It is cranberry season (I love cranberries) and I’ve been drinking so many hot drinks, too.
This post will be noticeably smaller, since this is a slow month, what with the holidays and all. But you can use this time to do some writing instead!
Info
For a market to be “notable,” it needs to be a window that just opened or will open soon (as in, sometime this month). It needs to be a limited window and not a place you can submit to every day of the year.
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 an exception to fees that is reasonable-enough to qualify for (e.g. sub early enough, specific demographics, etc.)
- You’re paid for your work. Unpaid opportunities will be included if sufficently unique (i.e. for charity, hyper-niche fanzine)
- Any kind of adaption/format is okay (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
- I mostly go by what I see on their site, their submission guidelines, and their responses to my emails, if I can’t tell/need clarification
- 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
- They treat your data with respect (e.g. no sharing/selling, basic security features on website, etc.)
- The focus of these lists will be fiction, since that’s what I mostly write. Some markets also do poetry and creative nonfiction, but those will not be the focus of these posts. If they do, I will mention it.
Markets!
In no particular order…
Format:
- Market, genre (unless the market name makes it obvious), lengths/types, pay, window info [link to submission guidelines]
Open NOW
(Note: Some places scheduled to open on the 1st might not have the switch flipped just yet, so check back later, if needed!)
- A Coup of Owls, any, 100-8K drabbles/flash/shorts, 5-15 GBP, until Dec 7 [link] (they only publish writers from underrepresented/marginalized communities)
- Apparition Lit Flash Fic Contest, SFF “Fast or Feast” theme, <1k flash, 3 c/w, until Dec 14 [link]
- Baffling Magazine, SFFH flash/shorts, 8 c/w, until Dec 14 [link]
- Event, any, <5K flash/shorts, $35/page, until Jan 31 [link]
- Also accepts poetry (up to 8, $40/page)
- manywor(l)ds, <1K flash, $10, until Jan 31 [link] (writers who fall under the queer and/or disabled umbrella only)
- The Saturday Evening Post, any, 1-5K shorts, $25, until Dec 31 [link]
- Silent Nightmares, dark holiday horror, <5K flash/shorts, 10 c/w, until Dec 31 [link]
- Stone’s Throw, any genre about “overindulgence,” 1-2K shorts, 1 c/w, until Dec 4 [link]
- The Cincinnati Review, any, <10K words flash/shorts/novelettes, $25 for <500 w 2 c/w for longer works, until Dec 31 (but might close early) [link]
- They also accept poetry (up to 5, 10 pages max, $30/page
- They also also accept literary nonfiction (<20 double-spaced pages, 2 c/w)
- Variant, any, <5.5K flash/shorts, $10, until Dec 31 [link]
- They also accept poetry (up to 5, 10 pages max, $10 each)
- They technically also accept nonfiction, but only the form of flash (<1.2K words)
- The Welkin Mini Writing Prize, micro stories up to 100 words, winnings range from 10-50 GBP, until Jan 2 ’25 [link]
- It can also be creative nonfiction! At these lengths, lines between “regular” fiction and prose poems are very blurry. So get weird!
Open SOON (later this month)
- Extra Teeth, any, 800-4K flash/shorts, 140 GBP (100 GBP if chosen for online), Dec 15 – 31 ’24 [link] (no North American writers)
- Also accepts creative nonfiction (same reqs/pay)
