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Hi friends, things have been wonderfully crazy this past week (and come to think of it, the week before that, and the week before that…and…okay you get it). Because I’m helping plan a bunch of really exciting upcoming projects that I can’t quite talk about yet, my days have looked like night and nights like days, which is to say I’ve been awake for most of the time ha.
Because of this busyness, I’m thinking in general about the nature of work and also about our lives as writers. How it can be a wonderful thing to get to work as a writer full time, but it’s also very rare, and perhaps the next best thing is to get to work with other writers and for other writers.
I suppose submitting is in a bit of a cool space in that sense. Like, you’re working for yourself, but not exactly for any money (yes lit mags pay, but come on that’s not the primary reason we submit). And you’re also working for other writers in a way, because submitting means you’re actively taking part in the literary world, propped up by other working writers just like you.
Our goals might be wildly different, whether it’s career or prestige or community or finding a husband (was that my goal per say, no…did that happen to me…yes), but in this act of submitting our work I think we’re also upholding in our small ways the literary community at large. Call me grandiose or whatever, but I think that’s a noble thing.
For today then, I’ve gathered 23 of the open calls that pay some money and also don’t charge fees. You’ll find I don’t always just highlight this combo because I think mags who don’t pay can also be great for example, but today I wanted to specifically give you opps that are monetarily accessible shall we say.
Even though we’re not making millions by submitting our work and trying to build our writing careers, it’s a beautiful thing to get paid for your writing. I know folks who have framed their first checks from lit mags. How fucking sweet. Makes me cry and all that. Go be your amazing writer selves, friends, and go get published, but go make money but most of all GO SUBMIT!
You can access the spreadsheet of all opportunities closing for subs or those that have recently opened by clicking the button below. We also show you open indie press and contest reading periods. To use it for yourself, just go to “file” and then “make a copy”.
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One more thing: you’ll notice below we have something new, it’s called Mole Notes. And that’s because our new mascot is a mole, and he insisted on taking an active interest in your submission journey. So from now, the mole’s going to leave little tidbits below each mag. I can’t control what he’ll say. Moles be crazy sometimes. But seeing as he’s super cute (he is right…validate him please), I think it’ll be worthwhile.
Deadline: Aug 15 | Fee: No | Pay: £5/piece | Open for Fiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 14 days | A: <1% | Under 100 followers | United Kingdom | 2019 — "The cause of Roman poet Ovid’s exile was “carmen et error”, a poem and a mistake. We want your poems and your mistakes. Fiction that falls between genres. Weird, wild poems. Anything speculative, daring, or just plain odd."
Send them: Spunky, moody, and imagist stories + poems ✴︎ Get inspired: ”Same old” by Michelle Penn ✴︎ One more thing: Make sure the poems are no longer than 40 lines and the microfiction is less than 400 words.
Deadline: Aug 31 | Fee: No | Pay: $0.08/word or $20/piece | Open for Fiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ☑︎ Some Reprints | R: 180 days | 2K+ followers | United States | 2021 — "A speculative fiction magazine featuring stories for a 21st century audience. We love stories with a sense of adventure, stories that teach us, that touch us, that leave us wanting more."
Send them: Tender, character-driven tales or poems (best if they tend to leave a lump in ye ole throat) ✴︎ Get inspired: “In This Dimension, Do You Still Believe in God” by Lora Gray ✴︎ One more thing: They have a firm stance against LLM-gen’d work, so, like, don’t send that.
Deadline: Aug 31 | Fee: No | Pay: $100-$500 flat | Open for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Multimedia | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 60 days | A: 5.79% | Under 100 followers | United States | 1947 — "EPOCH publishes fiction, poetry, essays, comics, and graphic art."
Send them: Super polished, well-edited work that screams oh-la-la ✴︎ Get inspired: “Mapping the Formless: A Meditation on the Poetics of Fiction” by Zibusiso Mpofu ✴︎ One more thing: None of the printed work is available online, so they’re blog subs are separate and currently they are open for the in-print only issue, vol 74 (woah).
Deadline: Sep 1 | Fee: No | Pay: $75-$125/piece | Open for Fiction, Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | 100+ followers | United States | 2026 — "We are a Latine culture + lit publication that lives on Substack. We publish fiction, creative non-fiction, personal essays, cultural criticism and more from Latine POVs."
Send them: Expectation defying “latino stories” ✴︎ Get inspired: “Quejas, A Partial Inventory” by Stephanie Espinoza ✴︎ One more thing: A new Substack pub and one centering Latine stories and POVs run by an editor who seems both experienced and passionate about this new project, best of wishes to them!
Deadline: Sep 15 | Fee: No | Pay: $10 flat | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 14 days | A: 2.22% | 2K+ followers | United States | 2023 — "The Philly Chapbook Review (PCR) was founded in 2023 as an online literary journal for book reviews, author features, and publishing news focused on chapbooks. It has since expanded to include original poetry and fiction."
Send them: Completed chapbook reviews of work forthcoming or published in the last 12 months OR chapbooks of your own! ✴︎ Get inspired: “Nova” by Kimmy Chang ✴︎ One more thing: Major publishers only print books over 45 pages, a chapbook is below that and it’s meant as a small portfolio collection of a writer’s work…and there aren’t tons of placing publishing these, so these folks are rare!
Deadline: Sep 30 | Fee: No | Pay: $25/piece | Open for Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 90 days | A: 2.63% | 2K+ followers | United States | 2017 — "Gordon Square Review is published online biannually to showcase emerging writers nationwide and internationally, award editing mentorships, and provide a venue to spotlight Northeast Ohio writers."
Send them: Formally inventive, fresh writing that isn’t afraid to dip into the emotional ✴︎ Get inspired: “Name Him” by Matthew Zhao ✴︎ One more thing: They publish biannually and are run by Literary Cleveland, through that support they also offer editorial guidance to select contributors
Deadline: Oct 1 | Fee: No | Pay: $100 flat | Open for Poetry, Fiction, Hybrid, Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 90 days | A: 6.29% | 10K+ followers | United States | 2016 — "A biannual compendium of the most dynamic, urgent LGBTQ+ writing today. It’s a space where queer and trans writers celebrate, mourn, rage, and embrace."
Send them: your cool queer stuff that can’t be contained ✴︎ Get inspired: This entire issue because oh dang how cool ✴︎ One more thing: They’re especially interested in highlighting and creating discourse around intersectional identities
Deadline: Oct 1 | Fee: No | Pay: $10-$100/piece or $0.05/word or $10 flat | Open for Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 30 days | Under 100 followers | United States | 2026 — "Sun Thief Literary Journal is a biannual literary magazine committed to well-crafted, difficult work that experiments with the boundaries between self and other, mind and world, writer and text."
Send them: genre-blurring work that deals with unique human experiences in the way that’s authentic to you ✴︎ Get inspired: They’re new so read their newest Substack post! ✴︎ One more thing: They outright say they want stuff that’s “difficult”, don’t see that a lot out there
Deadline: Oct 31 | Fee: No | Pay: Yes | Open for Poetry, Fiction, Multimedia | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 56 days | 200+ followers | Singapore | 2018 — “We also publish non-English works, as well as their translated.”
Send them: writing that draws connections between humans & the environments they live in + create ✴︎ Get inspired: “audible retablos of my neighborhood coordinates” by Priya Sarukkai Chabria ✴︎ One more thing: They are open to critical writing as well as creative, i like seeing this mix
Deadline: Nov 14 | Fee: No | Pay: CA$10 flat | Open for Fiction, Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | Under 100 followers | Canada | 2026 — "Edmonton's only magazine."
Send them: Nostalgic, weird, surreal, GOOD prose ✴︎ Get inspired: By their kickass website b/c issues are print-only (buy ‘em if ya can!) ✴︎ One more thing: I’m sorry I just need to reproduce this here because it’s great, they say they’re “a sardonic love letter to brutalist architecture, brutal winters, and big shiny balls.”
Deadline: Dec 1 | Fee: No | Pay: $50/piece | Open for Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 180 days | A: 3.45% | 7K+ followers | United States | 1889 — "America's oldest poetry magazine, publishing in print since 1889. Poet Lore is a biannual print journal of poetry, featuring the finest in contemporary writing. We love featuring poems that broaden the spectrum of what poetry is – and can be – on the page."
Send them: poems in translation ✴︎ Get inspired: “Pop Culture and Response” folio from Hanif Abdurraqib, Guest Editor ✴︎ One more thing: They’re one of the most prestigious poetry ony mags out there
Deadline: Dec 16 | Fee: No | Pay: $3/page or $10/piece | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 162 days | A: 11.76% | Under 100 followers | United States | 1965 — "Nationally and internationally recognized journal published by the students of Westminster College, featuring poetry and creative writing by Westminster students and guest contributors."
Send them: besides the usual suspects, they also want drama (that is to say, plays and scripts). ✴︎ Get inspired: Recent issue on “the body” ✴︎ One more thing: All contributors get 2 free copies and all submitted poems are considered for a special $100 award.
Deadline: Apr 1, 2027 | Fee: No | Pay: $0.1/word or $100 flat | Open for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 120 days | A: <1% | Under 100 followers | United States | 1977 — "A thrice-yearly magazine of poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews."
Send them: creative writing that feels prescient and relevant in today’s world ✴︎ Get inspired: Psalms 38, 102 & 130 — A Translation Project by Emma De Lisle, Talin Tahajian, and Sam Bailey ✴︎ One more thing: Make sure you number your pages and don’t send them stuff over 15 pages!
Deadline: Sep 6 | Fee: No | Total awarded: $200 | Open for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry — "We publish social change. We mobilize today’s artists and writers to do good."
Send them: one poem or one prose piece that’s rooted in lived experience or feels literary and fresh or all of the above ofc ✴︎ Get inspired: This gorgeous Issue #14 ✴︎ One more thing: They’re incredibly popular and past contributors have nothin but good stuff to share
Deadline: Aug 7 | Fee: No | Pay: $0.08/word | Open for Fiction | ✖️ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 90 days | A: 9.38% | Under 100 followers — "Hugo-Nominated Magazine of Speculative Fiction. Our mission is to publish the finest in speculative and imaginative fiction and poetry, with special attention to character-driven stories"
Send them: sci-fi stories that’ll scare ‘em sh!tless on account of the awe-inspiring creativity and then make ‘em want to call you on account of how plausible it all seems ✴︎ Get inspired: “Who is Quizmo Cartada” by Alma Alexander ✴︎ One more thing: No AI and also they say they don’t want stuff that’s too political sooo take that as ya will.
Deadline: Aug 9 | Fee: No | Pay: £0.06/word | Open for Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ☑︎ Some Reprints | R: 120 days | A: 9.76% | 700+ followers | United Kingdom | 1992 — "Independent publisher and creator of fine books, journals, notebooks and art calendars, with a focus on myths, gothic fantasy and great works. Regular open submission calls for our themed short-story anthologies."
Send them: romantic fantasy, or cosmic horror, or zombie stuff, or forbidden love stories ✴︎ Get inspired: This Way Lies Madness ed. by Lee Murray & Dave Jeffery ✴︎ One more thing: They publish print anthologies around different themes all-year around and also have a podcast
Deadline: Aug 10 | Fee: No | Pay: $100 flat | Open for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Hybrid, Multimedia | ✖️ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | 2K+ followers | United States — "The Polyglot is a Canadian biannual online magazine devoted to publishing multilingual poetry and art."
Send them: Indigenous fiction, nonfiction, and poetry as well as hybrid work that weaves Indigenous languages into creative expression ✴︎ Get inspired: Of Mothers & Madonna by Luciana Erregue-Sacchi ✴︎ One more thing: They are devoted to reviving and celebrating Indigenous heritage and art
Deadline: Aug 10 | Fee: No | Pay: $175 flat or $50-$350/piece | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | 40K+ followers | United States | 2003 — "The home for international literature."
Send them: book reviews, interviews, & translated works ✴︎ Get inspired:
”From ‘The Memory of a Secret’” by Ester Roxberg, Translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel ✴︎ One more thing: They have a thing called “Surprise Me!” on their website and if you click it you can read different features across their site and I looovve that.
Deadline: Aug 10 | Fee: No | Pay: €10-€20 flat | Open for Fiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | 100+ followers | Ireland | 2023 — "An Irish literary journal publishing poetry, flash fiction, and short stories that 'spark' the imagination."
Send them: stories and poetry connected to the theme of “HAUNT”…whats haunting you…write about it and submit ✴︎ Get inspired: Read about their current theme ✴︎ One more thing: Their Irish and the Irish just have it down when it comes to creating literary communities, I must go there and learn their ways muhahah, i mean, er…learn from them.
Deadline: Aug 11 | Fee: No | Pay: $0.08/word | Open for Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ☑︎ Some Reprints | R: 60 days | A: 3.60% | 6K+ followers | United States | 2006 — "EA is a US-based media company, specializing in free-to-listen short fiction podcasts including the original science fiction podcast, Escape Pod. The world’s premier horror fiction podcast."
Send them: dark spooky stories and make sure they don’t feel old news ‘nameaaan ✴︎ Get inspired: “The Song of the Living” by Tonja K. Johnson ✴︎ One more thing: All published writing is also recorded and featured on their podcast and I wish more mags could do this!
Fee: No | Pay: $40 flat | Open for Fiction, Poetry, Multimedia | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ☑︎ Some Reprints | R: 37 days | A: 59.09% | 900+ followers | United States | 2017 — "Based out of Birmingham, AL, Screen Door Review is a triannual online literary magazine that publishes poetry and flash fiction authored by individuals belonging to the southern queer (lgbtq+) community of the United States."
Send them: narrative-focused, exciting writing but only if you’re both southern and queer ✴︎ Get inspired: “In My Dreams” by Julia Norza ✴︎ One more thing: They publish a niche community but have a fairly high acceptance rate so if you fit that bill then this is a great place to get started.
Fee: No | Pay: $25-$40/piece | Open for Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 155 days | A: 3.98% | 1K+ followers | United States | 2022 — "Cult, as the name suggests, wants the weird, the risk-taking: the stuff that gets tucked away because someone thinks no one would ever publish that. We want art that challenges and confronts; not coddles and reaffirms."
Send them: writing that feels personal (or, you know, just is personal/memoiristic) ✴︎ Get inspired: “Weekend Manager” by Nora Chesnut ✴︎ One more thing: They are happy to say they have no real barriers, whether that’s word count or subject matter, or style or theme—niiice.
Fee: No | Pay: £30 or $30 flat | Open for Poetry, Nonfiction, Multimedia, Fiction, Hybrid | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 103 days | A: 3.09% | 35K+ followers | United Kingdom | 1999 — "The UK's bestselling magazine for women who write. Mslexia is a quarterly masterclass in the business and psychology of writing.
Send them: personal essays, photography, art of all kinds, literary fiction, interviews, poetry, send it all (if you’re woman-identifying tho, yay girls) ✴︎ Get inspired: ”Dance About It” by Helen Jane Campbell ✴︎ One more thing: Ever since they were born, they’re mission has been to support women in writing and they’ve done this through various means, i also love how they publish sooo much and always make sure they feature emerging and established writers.
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