Congratulations! You’ve finished writing a story. You’ve typed the last word, corrected the formatting, and now it’s ready to be sent off into the world, right? Well, maybe not.

1. Get some distance.
First drafts are rarely perfect. The conventional wisdom, upon finishing a story, is to lock the story in a drawer for a week before starting to revise it. It can be difficult to see mistakes–ranging from typos to issues in continuity and back story–in anything one is too close to. This works both ways, however. Getting some distance can also help you see what’s good about your writing. For me, it’s gratifying to pick up a story I wrote that haven’t read in a while and think, “I really wrote that? Wow!”

2. Get a second opinion.
I’ve already talked about writers groups and online critique groups here. The helpfulness of a writers group or a critique group can vary. A writers group where everyone pats each other on the back and nobody offers any constructive criticism isn’t helpful. Neither is a writers group where people offer nothing but criticism without suggestions of ways a story can be improved. Ideally, a writer’s group (or online critique group, or a critique from a fellow writer) should provide feedback as to what worked, what didn’t work, and why. Without knowing why something worked or didn’t work for the reader, it’s difficult to know how to improve or change it.

3. Re-imagine, revise, rewrite.
This is many authors’ least favorite part of writing a story. Many people who strive to be authors enjoy the rush that comes from having the initial idea or having finished a draft. Or they enjoy just cranking out words. However, when it comes to revising those words, well, that sounds like work. Being willing to put in the work to fix a story’s flaws can be what separates an acceptance or other encouraging response from a rejection.

4. Research your markets.
Once the story has been reviewed, revised, and polished, now it’s time to send your story out into the world. Remember to read the guidelines for your target market and get familiar with the kinds of stories they publish ahead of time, before you send them your story. Have I stressed the importance of this enough, yet?

Beyond submitting to places that you are already familiar with (for example, magazines or sites that you read), how do you learn about the markets that are out there? There are a number of different sites online that list markets that publish genre fiction, as well as information on genre contests and anthologies that are looking for submissions.

Ralan’s Webstravaganza is a market news site has been going strong for a number of years. The site divides markets up into several different categories, including anthology markets, book publishers, pro and semi-pro markets, contests, and 4theluv (non-paying) markets. The site also provides writing help and writing links.

Duotrope’s Digest provides both an alphabetical listing of markets and a search engine for looking up markets by genre, length, pay scale, market format (print or electronic), and submission format. The site also features a theme calendar that lists the deadlines for contests, anthologies, and themed magazine issues by date.

If you’re curious as to how long it takes to hear back from a particular market, the market sites listed above both include information on market response times. Duotrope’s Digest lists author-reported response times along with the information about each market, while Ralan’s has a separate page that lists response times. You can also cruise on over to the Black Hole, a site associated with Critters, which also collects market response times reported by authors.

Finishing a story is just the first step, though it’s a large step. Don’t be daunted by what comes next. Think of it as the final few miles of a marathon, the part that separates someone who almost finishes from a winner.

Have I missed any market resources that you find useful? Tell us about them in the comments.