In order to know where to submit your work, I recommend you find an author that you like and look up to in order to try to follow in their footsteps. Once you find a writer who you idolize, try to find out what their other works are and where they have been published. I recommend these works are the same genre as yours (if you’re writing a short story, look up other short stories).
For example, I read Stuart Dybek’s short story “We Didn’t” and loved it. I therefore researched his other works, and what magazines had previously published his work. I came across some such as “Tin House”, “The Atlantic”, “Harper’s” and “5 Points”. This was a good start because then I could read up on the magazines criteria for submissions and see if I was interested in submitting my own work, and whether my writing fit what the different magazines were looking for.
Personally, this was a major step for me to know where I should submit my work. From this, I did similar research on other writers, poets and playwrights I’ve always looked up to (as well as ones I recently began liking) and now have a list of where I can submit my works in the future. I hope this helped!
Writer's 365 Day Challenge 