/lit/ - Literature

Has anybody here tried or managed to have their short stories published on the myriad of fantasy/scfi magazine out there? How hard is it? Just pure luck?

A while ago I gave some of those magazines a read and was surprised by how, well, bad or mediocre a lot of the stories were, and so I got myself genuinely questioning how is it that the selection for which story gets published actually goes. I know some of them just know someone inside the editor's team or things like that, but it can't be the bulk of it right?

Also, yes, I am gonna ask that silly question, but you can ignore if you want: what's the best path of work for an aspiring fantasy writer nowadays? Online platforms like Wattpad? Self-publishing on Amazon? Sending the manuscript to publishers like a crazy motherfucker? Is knowing someone already inside the only way without depending on that 1/1000000 chance?