworm]

Coming up with your own little universe, with its particular rules and the like, is much harder...

Yes, I agree. It's hard and takes a lot of time to do and get started, but after that is done I think it's easier to write than fan fiction. I think it's easier, because when I have done all the work myself with the characters and universe they live in my head in a way that isn't possible without all that work.

It's got more to do with the fact that it's a niche market and we're only 9 million people in Sweden. We hardly even translate science fiction stories into Swedish. Fans buy and read the English copies. But they do translate sci-fi novels into German, but there are over 80 million of them so...

There are only 5 million of us and we have a market. It's not a big one, but enough that some scifi books get translated every year and we have some Finnish scifi authors as well. Maybe it's because so many people don't like to read in English. There are few Finnish scifi magazines too that publish stories. Actually if I ever manage to gather enough courage I'm going to send some stories to a competition that one of those magazines has every August.