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It is tough to get published in a magazine or journal, but if you want to be a professional writer, I think that's the route to go. Most writing contests are not terribly high visibility, and quit...
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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18976 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
It is tough to get published in a magazine or journal, but if you want to be a professional writer, I think that's the route to go. Most writing contests are not terribly high visibility, and quite a lot of them are expensive to enter. A single solid publishing credit in a reputable magazine is worth more than a hundred awards from contests no one has ever heard from. Sci-fi and fantasy are fortunate in that there are a number of genre publications devoted to them, some more general, some more targeted. One caveat: Publications get so many unsolicited submissions that receiving any feedback at all is unlikely. If you're still at a beginning stage, you might want to join a writing group, or find some other source of criticism first. Otherwise, you might just be shouting into the void.