Nick Mamatas spills the beans on what editors really want:
I propose a moratorium
…on the phrase, said by editors of venues who publish short stories (magazines, anthologies, collections, etc.) “I just want good stories.”The reason I think editors should no longer say this is because it is a lie and a transparent one. Editors clearly do not just want good stories.
For one thing, most stories aren’t any good at all. When was the last time you read an issue of a magazine containing several stories and said “Wow, these are all good stories!” Or an anthology? Or a collection? Most stories are just there to take up space and to “satisfice” (my favorite portmanteau!) some perceived need, and that need can be to full 256 pages or to make sure there is one story about a spaceship in each issue or because the story was written by someone who used to be famous or because it was the best of a bad bad lot and the editor has no idea how to cultivate a slush pile or solicit actual work and the thing is due in five days.
And that’s not the half of it.