Submission Protocol: New Story Strategy

I recently finished a new short story, and what I like to do before a send a shiny new word baby out on its first submission is strategize a bit to make sure I’m maximizing my submission efforts. I do this by looking at four market elements to create a submission road map for each new piece. Those elements are:

Fit: Simply, is my new story a good fit for a market? Is it the right genre, and if it is, is it the right sub-genre. What I mean by that is I write horror, but I rarely write anything th...