For my first useful link post I’ve decided to highlight the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America website. Now, the SFWA is a professional organization but there is plenty of useful information on the site for non-members.

The site’s “For Authors” section contains articles and advice for both the business and craft of writing. It has a section specifically geared towards new writers and you can find some very education information on contracts and other legal matters. I definitely hope to be poring over that information soon!

If you just like reading you can also find member authors and their books featured on the site as well as a list of free works available online by SFWA writers.

Here is the bit that I really love though:

To become a member of the SFWA you must meet certain criteria having to do with “paid sales” to “qualifying professional markets”. It is this second condition that leads to a very useful thing. On the membership requirments page of the site they list a not exhaustive but quite extensive list of professional markets – including about 34 (at the time of this post) markets which publish short fiction. Helpfully, they include a link for each of these markets’ guidelines/submissions pages. If you are looking to try and get some short fiction published (especially Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy and Horror) this is a great place to start looking for options.

You can find the main SFWA website here.

You can find the listing of professional markets here.