Traditional publishing and literary magazines

I know some people on YWS have chose o self publish which is totally ok with me, but I was wondering if anyone's been traditionally published or published a short story. I've published one short story in a anthology but it didn't feel the same as holding a real book or commercial literary magazine because there was a million other stories in there and I felt as if I couldn't reach anyone with my writing. It was pretty great don't get me wrong, but does it always feel like this?

Thanks, Joe

Well, the thing about publishing to a literary magazine instead of "really publishing" your own book is that publishing to a literary magazine will make it more likely that a "real publisher" will consider your manuscript.

A publisher wants to know that what you write will sell, and the more published shorts and poems and what-not that you have in literary magazines or newspapers, the more likely it'll be that they'll consider publishing, say, one of your novels.

It's less rewarding because it doesn't bring you heaps of fame, I suppose. And it's not as big a work, and it's not published in a way that's considered "accomplished." No, I don't think it'd be quite as satisfying, but it'd be satisfying enough for Step 2 of Becoming an Author (step 1 being something that you want to publish, of course).