getting published

Wow I never thought getting published was so difficult. There are lots of wanna-be writers, and only a limited number of magazines for short stories, and as for books, well they want a history of publication. So the whole thing is like the job market for new immigrants, where they ask for Canadian Experience, and discount totally anything from elsewhere.
Right now I am plugging away at one story, my Hunting Elephant theme, trying to get it to a point where it is irresistable to editors(as if). I have about 8 versions, of various lengths. Part of the difficulty is presenting the scientific rationale behind the infra-sound concept in a readable and engaging way. At least now a mainstream scientist has done a Scientific Study that proves elephants communicate in this way. Inevitably this is presented as a brand new Discovery, all prior knowledge of this not acknowledged at all. Ah well