My fan is now off sometimes! Also the covid shot got approved in the US so make sure you get it this month. Your grocery store will probably give you a coupon if you get it there.
Also, a new thing: no more SubStacks. I was going over my boilerplate for this and realized, you know what. It does not qualify, and has not this entire time, because of the whole “knowingly platforming Nazis” thing. I have links below with more info.
You’re free to submit to whoever you want, of course, but I cannot recommend someone put their writing on a platform that pays Nazis and alt-right extremists to spread their views. And I’m sure you would never attend an open mic at a Nazi bar, so why would you do the digital equivalent?
Also did some minor updates to the info, to further explain the logic of picking things.
Info
For a market to be shared, it needs to meet my minimums for a market I’m comfortable recommending. This means:
- No submission fees, or there’s a waiver to that is reasonable enough (e.g. sub early enough, specific demographics, etc.)
- I count mailed-in-only subs as a “fee” because it costs money
- I’ll make exceptions on a case-by-case basis
- You’re paid for your work. Unpaid opportunities will be included if sufficiently unique/compelling (i.e. sales are for charity, hyper-niche fanzine)
- Any format is cool (print, anthologies, web, audio, etc.), except crypto/NFT-bullshit
- Absolutely no AI of any sort
- No AI images, including social media posts
- No tolerance of AI-generated works
- They are respectful, professional, and not hateful
- Good contracts, they keep their word, etc
- No TERFs, Nazis, etc. or places that knowingly platform such people/views
- SubStacks no longer qualify, as [they profit from platforming and promoting Nazis]. [This is not a new issue].
- They treat your data with respect (e.g. no sharing/selling, basic security features on website, etc.)
- Nowhere the vibes are “off” (I know that’s really vague/subjective, but this is me recommending markets!)
There’s also some extra specifics to fit for this list specifically:
- This is a limited-time opportunity, either a theme or a window that will close (so places open every day of the year and have no themes, like Clarkesworld, don’t fit this)
- Markets that have schedules, like “the first week of every month” don’t qualify since it’s so predictable
- It needs to be a window lots of people can submit to, especially ones who aren’t otherwise aware they can sub to it.
- Markets with “secret” submission portals like Lightspeed don’t qualify, because you already know if you have access or not
- Markets with extremely narrow demographics (i.e. students of specific schools or members of clubs) don’t qualify, since 99.9%+ of you won’t be eligible
- Markets that do have limited demographics (like age, gender, race, disability) do qualify. Unless it’s something super narrow, like Canadians who are 13 years old exactly, then I probably won’t
- The window needs to be open long enough for readers of this to actually have a chance to submit
- This means that if I’ve seen that they hit their sub caps and close within 24 hours of opening, it’s not getting listed because it’ll be too late by the time you read this, and I don’t want to waste your time
- Even then, there’s still going to be places that qualify but won’t end up on this list, just due to time on my part. If a window has a theme, it’s a limited opportunity like an anthology, or it pays more than a token amount, then I’m more likely to list it.
Markets!
Format:
- ❓️Market, [limited demographic info (if applicable)] genre/theme (unless the market name makes it obvious), lengths/types, pay, window info [link to submission guidelines]
I shorthand the speculative genres: Science Fiction (SF), Fantasy (F), and Horror (H). So a market that says they take all three or “speculative” stories in general would be SFFH. A place that’s sci fi and fantasy would be SFF. If they give more granular genre (e.g. cosmic horror, space opera), then I’ll say those instead.
The ❓️ is 1 or more emoji to quickly communicate what lengths they take, in case you’re only interested in certain ones!
⚡️ – Flash fiction (1,000 or less)
🩳 – Short stories (1,001-7,500)
📚️ – Novelettes/Novellas (7,500-40,000-ish?)
🪶 – oh yeah poetry too
👓️ – or nonfiction (all types)
Open NOW
(Note: Some places scheduled to open on the 1st might not have the switch flipped just yet, or the switch is flipped but they haven’t updated their website, or maybe they’re in a different time zone, so check back later or click further to the submission form, if needed!)
- ⚡️#EnbyLife, [nonbinary/gender diverse authors only] “Tribute” theme, <100 word hybrid weird things (games? zines? comics? try it out!), $30 AUD, until Sep 7 [link]
- ⚡️🩳air and nothingness press anthologies, see below for specific themes, <2K flash/shorts, 8 c/w, until Sep 30 [link]
- Are You Everything Alright, “apocalypse issues…we’d like to see hopeful endings”
- Endings, SFF but the “last 15 minutes of the…story/film/book”
- ⚡️🩳📚️Apex Magazine, SFFH, <9K flash/shorts/novelettes, 8 c/w, until Sep 30 [link]
- 🩳Aurealis, [Australian authors only] SFFH, 2-8K shorts, 2 c/w AUD, until Sep 30 [link]
- 👓️Also nonfiction (0.5-2K, $40 AUD)
- ⚡️🩳Black Fox Literary, any, <5K flash/shorts, $20, until Nov 30 [link]
- 👓️Also nonfiction (<1.5K words)
- 🪶 Also poetry ($6.67 per)
- ⚡️🩳📚️The Cincinnati Review, any, <10K flash/shorts/novelettes, $25/page (how does that math out? idk it’s a literary thing), until Sep 30 (but might close earlier) [link]
- 👓️Also nonfiction (<5K words)
- 🪶Also poetry ($30/page)
- ⚡️🩳Cryptic Frog Quarterly, SFFH, 0.5-6K flash/shorts, $3, until ??? [link]
- 🪶Also poetry
- ⚡️🩳DLIM anthologies, [Filipino authors (either living in the Philippines or part of the diaspora) only] SFFH, <5K flash/shorts, 7 c/w, one closes Sep 30 and the other Feb 28 [link]
- 🪶Also poetry
- 🩳Endless Archives, Entrancing Tomes, magical/spooky libraries, 2-7.5K shorts, $10, no due date but it IS an anthology so it won’t be open forever [link]
- 🩳Escape Pod, SF, 1.5-6K shorts (but reprints can be up to 18K), 8 c/w ($100 for reprints), until May 31 [link]
- ⚡️🩳Exoplanet, SFFH, <5K flash/shorts, 1 c/w ($5 minimum), until Sep 15 [link]
- 🩳📚️The Ex-Puritan, any, 1-10K shorts/novelettes, $150, until Sep 25 [link]
- 🪶Also poetry ($50)
- 👓️Also nonfiction ($100 for interviews and reviews, $200 for essays)
- Also “experimental or hybrid work” ($50+)
- 🩳Flame Tree Press anthologies, see below for each theme, 2-4K shorts but does accept outside that range, 8 c/w
- ⚡️Flash Fiction Online, any on “human-shaped” theme, 0.5-1K flash, $100, until SEp 30 [link]
- ⚡️Flash Frog, any, <1K flash, $25, until Dec 31 [link]
- 🩳Food Systems Horror Anthology, 2-5K shorts, 5 c/w, until Sep 14 [link]
- 🩳Hearth Stories, slice-of-life/cozy fantasy (also has to be “vegan”), 1-10K shorts, 1 c/w, until Sep 30 [link]
- ⚡️🩳Heartlines Spec, SFF about long-term relationships, 0.5-3.5K flash/shorts, 8 c/w CAD, until Sep 30 [link]
- 🪶Also poetry ($60 CAD)
- ⚡️🩳Hobbyhorse, “obsession” theme, <5K flash/shorts, 2 c/w with a max of $70, closes Nov 30 [link]
- 👓️Also creative nonfiction
- ⚡️🩳If Found, Return…, “found”/epistolary fiction, <1.2K words, $10 CAD, they plan to publish it in December so it’s gonna close sooner rather than later [link]
- 👓️Also nonfiction
- ⚡️manywor(l)ds, [queer and/or disabled authors only] any, <1K flash, $10, until Oct 31 [link]
- 🪶👓️The stuff they take is weird so it can also be poetry or nonfiction
- 🩳midnight & indigo, [Black women writers only] SFFH, 2-7K shorts, 7 c/w, until Sep 15 [link]
- ⚡️🩳The Nashville Review, any, <7K flash/shorts, $100, until Sep 30? [link]
- 🪶👓️Also poetry and nonfiction
- 🩳Nettlesome, any, 2.5-5K shorts, $100, until ??? [link]
- 🩳The New Quarterly, any, 2.5-6K shorts, $400, Canadians/First Nations only, until Sep 30 [link]
- 🪶 Also poetry ($100)
- ⚡️🩳📚️ The Neurodiversiverse, ND folx interacting with aliens, <15K flash/shorts/novelettes, $50 for flash $100 for shorts, until October 1 [link]
- 🪶 Also poetry (200 lines max, $50 per)
- ⚡️Orion’s Belt, SFF, <1K flash, 8 c/w, Until Oct 31 (but they did close early in August, so don’t wait) [link]
- ⚡️🩳 The Phantom Pulse, SFFH, <3K flash/shorts, 5 c/w, until Sep 30 [link]
- 🩳📚️Radiant Dawn (a queer hopepunk anthology), 2.5-10K shorts/novelettes, 5 c/w + royalties, until Oct 15 [link]
- ⚡️Reckoning, this specific call is for “weird” fiction (still needs to be enviornmental justice-y), <1.2K flash, 15 c/w, until Oct 31 [link]
- ⚡️🩳Romance from the Rock, [authors connected to Atlantic Canada only] romance, <7.5K flash/shorts, 1 c/w CAD, until Oct 31 [link]
- ⚡️Small Wonders, SFFH, <1K flash, 10 c/w, until Sep 30? [link]
- ⚡️🩳smoke and mold, “other minds” theme (nonhuman POVs), <7K flash/shorts, $100, until Sep 30 [link]
- 🪶Also poetry
- Also interviews (4K max), comics, visual work, and “hybrid” stuff
- ⚡️SmokeLong Quarterly, any, <1K flash, $100, this is their fee-free window but you can pay the rest of the year (don’t do that!!!), open untill???? [link]
- 🩳📚️Space Ace anthology, SF stories with ace/aro characters, 1-10K shorts/novelettes, 2 c/w (p/w?) GBP, until Sep 30 [link]
- 🪶 SpecPoVerse, SFF poetry, <500 lines, $5, until Oct 31 [link]
- ⚡️🩳Superheroes, Super Problems, villains are eligible, too, <5K flash/shorts, 8 c/w, until Oct 15 [link]
- 🩳📚️Tales to Terrify, horror, <2 flash/shorts, 3 c/w, until Sep 30 [link]
- ⚡️🩳Three-Lobed Burning Eye, SFFH, 0.5-7.5K flash/shorts, 8 c/w, until Sep 15 [link]
- ⚡️🩳Trollbreath Magazine, SFFH, <7.5K flash/shorts, 4 c/w, until Oct 31 [link]
- 🪶Also poetry ($25 per)
- 👓️Also nonfiction (“articles” <2.5K, $40)
- ⚡️🩳📚️Uncanny, SFF, 0.75-10K flash/shorts/novelettes, 10 c/w, until Sep 7 [link]
- 🪶Also poetry ($40)
- 👓️Also nonfiction (essay. on what? who knows not me. $100)
- ⚡️🩳Virginia Sideways, alt-history connected to Virginia, doesn’t say but be realistic, 0.5 c/w, until Oct 31 [link]
