The Writer’s Guide to Submitting FICTION to Magazines

Daniel S. Burton

You have written a piece of fiction — a short story, novelette, novella, poem — and you want to publish it… but where do you submit? Who would publish this kind of story?

There are many more outlets than the New York Times, but finding them is hard. 

Novelist Brandon Sanderson and short story writer Eric J. Stone recommended one database above all to students at Brigham Young University: The Submissions Grinder. 

The above link is the search engine for fiction markets, allowing writers to break their search into genre, word count, and lowest pay per word (tip: select 1¢).

When you narrow your search and hit enter, you will meet your second foe: there are more magazines than any one writer could know what to do with! 

Here are the top magazines for each genre (most payments USD):

Science Fiction and Fantasy: 

• Analog Science Fiction and Fact: online and print; 8 – 10¢ per word for short fiction (under 20,000 words), 6¢ per word for serials (40,000 – 80,000 words), 9¢ per word for fact articles (under 4000 words), and $1 per line for poetry. Responds to submissions in 2-3 months. 
• Asimov’s Science Fiction: similar to Analog minus serials. 
• Utopia Science Fiction: 100 – 4000 words, pays 8¢ per word. Open in March and June 2025 for themed issues, and August for an unthemed issue, responds within 3 months.

• Clarkesworld: Science Fiction and Fantasy, online and print, 1000 – 22,000 words. Open year-round, pays 14¢ per word, responds within 48 hours.
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Fantasy, Under 15,000 words, pays 8¢ per word. Open year-round, responds within 1-3 weeks, asks for a cover letter. 
• The Writers of the Future Contest is a quarterly opportunity for new, unpublished fantasy writers. WOTF is the perfect opportunity for students to kickstart a career, as it has done for multiple award-winning writers. (Under 17,000 words, $500 – 1000 for 3rd – 1st place). 

Horror: 

• The Dark: monthly online magazine, 2000 – 6000 words, pays 5¢ per word. Open year-round, responds within 48 hours. 
• Three-Lobed Burning Eye: online and print publication, 1500 – 7499 words, pays 5¢ per word. Open yearly January 1 – 16, May 1 – 16, and September 1 – 16. 
• Weird Horror Magazine: Canadian publication, 2¢ per word. Reopens Fall 2025, free to read online. 

General Speculative Fiction:

• Apex Magazine: science fiction, fantasy, and horror, open year-round, 7500 word limit, 8¢ per word. Hosts MONTHLY flash fiction (1000 words or less) competitions based on a prompt made available to the public on the 7th of the month.  
• The Deadlands: stories concerned with death, flash fiction (under 1000) and short stories (1000 – 5000 words) 10¢ per word. Open for fiction April-June, August-September, and November-December 2025, responds within two weeks.
• Bourbon Penn: absurd stories of many or multiple genres, 2000 – 7500 words, pays 4¢ per word. Responds within 1-3 months. 

Atlantic Canadian Magazines:

• The Fiddlehead: the University of New Brunswick’s very own, pays $65 per page. Open January 1 – March 31 (Canadian) and September 15 – November 30. Responds within 6 months. 
• The Dalhousie Review: Dalhousie University’s magazine, up to 8,000 words (fiction), also accepts poetry, non-fiction and reviews. Responds within 9 months.  
• The Nashwaak Review: St. Thomas University’s magazine. Responds within 6 months, requires physical and electronic submissions.
• Engen Books: a Newfoundland publisher who hosts prompt-based short fiction contests for anthologies, under 10,000 words, 1¢ per word. Responds within 30 days of submissions closing.

Note: many magazines for general literary fiction require payment for submissions. Exhaustive lists can be found online, including at PW.Org for such magazines. 

Most fiction magazines utilize online submissions systems such as Submittable. Make sure you follow their guidelines, style preferences, and most importantly, submission method, or your hard work will wind up in the cyberspace dumpster.  

Each magazine has different rules about:

1. Multiple submissions (how many stories you can send at a time) 
2. Simultaneous Submissions (sending stories currently submitted to other markets)

When submitting, always use Classic (Shunn’s) Manuscript Format. Find an in-depth example of how to format your stories at Shunn Classic Format. Be mindful of magazines’ “open submissions”; many magazines hold “underrepresented authors only” periods, so be respectful of their schedules! 

So writers, stay on the lookout for opportunities. It is an ever-changing hunt and waiting game. Be organized and aware of where you have submitted. 

Best of luck from the Bruns.