Finding a paying market for short stories, poetry and creative nonfiction is not easy if you are an emerging writer. The Poets & Writers database includes 1135 markets, only 154 of which are listed as paying. (Some of those only pay if your work is selected as a "best of." Others pay a token amount that can be as little as $1.50.)
In short, 90% of journals don't pay. The most a writer can expect from most literary magazines is a couple of contributor copies - provided the journal has a print version.
After culling through the P&W database, I identified 36 journals that pay their contributors. All accept online submissions, and none of them charge a reading fee.
I have listed primarily those journals accepting simultaneous submissions. (Editors who require exclusivity, offer a token payment, and take 6 months to reply are living in a dreamworld.) Exceptions are journals with a reputation, and those which offer more than a token payment.
If you submit to several journals at once, keep careful records. As soon as your story is accepted make sure to withdraw it immediately from the remaining journals, either through an email notification or directly on submittable. (If you have submitted through submittable, just click "withdraw".)
______________________
A&U
"As a national, nonprofit HIV/AIDS magazine, A&U is interested in publishing articles about AIDS-related advocacy, treatment and care, community-based organizations and campaigns, and artists and creative writers responding to the pandemic. We’re looking for writers of all serostatuses to help use showcase a wide range of perspectives about living with HIV/AIDS.
"We publish everything from sonnets to science fiction, and we are always on the lookout for fresh work in all genres that reflects current realities of living with HIV, whether the writers or characters identify as negative or positive, as world citizens, or as members of specific diverse communities. Although A&U has published several moving and insightful accounts from the first decades of the epidemic, we are excited by work that challenges older narratives about illness and reflects instead a complex and contemporary global reality."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Details on request. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Agni
"We see literature and the arts as part of a broad, ongoing cultural conversation that every society needs to remain vibrant and alive. We look for the honest voice, the idiosyncratic signature, experimental where necessary but not willfully so. Writing that grows from a vision, a perspective, and a passion will interest us, regardless of structure or approach."
Submission period: Sept 1 - May 31. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: AGNI pays $20 per page for prose and $40 per page for poetry, with a $300 maximum. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Baltimore Review
"The mission of The Baltimore Review is to showcase Baltimore as a literary hub of diverse writing and promote the work of emerging and established writers."
Submission periods: August 1 through November 30 and February 1 through May 31. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $40 Amazon gift certificate or $40 through PayPal, if preferred. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Black Denim
"Black Denim Lit welcomes thoughtful writers, new and established. We are looking for fiction up to 7,500 words that has unique and lasting artistic merit. We may consider novelettes on a case by case basis." Genre fiction: Scifi, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: 1 cent per word. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Blunderbuss
"Blunderbuss Magazine is a web magazine of arts, culture, and politics, an ordnance of fire and improvisation. What ties together these essays, stories, poems, photographs, comics, and other bits of aesthetic shrapnel is a common attitude of visceral humanism. We aim for earnest noise. We want to splash in the mud of lived experience, to battle for a radical empathy, and to provide a megaphone to howling assertions of human subjectivity."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Modest. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Border Crossing
"Founded in 2011, Border Crossing is a literary and arts journal published by the Lake Superior State University Creative Writing Program. Uniquely situated on the border of the United States and Canada, we're committed to publishing the best work submitted by emerging and established writers on both sides of the border and abroad. We're especially interested in writing that crosses boundaries in genre or geography, and voices that aren't often heard in mainstream publications."
Submission period: Sept 15 - Feb 1. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $100 for featured authors. Response time: 4-6 months.
___________________
Brain, Child
"Through essays, poetry, fiction and feature stories our writers provide their unique perspectives on being mothers. We aim to be down-to-earth, literary, commonsensical, funny, poignant, honest, respectful, irreverent, relevant and intelligent. We like to cover traditional and not-so-traditional parenting subjects; our writers are willing to address the big questions. Each issue of Brain, Child is packed with personal essays, in-depth features, a debate, a parody, fiction, and words from you: our community, our readers." Not looking for how-tos.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Buffalo Almanack
"Buffalo Almanack considers fiction of all styles and genres. We neither discriminate against the traditional nor the experimental, neither the “literary” nor the fantastic. Our interest in domestic micro-fiction is as great as our interest in space-travel novellas and we’ll always save a seat for the remarkable and unexpected."
Submission periods: February, March, May, June, August, September, November, December. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $50 prize for the best of each issue. Response time: 1 month.
____________________
Carte Blanche
"At carte blanche we believe there is more than one way to tell a story. Our mandate is to provide a venue for narrative of all forms from fiction and nonfiction, to poetry and photo essays. carte blanche is published three times a year in the winter, spring/summer, and fall. carte blanche is a volunteer, not-for-profit literary project published by the Quebec Writers’ Federation, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and individual sponsors.
Submission periods: March 15 until May 1, 2015 and from September 1, 2015 until January 1, 2016. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Modest. Response time: 3 to 6 months
____________________
Contrary
"Contrary is a quarterly literary journal that publishes commentary, fiction, and poetry and especially specimens that defy those categories. Founded at the University of Chicago in 2003, it operates independently on the South Side of Chicago and publishes writers from throughout the world."
Submission periods: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $20. Response time: 3 to 6 months.
____________________
Falling Star
"Falling Star Magazine is a print quarterly featuring short fiction, poetry and art of all mediums. Founded in Winter 2000, Falling Star presents work from the world's emerging writers and established literary voices; recent contributors hail from Michigan and Poland, L.A. and the U.K."
Submission periods: Themed issues, submission periods not clear. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $10 per poem and $25 per story. Response time: 3 to 6 months.
___________________
Fiction Desk
"The Fiction Desk publishes a range of short stories from new and emerging authors, with a focus on strong plots and characters. We're based in the UK, but we accept submissions from authors around the world."
Submission periods: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment:£15 per thousand words. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Freeze frame fiction
"freeze frame fiction is a quarterly flash fiction publication. The idea: any genre, no content restrictions—just good flash fiction. freeze frame fiction is looking for stories that stick with you, despite how short they are. We want to showcase just how powerful flash fiction can be. We want developed characters and interesting plots. One thing we're not looking for is vignettes: all stories must be complete stories, even if the ending is left open to the reader's interpretation."
Submission periods: All year. (See guidelines for details.) Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $10. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Geist
"Geist is a magazine of ideas and culture made in Canada with a strong literary focus and a sense of humour. The Geist tone is intelligent, plain-talking, inclusive and offbeat. Each issue represents a convergence of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, art, reviews, little-known facts of interest, cartography, and the legendary Geist crossword puzzle. Geist is a Canadian magazine, and requires a Canadian connection in all non-contest submissions."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 4 months.
___________________
The Georgia Review
"The Georgia Review seeks memorable and distinctive poems, short stories, and essays, whether from Pulitzer Prize winners or previously unpublished writers. Thesis-oriented interdisciplinary essays are especially welcome. Occasional special features on topics or individual writers."
Submission period: Closed to submissions between May 15 and August 15. Submissions received during that period will be returned unread. Simultaneous submissions not allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3-6 months.
___________________
Glimmer Train
"We have a special focus on emerging writers, holding the Short Story Award for New Writers four times a year. In a recent Best American Short Stories, of the top "100 distinguished short stories," six appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, second only to the New Yorker. We are pleased to say that, of those six, two were those authors' first stories accepted for publication. Every year we pay writers over $50,000, nearly a third of that going to new writers."
Submission period: May, September, January (no fee). Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $700. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
"The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is looking for, as you might guess, "compressed creative arts." We accept fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, mixed media, visual arts, and even kitchen sinks, if they are compressed in some way. Work is published weekly, without labels, and the labels here only exist to help us determine its best readers."
Submission period: Until July 15. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $50. Response time: 1-3 days.
___________________
Kansas City Voices
"There is no “type” of work we are looking for, and while we would love for you to read through our previous issues, it is not an indicator of what kind of work we actively seek. Our editors rotate, our tastes evolve, and good work is just good work. We want to feel something when we encounter a piece. We want to be excited, surprised, thoughtful, and interested. We want to have a reaction. We want to share the best voices we find. Send us that one."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Small. Response time: 3-6 months.
____________________
LONTAR
"The editors of LONTAR are looking for quality literary writing with elements of the fantastic, which is in some way connected with the cultures, traditions, mythologies, folk religions, and/or daily life in Southeast Asia. While we are happy to look at works by writers outside of the region, we want to actively encourage Southeast Asian writers to submit your work." Located in Singapore.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $25 SGD per story (or $10 SGD per poem). Response time: 3-6 months.
___________________
The Masters Review
"Our New Voices category is open year round to any new or emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length. Authors with short story collections are free to submit."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $0.10/word up to $200. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Neon
"We seek work that is beautiful, shocking, intense and memorable. Darker pieces are generally favoured over humorous ones - as are free verse poems over those that rhyme. Genre work is welcome, experimentation is encouraged. There are no limits on form or word count."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months. Reprints accepted.
____________________
Okay-Panky
"Okay-Panky is a weekly online magazine of short, darkly comic, ironic, and experimental fiction, essay, poetry, and graphic narrative published by Electric Literature."
Submission period: Late summer 2015. (Two calls per year.) Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $100. Response time: 3-6 months.
____________________
The Pedestal Magazine
"As editors of The Pedestal Magazine, we intend to support both established and burgeoning writers. We are committed to promoting diversity and celebrating the voice of the individual."
Submission period: See guidelines for schedule. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $40 per poem, $.03 cents per word for flash fiction. Response time: 4-8 weeks.
____________________
Printers Row
"Every week, a new fiction story is delivered with the Printers Row Journal, a product of the Chicago Tribune. We are always looking for story submissions, which will be judged on a rolling schedule. At the center of Printers Row Journal, our premium weekly supplement, is a handsomely produced short story pamphlet. The Tribune showcases winners of our Nelson Algren Short Story competition but aims to build on that tradition by spotlighting even more top-quality new work. While we love stories from the Midwest, our goal is to honor glorious stories regardless of setting."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Punchnel’s
"Punchnel’s is a general-interest web magazine written for a smart, discerning audience of adults around the world. We publish continually, with new material appearing every weekday. We don’t have a specific editorial focus. We buy what we like."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $10.00. Response time: 6 weeks. Reprints accepted.
____________________
The Puritan
"The Puritan is an online, quarterly publication based in Toronto, Ontario committed to publishing the best in new fiction, poetry, interviews, and reviews. The Puritan seeks, above all, a pioneering literature. Work featured here may push toward the symbolic frontier, challenging limitations and forging into previously unexplored aesthetic territory. But it may also revisit and revitalize traditional forms. The Puritan embraces work wherever it lands on the conceptual spectrum, so long as it is original, intelligent, and engaging."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: See guidelines for schedule of payments. Response time: Not specified.
____________________
Read Short Fiction
"Read Short Fiction is dedicated to publishing quality stories of almost all genres (we don’t publish erotica, and, as we are seeking stories designed for a large audience, we will rarely publish work that is too experimental). Word lengths should be between 1,500 and 4,000 words."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: 5 cents per word, with a cap of $150 per story (first 3,000 words). Response time: 6 - 9 months.
___________________
The Rusty Toque
"The Rusty Toque accepts unpublished literary writing in the following genres: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, graphic short fiction, and experimental writing. Fiction submissions should be between 1200 and 6000 words."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $50 (CAD). Response time: Not specified.
___________________
Slice
"Slice magazine welcomes submissions for short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We're looking for anyone with a fresh voice and a compelling story to share—basically any work that really knocks our socks off. We're not drawn to experimental or heavy-handed genre fiction." Themed issues.
Submission period: June 1 - August 1, 2015. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $100 for stories and essays and $25 for poems. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Southern Indiana Review
Accepts fiction, poetry, drama, art. All genres.
Submission period: September 1st to April 30th. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $75 (for up to five layout pages) and $150 (six or more layout pages). Response time: 3 months.
__________________
Spark
Spark is not a genre-specific anthology; we are looking for great stories without boundaries. Therefore, most genres are considered, including Speculative Fiction, Western, Young Adult, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Mystery/Crime, everything in-between, and impossible-to-classify works that blend elements from multiple categories. However, due to current market saturation, the specific sub-genre “Young Adult Paranormal Romance” has very little chance of acceptance unless it’s truly amazing.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: 2¢ per word or $20 per work, whichever is more. Response time: 6 months.
____________________
Still Point Arts Quarterly
"Still Point Arts Quarterly is a publication with a clear focus on art, artists, and artistry. Within this focus, the Quarterly addresses topics such as inspiration, imagination, and creativity as well as offering articles on art history, artist biographies, and art criticism. Both non-fiction and fiction are published (up to approximately 5000 words), and poetry is published on occasion."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Modest. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
The Stoneslide Corrective
"We’ll look at any genre. We like serious, comic, lighthearted, dark, emotional, and acerbic. The important factor for us is that the work use story, characters, emotions, and other fundamental elements of storytelling to think, to ask questions, to move the mind forward. "
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $250 for short fiction and short narrative non-fiction, and $100 for flash pieces up to 1,000 words. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Tin House
"Tin House is a haven for authors at the peak of their powers and also a jumping-off point for unpublished writers and anyone taking risks, pushing form and language. We're a magazine not identified with any one region but international, drawing writers and contributing editors from all over the globe. Each issue seeks to be tantamount to an invitation to the greatest literary house party ever."
Submission period: September 1 through May 31. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Vine Leaves Literary Journal
"Founded in late 2011, by Publishing Editor, Jessica Bell, Vine Leaves Literary Journal offers the vignette, a forgotten literary form, the exposure and credit it deserves. The journal, published quarterly online, is a lush synergy of atmospheric prose, poetry, photography and illustrations, put together with an eye for aesthetics as well as literary merit." 800 word max.
Submission period: January Issue: October 1st – November 30th ; April Issue: January 1st – February 28th ; July Issue: April 1st – May 31st ; October Issue: July 1st – August 31st . Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $5 AUD. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Workers Write!
"Each issue of Workers Write! contains stories and poems from a particular workplace. The 12th issue will be Tales from the Construction Site and will contain stories and poems from laborers, carpenters, plumbers, welders, foremen, safety inspectors, individual contractors - anyone who builds or works in construction for a living."
Submission period: Deadline Dec 31, 2015. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Between $5 and $50. Response time: 3 - 6 months.
In short, 90% of journals don't pay. The most a writer can expect from most literary magazines is a couple of contributor copies - provided the journal has a print version.
After culling through the P&W database, I identified 36 journals that pay their contributors. All accept online submissions, and none of them charge a reading fee.
I have listed primarily those journals accepting simultaneous submissions. (Editors who require exclusivity, offer a token payment, and take 6 months to reply are living in a dreamworld.) Exceptions are journals with a reputation, and those which offer more than a token payment.
If you submit to several journals at once, keep careful records. As soon as your story is accepted make sure to withdraw it immediately from the remaining journals, either through an email notification or directly on submittable. (If you have submitted through submittable, just click "withdraw".)
______________________
A&U
"As a national, nonprofit HIV/AIDS magazine, A&U is interested in publishing articles about AIDS-related advocacy, treatment and care, community-based organizations and campaigns, and artists and creative writers responding to the pandemic. We’re looking for writers of all serostatuses to help use showcase a wide range of perspectives about living with HIV/AIDS.
"We publish everything from sonnets to science fiction, and we are always on the lookout for fresh work in all genres that reflects current realities of living with HIV, whether the writers or characters identify as negative or positive, as world citizens, or as members of specific diverse communities. Although A&U has published several moving and insightful accounts from the first decades of the epidemic, we are excited by work that challenges older narratives about illness and reflects instead a complex and contemporary global reality."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Details on request. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Agni
"We see literature and the arts as part of a broad, ongoing cultural conversation that every society needs to remain vibrant and alive. We look for the honest voice, the idiosyncratic signature, experimental where necessary but not willfully so. Writing that grows from a vision, a perspective, and a passion will interest us, regardless of structure or approach."
Submission period: Sept 1 - May 31. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: AGNI pays $20 per page for prose and $40 per page for poetry, with a $300 maximum. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Baltimore Review
"The mission of The Baltimore Review is to showcase Baltimore as a literary hub of diverse writing and promote the work of emerging and established writers."
Submission periods: August 1 through November 30 and February 1 through May 31. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $40 Amazon gift certificate or $40 through PayPal, if preferred. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Black Denim
"Black Denim Lit welcomes thoughtful writers, new and established. We are looking for fiction up to 7,500 words that has unique and lasting artistic merit. We may consider novelettes on a case by case basis." Genre fiction: Scifi, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: 1 cent per word. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Blunderbuss
"Blunderbuss Magazine is a web magazine of arts, culture, and politics, an ordnance of fire and improvisation. What ties together these essays, stories, poems, photographs, comics, and other bits of aesthetic shrapnel is a common attitude of visceral humanism. We aim for earnest noise. We want to splash in the mud of lived experience, to battle for a radical empathy, and to provide a megaphone to howling assertions of human subjectivity."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Modest. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Border Crossing
"Founded in 2011, Border Crossing is a literary and arts journal published by the Lake Superior State University Creative Writing Program. Uniquely situated on the border of the United States and Canada, we're committed to publishing the best work submitted by emerging and established writers on both sides of the border and abroad. We're especially interested in writing that crosses boundaries in genre or geography, and voices that aren't often heard in mainstream publications."
Submission period: Sept 15 - Feb 1. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $100 for featured authors. Response time: 4-6 months.
___________________
Brain, Child
"Through essays, poetry, fiction and feature stories our writers provide their unique perspectives on being mothers. We aim to be down-to-earth, literary, commonsensical, funny, poignant, honest, respectful, irreverent, relevant and intelligent. We like to cover traditional and not-so-traditional parenting subjects; our writers are willing to address the big questions. Each issue of Brain, Child is packed with personal essays, in-depth features, a debate, a parody, fiction, and words from you: our community, our readers." Not looking for how-tos.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Buffalo Almanack
"Buffalo Almanack considers fiction of all styles and genres. We neither discriminate against the traditional nor the experimental, neither the “literary” nor the fantastic. Our interest in domestic micro-fiction is as great as our interest in space-travel novellas and we’ll always save a seat for the remarkable and unexpected."
Submission periods: February, March, May, June, August, September, November, December. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $50 prize for the best of each issue. Response time: 1 month.
____________________
Carte Blanche
"At carte blanche we believe there is more than one way to tell a story. Our mandate is to provide a venue for narrative of all forms from fiction and nonfiction, to poetry and photo essays. carte blanche is published three times a year in the winter, spring/summer, and fall. carte blanche is a volunteer, not-for-profit literary project published by the Quebec Writers’ Federation, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and individual sponsors.
Submission periods: March 15 until May 1, 2015 and from September 1, 2015 until January 1, 2016. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Modest. Response time: 3 to 6 months
____________________
Contrary
"Contrary is a quarterly literary journal that publishes commentary, fiction, and poetry and especially specimens that defy those categories. Founded at the University of Chicago in 2003, it operates independently on the South Side of Chicago and publishes writers from throughout the world."
Submission periods: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $20. Response time: 3 to 6 months.
____________________
Falling Star
"Falling Star Magazine is a print quarterly featuring short fiction, poetry and art of all mediums. Founded in Winter 2000, Falling Star presents work from the world's emerging writers and established literary voices; recent contributors hail from Michigan and Poland, L.A. and the U.K."
Submission periods: Themed issues, submission periods not clear. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $10 per poem and $25 per story. Response time: 3 to 6 months.
___________________
Fiction Desk
"The Fiction Desk publishes a range of short stories from new and emerging authors, with a focus on strong plots and characters. We're based in the UK, but we accept submissions from authors around the world."
Submission periods: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment:£15 per thousand words. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Freeze frame fiction
"freeze frame fiction is a quarterly flash fiction publication. The idea: any genre, no content restrictions—just good flash fiction. freeze frame fiction is looking for stories that stick with you, despite how short they are. We want to showcase just how powerful flash fiction can be. We want developed characters and interesting plots. One thing we're not looking for is vignettes: all stories must be complete stories, even if the ending is left open to the reader's interpretation."
Submission periods: All year. (See guidelines for details.) Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $10. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Geist
"Geist is a magazine of ideas and culture made in Canada with a strong literary focus and a sense of humour. The Geist tone is intelligent, plain-talking, inclusive and offbeat. Each issue represents a convergence of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, art, reviews, little-known facts of interest, cartography, and the legendary Geist crossword puzzle. Geist is a Canadian magazine, and requires a Canadian connection in all non-contest submissions."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 4 months.
___________________
The Georgia Review
"The Georgia Review seeks memorable and distinctive poems, short stories, and essays, whether from Pulitzer Prize winners or previously unpublished writers. Thesis-oriented interdisciplinary essays are especially welcome. Occasional special features on topics or individual writers."
Submission period: Closed to submissions between May 15 and August 15. Submissions received during that period will be returned unread. Simultaneous submissions not allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3-6 months.
___________________
Glimmer Train
"We have a special focus on emerging writers, holding the Short Story Award for New Writers four times a year. In a recent Best American Short Stories, of the top "100 distinguished short stories," six appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, second only to the New Yorker. We are pleased to say that, of those six, two were those authors' first stories accepted for publication. Every year we pay writers over $50,000, nearly a third of that going to new writers."
Submission period: May, September, January (no fee). Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $700. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
"The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts is looking for, as you might guess, "compressed creative arts." We accept fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, mixed media, visual arts, and even kitchen sinks, if they are compressed in some way. Work is published weekly, without labels, and the labels here only exist to help us determine its best readers."
Submission period: Until July 15. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $50. Response time: 1-3 days.
___________________
Kansas City Voices
"There is no “type” of work we are looking for, and while we would love for you to read through our previous issues, it is not an indicator of what kind of work we actively seek. Our editors rotate, our tastes evolve, and good work is just good work. We want to feel something when we encounter a piece. We want to be excited, surprised, thoughtful, and interested. We want to have a reaction. We want to share the best voices we find. Send us that one."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Small. Response time: 3-6 months.
____________________
LONTAR
"The editors of LONTAR are looking for quality literary writing with elements of the fantastic, which is in some way connected with the cultures, traditions, mythologies, folk religions, and/or daily life in Southeast Asia. While we are happy to look at works by writers outside of the region, we want to actively encourage Southeast Asian writers to submit your work." Located in Singapore.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $25 SGD per story (or $10 SGD per poem). Response time: 3-6 months.
___________________
The Masters Review
"Our New Voices category is open year round to any new or emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length. Authors with short story collections are free to submit."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $0.10/word up to $200. Response time: 3 months.
____________________
Neon
"We seek work that is beautiful, shocking, intense and memorable. Darker pieces are generally favoured over humorous ones - as are free verse poems over those that rhyme. Genre work is welcome, experimentation is encouraged. There are no limits on form or word count."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months. Reprints accepted.
____________________
Okay-Panky
"Okay-Panky is a weekly online magazine of short, darkly comic, ironic, and experimental fiction, essay, poetry, and graphic narrative published by Electric Literature."
Submission period: Late summer 2015. (Two calls per year.) Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $100. Response time: 3-6 months.
____________________
The Pedestal Magazine
"As editors of The Pedestal Magazine, we intend to support both established and burgeoning writers. We are committed to promoting diversity and celebrating the voice of the individual."
Submission period: See guidelines for schedule. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $40 per poem, $.03 cents per word for flash fiction. Response time: 4-8 weeks.
____________________
Printers Row
"Every week, a new fiction story is delivered with the Printers Row Journal, a product of the Chicago Tribune. We are always looking for story submissions, which will be judged on a rolling schedule. At the center of Printers Row Journal, our premium weekly supplement, is a handsomely produced short story pamphlet. The Tribune showcases winners of our Nelson Algren Short Story competition but aims to build on that tradition by spotlighting even more top-quality new work. While we love stories from the Midwest, our goal is to honor glorious stories regardless of setting."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months.
___________________
Punchnel’s
"Punchnel’s is a general-interest web magazine written for a smart, discerning audience of adults around the world. We publish continually, with new material appearing every weekday. We don’t have a specific editorial focus. We buy what we like."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $10.00. Response time: 6 weeks. Reprints accepted.
____________________
The Puritan
"The Puritan is an online, quarterly publication based in Toronto, Ontario committed to publishing the best in new fiction, poetry, interviews, and reviews. The Puritan seeks, above all, a pioneering literature. Work featured here may push toward the symbolic frontier, challenging limitations and forging into previously unexplored aesthetic territory. But it may also revisit and revitalize traditional forms. The Puritan embraces work wherever it lands on the conceptual spectrum, so long as it is original, intelligent, and engaging."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: See guidelines for schedule of payments. Response time: Not specified.
____________________
Read Short Fiction
"Read Short Fiction is dedicated to publishing quality stories of almost all genres (we don’t publish erotica, and, as we are seeking stories designed for a large audience, we will rarely publish work that is too experimental). Word lengths should be between 1,500 and 4,000 words."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: 5 cents per word, with a cap of $150 per story (first 3,000 words). Response time: 6 - 9 months.
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The Rusty Toque
"The Rusty Toque accepts unpublished literary writing in the following genres: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, graphic short fiction, and experimental writing. Fiction submissions should be between 1200 and 6000 words."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $50 (CAD). Response time: Not specified.
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Slice
"Slice magazine welcomes submissions for short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We're looking for anyone with a fresh voice and a compelling story to share—basically any work that really knocks our socks off. We're not drawn to experimental or heavy-handed genre fiction." Themed issues.
Submission period: June 1 - August 1, 2015. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $100 for stories and essays and $25 for poems. Response time: 3 months.
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Southern Indiana Review
Accepts fiction, poetry, drama, art. All genres.
Submission period: September 1st to April 30th. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $75 (for up to five layout pages) and $150 (six or more layout pages). Response time: 3 months.
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Spark
Spark is not a genre-specific anthology; we are looking for great stories without boundaries. Therefore, most genres are considered, including Speculative Fiction, Western, Young Adult, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Mystery/Crime, everything in-between, and impossible-to-classify works that blend elements from multiple categories. However, due to current market saturation, the specific sub-genre “Young Adult Paranormal Romance” has very little chance of acceptance unless it’s truly amazing.
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: 2¢ per word or $20 per work, whichever is more. Response time: 6 months.
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Still Point Arts Quarterly
"Still Point Arts Quarterly is a publication with a clear focus on art, artists, and artistry. Within this focus, the Quarterly addresses topics such as inspiration, imagination, and creativity as well as offering articles on art history, artist biographies, and art criticism. Both non-fiction and fiction are published (up to approximately 5000 words), and poetry is published on occasion."
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Modest. Response time: 3 months.
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The Stoneslide Corrective
"We’ll look at any genre. We like serious, comic, lighthearted, dark, emotional, and acerbic. The important factor for us is that the work use story, characters, emotions, and other fundamental elements of storytelling to think, to ask questions, to move the mind forward. "
Submission period: All year. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $250 for short fiction and short narrative non-fiction, and $100 for flash pieces up to 1,000 words. Response time: 3 months.
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Tin House
"Tin House is a haven for authors at the peak of their powers and also a jumping-off point for unpublished writers and anyone taking risks, pushing form and language. We're a magazine not identified with any one region but international, drawing writers and contributing editors from all over the globe. Each issue seeks to be tantamount to an invitation to the greatest literary house party ever."
Submission period: September 1 through May 31. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Not specified. Response time: 3 months.
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Vine Leaves Literary Journal
"Founded in late 2011, by Publishing Editor, Jessica Bell, Vine Leaves Literary Journal offers the vignette, a forgotten literary form, the exposure and credit it deserves. The journal, published quarterly online, is a lush synergy of atmospheric prose, poetry, photography and illustrations, put together with an eye for aesthetics as well as literary merit." 800 word max.
Submission period: January Issue: October 1st – November 30th ; April Issue: January 1st – February 28th ; July Issue: April 1st – May 31st ; October Issue: July 1st – August 31st . Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: $5 AUD. Response time: 3 months.
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Workers Write!
"Each issue of Workers Write! contains stories and poems from a particular workplace. The 12th issue will be Tales from the Construction Site and will contain stories and poems from laborers, carpenters, plumbers, welders, foremen, safety inspectors, individual contractors - anyone who builds or works in construction for a living."
Submission period: Deadline Dec 31, 2015. Simultaneous submissions allowed. Payment: Between $5 and $50. Response time: 3 - 6 months.
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