Most of the presses on this list accept work from writers with a specific geographic region or nationality, some have very strict limitations, and others are more lenient.

All of the publishers on this list primarily publish authors from the country they are based in by a wide margin, even if they don’t have formal guidelines that state this. We created this list in 2019 as a reference point for writers, and have received a lot of positive feedback and support in terms of updating it.

This list is organized by region. It only covers a limited number of countries at this time. If this article continues to do well, we will keep expanding the list and include more countries/regions in the future.

Currently, this list only covers the US, Canada, Oceania, the UK, Ireland, and Asia, but we are hoping for that to change.

Not all of the publishers on this list are currently open to unagented submissions, but most are.

I’ve done basic research about the publishers, but I haven’t done in-depth research as I do for a full review, so keep that in mind.

If you know of a press to add to this list, please send me an email at support@authorspubish.com.

United States

Red Adept Publishing
This multi-genre small press has managed to end up with a number of books on the New York Times Bestseller list. They are only open to submissions by US citizens.

Epicenter Press
Founded in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1988, Epicenter Press, Inc. is a regional press publishing nonfiction books about Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Hub City Press 
A respected press with great distribution. They publish books of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, regional nonfiction, nature, and art. They only publish work for adults. They accept non-agented submissions during 2-3 open reading periods a year. According to their website, “Hub City publishes writers living in or from the South. What’s the South? A complicated issue, to say the least, but the short answer for our purposes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia. At the same time, we’re interested in boundaries, borders, and in-betweens, so if you want to make a case for a state not listed here, we’ll take a look.” They are open for short stories from South Carolina and Mississippi writers till 28th February, as well as novels from South Carolina writers (no deadline given). 

Texas Review Press
They have a number of reading periods a year, some are paid contests, some are free, some are focused on nonfiction (regional and otherwise) and others on poetry. Some of these contests have no geographic restrictions. Each year they read for The Sabine Series in Literature, which highlights work by authors born in or working in Eastern Texas and/or Louisiana. There is no reading fee but their is a strict submission cap of 300. They open to submissions April 1st. You can learn more about it here. They also open their general reading submission period for nonfiction and poetry on April 1st, again with a submission cap of 300, see here. 

University of Georgia Press
They do not have strict geographic guidelines, but much of what they publish is about Georgia and the American South. Although they also publish on a number of other subjects. They only accept nonfiction through general submissions, all submissions of fiction must be made through their contests, which have a fee attached.

Heyday Press
Heyday is an established independent and nonprofit publisher that focuses on California and the American West. They publish nonfiction books that explore history, celebrate Native cultural renewal, fight injustice, and honor nature. They only publish limited fiction under their roundhouse imprint which very much prioritizes Native voices. You can learn more about that imprint here.

NDSU Press 
NDSU Press exists primarily to stimulate and coordinate interdisciplinary regional scholarship. These regions include the state of North Dakota, the Red River Valley, the plains of North America (comprising both the Great Plains of the United States and the prairies of Canada), and comparable regions of other continents. They will reopen on 1st May for submissions. 

Amble Press
This press which focuses on publishing work by queer writers from underrepresented backgrounds, doesn’t officially state on their website that they don’t accept international submissions but several of our international subscribers have been informed otherwise, so I’ve added them to this list.

Sasquatch Books
They publish “visual nonfiction by gifted writers, artists, chefs, naturalists, and thought leaders whose work reflects the adventurous, creative, DIY spirit of the PNW (the Pacific Northwest)”. The Pacific Northwest, unlike other regions, involves both the US and Canada. They don’t say anything about not allowing Canadians to submit as long as the work reflects the region. They have good distribution.

Little Bigfoot
An imprint of Sasquatch books focused on publishing for children, the guidelines for submissions are on the same page, but further down.

Gray and Company
They only publish nonfiction books about Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, and Ohio.

Forest Avenue Press
This Portland based press publishes fiction and the occasional memoir. They only allow submissions from U.S. residents. They have one reading period per year.

The University of Arizona Press
The premier publisher of academic, regional, and literary works in the state of Arizona is open to direct submissions. They are open to international authors but much of what they publish is focused on the region.

Bottom Dog Press
A small press that mostly publishes working class literature and Appalachian Literature. They don’t have any official geographic guidelines but focus on publishing regional work.

White Stag Publishing
White Stag Publishing accepts for full length manuscripts “Poetry, Prose / Fiction, Non-Fiction, Hybrid Work, & Ritual Projects in the scope of our thematic elements, which include alchemy & the occult with intersections of science & magick, witchcraft & activism, mysticism & spirituality, & / or the supranatural”. They are only open to submissions from US residents. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update, but plan to reopen on October 1st, 2026. 

Cornerstone Press
Cornerstone Press is a traditional press in that it doesn’t charge its authors, but they are an unusual press in that it is run by students at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. You can learn more about the press and how it is run, here. They generally focus on publishing emerging regional authors from the Midwest, but they will consider all original, well-written, and polished submissions from authors, which is why we have reviewed the press.

Loblolly Press
Loblolly Press is seeking submissions that embody a profound sense of place, particularly focusing on the Southern and Appalachian regions. They say the work they publish “uplifts queer, BIPOC, elder, and rural voices from the American South.” They are based in Asheville, NC, and they prioritize writers and submissions from Asheville and the surrounding area, but are open to submissions from authors throughout the US. They are current closed to submissions. Their website says they will re-open for submissions in late 2026. 

Filter Press
A regional press that is focused on Colorado history, aimed at both the fiction and non-fiction market, most of what they publish is for educational or museum sales. Work must fit within their existing catalogue.

Cave Hollow Press
They publish contemporary, literary, or mystery fiction from Missouri and Midwest based authors. They are currently closed to submissions.

Torrey House Press
They are interested in well-crafted work with environmental, natural history, or natural landscape themes, and writing which explores the value of well-managed public lands and the transformative power of wilderness focusing on the American West.

Agate Publishing
They are open to proposals for nonfiction on Midwestern topics or by Midwestern authors, for their Midway imprint. They are open to submissions on other topics by authors based outside the Midwest for other imprints.

The Globe Pequot
The Globe Pequot imprint of The Globe Pequot Publishing Group. The imprint focuses on publishing “New England history, cooking, traveling, architecture, gardening, entertainment, and anything that celebrates New England and travel.” You can see their submission information here.

Down East Books
Down East Books was the book publishing division of Down East magazine and is now an imprint of he Globe Pequot Publishing Group. They are very much still actively publishing books focused on Maine. You can see their submission information here.

Pineapple Press
Founded in 1982, Pineapple Press has always focused on publishing books about “the real Florida”. They have published books on gardening, nature, art, folklore, history, travel, children’s and fiction, all focused on Florida. They are now an imprint of he Globe Pequot Publishing Group. You can see their submission information here.

Sea Crow Press
Their motto is “Stories Rooted In Place  •  Writing That Moves The World”. This small press based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts focuses on publishing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with a clear focus on eco-literature, regional writing, and climate-aware storytelling. It is a woman-owned press, and you can see their full masthead by scrolling down here. We have reviewed the press as a whole, because they are open to international work alongside regional work.

Canada

Anansi Press
A wonderful Canadian press focusing on publishing a wide range of literary works. They accept work by Canadian citizens or residents, or Indigenous Peoples from Turtle Island and around the world who are eligible to hold Canadian citizenship. If you are based in Toronto, they have a wonderful bookstore, that only sells the books they publish, which is a great way to get a feel for what they are interested in.

Groundwood Books
My favorite Canadian children’s book publisher, and an imprint of Anansi Press, they are open to children’s nonfiction, and novel-length fiction as well as picture books. They have two open reading periods a year.

Brick Books 
An established and respected Canadian publisher, they are open only to submissions from Canadians. They generally have only one submission period a year. To learn more about submitting to them, go here. Submissions are open until 31st May. 

Ekstasis Editions
A Canadian publisher of poetry manuscripts. They have been around since 1982. They usually consider submissions from Canadians only. To read their submission guidelines, go here.

DarkWinter Press
This small Canadian press publishes novellas, novel-length manuscripts (85 000 words or less), short story collections, and poetry collections “with a twist. We do not publish creative non-fiction”. They are reopening to submissions only from Canadian writers in March 2026.

Palimpsest Press
They only publish Canadian authors. They are open to submissions from authors who identify as BIPOC, Deaf, or Disabled, all year round. They accept submissions from authors who do not identify as BIPOC, Deaf or Disabled from February 1st through March 31st. They publish poetry and other literary genres.

Red Deer Press
A respected and established publisher of children’s books. They used to be open to submissions from outside of Canada, but they’ve recently limited their perimeters to only “encourage” Canadian authors, and they are now only open to submissions via post.

The University of Calgary Press
They accept a wide range of nonfiction from Canadian and international authors. They also accept literary work from Canadian citizens and permanent residents. They have four main imprints.

Second Story Press
This Canadian feminist press considers submissions in a wide range of genres, from Canadian authors. They occasionally publish non-Canadians, but this is very much the exception.

Caitlin Press
Caitlin Press is a British Columbia based literary press. They only publish authors from Canada, the majority being BC-based.

Dagger Editions
Caitlin Press’s new imprint focuses on publishing literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry by and about queer women (those who identify as queer women, including trans women or trans men, or anyone who includes this in their personal history)

Touchwood
They only publish Canadian writers, with a strong preference for writers based in western Canada. They publish a wide variety of nonfiction as well as literary fiction and memoir.

Invisible Publishing
Invisible Publishing publishes literary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by Canadians.

Coach House Books
Coach House Books is one of the largest publishers in Canada. They are a wonderful press that primarily publishes Canadian authors. They publish poetry, literary fiction, and select nonfiction; they’re not accepting drama currently.

Cormorant Books
Cormorant Books publishes literary fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry. They are only open to Canadian authors. They are currently only open to submissions of adult fiction and nonfiction.

DCB Young Readers
The children’s and young adult imprint of Cormorant. They are only open to submissions of middle grade fiction and nonfiction, and young adult fiction and nonfiction currently. They are only open to Canadian authors.

Dundurn Press
One of the largest Canadian presses. They publish a variety of fiction and nonfiction. They prioritize Canadian writers.

ECW Press
They are only open to fiction and poetry books submitted by Canadians; there are no citizenship restrictions on writers submitting nonfiction.

Freehand Books
A Canadian press that started out as as an imprint but is now independent. They publish literary fiction, literary nonfiction, memoir and graphic literature. They have good distribution.

Ronsdale Press
A literary house that publishes a wide variety of work including children’s books. They accept work only from Canadian citizens or landed immigrants to Canada.

NeWest Press
NeWest publishes outstanding literary works by established and emerging Canadian authors at the rate of 10-12 books a year. They are especially interested in publishing books by Western Canadian authors or which explore Western Canadian themes. They have good distribution.

Talonbooks
They publish work of significant literary or cultural importance by Canadian authors. They are no longer accepting fiction submissions.

Wolsak and Wynn
At the very start of their guidelines they state: “We are a Canadian press dedicated to publishing clear, passionate Canadian voices. As such, we publish very few non-Canadians. However, we encourage Canadian authors of diverse backgrounds and communities to submit.” Their books are well edited and beautifully printed. They accept mailed submissions only during open reading periods.

Turnstone Press
They are only open to specific fiction genres, nonfiction, and poetry. Please see their submission page for details. Authors must be based in Canada. They are currently particularly interested in Environmentally Aware Literary Fiction and Winter-themed Literary Fiction for this imprint.

Ravenstone
Turnstone Press’s imprint Ravenstone focuses on publish literary mysteries, thrillers, noir, speculative fiction, and urban fantasy as well as CliFi (Climate fiction). Their guidelines are here, and authors must be based in Canada.

Baraka Books
Baraka Books is a Quebec-based English-language book publisher specializing in creative and political nonfiction, history and historical fiction, and fiction. They also have a translation imprint.

Véhicule Press
They primarily publish Canadian authors. At the time of this update they are only open to submissions of nonfiction.

At Bay Press
At Bay Press is a respected literary publisher of fiction and nonfiction, including poetry. They do publish “literary mysteries, thrillers, and noir and are interested in quality submissions in the science fiction, fantasy and graphic novel genres as well”. They publish very few books a year. They are also currently open to submissions for “From the Heart” series. The focus of this series is to publish shorter work. For this series are accepting short poetry collections (minimum 5 poems, maximum 10 poems per manuscript), literary short fiction stories, genre fiction short stories, non-fiction short works, short essays, graphic novellas etc.

Nightwood Editions
Nightwood Editions publishes poetry and fiction by writers across Canada, as well as nonfiction about Canadian writing.

Random House Canada
The Canadian arm of Random House changed their submission policy have opened their policy exclusively to LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC writers, as well as those from other traditionally underrepresented communities. They are particularly looking for “High quality commercial fiction in the following genres: literary, romance, speculative fiction, historical fiction, and mystery. Please note that we do not currently accept screenplays, stage plays, young adult fiction, children’s fiction, or picture book queries. All non-fiction submissions must be submitted via a literary agent.” They are open to submissions internationally, but prioritize Canadian writers. They had a previous issue where the submission page was up, but they had an auto-responder on that indicated they were closed to submissions. This seems to be resolved based on reader feedback.

Tundra Books, Swift Water, Puffin Canada, Penguin Teen Canada
These children and teen focused Canadian imprints are open to direct submissions by underrepresented authors and illustrators only. Authors need not be Canadian.

Orca Book Publishers
This respected small press publishes books for children. They now have two submission periods a year. They close to submissions for the first reading period on February 28th, 2026.

Lorimer 
They publish a large range of nonfiction by and for Canadians, including, Canadian history, regional nature guides, biographies of Canadians.

Lorimer Children & Teens 
This Canadian small press has very specific guidelines for the submissions they are accepting. They publish fiction and nonfiction aimed at younger readers.

Harbour Publishing
This respected BC based Canadian publisher mostly focuses on topics pertaining to the Pacific Northwest, including fiction and nonfiction.

Annick Press
They are open to submissions from authors based elsewhere, which is why we’ve done a full review of them, but most of what they publish is by Canadian authors. They publish a wide range of books for Children and teens.

Acorn Press
They open their submission guidelines by saying, “We are committed to publishing works that reflect the culture, history, and stories of Prince Edward Island and the Atlantic Canadian experience”. They are established in that context and have good distribution in Atlantic Canada. Please do not submit to them any work based outside that region. Read their guidelines carefully before submitting.

UK, Ireland

Dahlia Books
This is a small UK-based press, and they are only only interested in short fiction and short stories when presented as a collection from a UK-based writer. They are currently closed to submissions.

Tramp Press
Tramp is a literary press based out of Ireland that has great distribution. Within Ireland they are distributed by Gill & Macmillan. Throughout the rest of the world they are distributed by Macmillan. They only accept submissions from Irish authors living in Ireland.

Sandycove
They are an imprint of Penguin Random House Ireland that consider manuscripts and proposals in all genres.

Four Courts Press
An Irish academic press. They ask that potential authors reach out for details first.

Floris Books
A publisher of specialized nonfiction and children’s books. They state on their website: “The only submissions we are currently accepting are non-fiction for the Steiner-Waldorf and anthroposophic community and children’s books from the Scottish BPOC Writers Network.”

Acair Books
They publish books in Scottish, Gaelic and English. Many of their titles are related to Scotland, history, nature and social issues.

Gill Books
One of Ireland’s leading publishers of content in terms of both the Primary and Secondary schools market, but they also publish nonfiction for adults. They accept proposals for adult nonfiction and children’s books.

Black & White Publishing
This established Scottish publisher is open to a variety of nonfiction submissions, some not bound by geography, but they are also particularly interested in sports books focused on the UK and Ireland and Scottish and Irish nonfiction.

Northodox Press
They only allow submissions from authors born in or living in the Northern England. They publish fiction, and reopen to submissions in late 2026.

The Liffey Press
The Liffey Press publishes a wide range of Irish-focused, nonfiction titles in social policy, arts and literature, current events, biography, psychology, history, sports, politics, education and related fields.

Carcanet
A UK-based publisher of poetry. They have one to two reading periods a year with specific limitations. They have yet to announce their 2026 submission period.

Nine Arches Press
This small UK based poetry publisher doesn’t have strict geographic guidelines but if you are an international author, you must have a track record or a small audience in the UK to be seriously considered by them. They plan to reopen to submissions in August 2026.

Broken Sleep Books 
A UK-based company that publishes contemporary poetry and prose of a more experimental slant. They have four open reading periods a year each with different parameters. 

Green Bottle Press
A small UK press. They have no strict geographic restrictions but state “if you are submitting from outside the UK or Ireland, please consider if you have any friends or fans of your work in these islands. If you live in the US for example, you should have a strong network of readers here, otherwise it will be very hard to sell your work. It would be better for you to seek publication in your own country.” They are currently closed to submissions.

Luath Press
This Scottish press doesn’t have strict geographic guidelines, but as you can see for their catalog here, a lot of what they publish is focused on the region they are based in. Please read their guidelines carefully before submitting.

Asia

Epigram Books
They are an independent publisher established in 2011, with imprints in Singapore and London. They say “We are keen to read and publish new writing by Singaporean authors and authors writing about Singapore.” So they don’t have strict geographic guidelines but a specific geographic focus.

Penguin Random House Southeast Asia
Though this imprint of this big five publisher is technically open to submissions from authors everywhere, they would prioritize Southeast Asian authors.

Manohar
A scholarly publisher focused on the social sciences, Manohar is based in India, and the books they publish primarily focus on India and South Asia.

Earnshaw Books
Earnshaw Books is actively seeking new manuscripts of all sorts, particularly historical fiction, young adult fiction, China-related topics, and Chinese language learning-related books and materials.

Silkworm Books
They focus on publishing work about Southeast Asia in the humanities and social sciences. They are particularly interested in history, political science, anthropology, sociology, environmental studies, religious studies, art, and literature. They publish work in English and Thai. They are based out of Chiang Mai.

Monsoon Books
Founded in Singapore, they are now based in the UK. They don’t have strict geographic guidelines but they want books with Asian, particularly Southeast Asian, themes.

Adarna House
This established press based in the Philippines is committed to promoting culture and languages is support of Filipino artistry and talent. They are open to submissions from Filipinos 18 years or older, based anywhere in the world. There is no limit to the number of pitches one may submit. Submissions may be in Filipino or English or come with a Filipino or English translation.

Oceania

Hachette Australia
Hachette is only open to direct submissions from residents of Australia or NZ.

Penguin Random House Australia
A big five publisher. They are only open to submissions from Australians. They are currently only open to submissions from children’s book authors.

Black Inc.
This established and award-winning Australian press has imprints that focus on nonfiction. They accept work from Australian writers only.

Te Herenga Waka University Press
New Zealand’s leading publisher of new fiction and poetry, and a scholarly publisher specializing in NZ history, biography and essays. Submissions are restricted to people who live in or are strongly connected with Aotearoa New Zealand. 

AIATSIS
A publisher of scholarly and general books, including children’s books focused on the unique heritage and diverse lives of Australia’s first peoples by Australia’s first people. They have this helpful guide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Ginninderra Press
A small press that focuses on publishing quality nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. They do not accept work from writers who live outside Australia. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.

Text Publishing
An established and respected publisher of fiction and nonfiction, including middle grade and young adult. Submissions should be from citizens or residents of Australia and/or New Zealand.

Fremantle Press
Fremantle Press accepts submissions of unsolicited manuscripts from authors of Western Australian origin or whose main place of residence is Western Australia, or non-Western Australian authors whose work has a strong Western Australian focus. They publish nonfiction, fiction and narrative nonfiction, poetry, and books for children and young adults. They also run the Fogarty Literary Award for manuscripts by young West Australian writers, which has a prize of AUD20,000.

Giramondo
Giramondo doesn’t have any strict guidelines in terms of geography, but they do appear to have a track record of publishing primarily writers from Australia and New Zealand, so I have placed them here. They publish quality poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. They close to submissions on February 28th, 2026.

Wakefield Press
They publish a wide variety of work and are only not open to children’s picture book submissions. They do not state strict geographic guidelines but they mostly publish work by Australian authors.

Melbourne University Publishing
They accept unsolicited submissions of nonfiction work.

Auckland University Press
They are open to brief proposals that fit into the larger context of what they are currently publishing. You can review what they are interested in by spending some time with their catalog here.  They say “We seek out New Zealand’s best scholarly and creative work to develop award-winning books for readers across Aotearoa and around the world.”

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

TONGUE
This new literary magazine accepts translations only, of fiction or creative nonfiction, into English. “TONGUE is especially committed to championing voices from indigenous, stateless, endangered, and underrepresented languages.
Each month (or so) we release one fantastic story, in its original language and in English translation, in print and online.” They pay $50 to $200 for translated short stories, self-contained novel excerpts, creative nonfiction of 1,000 to 4,000 words. Details here.

Rattle
This poetry journal has slots for general submissions (send up to 4 poems), regular online poetry sections, as well as special submission calls – currently, they want poems on Tribute to the Future, till 15^th April 2026. They pay $100 for online poetry and $200 for work accepted for print. Details here and here.

Southword
This isthe magazine of the Munster Literature Centre. They have reading periods for fiction and poetry, and they have a submission cap during their reading periods. They pay €50 per poem and €400 per short story of up to 5,000 words. Fiction submissions opened on 1^st February for their Winter issue and will remain open till end-February 2026, or until they reach their submission cap, whichever is earlier. Details here.

Whistling Shade
Whistling Shade is a literary journal and small press. “We take a populist approach to literature and our audience is the general reading public. Whistling Shade is now published annually and we have been in print since 2001.” And, “We publish poetry, fiction, memoirs, essays, reviews and cartoons. Our emphasis is primarily mainstream and literary, but we have a broad readership and do not espouse any given school of writing.
Poetry can be of any form, including lyric verse that employs rhyme and meter, and there is no word limit. Short stories can be anywhere from very short to 10,000 words. Essays should surround writers or literary works. Profiles of contemporary writers are very much welcome!” They’re currently reading submissions for their 2027 issue on the Many Worlds theme. “From quantum mechanics to lost empires, the issue will explore the strange and countless worlds – real and imagined – that make up our multiverse.” The deadline is 1 June 2026. Details here and here.

Spellbinder
They are particularly keen to promote the works of those who are at the beginning of their literary careers and also publish established creatives. They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translations, drama, as well as artwork. Submission is via a form. They plan to reopen for submissions on 1 April 2026. Details here.

Catalogue Zine
Their About page says, “We’re a magazine based on helping people learn about and get involved in climate action, while demonstrating not only the scientific aspects of climate advocacy but how our lives are intertwined and intersect with our climate, cultures, and communities.” They want poetry, photography, art, short stories, personal essays, and informative pieces on the Lifestyle theme for their upcoming issue.  They publish online and print on demand issues. The deadline is 20^th February 2026. Details here.

Mystery Tribune
They publish mystery fiction (3,000-6,000 words for print), including translated work, as well as nonfiction (commissioned, for print), art, and photography. And, “Unsolicited non-fiction or flash fiction contributions to our submission system are automatically considered for our website or our mobile apps, and if accepted, are unpaid.” They have a print and an online version, and short stories will be considered for both, unless you specify otherwise in your cover letter. Details here and here.

One Story
This magazine publishes one literary fiction story per issue, of 3,000- 8,000 words. They also accept reprints, if the story has appeared in print only, outside North America. They pay $500 and 25 contributor copies. Submissions will reopen in spring. Details here.

AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
AZURE is a magazine of the Lazuli Literary Group. “We publish lyrical philosophy, experimental fiction/poetry/non-fiction, dark humor, classical forms, and innovations in craft. We do not publish contemporary realist fiction. …  We want literary fiction that grows in complexity upon each visitation. … We accept fiction, creative non-fiction, excerpts,  screenplays, stageplays, fragments, meanderings, philosophy and poetry. Your submission should not exceed 50 pages.” They publish online quarterly and in print annually, and are also currently open for a fee-based contest. Details here and here.

rex inc. lit mag
They are reading for their first print issue, and say, “we accept a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry that challenges our understanding of the written form. We also accept visual art and photography.
We are interested in work like graffiti—something that surprises, that details the personal, that challenges the reader to be a better citizen.“ Send up to 8,000 words of prose, or up to 5 poems. Payment is two contributor copies. The deadline is 28^th February 2026. Details here.

Blue Unicorn
This is a print poetry magazine; you can read more about them here. “BU is known for welcoming formal verse, and this welcome continues. We’re impressed by poems that read as though the poet had simply thought in the form, without forced rhymes, weak words inserted to satisfy the meter, and the like. Every formal writer knows how much effort goes into seeming effortlessness.
But we look for no lesser effort in non-formal verse. We’re alert for the original metaphorical image that may take a moment to prove itself just right; the unexpected word that says more than the familiar one; the sharply observed detail that brings a thing alive. We do not tolerate clichés. We do tolerate a bit of mystery. … Given a choice, we’ll take the puzzling piece over the flat one.” They pay. Details here.

The Charleston Anvil 
Their About page says, “Submissions can be as ambitious or modest as desired, as long as it can be printed on the page of a paper magazine. Prose, poetry, art, short stories, comics, stories either with or without illustrations, essays, photography and more will all be considered, and collaborations are encouraged. The Anvil welcomes all genres, included but not limited to fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, horror, memoir, slice-of-life, romance, and mystery. All mixed media is accepted as well, and no single style or subject matter will be outright rejected.” They publish in print (grayscale) twice a year. Send written work of up to 4,500 words, or 1-6 pages. The deadline is 28^th February 2026. Details here.

Willow Wept Review
They want writing that “explores, celebrates, interrogates, and/or problematizes the relationship between human beings and the natural world.” They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. On rare occasion, they publish reprints of work that was published in a print journal at least one year ago (see guidelines). Details here and here.

Steam Ticket
This journal is affiliated with University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. They accept poetry (3-5), prose (up to 5,000 words; “Flash-fictions encouraged. Generic genre pieces (sci-fi/fantasy/romance) might find better audiences elsewhere”), and art. Payment is contributor copies. The deadline is 1 March 2026. Details here.

The Literary Fantasy Magazine
The Literary Fantasy Magazine is an imprint of The Arcanist: Fantasy Publishing, LLC. They accept fiction of flash to serial length (up to 50,000 words), poetry, and nonfiction. They have detailed guidelines, including what they do not want –  “Horror, Thriller, Hard Sci-Fi, Romance, Magical Realism or any other story that isn’t a Fantasy”) and what they do want – “Clear fantastic elements. At least two of the following should be overtly present: magic, monsters, quest, divine intervention, myth, historical settings, supernatural happenings, unexplainable/strange events. They close to submissions on 1^st March, and reopen on 1^st April 2026. Work in some formats only appears in print and some appears online – see guidelines. Details here.

Wyldblood
They accept science fiction and fantasy stories only, and are open on the 1^st of every month for these submissions. They also accept queries (not submissions) of nonfiction and art. They pay £0.01/word for works up to 5,000 words. Details here.

Brick
This Canada-based magazine accepts literary nonfiction only, and they tend toward pieces of 1,000 to 5,000 words. Their next reading period opens on 1^st April, and they will close when they hit their submission cap. They pay $65–720, contributor copies, and a subscription. Their Submittable is open during their reading periods. Details here.

Inch
“Published by Bull City Press, Inch is a quarterly journal focused on the miracles of compression. Each “issue” is a micro-chapbook featuring the work of a single author. We feature small collections of poetry, short fiction, or short creative nonfiction, with each chapbook focusing on a separate genre. We dedicate one issue per year to featuring the work of a North Carolina author.” They publish one chapbook annually in each genre: flash fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; manuscripts have to be at least three pieces (for prose) or a constellation of poems, 10 to 16 pages total. They have detailed guidelines. Their next submission period is 15 March to 15 April 2026. Details here and their submission portal is here.

Ink In Thirds
They publish print and digital copies. Send prose of up to 600 words; “This includes 3 word stories, 100 word stories, drabbles, microfiction, flash fiction, and whatever your imagination can conjure. 
In reality, our only absolute requirement is to make us feel something! Sad, fine. Tormented, better. Angst, gah. Happy, meh—we’ll take it.” They also accept poetry. Their next reading period is 1^st April to 31^st July for their fall/winter issue. Details here.

Brushfire
Brushfire is a student-run publication at the University of Nevada, Reno. “We accept any and all printable forms of art.” They accept poetry, prose, fiction, screenplays, creative non-fiction and other non-fiction pieces, and translations. Send up to 3,000 words of prose, or up to 10 poems. And, “we consider experimental, traditional, Shakespearean, etc.”  Please note, they can give contributor copies to writers in the US; for international contributors, they will send copies only if funds permit. They accept submissions year-round, with cut-off dates for issues. The deadline for the Spring edition is 14 March 2026. Details here.

Notch
Notch is a literary and arts magazine based in New York and Paris, published biannually in print and online. Notch was founded with the goal of de-siloing the creative arts and underscoring their shared root system. We consider all genres with an equal level of seriousness—publishing nail art alongside 18th century philosophy; scientific essays with video sculpture. Each issue has a unique theme which forms a critical connective tissue between selected works. By presenting these strange combinations, we honor otherness.” Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Blink-Ink
This is a print magazine of microfiction; they publish 50-word stories, which are usually set around a theme. Submissions will reopen on 1^st March 2026, and they will announce the theme then. Details here and here.

Remains
Their About page says, “Remains is a new colour print magazine edited by Andy Cox and illustrated by Richard Wagner, who worked together on Black Static and other publications. It contains new horror fiction ranging from short stories to novellas, and various features.” Their first issue was published in January 2025. “Submissions of previously unpublished fiction are very welcome from everyone everywhere.” Details here.

Able Muse
They publish metrical poetry (rhymed or unrhymed) and poetry translation, as well as art, fiction, and nonfiction (essays, book reviews, and interviews that focus on metrical and formal poetry). Able Muse accepts submissions in all genres from 1 January to 15 July, and usually publishes one issue per year. Details here.

Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror
“Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror is a magazine devoted to horror fiction, art, and poetry.  It is published once a year (Spring) by the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers. (It) is open to all writers, poets, and artists.  … We specialize in horror in all its guises, particularly for adult audiences. We’re open to most settings and themes, from historical, modern, supernatural, and even the future. We want our writers to push the boundaries of horror.” US writers receive a print contributor copy, and overseas writers get a digital copy. Their general reading period reopens 1^st September and they might also have special calls. Details here and here.

The Helix
The magazine is affiliated with Central Connecticut State College. They publish fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. Length guidelines are 250-3,000 words for fiction, up to 3,000 words for nonfiction, and up to 4 poems. They publish three online and one print issue a year. Details here and here.

Tamarind
They publish fiction in any genre, nonfiction, and poetry. Submit prose of 1,500-5,000 words or up to 3 poems (see guidelines). “We have a particular interest in writing which reflects on science as an artistic and emotional endeavour, or about forgotten, marginalised, or currently underrepresented scientists. Although our core interest is in natural sciences, we will also consider pieces involving related areas such as medicine, engineering, technology, and social sciences.” Details here.

Tangled Wilderness
Their tagline is, ‘Producers of radical culture’. From their About page: “Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness is an independent media publishing collective dedicated to producing and curating inclusive and intersectional culture that is informed by anarchistic ideals.” They have various publishing formats, including their monthly features, which are “usually 2–5k words (or 10–30 pages in the case of poetry). … These are formatted into a small quarter-sized zine which is mailed to our supporters as well as posted on our website and produced into a podcast. … Reprints are fine.” These publish various genres/formats, including recipes, poetry, essays, retellings or annotations of fairy tales that highlight subversive elements in them, and “fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, literature, horror, romance, anything written from a radical perspective (but that isn’t necessarily directly about politics!)” They pay $200. They also publish zines and books, and payment for those is royalties. Details here.

Ribbons
Their website says, “Ribbons is the official publication of the Tanka Society of America. The journal is published twice a year, and each issue offers more than 200 tanka selected for their craftsmanship and originality. Ribbons also publishes essays on tanka by leading poets and scholars, book reviews that are thoughtful and incisive, and translations of poems written by important contemporary Japanese tanka poets.” Their guidelines say, “For each issue, you are welcome to submit either up to ten original, unpublished tanka or two tanka sequences (not more than six tanka per sequence) or one tanka sequence and up to five tanka.” You can also send tanka prose of up to 300 words. Deadlines are 30 June for the Fall/Winter issue, and 31 January for the Spring/Summer issue. Details here.

Toronto Journal
This journal publishes in print and sound. They accept short stories from anywhere in the world, and nonfiction pieces about local history – Toronto, the GTA, or surrounding areas – see guidelines. They are accepting submissions for their Summer 2026 issue; submission is via a form. They pay $50 for works up to 7,500 words. The deadline is 1 March 2026. Details here.

Litro
They accept flash and short fiction, essays, and poetry. They have a themed print magazine and an unthemed online magazine. For the print magazine, the theme for the Summer 2026 issue is After the Flood; they have other themes listed on their submission form, as well. Send up to 3,000 words for fiction, up to 2,000 words for nonfiction, or up to 3 poems. They also accept stories for their Litro Lab fiction podcast, as well as art. Details here. 

14 magazine
This is an annual poetry magazine. Poems must be 14 lines long, excluding the title; send up to 3 poems. Their reading period is 1 April to 30 June each year. Please note, contributors outside Europe can either opt for a PDF contributor copy, or cover postage for the print copy. Work sent outside of the reading period will not be responded to. Details here.

Night Picnic
“Night Picnic is a journal of literature and art which publishes novels, novellas, plays, short and flash stories, fairytales for adults, poetry, interviews, essays (including popular science essays), letters to the editors, and artwork.
We prefer, but not exclusively, fantasies with multidimensional metaphysical meanings. Our slogan: “Find Truth in Fiction!” We encourage authors to submit all that is strange, dark, jubilant, complex, confusing, scary, mystical, and multidimensional.” Details here and here.  

Thimble Literary Magazine
This is a quarterly journal. It is primarily a poetry journal, but they also publish short prose – fiction, nonfiction, and anything in between, as well as art. Send 2-3 poems, or up to 1,200 words of prose. “We are not looking for anything in particular in terms of form or style, but that it speaks to the reader or writer in some way. Meaning, we’re not huge fans of abstractions. When selecting your poems or prose, please ask yourself, did writing this poem help me create shelter?” They’re open for submissions February, March, May, June, August, September, November, and December. They publish quarterly online and have a limited print run. Details here.

West Branch
West Branch is a print literary magazine published thrice a year and affiliated with Bucknell University. They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translations. Send up to 6 poems; up to 30 pages of prose. Pay is  $100 for poetry, $0.10/word for prose up to $200. The deadline is 1 April 2026. Details here.

Shadowplay
This is an annual print literary journal founded at the University of Arkansas – Monticello; you can read about them here. “Shadowplay seeks work that dances in liminal spaces, that illuminates the pieces of our world which otherwise go unseen. Send us your light and your dark.” They accept fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Send prose up to 2,500 words, or poetry up to 5 pages. They’ll consider all submitted work for the print journal; some work will additionally be featured on their website. All contributors receive a complimentary print copy. The deadline is 15 March 2026. Details here.

RHINO
This is a journal of poems, translations, and flash fiction/nonfiction (up to 500 words). Regular submissions to are open 1 March – 30 June 2026, or until monthly caps are reached. They also accept translations – see here. Their general submission guidelines page is here. Submit here.

Baltimore Review
They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some editor preferences are in the bios on their Staff page. Work collected online is published in an annual print issue. Send up to 5,000 words for prose, or up to 3 poems. Pay is $50 (via a gift certificate or PayPal, if preferred). The deadline is 31 May 2026. Details here and here.

Coin-Operated Press
They publish collaborative zines on a different theme each month (to fit 1-2 A5 pages, 4 pages max). “We are looking for articles, illustrations, short stories, zine excerpts, photography, poetry, artwork of any medium, educational guides, posters, flyers, short essays, recipes, comic-strips, reviews, informationals, collages, and anything else that will fit into a zine!” For February, the theme is Romantasy. You can read their FAQ here. Submission is via a form on the website. They have announced all their monthly themes here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

There are also lots of regional organizations of writers that publish articles about writing. If you have a publication you want to add to this list, send us an email at support@authorspublish.com.

Many of the publishers on this list pay, but not all of them. If they pay I make it clear in my notes on the publisher. Most are open to submissions now, but not all of them.

Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA
The official blog for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America recently rebranded themselves as Planetside. They want nonfiction articles of interest to sci-fi/fantasy writers. Writers need not be members of their organization in order to submit. They pay $0.10 a word on final draft word count. The articles they publish are usually between 800 and 1000 words. They have a number of open calls listed with additional details. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.

Author 
An online magazine dedicated to writing, publishing and the creative process in general. They are teamed with the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association and they publish feature articles by new and established writers.  They publish two types of articles. The first type is practical “How To” focused articles and the second type focuses on the more emotional, inspirational side of writing. To learn more, go here and to pitch your idea, go here.

Funds for Writers
They pay $100 for articles about making a living as a writer. They are open to reprints, although they do pay less for them. Learn more here.

Writer’s Digest
This well-respected publication publishes a wide variety of articles that you can learn more about by going here, and scrolling down. They pay varying amounts depending on the content, and prefer pitches to articles written on spec.

Poets & Writers Magazine
The most established magazine for writers accepts a wide variety of articles. You can read their complete submission guidelines here. They are a paying market.

CRAFT
This respected literary journal also publishes essays on writing craft, critical essays, and book annotations. They pay between $50 and $100 for accepted pieces. Learn more here.

Electric Lit
Electric Lit publishes a wide variety of personal essays including essays focused on books, writing, storytelling, as well as interviews with writers and editors. They encourage authors submitting creative work to become a paying member to be able submit more often, which is not ideal, but this is not the case with submitters focused on interviews or cultural criticism. Learn more here. They are a paying market.

Lit Hub
A great website with a lot of readers, Lit Hub is open to a wide variety of pitches. Learn more here. It was created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature. Reports indicate that they pay, but it’s not clear how much, on their website.

Brevity Blog
Brevity is an established literary journal devoted to flash nonfiction, the Brevity Blog is focused on publishing articles related to writing of creative nonfiction. Their submission guidelines are here and this post contains additional tips for interested writers. Brevity Magazine charges for creative nonfiction submissions, but not for the blog.

Freelance 
They are the quarterly publication for members of The Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild. They prefer that submitting writers either have membership in SWG or have magazine writing experience. They publish articles on the business and craft of writing. Pay is 20 cents per word. To learn more, go here.

Lit Mag News
I’m a long time subscriber of Lit Mag News by Becky Tuch. They are open to submissions from writers and editors about literary journals. They pay $50 for original pieces and $25 for reprints. Read all of the details here.

Thoughts from the Writer’s Desk
Ruadán Books is a speculative fiction publisher that publishes a monthly blog called Thoughts From the Writer’s Desk. They are looking for original and published nonfiction essays “about the writing life and individual journeys in the world of writing, in-depth tips on the craft and business of writing, thoughtful columns on genre fiction, especially horror, dark fiction, and speculative fiction in general”. They stress that they “appreciate personal perspectives, unique insights, and profound stories”. You can read past instalments in the Thoughts From the Writer’s Desk series to learn more about what they are seeking. They pay $0.10 per word for new nonfiction. You can learn more by going here, and scrolling down.

Teachers & Writers Magazine
They are published by Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and their mission is to “provide resources and inspiration in support of our stated mission: teaching creative writing and educating the imagination.” They are looking for the following type of articles: Favorite Classroom Writing Prompts ($75 for 500-750 words), Narrative Lesson Plans ($100 for 750-2,000 words), The Art of Teaching Writing ($150 for 1,000+ words), and Interviews ($150 for 1,000-2,500 words). To learn more, go here.

The Writer’s Chronicle
The official publication of the AWP (the Association of Writers & Writing Programs), The Writer’s Chronicle has a wide circulation. They publish articles about :the craft of writing; personal essays related to the writing life; and explorations of contemporary topics in writing, publishing, and the teaching of creative writing”. They are open for pitches from October 15th through December 15th. To learn more, go here.

The Juice Blog
The Juice Blog from Fork Apple Press is open to submissions of “a variety of craft-oriented writing, including but not limited to craft essays, literacy narratives, book reviews, interviews, scholarly essays on literature, and other explorations of the writing process”. The press as a whole does charge for some submissions, but not for The Juice Blog. To learn more, go here. 

Authors Publish
We pay for articles about creative writing and publishing. We pay $50 for most feature articles and up to $150 for articles like this one, and even more for eBooks. To learn more, go here.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the call themes are: love; motherhood; aftermath; into the archive; vampires; coffee; heightened anxiety; obsidian (space horror); while the snowstorm was raging; illusion & confusion; fantastic voyages; doom scroll.

THEMED CALLS

Chortle: Love
“We’re seeking short humor pieces (700 words or fewer) with a funny, unique POV on romance, dating, love, or relationships.
Short humor means we’re generally open to satire, parody, lists, fake articles, absurdist pieces, and other formats you might see in McSweeney’s or The New Yorker’s Shouts and Murmurs section. … Before you submit, I highly suggest you read some of our most popular posts to get a sense of our readers’ tastes.” They do not want personal essays or short fiction. Also see their tips for strong submissions, as well as common mistakes they see writers making.
Deadline: 6 February 2026
Length: Up to 700 words
Pay: $100
Details here.
(And, Talk Vomit is accepting submissions on the theme, It’s Complicated. They’re open till 1^st March or until they reach a submission cap. There is no payment. Details here and here.)

Little Somethings Press: Motherhood Anthology
They want “poetry, prose, and art centered on motherhood — the joy and the trauma...Poetry should be under one page, and prose under 500 words.” 
Deadline: 7 February 2026
Length: See above
Pay: $40
Details here.

The Suburban Review: Aftermath
The Suburban Review is an Australian literary magazine, and they want submissions of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry on the Aftermath theme. “So, tell us… where to from here? 
Whether you’re starting from scratch or back to your old tricks, we want writing that honours the past, tends to the present, and shapes the future. Show us non-fiction that sticks around to pick up the pieces and artwork so indelible it defies a clean slate. Send us twist-y comics, ghost stories and poetry tender enough to soothe a comedown… or inspire a comeback.” They also accept comics and art.
Deadline: 8 February 2026 (5 p.m. AEDT)
Length: 500-2,500 words for fiction, 1,250-2,000 words for nonfiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: Up to AUD450 for fiction, up to AUD550 for poetry, AUD400 for nonfiction
Details here and here.

(Submissions are also scheduled to open for NonBinary Review and the theme is Saying Goodbye to Yesterday; they accept speculative fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art on the theme, till end-February or until their submission cap is reached, whichever is earlier. Submission is via Duosuma. The deadline is 28 February 2026, or until their submission cap is met, whichever is earlier; they pay up to $30; details here and here.)

Griffith Review: Into the Archive
Griffith Review is an Australian literary magazine and they want fiction and nonfiction submissions for issue 93; the theme is Into the Archive. “The archive has long been a form of collection, preservation and communication. As the internet and social media reshape what, why and how we record information, whether for personal or institutional means, the nature of the archive itself is also in flux. How does the archive mediate the relationship between public and private space? How do archives shape individual and collective memory? Should the archivist preserve without intervention? What will the archives of the future look like? And in what ways do other mediums – bodies, places, cultures – act as their own kinds of archive? This edition of Griffith Review goes on the record to reveal the secrets and surprises of the archive.”
Do not send poetry. They mostly accept work from writers in Australia, and some work from overseas writers.
Deadline is 15 February 2026 (11:59 pm AEST)
Length: Up to 4,000 words for prose
Pay: AUD0.75/word
Details here and here
(Griffith Review is also open for an Emerging Voices contest, for which they charge a submission fee; the deadline for that is in April.)

Flame Tree: Vampires
This is a fiction anthology of vampirism in all its forms. “Vampire-like creatures appear in almost every culture in some form: from ancient civilisations such as the Romans, Greeks, Hebrew and Mesopotamia, to the walking, blood-drinking corpses of mediaeval Europe and the Transylvanian tale of Vlad the Impaler, which of course gave rise to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This anthology will include tales that reflect both these older legends and also the current view of modern-day vampires – as evoked in films such as Sinners and 30 Days of Night, as well as in literature such as Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, the American Vampire comic series, George R.R. Martin’s Fevre Dream and Anne Rice’s Interview With a Vampire just to name a few.” They do not want reprints.
Deadline: 15 February 2026
Length: 2,000-4,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.

(Submissions are also open for Need: Horror Stories You Can’t Live Without; “Addiction. Hunger. Desperate Love. Medical care. Compulsion. Illness. Oxygen. Technology. If it's about an all-consuming, soul-destroying, life-altering NEED -- I want it. I need it.” They pay $20 for fiction up to 2,000 words, and the deadline is 28^th February 2026. Details here.)

100-Foot Crow: Coffee
They want speculative fiction drabbles, of exactly 100 words; horror must also have a speculative element (science fiction or fantasy). They want submissions on the Coffee theme, as well as unthemed submissions. See the kind of stories they do not want, and they also list their hard sells. Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 15 February 2026
Length: 100 words
Pay: $8
Details here.

The Slab Press: Obsidian – The Dark Space Novelette Anthology
“We are looking for darker stories about exploration, isolation, and the harsh conditions of space. Think space horror, like Sunshine or Event Horizon, psychological stories, dystopian, and bleak. The crucial thing is the space setting.
What we will love: stories that focus on character.”
Deadline: 15^th February 2026
Length: 9,000-25,000 words
Pay: 1p a word up to £100
Details here.

(Submissions are also open for The Slab Press’s Screams and Wails – The Rock-Horror Anthology;they want “original horror short stories with music at their still-beating heart. Think cursed instruments; songs that drive the listener mad; zombie fans; haunted studios.
What we will love: anything with music or music culture as a predominant theme, but are particularly keen on alternative rock types such as rock, indie, metal, goth, prog, dub etc. We want the mood, style and trappings of music, which means fiction, aspiration, glamour, dirt and grit, but mostly fiction.” Do not send real music lyrics or reprints. They accept translations – see guidelines. Pay is 1p a word up to £50 for stories of 2,000-9,000 words, and the deadline is 28 February 2026; details here.)

The Rebis: The Moon
They publish “Creative writing and art inspired by tarot. … The Rebis is a physical publication and a digital newsletter. Each print issue will focus on one card, where every contributor's interpretation adds layers of richness and depth. The newsletter unpacks broader themes of tarot and the creative process.” You can read more about them here. They want submissions on The Moon. “We are looking for original writing, artwork, and any other form of creative expression that you dream up inspired by the 18th card of the Major Arcana.” See examples of the themes they want to explore on their guidelines page, including nonlinear time, ancestral time, dream time; ancestry, inherited memory & collective grief; disorientation & bewilderment; resistance to Western logics of coherence; diverse cultural understandings of the Moon; tidal intelligence & water stories (Tidalectics, flood states, brackish zones, amniotic memory); lunar states beyond Full/New Moon (progressed lun; ations, eclipses); subcultural spaces & underground worlds; nonhuman consciousness, shapeshifting, anti-anthropomorphism, biodiversity; and more. And, “We are especially interested in publishing experimental and genre-bending work (creative non-fiction, short stories, flash fiction). Personal memoirs, researched articles, interviews, and poetry are all welcome, too.” Regarding non-fiction, “Please submit either a first draft, or an outline with a 500-word excerpt. The excerpt can be the opening paragraphs or a developed idea from another section—please specify in your submission.” They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork, hybrids, as well as collaborative works (see guidelines).
Deadline: 17 February 2027
Length: Up to 3 poems; up to 2,000 words for prose
Pay: $100-200
Details here and here.  

Poetry Wales: On Teaching
They want pitches of essays, interviews and submissions of poetry to feature in their upcoming issue. “As always, we welcome work on any and all themes, but we do have a particular slant that we are especially interested in hearing about; for Summer 2026, we want to explore the meeting point between poetry and teaching. … We are open to all poetry but poems by teachers would be welcomed in this issue. Teachers and tutors are often focussed on supporting the creative practice of others – in this issue, we want to spotlight your own practice. Let us know in your cover letter what context you teach in, and please submit a maximum of four poems, but know that the poems themselves do not necessarily have to be on teaching related topics.
We also have a general call for poetry which may include non-teachers and/or on non-teaching topics.” They’re also looking for submissions on ‘How I Teach a Poem’ and tributes to the poet and critic Jeremy Hooker.
Deadline: 28 February 2026, or until filled
Length: Varies
Pay: Unspecified
Details here.

Scylla Publishing: Who Am I? A Sapphic Spec Fic Anthology of Identity and Purpose
This is a fiction anthology. “This anthology aims to explore sapphic identity and purpose through the lens of fantasy and speculative fiction. Give us your adventure, introspection, daring, romance, or conflict!
Put simply, being sapphic is not all we are, but it does play a role in who we are and the choices we make. Same with our characters. We’re looking for stories that give sapphic characters something amazing to do while remaining visibly and proudly queer.” Please see their detailed guidelines, including about hard sells. And, “Authors must be female identifying or non-binary.
We will be stating in our marketing that all contributors are sapphic/wlw. If you are uncomfortable with this, please do not submit, or use a pen name to submit.” They also accept reprints and translations. Apart from payment of AUD0.10 per word, they’ll pay an additional AUD50 per story if your story is to be used in whole or in part in the email/social marketing campaigns for the anthology. You can submit via Duosuma, or a submission form on their website.
Deadline: 28 February 2026 (5pm AEDT)
Length: 2,000 and 5,000 words
Pay: AUD0.10/word, up to AUD400, potentially more if story used for marketing campaign
Details here.

Inkd Publishing: Heightened Anxiety Anthology
They are open for a thriller/suspense. “Heightened Anxiety – we’re searching for the thrills and suspense that quicken the heartbeat of the reader.
There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story. We encourage you to weave the theme into an engaging story with well-developed characters and deep emotion. Suspense and thrillers are encouraged over horror for this anthology, but a great horror story may rise to the top.”
Deadline: 28^th February 2026
Length: 2,000-7,000 words
Pay: $10 + royalty share
Details here – scroll down.

(Inkd Publishingis also open for their fourth anthology in their Behind the Shadows series; they want horror fiction. “Gore is accepted, but good characters we engage with are paramount and a satisfying ending is a must. … There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story. However, we’ll be seriously impressed if you can work within Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but they won’t be the bulk of the accepted submissions.” Submission is via a form. US authors also get a contributor copy – see guidelines. They pay $10+ royalty share for stories of 2,000-6,000 words and the deadline is 31 March 2026; details here.)

Shtriga: Slavic Supernatural Anthology
They want Slavic fantasy and horror fiction for this anthology; the theme is Slavic folklore and mythology.
Deadline: 28 February 2026Length: 1,500–7,500 words
Payment: $35
Details here.

MEMEZINE
Memezine wants “pieces that blur the lines between art, literature, and content. We want work that feels like it only could have been written now. Send anything that directly or indirectly engages with memes, current events, viral content, apps, trends, social media, pop/internet culture, and technology. Gift us your best and your worst because we want to explore all facets of participation in this digital landscape.” They are reading submissions for their Spring issue. They want “traditional or hybrid pieces that directly or indirectly engage with memes, political/current events, viral content, trends, social media, pop/internet culture, technology, and any other work that blurs the lines between art, literature, and content.” 
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Length: Up to 3 pieces (up to 5 pages total) for both prose and poetry
Pay: $10
Details here and here.

Black Beacon Books: The Fourth Black Beacon Book of Mystery
They want “Fair-play detective stories where the reader is called upon to solve the puzzle. We want clues, red herrings, and a final reveal. Give our clever readers a puzzle! …DO NOT send a submission that is not a mystery. We don't want crime or detective stories without a mystery to solve. We don't want supernatural tales.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Length: 3,000 and 9,000 words
Pay: $30 for originals
Details here.
(Black Beacon Books is also open for Kindle-only novelettes. “Preferred genres are fair-play mystery, suspense, folk horror, ghost stories, and post-apocalyptic.” They pay S50 for novelettes of 9,000 and 25,000 words; no reprints. The deadline is 15^th February 2026; details here.)

The Ranger's Almanac
They accept “stories, poetry, artwork, photographs, and music for consideration in a (US) Forest and Park Service-specific literary journal” from rangers and creators across the US. Submissions must be related to, or inspired by, a national/state forest or park and must be PG-13.
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Length: Stories of 500 to 10,000 words
Pay: $5 for poems, photos, and reprints; $10 for music and original audio pieces; $25 for artwork; $5 per 500 words for stories
Details here and here.

Altar: Spirals and Stars / Spring
This is a new magazine; “We’re not a typical literary magazine, we’re your guide for the season. Yes you’ll find poems and beautiful stories but there’s also reviews, recipes, and rituals. We want to provide a space for creatives and help you navigate the energy of the season whether it’s through prose or some kitchen magic, we’re here.” They want submissions for their first issue. “Our inaugural issue explores Spring and all that comes with it. Buds breaking through willow trees. Fresh blooms scenting the air. The return of the songbirds and rabbits. Ferns unraveling on the forest floor. Fertility magic, fae, gardens. New beginnings.
While the season is filled with new life and bright energy, there’s also abandoned nests, a struggle to break free from the cold, the chance of getting whisked away by the fae and never being seen again.”
The want fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, reviews, recipes, and spells/rituals. Their submission portal will open during the reading period.
Deadline: 1^st March 2026
Length: Up to 10 pages for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: $5
Details here.

FLARE Magazine: Disability as Strength
FLARE Magazine accepts creative submissions that relate to chronic illness, disabilities, and mental health in some way; they are open for their themed contest, on Disability as Strength; it is open for international submissions.“We want pieces that show finding your voice when it comes to managing mental health, disabilities, and chronic illnesses. So often, a disability, a chronic illness, and/or a mental health condition is seen as a stigma or a weakness. But we didn’t have a choice–we were dealt a bad hand. So, this is your chance to find your voice and showcase how being disabled has made you (or a character, if fiction) stronger. What are your badges of honor, your battle scars? What does your “fight” look like?” The first three winners get cash prizes, runners-up get online publication (no monetary payment).
Value: $125, $75, $50
Deadline: 1 March 2026
Open for: Unspecified
Details here. (FLARE Magazine is also accepting general submissions that relate to chronic illness, disabilities, and mental health till 13^th February; there is no payment for these submissions; details here.)

Thema: While the Snowstorm Was Raging...
They publish three themed issues a year. They accept short stories, essays, poetry, and art. Their upcoming theme is ‘While the Snowstorm Was Raging...’. They have other themes too, with other deadlines. They also accept reprints. Only writers outside of the US can submit by email, US-based writers have to post their submissions.
Deadline: 1 March 2026 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 20 pages for fiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: $10-25
Details here.

Transcendent Fiction Publishing: Verify You’re Not Human Anthology
Tf Publishing is a furry & speculative fiction publisher. And, Verify You’re Not Human is “an anthology about therian experiences. Stories may be realistic without any fantastical elements, or may result in transformation or some other kind of adapting to a therian identity over the course of the story.
The main character of the story must be therian (or similar forms of identity, such as otherkin) - this can be a “coming out” story as the character recognises themselves as therian, or can be an established identity.
The story should have a strong focus on what it means to be therian - stories where this is incidental or not a focus will likely not be accepted. There are, however, many ways to be therian and all kinds of this will be considered.” Stories may be of any age rating including explicit 18+ stories, and may be of any genre so long as they include obvious therian (or otherkin, etc.) main characters.
Deadline: 1 March 2026
Length: 2,000-10,000 words
Pay: AUD 1c/word
Details here.

Liars’ League: Illusion & Confusion
They want themed short fiction in any genre – flash fiction, short stories. and novel extracts (so long as they can stand alone). One of their upcoming themes is Illusion & Confusion:“Give us conjurors & confidence tricksters, halls of mirrors, AI hallucinations, Kafka-esque bureaucracies & any other illusory, confusing fictions your twisted brain can invent”. Apart from cash payment, Liars’ League offers reading of your story by a professional actor, as well as podcast, video and online publication of your work.
Deadline: 1^st March 2026
Length: 800-2,000 words
Pay: £20
Details here and here.
(Liars’ League has other themes listed as well with later deadlines, including Above & Below: “Lofty or lying low, your stories can fly high in the clouds or drag us down to hell, literally or metaphorically…. Go above or below, to deep-sea trenches & radio-towers, mineshafts & Alpine peaks & don’t forget the social stratospheres, from high & mighty monarchs to the downtrodden & penniless”. Deadline: 3^rd May 2026,  details here and here.)

ROF Publishing House: Pathways to Imagination - Whispers Made Flesh Anthology
They want stories “where the unseen insists on being seen. This volume explores what happens when ideas, desires, fears, prayers, rumors, secrets, memories, or grief take on form. These are stories of embodiment and consequence, where what was once intangible leaves a mark on the living world. 
We're drawn to genre-blending work that is eerie, intimate, playful, unsettling or quietly devastating. Stories where the strange is not decoration, but consequence.” And, some genre mashups they like are: Folk Horror entwined with intimacy or inheritance; Cosmic Horror filtered through identity, memory or grief; Dark Fantasy intersecting with desire, obsession, or romance (see the submission form for more).
Deadline: 15 March 2026
Length: 1,000-7,000 words
Pay: $25-45
Details here and here.

(Also, Cosmic Horror Monthly will open briefly for a CL Moore tribute fiction call, from 1^st to 7^th March 2026; they pay $0.03/word for fiction up to 5,000 words; the submission link will be active during the submission period; details here.)

Critical Blast Publishing: Fantastic Voyages Anthology
“We are looking for portal stories, with characters taken unexpectedly and unexplainedly from the world they know into a world they don't. We're talking rabbit holes and wardrobes here. Absurdly huge magician's top hats and the yawning mouths of hippos at the zoo.”Deadline: 31 March 2026
Length: 2,500 to 10,000 words
Pay: $25
Details here.

Whisper House Press: Doom Scroll Anthology
They want social media horror fiction. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Think of the influencer grind forced on (or volunteered into?) creators for video apps, the performative nightmare of business-oriented sites, the curated perfection of photo-sharing sites, the niche obsession of sub-reddits, or the high-stakes world of dating apps.” They are reading general submissions (from all writers) till end March, and have an extended submission window for till mid-April for underrepresented writers. Please see their submission requirements/options before you begin work, to ensure the recipient can see the document history, to ensure the no-AI rule.
Deadline: 31 March 2026 for general submissions; 15 April for writers from diaspora communities, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and/or Autistic writers
Length: 200 to 2,000 words
Pay: $30
Details here.

Skipjack Review: Music
“These waters are eclectic, baby, sometimes irreverent and odd, but mom loves us anyway—Mother Nature, that is. And we love her. That’s why everything we publish at Skipjack Review shares a reeling concern for the world around us.” This literary journal publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. They also publish an anthology. And they want submissions for their Music-themed anthology. “Whether it’s sweetness to your ears or the sounding of an alarm, Skipjack Review wants to see your most musical writing and art. For this special anthology, we’re looking and listening for shortform fiction, essays, CNF, and art about music and its relationship to our environment.” Some submissions are have a submission fee, but there is no fee for Music themed submissions.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 5,000 words for prose
Pay: $0.01/word
Details here (general submission guidelines) and here (theme details – see the relevant category).

THEMED CONTESTS
(Apart from the themed contests, there are also some unthemed ones open now, including:

-- VCA Playwriting Award: The winning writer will receive a fee, a guarantee of publication by Methuen Drama, and a fully-produced, 4-week run of their script at The Glitch in Waterloo. Two runners-up will receive mentorship. Additionally, up to 15 shortlisted writers will receive written, developmental feedback on their script, and invitation to a talk by Methuen Drama on getting work published. Winner receives a £2,500 fee, or 10% of the production’s ticket sales, whichever is greater; the deadline is 20 February 2026; Details here and here.

-- A Public Space Editorial Fellowship: This is a program for aspiring editors who must be residents of New York City for the duration of the fellowship; the fellowship period is approximately six months, from June 1, 2026 through November 30, 2026. Two Editorial Fellows will be selected to work alongside the editorial staff at A Public Space on various aspects of the magazine. They have some eligibility and application requirements. They pay $6,000, and the deadline is 15 February 2026; details he.

-- Poetry Northwest: James Welch Prize for Indigenous Writers: 
This is a poetry prize for Indigenous writers who are community-recognized members of tribal nations within the United States and its trust territories. Only poets who have not published more than one book-length collection are eligible. Apart from cash prizes, two poets will also be invited to read at a literary venue; the award is $1,000 each, and the deadline is 15 February 2026; details here (scroll down), here, and here.

-- Lunch Ticket: Diana Woods Award in Creative Nonfiction: This award is for a creative nonfiction piece of up to 3,500 words on any subject. The contest is open in February and August. The award is $250, and the deadline is end-February; details here.

-- Lunch Ticket: The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts: Translators and authors of multilingual texts are encouraged to submit their work for The Gabo Prize. Writers should indicate whether the translation falls under poetry or prose, and include the original work along with your translation. Original, bilingual work qualifies for the Gabo Prize. This contest, too, is open in February and August. The award is $200, and the deadline is end-February; details here.

-- Poetry Foundation: Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships: These grants are for US poets ages 21-31 years. Applicants have to register on their online portal. Poets can also apply for alternative formats to submit applications. One of the application requirements is a writing sample. The grants are $27,000 each; the deadline is 2^nd March 2026 (virtual information session, deadline to request alternative application formats, and cut off to submit application portal registration for first time applicants are earlier – see guidelines); details here; see all of Poetry Foundation’s grants and awards for individuals here.)

Narrative ‘Tell Me a Story’ High School Contest
They want a poem, story, or essay, on a theme by students in grades 9-12 all over the world – see guidelines for suggestions on what the theme can entail, and length guidelines. The work must be submitted by the student’s English teacher. The prompt is,  “One True Thing”.
Value: $500, $200, $100; $50 for finalists
Deadline: 4 February 2026
Open for: High school students
Details here.

Footnote x Counterpoints Literary Prize
This is open to writers from a refugee or migrant background who is a resident of the UK or Ireland. For this cycle, they want an excerpt from a fiction manuscript. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Submissions must be for a fiction book centred on themes of displacement, courage and/or belonging … and consist of a sample of 8,000-10,000 words and a detailed synopsis of a minimum of 1,500 words, as well as a fully completed online submission form. You will be asked to provide an estimated word count for the complete book, as well as the date by which you would be able to deliver the completed manuscript. You must be able to deliver a complete manuscript of approx. 60,000- 100,000 words before 27th June 2027.”
Value: £15,000
Deadline: 13 February 2026 (see guidelines)
Open for: Those from a refugee or migrant background in the UK/Ireland
Details here.

International Thriller Writers Scholarships
They are awarding two separate scholarships for ThrillerFest: the Fresh Perspectives Scholarship for any underrepresented author, published or unpublished, and the Undiscovered New Voices Scholarship for any unpublished author who is writing a mystery/thriller novel (80k-100k words). Each scholarship recipient will receive a cash stipend and a free pass to attend ThrillerFest XXI, which takes place May 5 – May 9, 2026 in New York City. One of the application requirements is a writing sample. Application is via a form on their website.
Value: $1,000 stipend, ThrillerFest pass
Deadline: 15 February 2026
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
(Also see The Poisoned Pen / Barbara Peters Scholarship for ThrillerFest 2026, for ITW members; details here.)

The Gay & Lesbian Review: The Charles S. Longcope Jr. Writers and Artists Grant
They are awarding three grants of up to $5,000 each. “Emerging scholars, writers, or artists whose proposed project makes a contribution to LGBTQ+ scholarship or the arts are eligible to apply. Multi-author applications and international applicants are welcome. The gift(s) will be awarded to scholars, writers, and artists to provide funding to write an article for The G&LR and to begin, complete, or advance LGBTQ+ related writing and other creative projects such as a research paper or thesis, a book, a podcast, a video, a script, a novel, a multimedia creation, or an art installation. Proposals that incorporate discussion of race, gender, and class, disability, or other similar topics are of particular interest.” 
Value: Up to $5,000 each
Deadline: 15 February 2026
Open for: Emerging scholars, writers, or artists whose proposed project makes a contribution to LGBTQ+ scholarship or the arts
Details here.

The Academy of American Poets: 2026 Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship
The fellowship recognizes “outstanding translations into English of modern Italian poetry through a $10,000 book prize and a $25,000 fellowship, given in alternating years. The Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship will be given in 2026 to enable an American translator to travel, study, or otherwise advance a significant work-in-progress. The Academy invites applications from American translators currently engaged in the translation of twentieth-century Italian poetry. The winning translator will receive an award of $25,000 and a five-week residency at the American Academy in Rome.” 
Value: $25,000, residency
Deadline: 15 February 2026
Open for: American poets translating Italian poetry
Details here and here.
(Also see the Academy of American Poets’ Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, a $1,000 award recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year; the deadline for that, too, is 15^th February; details here.)

Christopher Tower Poetry Competition
This is for young poets studying in the UK, aged 16-18 years. Submit a poem of up to 48 lines. The theme for 2026 is ‘A Riddle’.
Value: £5,000, £3000, £1500; £500 for runners-up
Deadline: 19 February 2026 (12 noon GMT)
Open for: Young poets studying in the UK
Details here and here

West Chester University: Five contests
They run some contests, five of which are free to enter, and offer cash prizes. 
-- Iris N. Spencer Poetry Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university for poems composed in the traditional modes of meter, rhyme and received forms. Prizes are $1,500, and $500.
-- Sonnet Award: This is a contest for undergraduate poets in the US, for sonnets. The prize is $1,000.
-- The Villanelle Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university, for villanelles. The prize is $1,000.
-- Myong Cha Son Haiku Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university for unpublished, original haiku. The prizes are $1,500, and $500.
-- Rhina P. Espaillat Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university for original poems written in Spanish, and translations of English poems to Spanish. The prize is $500.
Deadline: 20 February 2026 for all West Chester University contests
Open for: Undergraduate poets in the US
Details here (scroll down) for all the West Chester University poetry awards; click on each contest name for details.

NYU Journalism: Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award
The Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award is “to provide the means for promising early-career, creative nonfiction writers to report on an untold story that uncovers truths about the human condition”. Writers can apply for one of the institute’s awards per year.
Deadline: 22 February 2026
Value: Up to $15,000
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest
This is a short fiction contest run by the Little Tokyo Historical Society in Los Angeles. Stories must take place in Little Tokyo, and can be set in the past, present, or future. Stories can be in Japanese (5,000 ji or fewer) or English (up to 2,500 words). There are three categories: Youth (under 18s), Japanese, and English. They want fictional stories set in Little Tokyo.
Value: $500 in each category
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (download the guidelines and agreement form).

BCALA Self-Publishing Literary Awards
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) is now accepting submissions for the 2026 Self-Publishing eBook Award. “Through this contest, the BCALA honors the best self-published ebooks by an African American author in the U.S. in both fiction and poetry genres.
These awards acknowledge outstanding achievement in the presentation of the cultural, historical and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora. The purpose is to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and scholarly research including biographical, historical, and social history treatments by African Americans.”
Value: $2,500 each for a self-published poetry and prose ebook
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Open for: African American authors in the US
Details here.

(Submissions are also open for The Caine Prize for African Writing, also called the African Booker. Entries must be sent by the publisher or a third-party institution that is independent of the author – entries sent by the author will be ineligible. It is for published short stories of 3,000 to 10,000 words, written by an African writer, published within the last five years – see guidelines. The award is £10,000, and the submission deadline is 27 February 2026, 12:00 GMT.)

The Sejong Cultural Society Writing Contest
This is only for US and Canadian writers. The Sejong Writing Competition aims to introduce young adults to Korean culture through poetry. They are currently open for a sijo contest – you can enter in the adult division (age 19 and older) and pre-college division (age 18 and younger – see guidelines). They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully.
Value: Adult division: $1,000, $750, $500; pre-college division: $500, $400, $300, and $50 each for honorable mentions
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Open for: Young US and Canadian writers (see guidelines)
Details here and here

Kinsman Quarterly: Voices of Mixed Heritage
This is an award forauthors and poets of mixed heritage or relationships. “Submit essays, fiction, or poetry exploring themes of multicultural or third-culture identity, love, belonging, home life, and pain. We seek heartfelt reflections on living between worlds.  
Win up to $500 in cash prizes and publication in Kinsman’s upcoming anthology.” They accept prose of 300 to 2,000 words, and up to 10 pages of poetry. Please note, you have to log into their website to access submission guidelines.
Value:  $500, $250, $150; $25 Amazon gift cards for runners-up
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Open for: Authors and poets of mixed heritage or relationships
Details here.
(Kinsman Quarterly has other contests in 2026 too, both fee-based and fee-free, see brief information about those on this page; again, you have to log in to access detailed information.

The Orwell Society Dystopian Fiction Prize
The Orwell Society is organising its annual short story competition for current students (both BA and MA) at British universities. They want dystopian narratives of up to 3,000 words. The theme for 2026 is Belonging. “Exploring the following concepts:
What it means to truly belong
The impossibility of returning home or inability to recapture the past”.
Value: £750
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Open for: Current students (both BA and MA) at British universities, who are permanent UK citizens
Details here.

The Kelpies Prize for Writing
This is for Scotland-based writers, for writers who want to start a career in children’s books. A couple of the submission requirements are the first five chapters of a book for children, either fiction or non-fiction, or a whole picture book story (see guidelines), as well as “a short piece of writing (1,000–3,000 words) for children that includes one of the following phrases at any point in the piece: • And then I remembered the porridge was still on the stove • We didn’t plan to get lost in the woods • If only I could remember what [insert character name] always said
This can be a short story, poetry or a picture-book text; it can be comic, dramatic, moving, largely dialogue or whatever you like. It can be very different from your writing style in (1) (see guidelines): show us your range!” They are looking for work for children ages 3 to 13. They do not want works for young adults.
Value: £500, mentorship
Deadline: 28 February 2026
Open for: Scotland-based writers
Details here (download guidelines) and here
(They also have a prize for illustration.)

The Tom Grass Spirit of Adventure Literary Prize
This prize is for writers aged 25+. They want short pieces of stand-alone prose in either fiction or non-fiction (1,500 - 3,000 words). “It can be adapted from a longer work but must be satisfying to read by itself.
The prize invites writers from all walks of life, whether writing a short story, essay, memoir, piece of reportage, historical investigation, or other hybrid form, as long as the writer reflects the sensibility of the prize.
The prize is not aimed at the action-adventure genre nor limited to the idea of physical adventure. We invite writers to grapple with the spirit of adventure in any way they interpret. Pieces will be read and judged on their literary merit and their engagement with the general reader.” Entrants must not have a previous or new book under contract with a mainstream publisher (see guidelines), or be represented by a literary agent. All three finalists will also get a meeting with a literary agent. The fee-free reading period for this prize is until 28^th February; after that, they charge a submission fee.
Value: £1,000; £500 each for runners-up
Deadline: 28 February 2026 (for fee-free submissions)
Open for: Emerging writers who are 25+ (see guidelines)
Details here and here.

Baltimore Science Fiction Society Poetry Contest
For this contest, poets are required to submit poetry on science fiction/fantasy/horror/science themes. Send poems up to 60 lines. Winners will receive a cash prize, convention membership and be invited to read their winning entries at Balticon. Attendance at Balticon is not required to win.
Value: $100, $75, $50
Deadline: 1 March 2026
Open for: All poets
Details here.

(A couple of contests with later deadlines are:

-- Verity Bargate Award: Launched in 1982, the Verity Bargate Award one of the longest-established playwrighting awards in the UK. It is “Soho Theatre’s flagship new writing award with the winning play produced in a full production on our stages.” Emerging playwrights in the UK or Ireland can enter; you must have had fewer than three professional productions. The winner receives £12,000 and the deadline is 13^th April 2026; details here and here.

-- The Mike Resnick Memorial Award: This award is sponsored by Galaxy’s Edge magazine and Dragon Con. They want a science fiction story by a new writer (who has not been paid a per-word rate of 6 cents a word or more or received a payment for any single work of fiction totaling more than $50). Send stories up to 7,499 words. Writers do not need to be members of Dragon Con. The awards are $250, $100, $50, and the deadline is 15 April 2026; details here (scroll down) and here.

-- Terrain.org Editor’s Prize: They welcome submissions on place, climate, and justice – fiction (short story, flash fiction series, novel excerpt, radio play, or other fiction piece) and non-fiction; they are not open for poetry in 2026. They also accept translations, and art. Payment for general submissions is a minimum of $50. And, “All accepted submissions by writers of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and/or other marginalized communities whose contributions explore place particularly in the context of social, environmental, or climate justice are considered for our annual Editor's Prize of $500 per genre.” There is no separate submission process or entry fee for this contest; they have other, fee-based contests too. Certain sections, like Letter to America and ARTerrain, are open year-round. Submissions close on 30^th April for fiction and non-fiction. The Editor’s Prize for underrepresented writers is $500 per genre. Details here.)

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
“We love work that is linguistically, intellectually, and emotionally demanding of the reader. We want literary fiction that grows in complexity upon each visitation; we enjoy ornate, cerebral, and voluptuous prose executed with thematic intent. … We are not concerned with genre distinctions—send us the best you have; we want only for it to be thoughtful, intelligent, and beautiful. All writers tend to develop a scrap heap of brilliant writing – sharp dialogue that has been cut in service of a plot, a philosophical tirade that can’t quite be couched in a narrative, a stunning imagistic landscape of linguistic pyrotechnics that deserves an audience…  We would love to provide a space for those portions of works that have been cut away through no fault of their own.” They accept up to 50 pages of writing; literary fiction, creative nonfiction, excerpts, screenplays, stageplays, fragments, meanderings, philosophy and poetry. Each published piece will be accompanied by a custom sketch by their illustrator. Details here and here.

A Public Space
They are accepting fiction (including translations, as well as excerpts from larger works), nonfiction, and poetry for their magazine until 15^th February 2026. They’re also accepting applications for editorial fellowships, for which they pay, open to those who are residents of New York for the duration of the fellowship; the deadline for fellowship applications is end-February. Details here.

Necessary Fiction: Summer flash fiction series 2026
“Our summer flash fiction series returns for its ninth year! While we read flash fiction year-round, summer is the time when we get hot and heavy for three months of the perfect piece of storytelling, the beautiful sentence, the emotional gut punch, and the surprising character arc that’s the right length for reading at the beach (cocktails and mocktails optional).” They want fiction up to 750 words for this call; the deadline is 15^th February 2026. They also publish  book reviews, Research Notes series, and “occasional interviews, essays, and other surprises.” Details here and here.   

The Rumpus
They publish fiction (up to 5,000 words), comics, essays, criticism, poetry, interviews, and stories for The Sunday Scaries section. Regarding fiction, “…we are interested in stories that have layers, with elements of surprise and unexpected stakes and points of tension running beneath. Rumpus stories have an edge and feature unique, indelible voices. They tackle emotional depth while not being at all sentimental. We love it when a story’s language, plot, and characters feel palpable and dynamic on the page, and a strong sense of place goes a long way. Show us something new, bold, brash, alive.” They pay $100 for prose and comics, and $50 for poetry. Details here.

DASH Literary Journal
The journal is back after a hiatus. They are affiliated with the California State University, Fullerton. They’ve published “national and international poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, micro-literary criticism, hybrid texts, and artwork by authors and artists of all levels of experience, from first-time submitters through well-published creators.
While the works themselves cover a diverse range of topics, themes, and styles, successful DASH submissions are brief, concentrated expressions of creativity, with an emphasis on brevity.” They want fiction up to 2,000 words, and the deadline is 1 March 2026. Details here.

Mslexia
They accept submissions by women-identified authors only, of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, pitches, and fun projects. For fiction and poetry featuring in Mslexia Showcase, they want work on Maps (deadline: 9^th March) and Gold (deadline: 8^th June) themes. They also have interesting sections in each genre; in fiction, they have a section called The World’s Wife, in which they want a fictional prose monologue in the voice of the wife, mistress, sister, daughter, mother of a famous real or fictional person (deadline 6^th April 2026, for inclusion in their upcoming issue). Some of their submission sections are for subscribers only, and a few are closed, but most of them are open to all writers. Details here (scroll down and click on various sections/genres).

COMP
This magazine is affiliated with Piedmont University. They publish fiction (no minimum or maximum word count), creative nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre work, critical prose. They accept submissions November through February. Details here.

Liars’ League
They want themed stories, of 800-2,000 words. Two of their upcoming themes are: Illusion & Confusion, deadline 1^st March; Above & Below, deadline 3^rd May 2026. They offer £20, reading of your story by a professional actor, as well as podcast, video and online publication of your work. Details here.

Alternative Milk Magazine
They want “your most gorgeous, nostalgic, ruthless, relatable, sardonic, lush, and bruising work.” They accept fiction (up to 4,000 words), nonfiction, poetry, and art. They will open for submission in March 2026, for their fourth issue. Details here.

The Bombay Literary Magazine
This India-based literary magazine accepts fiction (2,000-5,000 words), graphic fiction, translated fiction, poetry, translated poetry, and essays (see guidelines). They have a submission cap, so submissions close by category when they hit those caps. Their submission form is active during the reading period. They pay INR5,000. Details here.

Salt Hill
This print journal publishes fiction (up to 30 pages), poetry, nonfiction, translations, interviews, and art. They are affiliated with Syracuse University. Their website says, they publish work “by people at various stages in their literary and artistic careers. We publish new and emerging writers alongside those with long, illustrious careers in the literary arts.” They have two submission periods for fiction and poetry: December through January, and July through August. They accept nonfiction and art submissions year-round. Details here and here.

The Threepenny Review
This quarterly journal accepts fiction (up to 4,000 words), nonfiction, poetry, and submissions for their ‘Table Talk’ column. Pay is $400 per story or article, $200 per poem or Table Talk piece. The deadline is 15^th April 2026. Details here and here.

Valparaiso Fiction Review
This is the sister publication to Valparaiso Poetry Review (VPR), and is affiliated with Valparaiso University. They want fiction of 1,000-9,000 words. Excerpts from novels are acceptable only if selected piece operates as a stand-alone story. Details here.

Zyzzyva
This award-winning journal publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from around the world. You can read about them here. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Southword
This is the magazine of the Munster Literature Centre, and they will be open for fiction submissions up to 5,000 words from 1^st February; they’ll stay open till 28^th February or when they reach a submission cap, whichever is earlier. They pay €400 per short story. Their Submittable will open for fiction during the reading period. Do not send poetry during this reading period. Details here.

Scribeworth
They publish “fresh voices and compelling narratives that push the boundaries of popular fiction, literary fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and visual art.” For fiction (of 500 to 2,000 words), “We appreciate nuanced stories that explore the human condition, delving deep into character development and offering layered, thought-provoking themes. Whether your work is introspective, experimental, or minimalist, we’re interested in prose that pushes boundaries and evokes a strong emotional or intellectual response from the reader.” They will open for their Autumn issue submissions from April 1^st to May 31^st. Details here.

Temple in a City
They’re looking for “The liberated moment, whether that comes from a gentle easing or a tornado. We like things that yearn, ache, comfort, seek, bristle, explore, prick, navigate, love. Mythic, dreamy and poetic welcome. Unafraid, unself-conscious and unapologetic welcome. TiaC is not afraid of softness, sentiment is better than cleverness if it’s truthful. Feel free to be embarrassing. We like the unintentional misfits, work that can’t help but slip between gaps.” They publish flash fiction (up to 1,000 words), poetry, art, and “letters to whatever needs addressing”. Submissions are now open for their Spring 2026 issue. They also accept work on TiaC Timely and Joy themes on an ongoing basis. Details here.   

HOOT
“HOOT is a postcard. …  It is also:
a brief, displayable, shareable literary magazine.
The idea is:
-to have stories and poems on a postcard, so that they can be displayed and shared easily. Stick it on the fridge! Tuck it in your husband’s/wife’s briefcase or nephew’s book bag!
-for people to have a literary magazine that they can both afford to subscribe to and have time to read. Never again will you be able to claim that you don’t have time to read current literature! Each post card will have fewer than two “Tweets.” Except it’s not digital!” They also have an online version. They accept prose and reviews of under 150 words, and poetry of under 10 lines. The deadline is 1^st March 2026. Details here.

Sardine Can Collective
They are reading unthemed submissions on an ongoing basis – for art, poetry, prose, and occasionally an essay/interview; and, “We are currently looking for poetry and prose in the genre of love, this may be romantic, platonic, familial, etc.” – the deadline for this theme is 30^th January 2026. Both calls have different submission forms. Details here.

Thread
Thread is ChillSubs’ literary magazine run entirely on social media. They have occasional, themed calls for micro prose and poetry. They pay. Watch for their next submission call. Details here.

Pine Hill Review
They publish fiction (up to 3,000 words), nonfiction, poetry, and visual art. “We’re interested in quality work, regardless of genre, form, or style. Hybrid and experimental works are especially encouraged.” Details here.

Electric Lit
They have irregular reading periods for The Commuter (their home for short prose up to 1,500 words, poetry, and graphic narrative, pays $100) and Recommended Reading (where they publish longer fiction of 2,000 to 10,000 words, pays $300). Both of these open for submissions on 26^th January 2026 and close on 1^st February or when they reach their submission cap, whichever is earlier. They also publish reading lists (ongoing pitches) and creative nonfiction (watch for their next submission period). Details here and here.

Litro
They accept flash and short fiction (up to 3,000 words), essays, and poetry. They have a themed print magazine and an unthemed online magazine. For the print magazine, the upcoming theme is Future Archives. They also accept stories for their Litro Lab fiction podcast, as well as art. Details here.  

Flow
“We publish work about beverages. We like to think of Flow as the literary equivalent of a coffee house, so while all drinks are welcome here, we are particularly interested in work about coffee, tea, and other caffeinated things. Whether your drink of choice makes a short appearance or is the central theme of the piece is up to you.” They accept flash fiction (up to 750 words), hybrid work, and poetry. They are reading for their second issue. Submission is via a form. Details here.

The Pig’s Back
This Ireland-based journal publishes fiction and nonfiction of 2,000-5,000 words. “While we welcome all forms of fiction and non-fiction, and will give everything a chance, there are some genres we generally don’t publish i.e. fantasy, horror, sci-fi.” They pay €300. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Peruse Lit 
This magazine is accepting submissions for their first issue, which “sets the tone for what we aim to build: a thoughtful space for writers and artists whose work is bold and emotionally honest.” They want fiction (up to 5,000 words), nonfiction, poetry, and art on the Beginnings theme (New beginnings, false starts, and quiet revolutions; Reinvention, departure, arrival, or transformation). The submission deadline is 1^st February 2026. Details here.

Tiny Molecules
They accept flash fiction (up to 1,000 words). Their nonfiction is currently closed. Details here.

The Sandy River Review
This is an annual, unthemed print anthology. They accept fiction (up to 3,500 words), nonfiction, poetry, short dramatic works, and art. The submission deadline is 30^th January 2026. Payment is contributor copies. Their online sister magazine, The River (which also accepts audio essays, podcasts, and original music), is currently closed for submissions. The Sandy River Review and The River are both affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington. Details here and here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

To me, research is the most important step of the submission process. It is vital because there is no point going through all the work of writing your manuscript and submitting, just to end up with an agent that does not properly represent you or your manuscript. Or worse yet, to end up being scammed.

An agent that could be a good fit for another author or even another one of your manuscripts might not be the right agent for this particular project. A lot of authors think that finding an agent is a one-time deal, but if you are a multi-genre author it often isn’t. It’s also better to find an agent that is the right fit for one of your manuscripts, than to secure an agent that is an OK fit for all of them.

Also just like any other industry, there are bad agents out there that could misrepresent you in any number of ways — Writer Beware (an organization that works on behalf of writers, sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) has a terrific section on dishonest agents.

It is important to note that many agents do not work alone, and most of the more successful agents, although not all, are part of, or head, a larger agency.

When submitting to an agency you often submit to individual agents that work there. Sometimes the agency is very established, but the agents within that agency that are open to unsolicited submissions are the newer ones. A lot of authors are nervous to submit to newer/junior agents at established agencies, but they are often a good fit for newer authors. They have industry connections through their agency, and they are often very focused on establishing their reputation and doing the best for their authors. A newer agent at an established agency can be great to work with for these reasons. I would not submit to a new agent working on their own, or at a small agency that isn’t established yet.

Sometimes very famous literary agents are open to direct submissions, but will they really give new and emerging authors the time and attention they need to grow? One of the ways to answer this question s is to see if they are still regularly representing debut authors.

I would say that over half of the agents I research, I dismiss after researching. Or I put them in a document on my computer with notes about what I liked and didn’t like about them, to review for potential submission at a later date.

In other words I would consider submitting to them, but only after a significant number of rejections from agents that have a better track record or simply feel like a better fit for my work. I really encourage researching first, and compiling a list of at least five top tier agents, before you start submitting. I would also submit to at least 10 top tier agents before considering submitting to the maybe agents. What I mean by top tier agents, is that at least in terms of your book they are a good fit, and they have a track record of success, not necessarily NYT bestselling novels, but books that were published by one of the big 5 publishers, that were well reviewed.

If you submit as you research, you are much more likely to accidentally submit to a “maybe agent”, and if your work is accepted by them, you could possibly miss out on having the opportunity to submit to a more ideal one.

How to Find Potential Agents

The first step of researching agents is always the same. It involves finding agents that are worth looking into further.

I used to start with a genre search on Query Tracker. This is the way many authors find the agents that end up representing them. This search engine has plenty of filters so it is easy to look for agents that focus on your genre of writing.

Although you should always verify by other means that they actually do focus on that genre, before submitting. You also need to verify that they are a legitimate agency elsewhere.

Three years ago I switched my research method so that I start off on Publishers Marketplace.  This approach works much better for me. I use their search engine in the Deals section to see which agents have recently placed books in my genre, and then I generally submit my work to those agents. It’s good because it makes it clear which agents actually have connections to the Big 5, and which ones largely place work with smaller presses. It also gives you a good idea about how much money is actually being offered in terms of advances.

The major issue with Publishers Marketplace is that it is not free to use their search engines and access the bulk of their information. You can subscribe to a free newsletter which is helpful but very limited. They charge $30 per month for a subscription (with discounted rates available for authors who commit to a 6 month or 12 month plan). You can also pay for a Quick Pass, which you can learn more about by following the link.

Another method for finding agents, and the one with which I personally have found the best leads, is to read books in the same genre that you write in, and when you find a book or an author you like, figure out who their agent is. Often the agent is specifically thanked in the Acknowledgements section of the book, but if they are not, Googling the name of the author and the word ‘agent’ will often find good results as well. If it’s not publicly available, it is almost always disclosed on Publishers Marketplace.

I also use Absolute Write Water Cooler Forum to find agents. Usually I look just by browsing the Agents and Publishers forum. I always keep my eye out for the longer threads spanning multiple pages; that is generally a good sign with agents (less so with publishers).

Another way to find an agent is through attending literary conferences. Agents often attend literary conferences, and there are various ways to communicate with them, or pitch to them during the conference. If you are attending a conference specifically to seek agents, research the agents beforehand to see if you would actually want to work with them (and they with you – most agents focus on a specific genre). Approach with caution any sessions where they are charging you an additional fee to pitch. Not all of these pitching opportunities are equal. Make sure to research the agents and agencies in advance to get a feel for if you would actually want to work with them.

One other way to connect with agents is through Manuscript Academy. I’m reluctant to recommend them, not because they don’t do an excellent job, but because they charge, and I always prioritize free and accessible opportunities. But I’ve had a number of students and friends use it have e-consultations with agents. None of them have found their agent this way, but many of them learned information that helped them place their work with a different agent.

How to Research an Agent Outside of their Website

You can also learn a lot about the agent or agency just by browsing their website, but I always research the agent outside their website first. Visiting the website first can influence your perspective too much.

I already mentioned Absolute Write Water Cooler Forum above as a potential way to find agents, but the way I primarily use it is to vet agents. The forums are active and get a lot of use. If an author has a good or bad experience with an agent, they often will share it. Other people in the industry also chime in. Because it is a forum and everyone can post, you sometimes have to take entries with a grain of salt. But there is a lot of good information to be had there. If an agent or agency isn’t discussed there, it is usually because they are new, small, or not very active, and that itself can be a clear sign, although there are exceptions.

Doing a Google search of the agency or agent is also good. A write-up in Publishers Weekly can be a good thing, but they also write a lot of “puff pieces” about agents and publishing houses so I try not to take them too seriously. Wikipedia, as most people already know, is not generally a trustworthy source in this area either. One of the things that is valuable is that sometimes the agent is mentioned on author websites (helpful), or the agency is maligned on Glassdoor (not a good sign).

How to Evaluate an Agent’s Website

A lot can be learned from the agent’s website itself. An established and reputable agent will have the names of at least some of the authors and books they have represented right on their website. It is important that these books and names are currently relevant. For example if they only mention representing one or two authors that were successful 20 years ago but have not published in a decade, they are to be avoided, generally. The clearest, best indicator of a legitimate agency that could place your book with a good publisher, in my experience, is their track record, the authors that they work with, and the books they represent.

Make sure they are still actively placing books now — if they don’t list any books that have been published in the past two years, or any deals they’ve made recently, this is not a good sign. But you can always double check on Publishers Marketplace to see if there are updates there. Not all agents or publishers report all deals to Publishers Marketplace but the majority do. Also look into where they are placing these books. This is one of the reasons why it’s helpful to understand how to evaluate publishers even if you are not planning to submit to them directly yourself. There are some agents out there that only place, or mostly place work with presses that are open to direct submissions from authors. This in and of itself while not ideal, is also not a deal breaker, particularly for authors writing in certain genres. What is more alarming is when these agents are mostly placing work with publishers we do not review, based on their past behavior.

It is very important that an agent be active in the genre that you hope to publish in. If they are not, they do not understand how that genre works, and often don’t have the relevant connections that will help your book be considered by the right publishers. If they say they accept your genre but have not represented any books in that genre, I would approach with caution.

It is a good sign if an agent is a member of the Association of  American Literary Agents. That in and of itself is not a stamp of approval though, it is just an indicator that they are probably competent. It’s important to remember that not all good agents are members, and I wouldn’t eliminate an agent just because they are not a member.

New agents can be good, although they are more of a risk because they don’t have a track record. However, you should only consider submitting to a new agent if they have industry experience (more on that here). They should make it very clear what experience they have on their website. As I mentioned before, it can be worthwhile to seek out new agents that are a part of large and successful literary agencies can be the best way forward. They are more likely to take chances on debut authors, and also spend more time supporting their work.

An agent should never charge an upfront fee. That is a clear indicator that they are not a legitimate agent. The same goes for agents who offer editing services for a fee. A combination editor/agent website is usually a clear warning sign, although those lines are starting to blur.

A number of successful agents now run publishing companies and/or have editing services. If that is the case, ideally, these different businesses will remain separate. For example, an author taken on by the agent will not be offered a contract by that agent’s publishing company or be encouraged to use that agent’s paid editorial services. There have been a number of active scams that are ongoing that target legitimate agencies. Where scammers impersonating legitimate agents approach authors and ask for money. You can learn more about this issue here (it was initially published in 2022, but it is still an ongoing and persistent issue).

In Conclusion

Researching agents might seem overwhelming at first, but the good news is the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Spending a lot of time researching agents helps, but so does spending time increasing your base of knowledge by reading Writer Beware. One picks up warning signs much quicker as one’s base of knowledge expands.

Because it is important to keep track of the research one does, not to mention the submissions one makes — I have two files on my computer devoted to agents and publishers. One includes notes about the agents and publishers I am considering submitting to, as well as a list of agencies and publishers I do not want to consider in the future. The other file tracks my submissions to agents and publishers. It indicates the responses I have received and how long it took to receive them.  If I received a request for a full manuscript before receiving a rejection, I make sure to indicate that. These two files help the submission process immensely.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

There are a number of presses and literary journals that publish chapbooks either through open submissions or through social contacts.

Also a lot of poets self-publish chapbooks. Self-publishing your chapbook is not considered to be the same as self-publishing a book. It does not have a lot of the same stigmas surrounding it. In the poetry world, a writer is often looked down upon if they have self-published a manuscript of their poems for sale, it is seen as an act of vanity. Yet self-publishing a chapbook is seen as a positive thing, a way to share your poems with others, often by selling the chapbook at open mics and other events.

One of the reasons this distinction is made between books and chapbooks is that all the material that you put in a chapbook can be re-published later on as part of a larger collection as long as you publish no more than 500 copies of the chapbook. Another reason is that a chapbook is simple and cheap to make. You can almost give them away for free and most chapbooks are sold for between 5 and 10 dollars generally.

Poets that start writing outside of an established community, as I did, do not always see the need for chapbooks. When I was in my second year of graduate studies, my fourth or fifth year as a serious writer of poems, I finally started to understand the function and purpose of chapbooks. I realized that a lot of the writers I enjoyed I had initially discovered through their chapbooks. Many of these were purchased on a whim, before I later committed to buying a whole book (or two).

A famous poet later explained it to me like this: a chapbook is your calling card, it is a way for someone to get a much better feel for the poetry that you write, and it is also a stepping stone, a way to get that much closer to publishing a full manuscript.

Because most poets’ first books takes over a decade to get published, if you are working within the traditional system of contests and open reading periods, it is good to publish a chapbook or three, while refining that manuscript and submitting it. A chapbook is a great way to get your name out. I have published three chapbooks now, all through chapbook publishers. I chose to go that route because the first two publishers were familiar with my work and approached me, the third was accepted not long after I started submitting. My first chapbook opened so many doors for me. I ended up selling a fair number of copies and doing several important interviews because of them. Those are small steps of course, but they are steps forward that have led to other greater opportunities.

My advice to most poets who are interested in publishing a chapbook is to gather up a small number of poems, between 10 and 25, that are thematically linked and put them together as a chapbook manuscript. Then find a few chapbook publishers with open reading periods that do not charge, and submit the manuscript. If no one accepts your manuscript you can easily self-publish it, then you will have something to give to your friends and sell at readings.

There are some chapbook options for prose writers as well, although they are a little rarer. Porkbelly Press which we review below also publishes prose chapbooks, as does Wordrunner eChapbooks (although they only have fee free submissions for some submissions). 

What follows is an annotated list of publishers open to chapbook submissions including two publishers that focus on “micro” manuscripts, that are even shorter than standard chapbooks.

Keep in mind that most chapbook publishers are small, not-for-profit, one-person companies. They are not huge organizations and a lot of them are regional publishers, special-interest publishers, or are only open for a short reading period. Not all of the publishers listed here are currently open to submissions, so mark your calendars if that is the case. Because most chapbook reading periods are so short, there are more publishers closed to submissions than most of our lists. Some of these publishers have limited demographics in terms of who can submit.

Many publishers not on this list charge reading fees. However, I think it is perfectly fine to pay those fees as long as you get something in exchange. For example, a copy of the winning chapbook, a chapbook they have previously published, or an anthology. If you are open to paying fees to submit, Poets & Writers has a good list here that works in terms of a starting place.

It is also good to note that unless explicitly stated, all submissions can be made electronically.

Porkbelly Press
Letterpress, lithograph, and screen print are all used by this micro-press for their covers. Interior pages are printed the regular way. Poetry, prose, and graphic narrative manuscripts are accepted. They publish 4 to 10 titles per year. They are generally open to chapbook submissions in January, and in July they accept micro-chapbook (8 to 10 pages) submissions. They have a print run of 200 and they give authors 10 copies and a discount on additional ones. The books they publish are beautiful and well curated.

Ugly Duckling Presse 
Ugly Duckling is one of the most prestigious chapbook publishers. They publish beautiful books, but they tend to lean towards pretentious work. They have rolling submission periods, and alert their mailing list subscribers on when they open for submissions. They have a cap on submissions when they open. It can be very tricky, to submit because of this. One generally has to submit to them within the first hour that they are open. They will consider projects of any length (for chapbooks and full-length books) in any of the following genres: poetry, experimental nonfiction, performance texts, books by artists, and work in translation, particularly from languages not widely represented in US-based English translations.

Glass Poetry Press
This press publishes 3 to 5 poetry chapbooks a year plus a free literary journal. They are generally open to submissions in March but are planning to hold a different submission period this year. Payment to author is 10 copies plus 15% of royalties on sales. The print run is between 100 and 200 copies.

Origami Poems Project
They publish micro-chapbooks that contain between 1-6 poems . They are open to submissions year round except for July and August.

Fifth Wheel Press
They only accept submissions from individuals who belong to the queer, trans, and/or gender-nonconforming communities. They publish chapbooks of all kinds, and are open to submissions in December.

Seven Kitchens Press
They have a number of chapbook reading periods a year. Some have limited demographics, including regional. They do not charge for submission but encourage submitters to donate or purchase a past publication. Each of them have different guidelines and some of the guidelines involve limited demographics.

Two Plum Press
Two Plum Press produces slim volumes of literary works both contemporary and classic, although they don’t call them chapbooks most of what they publish seems to fit that description. Titles include works of poetry, essays, fiction, philosophy, visual art, travel, and food writing.

Green Bottle Press
This UK based press is seeking chapbooks (or pamphlets as they are often called in the UK) from poets who have published work in literary journals before but have not published full length collections, though they occasionally accept work from more established poets. Their open submission window is generally in April.

Parlyaree Press
Parlyaree Press was established in 2023 in Atlanta Georgia. They are focused on publishing work that “expands, reveals, and interrogates the mainstream”. They want their books to “exist in the liminal space between what was and what will be.” In terms of poetry they want chapbook-length (or longer!) poetry collections. 

Querencia Press
Querencia Press is a small press that describes themselves by saying “Querencia Press is an independent publisher from the Chicago-land area amplifying marginalized voices & creating a safe space for writers and artists to share their stories. We are especially interested in work that has been looked over in the past and challenges conventional genre placement.” They publish poetry, fiction, nonfiction and hybrid work. They publish a journal which we’ve reviewed here (back in 2022), as well as an additional journal named Scavengers. They publish chapbooks as well full length manuscripts. They are not open to submissions currently.

Bullshit Lit
Bullshit Lit describes itself by saying they are,​”Inspired by a stack of silly poems, Bullshit Lit is the antithesis to those flowery submissions calls for, like, “the deepest echo in your heartcanyon.” We don’t take ourselves too seriously.​ We like to see your worst. Your trash. Get funky with it. We love silly poems, nonsense prose, and lazy lore.” They were founded in 2021 in Philadelphia by Veronica Bennett. They plan to reopen to submissions of chapbook length work (a minimum of 15 pages), in 2026.

Whittle Micropress
This micro chapbook publisher focuses on publishing collections between 8-12 pages long. They publish digitally as downloadable PDFs and their website and covers are great. Their 2026 publication schedule is already full, so they are closed to submissions currently, but seem to be planning to reopen to submissions at some point in 2026.

Not all the publishers on this list are currently open to submissions, but most are.

It’s important to note that some of these publishers focus on certain types of memoirs. We try to make what type of memoirs they are most interested in clear and transparent as part of this list.

Kensington Publishing
This large independent publisher is based out of New York. They publish a wide variety of mainstream fiction and nonfiction books, with a particular focus on romance. They publish an average of 600 books a year, so they accept a lot more submissions than most independent publishers. They are distributed through Penguin Random House. At the time of this update two of their editors are open to memoir.

The Feminist Press
They are currently closed to submissions but strive for having one reading period per year. They haven’t yet announced exactly when their next reading period will be, but they have said this “The next call will be winter 2025/2026.” and it will be “open to international literature, hybrid memoirs and nonfiction, literary fiction, short story collections, and anthologies.”

Biteback Publishing
Biteback Publishing is based in London, England, and is focused on publishing work on political and current affairs titles. They also publish history, memoir, espionage, sport and general nonfiction, and they do not publish fiction of any kind. You can get a good feel for what they are currently publishing by seeing their new releases here.

Hohm Press 
This small press is open to biographies and autobiographies of spiritual teachers, and autobiographies or memoirs that feature work with a spiritual teacher, teaching, or path.

Icon Books
Icon books is an adult nonfiction publisher that was founded in 1992. You can get a good feel for the books they publish here. The books they publish tend to fall into the following categories, biography and memoir, business and self help, history and current affairs, lifestyle and travel, literature & language, philosophy, popular culture, popular science, psychology, and sport. You can see the memoirs and biographies they’ve previously published here, to get a good feel for what they publish.

Coffeetown Press
Coffeetown Press is a literary and nonfiction imprint owned by Epicenter Press. They primarily publish nonfiction, as well as memoir, literary fiction, and historical fiction.

Arcade Publishing
Arcade Publishing is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, a large independent publisher with a number of imprints (please read the full review of Skyhorse first). Arcade publishes fiction and nonfiction, including memoir.

Three Rooms Press
Three Rooms Press is an independent press that is inspired by “Dada, Punk, and Passion”. They were founded in 1994. They have good distribution. As one can see by their tagline, they have a very clear sense of what they like and what they are interested in publishing. The memoirs they publish are focused on punk rock and they are not a good fit for submissions outside of that focus.

Monkfish
Monkfish is an independent press that focuses on publishing religious, spiritual, and literary books from a diverse range of perspectives. They have published memoirs, fiction, scholarly works, and wisdom literature, which you can get a better feel for by downloading the catalog here. The memoirs they publish are focused on spiritual journeys.

Persea Books
Persea Books is an independent book publisher based out of New York that was established in the 1970s. Since then they have gained a reputation for publishing thoughtful books in a variety of literary genres, including memoir. They are closed to prose submissions at this time.

Schaffner Press
Schaffner is an established press with distribution through IPG. They publish literary fiction, short fiction collections, and crime fiction. They also publish a wide variety of nonfiction including memoir, autobiography, biography, journalistic expose or narrative, true crime, art, culture, pop culture, world history, current events, science, and music.

Arsenal Pulp Press 
This Canada based press is open to direct submissions of memoir and essay collections, as well as a variety of other genres. They primarily publish Canadian authors but are open to submission from international authors. 

Clash Books
Clash Books started in 2015. They publish fiction, nonfiction (including memoir, mostly in terms of essay collections), and poetry. They are looking for work with an “exciting cultural hook”.

Vine Leaves Press
Vine Leaves Press is an international press with staff in the United States, Germany, Greece, England, and beyond. They were founded in 2011 as a literary journal and started publishing vignette collections in 2014. Vine Leaves Press publishes books in a variety of genres including memoirs (and memoirs in flash and cross genre memoirs), coming of age, literary and multi-genre novels, poetry and short story collections, and reference books. They are open for submissions till 31st January 2026.

Pan Macmillan Australia
Pan Macmillan Australia is open to direct submissions. They are the Australian imprint of Macmillan, one of the big five publishers. This is the only way to submit to Macmillan directly. They have excellent distribution in Australia. They publish commercial fiction including women’s fiction, romance, thriller, crime, historical, humor, paranormal, fantasy, as well as literary fiction and nonfiction, children’s and young adult books, and commercial nonfiction ranging from memoir to diet.

Roxane Gay Books 
Roxane Gay Books is a new imprint of Grove Atlantic. Roxane Gay has written about this new imprint here. Roxane Gay is the award-winning and bestselling author of a number of books including Hunger and Bad Feminist. This new imprint will publish non fiction, memoir, essays collections, novels, and short story collections. They plan to reopen to submissions in January 2026.

ECW Press
ECW Press is an established Canadian publisher. They accept poetry, fiction, and nonfiction submissions from Canadians. They only accept nonfiction submissions from international submitters.  I cannot stress this enough – if you are not a Canadian, you can only submit nonfiction to them. Memoir is considered under the nonfiction umbrella.

Feral House
Feral House is a small independent publisher based in Port Townsend, Washington state. They were founded in 1989 by Adam Parfrey who has since passed away. They publish unique and unusual nonfiction and they are particularly interested in documenting cultural movements. They publish memoirs, biographies, and many other works of nonfiction including history not found in text books, nonfiction for children, and work focused on mysticism and the occult.

Mad Creek Books
Mad Creek Books is the literary trade imprint of The Ohio State University Press. With a mission to foster creativity, innovate, and illuminate, Mad Creek Books champions diverse and creative literary nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Many of their imprints accept memoir, including their Machete imprint. Please note that some imprints charge to submit. We are not encouraging you to submit to those imprints. They are currently closed to submissions.

Apollo Publishers
Apollo Publishers was founded in 2016 and published their first books in 2018. Apollo Publishers focuses on publishing “timely and topical nonfiction for adult trade audiences.” Mostly, they focus on narrative nonfiction, including memoir.

Baobab Press
Baobab Press is a small press that publishes a wide variety of material. Full disclaimer, even before we get into the review proper, they charge for submissions in some genres currently, this includes adult fiction and poetry manuscripts. As part of our guiding principles we don’t cover presses that charge overall, but as they are open to free unagented submissions in a variety of other genres including memoir, children’s books, and comics (including cartoons and graphic narratives), they do qualify to be listed with us.

University of Texas Press
They primarily publish nonfiction in a wide variety of areas but are also open to a limited number of edited collections and memoir projects. 

Zibby Books
Zibby Books was founded by Zibby Owens, an established book influencer, as part of her company Aibby Media. You can read more about her launch of Zibby Books, here, and here. They primarily publish fiction and memoir and they are open to agented and unagented submissions. You can see all the books they’ve published so far, here, to get a feel for what they are interested in.

Library Tales Publishing
Library Tales Publishing was founded in 2011. They describe themselves as “a distinguished independent publishing house, renowned for publishing, marketing, and distributing a wide spectrum of books, spanning self-help, memoirs, and niche fiction, penned by skilled and creative authors.”

Many, but not all of them, are open for submissions now. A few of these magazines pay writers.

Ink In Thirds
They publish print and digital copies. Send prose of up to 600 words; “This includes 3 word stories, 100 word stories, drabbles, microfiction, flash fiction, and whatever your imagination can conjure. 
In reality, our only absolute requirement is to make us feel something! Sad, fine. Tormented, better. Angst, gah. Happy, meh—we’ll take it.” They also accept poetry and art. The deadline is 31 January 2026 for their spring/summer issue, which will be their 10^th anniversary issue. Details here.

A-Minor Magazine
They want flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and poetry for their next issue, slated for publication in late January 2026. Send prose of 50 to 1,500 words. Details here.

elsewhere
“elsewhere cares only about the line / no line. We want short prose works (flash fiction, unlineatedprose poetry, nonfiction) that cross, blur, and/or mutilate genre. We publish only six writers quarterly.” Send works up to 1,000 words. Details here.

Short Beasts
Their tagline is, ‘Flash Fiction Literary Magazine’. They want
“Flash Fiction – Short stories and excerpts from unpublished novels, typically 50-1000 words.
Micro Flash Fiction – Short stories, typically 5-50 words.” Submission is via a form on their website. Details here.

Spark Flash Fiction: Snowed In Love
“Spark provides flash fiction romance and women’s fiction stories under 1,000 words. We want stories that will grab the reader and put a lil’ spark in their day.” They want stories of 700-1,000 words. They accept contemporary romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, rom-com, and fantasy/sci-fi romance. YA in these genres is also accepted. Stories have to be PG13. For Winter 2026, the theme is Snowed In Love: “Forced proximity can bring out what we’d rather leave unspoken, so for this issue, we want stories of characters getting snowed in. Whether they’re rivals who discover a different side of each other or exes getting a second chance, give us plenty of spark to create that cozy feeling we love.” The deadline is 9^th January 2026. See this, and other upcoming themes here. Submission is via a form. Details here.

Free Flash Fiction
They accept fiction of 100 to 500 words. “Entries must be fiction but can be on any subject, and written in any style or form.” Submission is via a form on their website. Details here.

10 by 10 Flash
They accept all genres of flash fiction of 200 to 500 words. They also need authors to “Include bio and head & shoulders jpeg photo”. They accept submissions on an ongoing basis. Details here.

Toasted Cheese Literary Journal
“TC does not restrict publication based on subject matter, however, due to the nature of our audience and our service provider’s Terms of Service, we do not publish work that includes excessively graphic sex or violence.” Send flash fiction (up to 500 words), as well as short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. They read through the year, with cut-off dates for issues. The deadline is 31^st December 2025 for their March issue. Details here.

The Citron Review
This is a journal of brief literature; their tagline is, ‘Short forms that shimmer’. They publish micros (100-word pieces across genres), flash fiction and nonfiction (up to 1,000 words), and poetry. They will reopen on 1^st February 2026. Details here and here. 

Flash Frog
They want flash fiction of up to 1,000 words that is “Small. Brightly Colored. Deadly to the Touch.” They accept general submissions year-round, with some exceptions (contest submissions in January, ghost story submissions in July). Pay is $25. Details here.

Notch Magazine: If/Else
“Notch is a literary and arts magazine based in New York and Paris, published biannually in print and online.

Notch was founded with the goal of de-siloing the creative arts and underscoring their shared root system. We consider all genres with an equal level of seriousness—publishing nail art alongside 18th century philosophy; scientific essays with video sculpture.” You can read more about them here. For Issue 4, they want submissions on the ‘If/Else’ theme. “Top of Form

We welcome meditations on conditionality and nested possibilities. Please send essays on the foundations of computational logic and stories that capture capillaries of reasoning. Share art that seizes visual polarity, cultivating contrast or queering light vs. dark. Track the evolution and architecture of decision trees—particularly when neat root systems spawn a Dantesque forest of disorientation. Consider temporal parallels, alternative paths that tug at the seams of the present. Capture the essence of elseness, being as/in/of otherness. Inhabit the space between If and Else; a clearing in which to grapple with potential.” They accept writing (up to 1,500 words), including translation, visual art, and sonic. The deadline is 7^th January 2026. They pay. Details here.

The Molotov Cocktail
This magazine wants “volatile flash fiction, the kind of prose you cook up in a bathtub and handle with rubber gloves.” They accept both literary and genre fiction. They have detailed guidelines. They accept works up to 1,000 words; the average length of accepted pieces is 300-600 words. Details here and here.

Little Fruits Magazine
“We want your ripest writing. Tart, rotten, or dripping with sweetness.” They accept flash (up to 1,000 words), as well as short fiction and creative nonfiction. The deadline is 31 January 2026. Submission is via a form. Details here.    

Brilliant Flash Fiction
They want a story in 1,000 words or fewer, and accept all fiction genres. They pay $20 per accepted story. They’re open year-round, and publish quarterly – on the last day of January, March, June and September. Details here.

Feign
“Feign is an online literary magazine for fiction and operates out of Reno, Nevada. Inspired by the city’s gambling roots, Feign seeks fiction that takes risks. Feign seeks stories that entertain, surprise, and devastate.” They accept fiction – flash and short stories, and publish on the 7^th and 21^st of each month – see here. Submission is via a form on their website. Details here.

SmokeLong Quarterly
They publish flash narratives–fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid–up to 1,000 words; they pay $100/story or $150/story with audio. They also publish reviews and craft essays, work for their Global Flash series (French and German), and offer mentorships (see guidelines). Their fee-free submission deadline is 31^st December 2025, and after that, they’ll read fee-based submissions till mid-February. Details here.

Flash Fiction Magazine
They accept stories of 300 to 1,000 words. “We are not interested in lyrical musings, journal entries, poetry, vignettes, or slices-of-life with no discernible plot or STORY.” They publish 365 stories a year. Details here.

Flash Phantoms
They accept micros (100 words) and flash fiction (up to 1,000 words) in the horror genre. “Make them edgy right from the get-go and end with a bang. We don’t like to be bored with a lot of exposition.” They also select a story for their Story of the Month. Details here.

Factor Four Magazine
They want flash speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, super hero, or any combination of these, of up to 1,000 words. Pay is $0.11/word. They also accept artwork. Details here.

J Journal
This journal is affiliated with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. They want “fiction, flash, creative nonfiction (1st person narrative, personal essay, memoir) and poetry – that takes on justice.  Our most powerful pieces relate tangentially to the justice theme, though we do occasionally publish work that speaks directly of crime, criminal justice, law, and law enforcement. As a literary project, however, J Journal is less likely to publish straightforward genre fiction. We look for writing brave enough to find the justice question in the ordinary.” Details here.

Nature: Futures
Nature is a weekly international journal publishing research in all fields of science and technology. While this is not a literary magazine, they are on this list because they also publish flash science fiction – “Futures is the award-winning science-fiction section of Nature and it accepts unsolicited articles. Each Futures piece should be an entirely fictional, self-contained story of around 850–950 words in length, and the genre should, broadly speaking, be ‘hard’ (that is, ‘scientific’) SF rather than, say, outright fantasy, slipstream or horror.” They also say, “The subject is typically near-future, hard SF, although this can be interpreted liberally.” They pay £85. See here (scroll down to Futures) and here.

Seaside Gothic
This UK-based magazine publishes fiction (up to 1,000 words), poetry, and nonfiction that meet the criteria of seaside gothic literature (it is led by emotion, not reason, exploring the human experience mentally and spiritually as well as physically; It addresses duality—land and sea, love and hate, the beautiful and the grotesque; It connects to the edge, living on the seaside either literally or figuratively, and has one foot in the water and the other on solid ground). They’ll open briefly in January 2026, from 12^th to 18th. Pay is £0.01/word. Details here.

Manawaker Studio’s Flash Fiction Podcast
“We love settings that hint at greater world-building without leaving us feeling lost; We like to see characters which feel whole and have real agency despite the small glimpse we get into their lives; and we appreciate stories that have a recognizable plot with a classic arc. A story doesn’t have to tick all of these boxes to make it into MSFFP, but if it doesn’t hit any of them, it’s not a good story for us. All genres will be considered, but the editor’s proclivities lean toward the speculative, the fantastic, the futuristic, and the weird.” Also, “The ideal length is around 800 – 1100 words, but stories as short as 500 or as long as 1500 may be considered.” They also accept reprints and translations. They pay $10 for originals. Details here and here.

Bright Flash Literary Review
They publish flash, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir; send works of 50 to 1,500 words. Details here and here.

Milk Candy Review
“Please send us your beautifully weird, lyrical flash fiction pieces of up to 750 words.” They are scheduled to reopen for submissions in  January 2026. Details here.

365tomorrows
They publish science fiction and speculative fiction of up to 600 words. “We like science fiction in all its incarnations, from hard sci-fi to cyberpunk and beyond.” Details here and here (scroll down).

StepAway Magazine
They publish urban flash fiction and poetry. “The title of the magazine draws inspiration from Frank O’ Hara’s landmark flâneur poem, “A Step Away from Them”. Our magazine is hungry for literature that evokes the sensory experience of walking in specific neighborhoods, districts or zones within a city. This is flânerie for the twenty-first century.
Our writers lead our readership through the streets of his or her chosen city. They do so in one thousand words or less.
Send onestory or poem at a time.” As with all magazines, please read some issues to get a sense of the kind of work they publish. Details here.

ShortStory Substack
They want a story, of 6 words to 10,000 words, in any genre. They publish one story a month. Send a story by the month-end, and the winner is announced on the 15^th of the following month. They also accept reprints. Pay is $100, and 50% of subscription revenue (see November 2025 statistics here, which includes their latest payout.) Details here.

Blink-Ink: Lost Civilizations – The Silurian Hypothesis
This is a print magazine of microfiction; they publish 50-word stories, which are usually set around a theme. “Extreme geological forces of nature make our Earth something like a gigantic trash compactor. Physical evidence of anything at all doesn’t last long. This and the great age of the planet might imply that civilizations as advanced or even more advanced than our own have come and gone. Civilizations that are completely lost to us today. Or are they? Send us your best stories of approximately 50 words to do with Lost Civilizations: The Silurian Hypothesis”. The deadline is 15^th January 2026. Details here and here.

Suddenly, and Without Warning
“Flash fiction is an under-appreciated form of prose. It is a place where every sentence needs to speak volumes, a place where constraint leads to freedom. Here at Suddenly, and Without Warning it means this: a self-contained story of 600 or less words. It can be any genre.” Submission is via a form on their website. Details here and here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

All of the journals in this list are not in either of these regions. They span the world, and are a great way to have your work published internationally, or perhaps in your home country.

Not all of them are currently open to submissions, but the majority are.

Some of the journals have additional areas of focus or demographic limitations. If that is the case, we make it clear in our mini review.

Fresh Words
This India based literary journal publishes poetry, short stories, essays, and plays as well as diaries and excerpts from longer work.

Eunoia Review
This Singapore based journal publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction on a rolling basis.

Cordite Poetry Journal
This Australian literary journal only publishes poetry and only pays Australian contributors.

Borderless
This Singapore based literary journal is open to submissions of essays, flash fiction, reviews, and poetry.

Amaranth
A bilingual journal that published work in English and German. They publish food stories, memoirs, and flash fiction. They appear to be based in India.

The Hemlock Journal
This India based journal publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. They are closed to submissions now but reopen on February 1st, 2026.

The Berlin Literary Review
Based out of Berlin, this online literary journal publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Tiny Molecules
Based in France, this literary journal focuses on publishing flash fiction and observations, but is only currently open to flash fiction submissions.

Burnings Magazine
This Singapore based literary journal is open to general submissions from anyone, but they are also particularly interested in submissions from Singaporean students currently in secondary levels and below as well as at pre-university centers.

Lotus-Eater
Based out of Italy, this English language magazine publishes poetry, prose, reviews, and photography.

The Bombay Literary Magazine
They publish three times a year. They publish a wide range of writing including graphic fiction, and have an excellent website. They also pay an honorarium for accepted work. They are based in India. They reopen to submissions in January. They pay.

The Aleph Review
Based in Pakistan this long running “literary anthology” publishes short fiction, essays, one-act plays and poetry. They are currently closed to submissions.

Small World City
Based in Bangladesh, they publish speculative art, fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. At this time they only want submissions from Bangladeshi and POC authors; they are on hiatus till early 2026. 

trasna
This Irish literary journals encourage submissions from writers across the world who consider Ireland “a home in some regard”. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.

Art/s and Theology Australia (ATA)
ATA was founded to encourage conversations between theology and the arts. The publish short essays, reviews, poems, music, photos, and critical reflections online.

The Tiger Moth Review
Based out of Singapore, this eMagazine publishes two issues a year, featuring art and literature engaging with the themes of nature, culture, the environment and ecology. The journal
publishes primarily in English, but also accepts non-English work and their translated English counterparts.

The Sunflower Collective
Based in India, the publish poetry and prose online, as well as visual poems.

Out of Print
Based in India, this journal is open to international submissions and publishes a wide range of work. They accept short stories in English and translated into English.

KUDU
This new literary journal is based in South Africa and is interested in publishing quality work by South African resident or expat citizens or dual citizens. They reopen to submissions in early 2026.

Quarterly Literary Review Singapore
Based out of Singapore, they are particularly interested in submissions from Singaporean writers but they are open to international submissions also.

Mediterranean Poetry
A literary journal focusing on publishing poetry/prose inspired by the Mediterranean region in some way. The journal itself is based in Sweden. They are open to reprints.

Suburban Witchcraft
Based out of Serbia, this journal publishes writing and art, including hybrid work.

New Contrast
New Contrast is focused mainly on publishing original work by South African writers. They are a print journal and have been around for over 60 years. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.

EgoPHobia [εγωφοβια]
A Romanian journal focusing on literature and philosophy, that publishes some work in English. They accept submissions in English and Romanian.

Amsterdam Quarterly
Founded in 2011, this online literary journal publishes poetry and prose and is based in the Netherlands. Each issue is themed, and the theme is made clear in the submission guidelines.

Two Thirds North
Two Thirds North is a print journal of transnational literature that is funded by Stockholm University. They are open to submissions from June through September.

State of Matter
They publish speculative fiction stories and poetry. They publish work from international authors, with “a keen eye for South Asian writing”. They are based in India.

Raising Mothers
Based in the Netherlands, Raising Mothers is a literary journal that only publishes work by women of color and non-binary parents of color. They are now based on Substack.

Kyoto Journal
Kyoto Journal is a print journal that welcomes Asia-related articles, essays, reportage, personal observations, interviews, poetry, reviews, fiction, humor, and translation. Submissions must have a clear connection to Asia. They are based in Kyoto.

Plato’s Caves
Plato’s Caves invites poetry, fiction, reviews and articles on society, culture and politics from prospective contributors of all ages. They are based in India.

Anodyne Magazine
Thispublication is based in Berlin but  publish authors and artists around the world on the topic of FLINTA* health experiences. What is FLINTA* you may ask? According to Wikipedia it is “the German abbreviation that stands for “Frauen, Lesben, Intergeschlechtliche, nichtbinäre, trans and agender“, meaning women/females, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans, and agender people. The asterisk represents all non-binary gender identities.  They only accept free submissions for the first week of each open submission period. They were closed to submissions at the time of this update but plan to open in January.

The Kalahari Review
This weekly African literary magazine is based in Botswana. They are seeking work that explores modern Africa and Africans. They are open to work from the continent and from the Diaspora. They do not consider simultaneous submissions, and all submissions must follow their guidelines.

The Shallow Tales Review
An African journal established in 2019 by Nigerian writer, Nzube Nlebedim, they focus on publishing excellent literary work. 

Samjoko
A new literary magazine based in South Korea that is open to a wide variety of work including screenplays. They pay.

Kitaab
They bill themselves as connecting Asian writers with global readers.  They are open to submissions from Asian writers as well as writers of any ethnicity that are writing on Asia want to provide a platform to Asian writers as well as to writers of any ethnicity writing on Asian themes (no matter where you live). They are based in Singapore.

The Woolf
An online literary journal based in Switzerland that publishes new writing and visual art. They are currently closed to submissions.

Lolwe
Lolwe is an online magazine that publishes fiction, literary criticism, personal essays, photography, and poetry. They were founded in January 2020 and they are based out of Kenya. They publish work by Black (African, Caribbean, Diaspora) artists. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.

Agbowó
A Nigeria-based lit mag that pays. They are open for African writing. Some issues are themed, others are not.

Flash Frontier
This Aotearoa New Zealand based lit journal publishes flash fiction, and some submission periods are open to international authors and some are not.

The Wise Owl
Based in India, this journal publishes a wide range of work. They ask that you assume your work was rejected, if you haven’t heard from them within three weeks of submitting it to them.

On Eating
This multilingual magazine is based in India, and accepts submissions of essays, poets, stories, graphic narratives, photo essays, video essays, and original artwork about various eating cultures in India, as well as food history. They pay.

The Mamba
Based in Ghana, and run by the African Haiku network, The Mamba is a journal that publishes Africa themed haiku i.e. haiku about African sights, sounds and settings, as well as haikus which explore a universal theme, that they connect with. They are open to some variations on haikus. Please read their submission guidelines to learn more.

Literary Cocktail Magazine
Based in India, this online journal focuses on publishing international work.

Tarot Poetry Journal
This Aotearoa-based poetry journal publishes two issues a year, and they prefer submissions from poets with a connection to Aotearoa.

AntipodeanSF
AntipodeanSF is devoted to ‘down under’ science/speculative fiction stories of about 500-1000 words or less. They are an Australia-based speculative fiction journal open to submissions from anyone, as long as “the story has a surprise ending, twists normal notions of SF/F/H upside-down, is especially humorous, takes an oblique perspective on otherwise ‘normal’ events, or attempts to subvert the foundations of Western capitalist ideology.”

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

The publishers on this list do not require literary agents. You can submit to these publishers directly.

Some of these manuscript publishers have good distribution and clear marketing strategies. Others are small presses that expect the authors to do the heavy lifting. None of these presses are vanity presses, self-publishers, or brand new presses. All of them have been around for two years or longer.

All the publishers listed below are open to authors regardless of nationality. Most of the publishers focus on publishing a particular genre or genres of books. The publishers are listed in no particular order.

Our full reviews of the publishers include more detailed submission information and links to the publishing company’s websites and submission guidelines. Not all of them are open submissions at this time, but many are. It is good to bookmark the websites of publishers you are interested in that are not currently open to submissions, and to check back regularly, if they do not overtly state when they will re-open to submissions.

Even if you are a writer who has never published a book before, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a track record of publication. It is always helpful to create a history of previous publications of short fiction or poetry by submitting to literary journals and that can help make the bio portion of your query letter more appealing. To learn more about submitting to literary journals, you can download our free eBook on the subject here.

The Quarto Publishing Group
The Quarto Publishing Group is an international publishing house known for its illustrated books. They publish most of their work through a number of niche imprints, each with their own focus. All of their US imprints are distributed by Hachette. Their imprints are all nonfiction. They publish a lot of cookbooks and gift books. They also have imprints covering almost any nonfiction topic you can think of, including children’s nonfiction, parenting, vehicles, and architecture.

Entwined Publishing
The Totally Entwined Group is an eBook, audiobook, and print publisher that was successful in its own right before being purchased by the Bonnier Publishing group. As of October 1st, 2024, have rebranded as Entwined Publishing with eight imprints, all with brand new names. The current eight imprints are Epic (Young/New Adult), Entice (Contemporary), Eclipse (Dark Romance), Enchant (Romantasy – which is to say romance + fantasy), Eternal (Paranormal), Echoes (Historical) and Expanse (Science Fiction). All imprints have additional guidelines and preferences. Please carefully review the appropriate imprints page before submitting.

Orbit Works
Orbit Works was founded in April 2023, as a new imprint of Hachette/Orbit that is focused on digital publishing. This includes both eBooks and audiobooks. You can read the PR statement about the imprint here. It is led by Orbit Executive Editor Brit Hvide and Editor Stephanie Clark. Orbit Works, like Orbit, is based out of New York. They are open to both agented and unageneted submissions. Orbit is only open to agented submissions and was founded in 2007 to focus on publishing science fiction and fantasy. They have one other imprint, called Redhook. They have published many well- regarded, bestselling, and award-winning books in terms of science fiction and fantasy.

August Books
August Books is one of the three main imprints of Canelo, a UK- based press that was established in 2015. They focus on publishing nonfiction including history, popular culture, true crime, and health.

Arcadia Books
Quercus Publishing, an imprint of Hachette, rebranded their speculative fiction imprint Jo Fletcher Books as Arcadia Books. It will remain the only imprint of Quercus that accepts unsolicited submissions and it will stay open to submissions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror manuscripts for adults. They will also now consider YA/Crossover books as long as the work will appeal to adult readers and can be published on an adult list.

Library Tales Publishing
Library Tales Publishing was founded in 2011. They describe themselves as “a distinguished independent publishing house, renowned for publishing, marketing, and distributing a wide spectrum of books, spanning self-help, memoirs, and niche fiction, penned by skilled and creative authors.”

Storm Publishing
Storm Publishing was founded in 2022 by Oliver Rhodes, the founder of Bookouture. They published their first book in the spring of 2023 and Rhodes brought a number of Bookouture staff members over to Storm with him. Storm Publishing focuses on publishing adult fiction including thrillers and crime fiction, historical fiction, romance, women’s fiction, and science fiction and fantasy.

Tilbury House
Tilbury House is a press based out of Maine that publishes children’s books including board books, beginning readers, picture books and middle grade titles. They have published some very successful children’s books, including Talking Walls, Sheila Says We’re Weird, and Playing War. Each has a focused message involving a social issue.

Inner Traditions and Bear & Company 
Founded in 1975 by Ehud C. Sperling, Inner Traditions has always focused on publishing work related to spirituality, the occult, as well as Eastern religion, philosophy, and practices. In 2000 they acquired Bear & Company, which focused more on Native American culture, alternative Christianity, New Age, and healing arts. You can learn more about the founding and growth of Inner Traditions here. They are currently distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Dragonblade
This digital-first publishing house only publishes works of historical fiction with a clear focus on romance. Within the historical romance genre they are open to most subgenres including: Viking, Regency, Georgian, Tudor, Highlander, Medieval, Victorian, Roman, Civil War, Restoration, Edwardian, etc. They are interested in anything pre-20th century except Westerns and Amish. They are also open to time travel, historical fiction, historical fantasies, and historical mysteries as long as there is a romance component that ends happily ever after. They are open to M/M, F/F, M/F, LGBTQIA pairings.

Turner Publishing Company
Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction and nonfiction. They publish mainly in print but have electronic options as well. They are a major independent publishing house and have a number of imprints.

Chronicle Books
Chronicle is a large independent San Francisco-based publisher that publishes highly acclaimed children’s books, bestselling cookbooks, gift books, and a variety of nonfiction. Most have a strong visual element. Their books are beautifully made. They are not open to Children’s submissions at the time of this update, but they plan to re-open to them in Spring 2026. 

Vine Leaves Press
Vine Leaves Press is an international press with staff in the United States, Germany, Greece, England, and beyond. They were founded in 2011 as a literary journal and started publishing vignette collections in 2014. Vine Leaves Press publish books in a variety of genres including memoirs, coming of age, literary and multi-genre novels, poetry and short story collections, and reference books. Their open reading period starts on December 1st 2025, and ends on January 31st, 2026.

Bold Strokes
Bold Strokes Books publishes only LGBTQ+ books. They publish general and genre fiction. They offer advances to their authors. Bold Strokes is interested in publishing books that fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella including literary fiction, romance novels, young adult novels, genre novels (including science fiction and mystery), and works of nonfiction.

SourceBooks
A large independent publisher based out of Illinois, they also have offices in Connecticut and New York. They are generally open to unsolicited submissions of romance and horror.

Shambhala Publications
Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. They are distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services. They were founded in 1969 and “is dedicated to creating books, audio, and immersive courses aimed at improving lives—in ways big and small—in the hope of contributing to the development of a thoughtful, kindhearted, and contemplative society”. They also publish an imprint focused on reaching children.

Annick Press
One of the top children’s book publishers in Canada, Annick Press got a strong start early on by publishing Robert Munsch, back when they were based out of co-founder Anne Millyard’s basement (you can learn more about that here). Annick is currently accepting submissions of picture books, early chapter books, middle grade fiction, YA fiction, graphic novels, and nonfiction for kids of all ages. They accept submissions from everyone, but they also stress that they “are committed to publishing diverse authors and illustrators and believe strongly in producing books that reflect our readers’ own experiences while broadening their perspectives”.

Oneworld Publishing
An independent publisher founded in 1986, they now publish around 100 works of nonfiction and literary fiction every year. They work with distributors and authors worldwide, although they are only open to unsolicited submissions of nonfiction.

Love Inspired & Love Inspired Suspense
Love Inspired is an imprint of Harlequin that focuses on the Christian romance market. They describe themselves as publishing “Contemporary inspirational romances that feature Christian characters facing the many challenges of life and love in today’s world. You can see the catalogue for this imprint here. Love Inspired Suspense is an imprint of Harlequin that focuses on publishing work where romance and suspense are both major elements. They describe the work they publish as “Edge-of-the-seat, contemporary romantic suspense tales of intrigue and romance featuring Christian characters facing challenges to their faith…and to their lives”.  You can see the catalogue for this imprint here.

Princeton Architectural Press
Princeton Architectural Press is a small press that focuses on publishing books on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture. They also publish beautiful stationary and children’s books. They are based in New York. In 2009 they were bought by McEvoy Group.

Hera
Hera is a female-led, independent digital publisher, founded in 2018. They focus exclusively on publishing commercial books, including works psychological suspense, police procedural, and thrillers, to romance, and glamorous contemporary fiction.

Kensington Publishing
This large independent publisher is based out of New York. They publish a wide variety of mainstream fiction and nonfiction books, with a particular focus on romance. They publish an average of 600 books a year, so they accept a lot more submissions than most independent publishers.

Lyrical Press
Lyrical Press is an electronic only imprint of Kensington, a large independent publisher. Kensington and Lyrical both publish mainstream novels and seem to put a fair amount of pressure on the author to promote their books. They publish a large number of books per year.

Holiday House
Holiday House is an established and reputable children’s book publisher. Holiday House has been around for over 75 years. They publish picture books as well as books aimed at children grades 1-3, grades 4-6, and grades 7 and up. They are based out of New York City. They have published many well known books and authors, including Kenneth Grahame. The books that they have published have won numerous respected awards and honors.

Bookouture
A digital publisher that was purchased in 2017 by Hachette. They primarily publish women’s fiction, chick lit, romance, and thrillers.

Chicago Review Press
Chicago Review Press was founded over 40 years ago. They are an established independent publisher of literary fiction, nonfiction and memoir, although they generally do not accept unsolicited fiction. They also publish books for children (but not picture books). They were founded by Curt Matthews and his wife, Linda Matthews. Curt was the former editor of the literary journal the Chicago Review.

Coffeetown Press
Coffeetown Press is a literary and nonfiction imprint owned by Epicenter Press. They primarily publish nonfiction, as well as memoir, literary fiction, and historical fiction.

Gibbs Smith
Gibbs Smith is an established publisher with good distribution and a focus on cookbooks, interior design and architecture books, and board books for children. They have published a number of bestsellers, including a board book version of Pride & Prejudice. Gibbs Smith is primarily a nonfiction publisher.

Harlequin
Harlequin is easily the most famous romance only publisher out there. In fact, their name was synonymous with romance novels when I was growing up. They have wide distribution, from grocery stores to bookstores. They are everywhere.

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 
Founded in 1911 and located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is an independent publisher of religious books. They have a large range, including academic books and reference works in theology, biblical studies, and religious history to popular titles in spirituality, social and cultural criticism, as well as literature. Not all of their books, particularly their children’s books, are overtly religious.

Page Street Publishing
Page Street Publishing is a publisher of full color, mostly hardcover, gift books, cookbooks, and craft books, children’s books, and young adult fiction. Most of them have an important visual component. To get a good feel for what they have published in the past, you can go here. They are distributed through Macmillan in every country but Canada (where they have a different distributor). They publish around 60 titles a year. 

Crooked Lane
Crooked Lane was established in 2014 as a press specializing in crime books. They have an experienced staff and have managed to publish some well known authors already. They publish a range of mysteries that lean towards the cozy, and they are not opposed to publishing a series of books.

Beacon Press
Beacon Press is an established publisher of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. However they are only open to direct submissions of nonfiction proposals. Works of fiction, poetry, and self help will not be considered.

Storey Publishing
The mission of Storey Publishing is to provide practical information that encourages independence in a way that is harmonious with the environment. The books they publish encourage and instruct readers of all ages of ways to enrich their lives through hands-on activities and experiences. All of what they publish is nonfiction and they covered such varied topics as home reference, crafts, beer & wine, raising animals, homesteading, and mind/body/spirit.

The Story Plant
The Story Plant was founded in 2008 by two editors with industry experience, Lou Aronica and Peter Miller. In 2013 they were acquired by Studio Digital CT, LLC, a limited liability company headed by Lou Aronica. It is now run by Aronica and Mitchell Maxwell.

Prometheus Books
Prometheus Books is a large established publisher of what they like to call “intelligent nonfiction.” They specialize in publishing nonfiction books that fall into the following categories: popular science, philosophy, atheism, humanism, and critical thinking. In 2025 they were acquired by Globe Pequot, which you can learn more about here.

Microcosm
Microcosm is a Portland-based publisher that specializes in nonfiction DIY (Do-It-Yourself) goods that focus on the reader and teach self-empowerment.  The authors they publish have to have expertise and lived experience in the subject area they write about.

Sleeping Bear Press
Sleeping Bear Press is a well-regarded publisher of board books, picture books, and select middle grade readers. They offer advances to some authors. Their books have won a wide variety of awards, all of them are listed here. They were recently acquired by Penguin Random House, but at this date are still open to direct submissions. 

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
An established UK Press (with a US office) that was purchased by John Murray Press/Hachette UK in 2017. You can read more about this acquisition here. JKP focuses on publishing high quality books for professional and general readers on a variety of subjects. They are best known for their books on the autism spectrum, social work, arts therapies, mental health, counseling, palliative care, practical theology and gender diversity.

Alcove Press
Alcove Press is a new imprint of the established publisher Crooked Lane (which is owned by Bookspan). Alcove Press is focused on publishing upmarket Book Club fiction that “explores family, friendship, and community”. They are actively trying to publish debut authors as well as established ones. You can learn more about their launch in this Publishers Weekly article.

AM Ink
AM Ink is a Western Massachusetts based press that initially published biographies, children’s books, novels, and short story collections.  They’ve published many books, including bestsellers. They have also sold television rights, and had movies made from their books. Most of what they have published has not been particularly successful though, and they recently shifted their focus to Children’s Books. 90% of what their main imprint, AM Ink now publishes is Children’s Books, and they are only open to work that is fully illustrated.  Dark Ink, their horror imprint, only puts out horror and dark thriller/mysteries as well as film based titles. They are currently only open to film related titles till 2026.

Christian Focus Publishing
Christian Focus Publishing is an evangelical Christian publisher based in Scotland. They say, “Our calling is to share the incredible message of the gospel and help people grow in their faith through the power of books.” They have four imprints. Focus is more approachable and geared towards Christian living. Mentor is more detail oriented and in-depth. Heritage re-publishes classic texts that have fallen out of print. CF4kids is their children and young adult focused imprint (which we have reviewed separately because they have different, very specific guidelines).

Quills & Quartos Publishing
Quills & Quartos Publishing was founded in 2019. They started with a very specific vision, to focus on publishing the best Austenesque romance fiction. This is of course a niche market within a niche market, so if this is not the right fit for your work, please don’t submit or read further. However if you are a fan of Jane Austen’s work and write work that is inspired and influenced by her work, they might well be the right fit. You can get a good feel for what they have previously published here. Many of their books have sold very well.

Cemetery Gates Media
Their goal is to publish one new debut horror novelist a year. So they are very much focused on publishing an author’s first work.

Egret Lake
Egret Lake was founded by Tess Jones. They are a small publisher based in near Seattle. They focus on publishing romance and women’s fiction. Egret published their first book in 2023, and their initial focus appeared to be on publishing poetry but it has since shifted to Romance and Women’s fiction. Most of what they have published so far are debut books.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

Starspun
This magazine publishes fantasy stories for children, middle graders, young adults. “Stories must be fantasy (adventure, sword and sorcery, literary, high, etc.) and set in a different world. We do not accept urban fantasy. Dark fantasy is welcome but a hard sell.” They also welcome submissions from writers under the age of 18. Send works of up to 5,000 words (prefer up to 3,500 words). Details here.  

Strange Passage
This is a new magazine. “I like stories of any genre, or any combination of genres. I love it when genres are twisted, combined or left behind. Show me something that is honest and new. Break your own rules. Stories should be less than 20,000 words, but I’ll consider longer pieces if they are serialized well. Send the complete story.” Details here and here.

Freedom Fiction Journal
They accept flash (up to 500 words) as well as short (1,000-12,000 words) fiction. “Fiction Short Stories of All Genres such as Literary, Pulp fiction, SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Detective, Crime, Romance, Adventure, Western, Young Adult, Humour, Satire, etc. are welcome.” Details here.

Cliffhanger! Magazine
They want “Pulp-inspired adventure stories in the vein of H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur O. Friel, Harold Lamb, Robert E. Howard, Theodore Roscoe, H. Bedford Jones, Louis L’Amour, and others.” The focus is adventure. They have preference for vintage, real-world settings. Romance is optional but not discouraged. See their detailed guidelines, including the things they do not want, like “tired stereotypes and tropes of yesteryear”; they prefer stories to not have Weird and supernatural elements. Stories have to be5,000 – 6,500 words. Query for longer fiction for serialization. Query for nonfiction, including retrospectives and reviews. They pay $10. Details here.

Pulp Asylum
“I publish a variety of traditional pulp genres.  Horror, mystery, crime, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, western, and just plain weird stories are all welcome.  Any genre, no genre, cross genre are all okay.  I like challenging, fun, fast stories.   Give me action and adventure.  Forget background and get down to it.  Resist the urge to explain.   Dive in and show—vividly, concretely—what’s going on with your protagonist.  Character is important.  I want a character facing challenges, under pressure, whose world is falling apart, whose sense of self is at risk, who is running out of lies to tell her/himself.  Give me the strange, the violent, the mysterious, the disturbed, the desperate, the angry, the lonely, the damned.” They pay $15 for stories up to 3,000 words. Details here.

Escape Artists Magazines
They have speculative fiction podcasts focusing on various genres; PodCastle, which publishes a wide range of fantasy stories – “from magical realism to urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and everything in between”, they’re open till 30^th April 2026, see their schedule; EscapePod for science fiction, is open till 21 May 2026, see their schedule; PseudoPod publishes horror, they’ll open for reprints of stories to be published in 2026 on 1^st March 2026, and for original stories later, see their schedule; Cast of Wonders, for young adult (YA) speculative fiction, will likely update their schedule for 2026 soon; and CatsCast publishes fun speculative cat stories, and opens occasionally for submissions, see their submission portal. These magazines only accept submissions via their submission portals, which open during the reading period, and pay $0.08/word for original fiction. All the Escape Artists magazines also accept reprints.

Alpennia: Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast
This is a fiction podcast series on lesbian-relevant themes, and is open for all writers. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Stories must be set in an actual historic culture–i.e., a specific time an d place in history–and the plot and characters should be firmly rooted in that time and place. (No time-travel or past memories, please.) Stories may include fantastic elements that are appropriate to the historic setting. …Stories must be set before 1900. We’d love to see stories that reach beyond the popular settings of 19th century America and England unless you do something new and interesting in them. … Romance is optional, and romance stories should have some other significant plot element in addition to the romance.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 5,000 words. Their submission period will be 1^st to 31^st January 2026. Work sent outside of the reading period will not be considered. Details here.

Literally Stories
They publish stories in various genres: crime/thriller/mystery, fantasy, general fiction, historical fiction, horror, humour, romance, and science fiction. They want stories of 500 to 3,000 words. Details here.

Lit Nerds
“We believe that good fiction doesn’t have to have an unhappy ending. We believe conflict can be resolved, characters can make good choices, and fiction that’s fun to read is just as important as fiction that reveals the dirty undersides of humanity.
Send us your happy endings, your good triumphing over evil, your stories where the dog doesn’t die. Romanticize everyday life until we have no idea how we never saw the magic ourselves. Make us laugh, give us hope, restore a little bit of our faith in humanity.
We don’t care what genre it is, whether it’s contemporary, set a thousand years ago, or takes place in another world entirely, as long as it’s well-written and enjoyable to read.” Send stories of 700-3,000 words. They also accept nonfiction and poetry. Details here.

Strange Pilgrims
This is a new Substack-based magazine, and they are open now for fiction and nonfiction. “We’re not married to any genre, structure, or subject. We love surreal, speculative, and fabulist stories; unhinged, lyric, and fragmented essays; voice-driven experimental narratives and slow-burn realism; cultural and literary criticism; hyper-intellectual riffs and children’s stories — so long as they move. If your work is honest, well-crafted, and offers something emotionally and intellectually vivid, we want to read it.” You can read more about them, as well as their likes and influences, here. They will publish one piece each week, alternating between flash and long-form. Submission is via their custom portal. Length guidelines are: up to 1,000 words for flash, up to 5,000 words for short prose; payment is
$50 for flash prose, $200 for longer works. The deadline is 30 November 2025. Details here and here.

Ghoulish Tales
“What we are after: short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.”
Note that we said fun, not funny. Comedic stories are definitely allowed, but it’s not all we’re looking to receive. We want stories that remind us why we love the horror genre. We want to have a perverted little smile across our face while reading. Make us slobber like idiots. Turn us into the Sickos.jpeg meme.” Also see guidelines for the kind of stories they do not want. They pay $0.10/word for stories up to 5,000 words. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Rat Bag Literary
This is a new literary magazine. “Fiction that crosses genres and blurs the lines between literary and genre. … Bold ideas, tight prose, snappy dialogue, speculative elements.” And, “Yes to aliens, alternate worlds, apocalyptic game shows, bigfoot, blue collar, cats, cemeteries, coming-of-age, cosmic, cryptids, cults, cursed objects, dark, dating fails, dystopian, elder millennials, embarrassing moments, female narrators, food service, gen x, ghosts, girl power, gothic, grim reapers, grumpy unicorns, fairytale revamps, found family, haunted mansions” and more. They accept drabbles, micros, flash, and short fiction, as well as nonfiction and poetry. They have some fee-free submissions, for which they open on 15^th November and close when they hit their submission cap. They pay $0.01/word for fiction. Details here.

The Genre Society
“Dedicated to the stories that are out-of-this-world, leave us on the edge of our seats, sweating, laughing, crying, The Genre Society presents all that is Genre and Good. Think modern day Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Mary Shelley.
Focusing on fiction and poetry, we seek to provide a space for new, unread writers to publish their weird, their creepy, their fantastical stories.” You can read more about them here. Submissions are open now and will close when filled; details here and here.

Cold Caller Mag
Cold Caller is a Substack-based magazine. They publish crime and mystery fiction; “and we define those terms broadly. We’re looking for stories of bad decisions and worse consequences; unlucky losers who can’t catch a break; grifters and con men convinced they’re about to score big; good men and women who have very good reasons to do terrible things.” They have detailed guidelines, including, “We lean toward noir and realism, so generally speaking we aren’t looking for cozy mysteries, spy thrillers, or for cross-genre work such as mystery-romance, mystery-science fiction, mystery-fantasy, etc.” They prefer stories of 2,000-6,000 words, though they accept works up to 10,000 words. They pay $125. Details here.

Black Fox Literary Magazine
They publish biannual issues. Apart from fiction (up to 5,000 words), they also accept poetry, nonfiction, blog posts, and art. “We enjoy receiving submissions from under-represented genres such as: YA, romance, flash fiction, mystery, etc.” They pay $20. They accept a limited number of fee-free submissions each month. The deadline is 30 November 2025. Details here and here.   

Short-Story.me
“We like strong genre fiction – crime, fantasy, mystery, romance, science fiction, horror. We will also publish good work that does not necessarily fit into a particular genre – general. We don’t publish erotica, polemics or non-fiction.” They accept stories up to 2,000 words. Details here.

Flash Frog
They want flash fiction of up to 1,000 words that is “Small. Brightly Colored. Deadly to the Touch.” They accept general submissions year-round, with some exceptions. They pay $25. Details here.

DBS Press: Dracula Beyond Stoker – Van Helsing
Dracula Beyond Stoker publishes fiction issues (with some poetry) featuring characters and more from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. You can read about the magazine here. For their upcoming submission period, they want work on Van Helsing. “The one you’ve all been waiting for.
Doctor. Professor. Lawyer. Monster hunter.
Abraham Van Helsing has become a legend—but how did he get there?
What shaped the man who would face Dracula? What monsters, mysteries, or miracles did he encounter before the novel—and what haunted him after? We want your tales of the world’s most famous vampire hunter: his triumphs, his obsessions, his failures, and his legacy.” They pay $0.05/word for stories of 1,500-5,000 words, and the deadline is 31 December 2025. Details here.

Zooscape
This magazine publishes furry fantasy fiction. “All stories must be furry.  That means an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. We’ll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks.  We love science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars.” Pay is $0.08/word for stories up to 1,000 words, and $80 for longer. They also accept reprints. They are scheduled to reopen for submissions in February 2026. Details here.

Remains
Their About page says, “Remains is a new colour print magazine edited by Andy Cox and illustrated by Richard Wagner, who worked together on Black Static and other publications. It contains new horror fiction ranging from short stories to novellas, and various features.” Their first issue was published in January 2025. “Submissions of previously unpublished fiction are very welcome from everyone everywhere.” Details here.

Crimson Quill Quarterly
They want “original tales of nail-biting peril faced down by a fearless protagonist or protagonists reliant upon their mental might as much as their physical prowess to achieve their goals and overcome their enemies in action packed adventures” – sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and grimdark subgenres of fantasy fiction. Send stories of up to 10,000 words. They also accept works up to 30,000 words, to be serialized over several issues. Pay is $35; serialized stories get $25 per issue they appear in. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Seaside Gothic
Seaside Gothic magazine will open for a brief submission window in January; they want seaside gothic fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. “There are three criteria that define seaside gothic literature.
It is led by emotion, not reason, exploring the human experience mentally and spiritually as well as physically… ; It addresses duality—land and sea, love and hate, the beautiful and the grotesque…; It connects to the edge, living on the seaside either literally or figuratively, and has one foot in the water and the other on solid ground…” Pay is £0.01/word for stories up to 1,000 words. Their upcoming submission period is 12^th to 18^th January 2026. Details here.

Claudine
They accept micro fiction, micro creative nonfiction, and they also have a section for new writers (who have published three or fewer literary pieces). They want “Pieces that move; pieces that surprise. Stunning prose. Thoughtful punctuation over strict grammar. Innovative form over arbitrary paragraphing. Intentional language over wordsmithing. Specificity and context over vague emotion. Interrogation and transcendence over bald trauma. We crave discovery and wonder and awe. Bittersweet is our favorite emotion. We love myths, fairy tales, fabulism, slipstream, and haunting vibes, but horror is not the best fit, neither is fantasy nor sci fi that leans more genre (plot-forward) than literary. We love personal essays that bend and twist and braid, but op-eds, rants, and heavy-handed issue pieces aren’t the best fit. More than any genre, we love prose that makes us ache and images that linger. (Sea creatures always a plus.)” They pay $25 for fiction and creative nonfiction up to 400 words. They will be on hiatus in December (see this post on Bluesky).
Details here.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
This magazine is “dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place.” And, Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. “Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25.” They pay $25-100 for fiction of up to 10,000 words, $12.5-25 for poetry. A note on their website says they will likely reopen for submissions toward the end of 2025. Details here.

Sundial
This is a literary magazine of historical fiction; they publish works up to 20,000 words, as well as poetry. They are currently open only for art; all other genres are closed. Details here.

Fiction on the Web
They want submissions for online and audiobook publication: funny stories – for when you need a laugh; creepy stories – to make your hair stand on end; fantastic stories – ghosts, swords, magic and fantasy; futuristic stories – many worlds of science fiction; criminal stories – crooks and detectives; and real life stories – everyday life and relationships. Send stories of 1,000 to 10,000 words. Details here.

Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror
“Ghostlight: The Magazine of Terror is a magazine devoted to horror fiction (500-5,000 words), art, and poetry.  It is published once a year (Spring) by the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers. (It) is open to all writers, poets, and artists.  … We specialize in horror in all its guises, particularly for adult audiences. We’re open to most settings and themes, from historical, modern, supernatural, and even the future. We want our writers to push the boundaries of horror.” US writers receive a print contributor copy, and overseas writers get a digital copy. The deadline is 1 December 2025. Details here and here.

Plott Hound Magazine
This is an e-zine for speculative fiction starring animals. They pay $0.08/word for fiction of 1,000-4,000 words, $100 for nonfiction, and $50 for poetry. Their detailed guidelines are here and open submission periods for 2025 are here. Their next submission period is 1^st to 15^th December 2025; their portal will open for submissions during the reading period.

Curated by Costiuc
This is a new Substack-based magazine and they publish one story every month in the Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense genres (Stories must be PG-13.) Please see their detailed guidelines; the guidelines page also has a helpful genre reference guide. They pay $25 for stories of 1,000-5,000 words, and the deadline is 1 February 2026. Details here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

Please let us know if one of these publishers unexpectedly closes to submissions. (support@authorspublish.com)

Harlequin
Many famous romance writers got their start at Harlequin. They were acquired by Harper Collins a number of years ago. Their submission process is very user friendly. Their many romance  imprints (and one mystery imprint, Carina Press) are almost always open to submissions as well, including Afterglow Books, Mills & Boon, Love Inspired & Love Inspired Suspense, Harlequin Historical, Harlequin Heartwarming, Harlequin Medical Romance, and Harlequin Intrigue.

Chronicle Books
Chronicle is a large independent San Francisco-based publisher that publishes highly acclaimed children’s books, bestselling cookbooks, gift books, and a variety of nonfiction. Most have a strong visual element. Their books are beautifully made. They are not currently open to Children’s books but are open to adult trade submissions.

Page Street Publishing
Page Street Publishing is a publisher of full color, mostly hardcover, gift books, cookbooks, and craft books, as well as children’s and young adult books. They recently expanded into the adult horror market. Most of them have an important visual component. They are distributed through Macmillan in every country but Canada (where they have a different distributor). They publish around 60 titles a year.

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Founded in 1911 and located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company is an independent publisher of religious books. They have a large range, including academic books and reference works in theology, biblical studies, and religious history, as well as popular titles in spirituality, social and cultural criticism, and as literature. They also have an imprint for young readers. They are primarily a print publisher with excellent distribution. 

Gibbs Smith
Gibbs Smith is an established publisher with good distribution and a focus on cookbooks, interior design and architecture books, and board books for children. They have published a number of bestsellers, including a board book version of Pride & Prejudice.

Turner Publishing Company
Turner publishes books in a wide range of categories and formats—fiction and nonfiction. They publish mainly in print but have electronic options as well. They are a major independent publishing house that has a number of imprints. They publish everything from mystery to self-help books.

Kensington Press
Kensington is a large independent publisher that is open to direct submissions. Kensington publishes mainstream novels, and nonfiction including memoir, and seems to put a fair amount of pressure on the authors to promote their books. They publish a large number of books per year.

Tuttle Publishing
The Tuttle Publishing company was originally founded in 1832 in Vermont. This makes it one of the oldest American publishers still in operation. In 1948, the company established a publishing outpost in Japan, and since then they have become much more focused on producing English-language books about the arts, languages and cultures of Asia. In fact currently Tuttle Publishing is only open to unsolicited submissions of work on “Asia-related topics”. This includes Asian languages, cuisines, martial arts, arts and crafts, Eastern philosophies, etc. Do not submit any work outside of those topics to them. They are not interested in any fiction submissions.

Entangled Publishing
They’ve run into a number of issues over the years, which are covered by our review, but they are still one of the largest and most responsive independent romance publishers. They have published a lot of bestselling books over the years.

Crooked Lane
Crooked Lane was founded in 2014 as a press specializing in crime books. They have an experienced staff and have managed to publish some well known authors already. They publish a range of mysteries that lean towards the cozy, and they are not opposed to publishing a series of books. You can see their catalog here. They have recently started publishing horror fiction, also and are open to submissions in that genre as well.

Andrews McMeel
Andrews McMeel is a large publishing house that publishes up to 150 books a year. They are one of the largest publishers that will read proposals by authors that have not been previously published and do not have an agent.

Haymarket Books
Haymarket Books is an established nonfiction publisher with excellent distribution. They are interested in publishing manuscripts that are accessible to a wide range of progressive and radical political activists. These books should also be useful to an academic audience. They do not publish dissertations. To learn more, go here.

Inner Traditions and Bear & Company: Accepting Proposals
Founded in 1975 by Ehud C. Sperling, Inner Traditions has always focused on publishing work related to spirituality, the occult, as well as Eastern religion, philosophy, and practices. In 2000 they acquired Bear & Company, which focused more on Native American culture, alternative Christianity, New Age, and healing arts. You can learn more about the founding and growth of Inner Traditions here. They are currently distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Holiday House
Holiday House is an established and reputable children’s book publisher. Holiday House has been around since 1935. They publish picture books as well as books aimed at children grades 1-3, grades 4-6, and grades 7 and up. They are based out of New York City. They have published many well-known books and authors, including Kenneth Grahame. The books that they have published have won numerous respected awards and honors.

Timber Press
Timber Press was founded in 1978 and publishes work about the natural world by experts in the fields of gardening, horticulture, and natural history. They were bought by the Workman Publishing Company in 2006. Timber Press is recognized internationally as a leading gardening publisher and their books have received awards from the American Horticultural Society, the Garden Writers of America, the Garden Media Guild, and the National Garden Club of America. They have published a number of bestsellers, including Marta McDowell’s Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life. They are based out of Portland, Oregon.

Hera
Hera is a digital publisher and an imprint of Canelo Books. They are currently seeking submissions of manuscripts in the following genres: mystery and thriller fiction, romance (including romantasy) and women’s fiction, family sagas and horror fiction. They are not interested in nonfiction, young adult or children’s fiction, poetry, science fiction and fantasy or short stories. They are particularly interested in submissions from underrepresented authors.

Aethon Books
Aethon Books is a print, eBook, and audio book publisher that focuses on science fiction and fantasy. They are open to all sub-genres within these genres including hard sci-fi, epic fantasy, space opera, military SF, alt/history, and time travel. They recently started accepting thrillers.

North Atlantic Books
North Atlantic Books is a publisher located in California. They have been publishing books since the 70s. They started out rather small and independent but now they are much larger and have excellent distribution through Penguin/Random House.

Entwined Publishing
Originally named the Totally Entwined Group, this Romance publisher rebranded as Entwined Publishing in 2024.

Sourcebooks Casablanca
Sourcebooks was founded in 1987, and in 1996 Sourcebooks Casablanca joined the family and from the start they have focused on publishing romance. They publish romances that fall within the following subgenres: paranormal romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, erotic romance, and historical romance (prior to 1900).

Bookouture 
Bookouture is a digital publisher that was purchased in 2017 by Hachette. Bookouture was extremely successful in their own right. They started out in the UK but they have outposts in a number of countries now. They focus on publishing commercial fiction. They primarily publish women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, and chick lit. They recently started a new imprint called Second Sky that focuses on publishing science fiction and fantasy books. You can learn more about Second Sky here.

Thames & Hudson
Thames & Hudson was founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. Their goal was to create a ‘museum without walls’ and it is named after the rivers flowing through London and New York. They have over 2,000 titles in print. They publish high-quality books in the following categories: the arts (fine, applied, decorative, performing), architecture, design, photography, fashion, film and music, archaeology, history, popular culture, and children’s books.

The Quarto Publishing Group 
The Quarto Publishing Group is an international publishing house known for its illustrated books. They publish most of their work through a number of niche imprints each with their own focus. All of their US imprints are distributed by Hachette.

Dragonblade
This digital-first publishing house only publishes works of historical fiction with a clear focus on romance. Within the historical romance genre they are open to most subgenres including: Viking, Regency, Georgian, Tudor, Highlander, Medieval, Victorian, Roman, Civil War, Restoration, Edwardian, etc. They are interested in anything pre-20th century except Westerns and Amish. They are also open to time travel, historical fiction, historical fantasies, and historical mysteries as long as there is a romance component that ends happily ever after.

Rockpool Publishing
Rockpool Publishing is an established press with international distribution, largely through Simon & Schuster. They are based in Australia and their primary imprint is focused on “Mind Body Spirit; Health and Wellness; Self-help and Gift titles”. They publish books as well as Tarot, Oracle, and Affirmation card sets.

No Starch Press
No Starch Press is a small press that focuses on publishing work on technology, particularly work with “a focus on open source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, LEGO^®, science, and math.” Their motto is “the finest in geek entertainment.” They are distributed by Penguin Random House.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.

THEMED CALLS

Murderous Ink Press: Crimeucopia — Objection! Overruled!
They are reading crime fiction. Currently, they want submissions on the ‘Objection! Overruled!’ theme – they want courtroom based pieces. Scroll down the page for theme details – “we are going to open the parameters wider, to include Legal Process based (think Rumpole/Perry Mason/Law&Order/The Coroner (UK) in character STYLE – but no fanfic/pastiches etc) – it could be a lawyer turned detective, or a Coroner … or a kangaroo court come to that.”
Deadline: 8 November 2025
Length: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query first for longer)
Pay: £4 per 1,000 words
Details here and here.

Flame Tree: Five Anthologies
Flame Tree is reading fiction submissions for two anthologies in their Myths, Gods, & Immortals series (Gilgamesh and Helen of Troy), two romantic fantasy anthologies (Of Blood & Petals and The Tarot of Love), and a horror anthology (Ghost Lights).
 
— Gilgamesh: “The ancient hero from Mesopotamian mythology and possible historical king of Sumer, Gilgamesh is a hugely influential figure, not least on Homer’s famous tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but also on modern culture. His stories, and later Babylonian interwoven narrative, have it all: quests to the underworld, epic journeys, ghosts, giants and beasts, a great flood, love and death. Together with the goddess Inanna (aka Ishtar) and his beloved companion Enkidu, Gilgamesh experiences adventure and self-discovery as gripping as any Hellenistic hero.
So as ever, we are seeking stories that really interrogate this character and all his flaws, traits and relationships. Whether as evidenced in the ancient tablets or extrapolated in your imagination, whether set 2000 years BCE or 2150 CE – your tales will be fresh with insight and inventiveness.”  They want stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and also accept reprints, deadline 9^th November 2025.

— Helen of Troy: “Renowned as the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world – sorry, the most beautiful of the mortal women, lest we incur Aphrodite’s wrath – and a crucial figure in the epic Trojan War, that most important of Greek mythology’s events. Though the cause of the war rests with another pesky goddess – Eris, the goddess of discord – rather than Helen herself, without Helen’s bewitching beauty, Paris would not have felt the need to abduct (entice?) her, incite Menelaus’s fury and instigate a conflict that was to rage for ten long years. 
Now it is your chance to delve deeper into the character and backstory of Helen, to shine a light on more than her immediate link to the Trojan War. Whether you explore her beauty as a heavy burden (she was fought over by numerous suitors before Paris stole her from Menelaus), or the multiple viewpoints of her motivations and moral character as offered by the contradictory classical sources, or develop a whole new history, path to tread or time to inhabit, we look forward to seeing some original stories!” They want stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and also accept reprints, deadline 9^th November 2025.

— Of Blood & Petals: “Where passion blooms, so too can peril… We’re seeking tales of forbidden love, of hearts pricked by the thorns of sacrifice, of beauty veiled by darkness, and a love that demands it all. Will a rose be a gesture of forever? Or will its petals drip in crimson and longing? The setting could be an enchanted garden or a fantastical castle; perhaps you’ll be inspired to explore a kingdom ruled by roses and ruin. We want tales where love and loss are inseparable, where petals fall like vows, fragile, fleeting, unforgettable.” They want 2,000-4,000 words, also accept reprints, deadline 10 November 2025.

— The Tarot of Love: “The Lovers Tarot card can signify attraction, love, and commitment, but reversed, it may represent failure and foolishness. Which fate will it be? Since ancient times, divination has been a tool for seeking answers through mediums such as readings, tangible objects, or tapping into other realms and spirit worlds to gain guidance. A new addition to Flame Tree’s enchanting new series of Romantic Fantasy titles, The Tarot of Love will feature tales of seers, soothsayers, and diviners. We seek answers to pave our pathway to harmony, happiness, and a fruitful love; we hope… whether it be in a relationship or within ourselves. However, perhaps when faced with a choice, we want something outside of our own power to determine our fate, in turn, protecting our own hearts. No matter the kind of love: the greatest love of all time, fearing temptation, or a love lost, we strive to have order in something as messy as love. But in these tales of romance, will lovers meet their fated end, and will the prophecy be fulfilled?” They want stories of 2,000-4,000 words, also accept reprints, deadline 10 November 2025.

— Ghost Lights: “Next year’s entry in the acclaimed ‘ABC of Horror’ series will be called Ghost Lights, and as ever, I’m looking for stories that are as disturbing, strange, and original as you can make them. I’m not averse to humour, and neither am I averse to horror tropes like zombies, vampires, and serial killers. But if you are going to write stories with such familiar, tried-and-trusted elements, then you need to find a new and unique way of presenting them. I want to be surprised and scared by your stories, and I want them to be populated by characters who are both believable and identifiable (even the evil ones). Your stories can be anything from 2,000-8,000 words, though the sweet spot is around the 4,000-5,000 word mark.” They do not want reprints for this anthology, deadline 14 November 2025.
Deadlines: See above
Length: See above
Pay: $0.08/word for originals, $0.06/word for reprints
Details here (all Flame Tree fiction calls are announced on this blog; see the links above for individual calls).

Usawa Literary Review: Witness
This India-based literary journal is dedicated to feminist literature and writings by and about underrepresented communities. They want submissions on the Witness theme for their Winter 2026 issue. “Someone is always watching. Is it you, or someone else? Sometimes it’s the eyes of a streetlamp, a neighbour at the window, or the phone you forgot was switched on. To witness is to know something you cannot unknow. It is not just seeing. It is also remembering, archiving, and re-remembering. What do you intend to do with that knowledge? Sometimes we surrender to it — in helplessness, in rupture, in solidarity. To witness is to be human.
History depends on witnesses. So does the present. What do you see, and what does your account leave out? Do your words belong to those who did not survive? Did you weep at an act of kindness? Which stories are being quietly culled into a deafening silence? And what does it mean to witness your own surveillance? Who is watching you, and why?
Mahasweta Devi’s dispossessed, Saadat Hasan Manto’s Partition, Agha Shahid Ali’s homesickness, Bessie Head’s exile, and Han Kang’s tenderness refuse erasure, reject silence. In their works, witness is not spectacle, but living— the slow, exacting work of attention.
For our Winter 2026 issue, we invite fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translations, visual narratives, book reviews, and interviews that bear witness. … And if you want to go further, speculate. Let the strange, the impossible, the satirical, the darkly comic slip in. This is the first time we are asking for speculative writing”. Submission is via a form on the website.
Deadline: 15 November 2025
Length: 4-6 poems, 2,000-5,000 words for fiction, up to 5,000 words for creative nonfiction
Pay: INR1,000/$12
Details here.

The Fiddlehead: Disability – The Revolution
This well-regarded Canadian magazine is reading for a themed call, Disability: The Revolution. For this call, they want submissions from disabled writers only. “Revolution: from the old French revolution, originally referring to the motion of the stars. Later versions of the word in the 15th century played on this sense of cyclical revolving — in the changing of the seasons, but also — crucially — the revolving of the wheel.
What does revolution look like from a disability standpoint? How do we remember that disabled writers just taking up space is revolutionary? How do we, as disabled writers, consider that question of the wheel and its many manifestations — literal, temporal, and symbolic? How do we celebrate it, remake, and open ourselves to the revolution, ongoing and future, that must usher in a more accessible world?  
For our Summer 2026 issue, The Fiddlehead seeks work from disabled writers on the theme of revolution. You can interpret the theme as broadly as you like.” They want submissions of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and pitches for reviews for the Disability call.
Their Submittable is open for several categories, please be sure to submit to the correct one.
Deadline: 20 November 2025
Length: Up to 6,000 words for prose, up to 6 poems
Pay: CAD65/page
Details here and here, submit here.

Channel Magazine
This Ireland-based magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. “We love work that speaks directly of a writer’s bond with and fear for our planet, and work that takes a local landscape, or a local flower, as its subject; equally, though, we love work that draws on an aspect of nature as setting, image or metaphor. We believe that all writing relies to some extent on historical engagement with nature, in that all human language has been shaped by our embeddedness in our shared environments.” Fiction and poetry are read during submission periods. Non-fiction (considered for both print and online) is accepted on an ongoing bases. They accept submissions in English and Irish.
Deadline: 20 November 2025 for fiction and poetry, ongoing for non-fiction
Length: Varies
Pay: €35 per printed page, up to €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €60 for single-page works; and €35 per 400 words, up to a maximum of €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €60 for work published online
Details here.

B Cubed Press: More Alternative Liberties
“Our sequal to the Alternative Liberties volume. We will be  buying stories, poems, and esssays about the potential consequences of the 2024 Presidential election told in current, near future or even similar situations where such a leader is in power. 
This anthology is our vision what these next years will look like.  Not just in the White House, but in the day-to-day world on our planet. Under such conditions people will adapt, people will suffer, people will prosper, people will axtively and passively resist, people will live, people will die.
We want stories of people who fight the change, endure the change, or embrace the change.  But key word is people.  We want the stories to be about the People (an maybe the animal liberation front in Springfield or a couch salesmen in Ohio who knows things.”
Deadline: 20 December 2025
Length: 1,500-3,000 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $0.10/word + royalties
Details here and here.

Eldredge Books: Fashionably Late 2 Anthology
They are accepting nonfiction submissions for the second volume of Fashionably Late, a nonfiction anthology featuring LQBTQIA+ people who came out later in life. “We want to hear about the challenges and joys you faced as part of your journey.” Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): Coming out during the pandemic; Breaking free of gender norms; Finding your place in the LGBTQIA+ community; Coming out in a conservative environment; Redefining relationships with your family; and more. Submissions are open to all LGBTQIA+ writers who came out later in life (generally defined as after the age of thirty).
Deadline: 28 November 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $50
Details here.

APEP Press: Feline Frights – Whiskers Between Worlds
They want cat-themed horror stories. “”Feline Frights: Whiskers Between Worlds” is the first of a planned series of cat-themed horror anthologies. In this inaugural volume of Feline Frights, we delve into cosmic horror through the eyes of our feline companions. We seek stories exploring cats as witnesses, harbingers, and agents of incomprehensible cosmic forces. From cats that stare into dimensional voids to felines that serve as vessels for ancient entities, show us how these creatures exist at the intersection of our reality and the unfathomable beyond.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: 2,000-5,000 words
Pay: $20 for originals, $10 for reprints
Details here.

BRB Books: Tales from the Little Library Anthology
This is a speculative fiction anthology, set in the libraries of your childhood. “Many of us are lucky enough to have memories of a special childhood library. Perhaps we remember a librarian who went out of their way to introduce us to books that stuck with us for the rest of our lives, or one who would waive overdue fees as a quiet kindness to an underprivileged family. We’re looking for stories that start from these real situations and tip over into the fantastic. What if your favorite librarian was a vampire? Or a time traveler? What if the teenage-you discovered that the library’s local history collection was haunted? What if animals from other planets were available to check out, right next to the DVDs? What if the childhood library has a collection of books famous children’s authors never wrote? What if the library used an interplanetary or alternate dimension delivery service to get your materials? There are so many possibilities.”
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: 3,000-5,000 words
Pay: $15
Details here.

Griffith Review: Lost and Found
Griffith Review is an Australian literary magazine and they want fiction and nonfiction submissions for issue 92; the theme is Lost and Found. “’Loss,’ wrote Marcus Aurelius, ‘is nothing else but change’. We lose face, lose time, lose heart, lose touch, lose ground, lose our keys (often); we can lose the things that hold us back or weigh us down, just as we can lose the people and places we love most. Loss, whether it offers us pain or reward, is fundamental to the experience of being human. What might we lose or gain as technology continues its rapid advance? How do we halt the loss of our natural world? What’s lost by growing up between cultures? Are we losing our sense of a shared reality? And what are the benefits to being a loser?”
Do not send poetry. They mostly accept work from writers in Australia, and some work from overseas writers.
Deadline: 30 November 2025 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 4,000 words for prose (for print)
Pay: AUD0.75/word
Details here and here.
(And, Zoetic Press’sNonbinary Review is scheduled to open for the Carnival theme during November; they want speculative fiction, nonfiction and poetry. They pay. Their submission portal had yet to open, at the time of writing. Details here.) 

Silver Sun Books: Bandits & Botany Anthology
“Every quarter, we accept a selection of short fiction pieces that we feel fit our themes and readership well. We enjoy fantasy stories with clever hooks, strong characters, and interesting takes on our issue’s themes.” They want fantasy fiction on the theme, Bandits & Botany for their upcoming issue.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: £5
Details here and here.
(Silver Sun is also open for submissions on the Ruins & Rituals theme; the deadline for that is in February 2026.)

khōréō: Revolutions
This magazine only accepts speculative fiction submissions from immigrants or members of the diaspora. For this reading cycle, they want stories on the Revolutions theme. “Some aspects we are especially interested in:

• Cycles of revolution and counter-revolution
• Revolution as the starting point instead of the endpoint
• Quiet revolutions and alternative sites of resistance
• Disability, class and revolution”

They also accept flash fiction and translations.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words (prefers up to 3,500 words)
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here, here, and here.

Stygian Zine: Love Lies Dying
They want poems, short stories, personal musings, visual art, and comics on the Love Lies Dying theme. Submission is via a form on the website.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 2,500 words
Pay: CAD20
Details here (scroll down).

Bold Strokes Books: Gender Ever After – Gender-Affirming Sapphic Romance Stories
This is a fiction anthology. “Gender Ever After is a sapphic romance (and erotic-romance) anthology celebrating the full, beautiful spectrum of gender expression and identity. I’m looking for stories that are both gender-positive and sex-positive, offering space for all women—including transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid, genderqueer, two-spirit, agender, demigender, gender non-conforming, and more.
All romantic and erotic pairings (or more) are welcome, exploring love in its many forms, provided the romantic arc remains central and culminates in a satisfying, affirming HEA (or HFN). I’d love to see a mix of couples getting to know one another, those in long-term relationships, those opening up their relationship, or those finding new love after a relationship.
While the anthology is not intended to be political or reactionary, stories that acknowledge real-world challenges—such as transphobia, gender dysphoria, homophobia/biphobia, and social bias—are welcome, so long as those themes are overcome or transformed by the joy of loving connections. I’m looking for stories about hope and love . . . about characters being seen, loved, and celebrated as they are.” … “I’m mostly looking for contemporary tales, but historical or futuristic settings are welcome as well, as are fantasy-based stories.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025 “(earlier submissions welcome and will stand the best chance of acceptance)”
Length: 2,500-4,000 words
Pay: $50
Details here.

Eternal Haunted Summer: Winter Solstice 2025 – The Good Neighbors
Their tagline is ‘Pagan songs & tales’, and they publish work on Gods and Goddesses and heroes of the world’s many Pagan/polytheist traditions – fiction (any genre), nonfiction, reviews, and poetry. For their upcoming issue, the theme is The Good Neighbors. “The fae. The fair folk. The hidden ones. Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about the fae as seen from a Pagan/polytheistic, witchy, and mythological point of view. Send us poems about the peri of ancient Persia, Marie de France writing her famous lais, the favorite trees of the Good Neighbors, or Nicnevin of Scottish lore. Send us short stories about the armored fairies of the Orkney Islands, an urban fantasy about a lawyer who specializes in negotiating with fairies, a retelling of a classic fairy tale (with Fairy Godparent), or a story about a father trying to cure his child of elfshot. Send us essays about the impact of Lucy Allen Paton’s research on later scholars, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Theosophical view of fairies, fairies as fallen angels, or the collection and composition of the Childe Ballads.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: Up to 3,000 words for fiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: $5
Details here.

Rooted Literary Magazine: Home
They want poems, fiction (including flash), nonfiction (including reviews), visual art, audio, and video on the Home theme. “Home is where the heart is; it’s where people get their first pets, cry themselves to sleep, eat their favorite meals, and experience loneliness. It’s where we unwind after a long day, and the place we avoid when we get off work. It’s drenched in silence and raucous laughter. It’s where we can be ourselves and where we have to hide ourselves. Some of us never leave, while others hate to stay. 
Home means a lot of things, whether it’s a physical place, a person, a hobby, or a sense of being we’ve all felt at home. And a home can provide comfort just as easily as it can cause pain. For November, we are seeking pieces that offer a glimpse into home. … We are especially drawn to speculative fiction and pieces that challenge conventions or reimagine reality.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: Up to 3 poems, up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 2,000 words for nonfiction
Pay: $10
Details here and here.

Eldritch Cat Press: The Lantern Keepers 
This is a fiction anthology. “We’re looking for tales that include characters who serve as guides, guardians, or messengers between the threshold of the living and the dead, lost or otherworldly. We want stories with haunting, dreadful, eerie, creeping or even sorrowful vibes”. And, “Your story must feature a light, a path and a guide of some kind (the more prevalent and central to the plot these three things are the better, but be creative with them!)”. The genres they want are: Horror, gothic, dark fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, mystery, crime…pretty much anything goes, even sci-fi, high fantasy, post-apoc and various time periods.
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: 1,500-4,500 words
Pay: $10
Details here.

IHRAM Press Magazine: Voices of the Unhoused
This is the literary magazine of the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM). For their upcoming issue, they say, “Centering on homelessness and the unhoused, this issue explores the human stories behind stereotypes, societal failures, and the fight for basic rights like shelter and healthcare. Reflections on homelessness during COVID-19 and personal journeys to stability provide a stark reminder of the ongoing struggle for dignity and safety. 
We are committed to publishing personal experiences of those who have been unhoused, factual retellings of stories about homelessness in the author’s life, reflections of the author’s personal experiences, and feelings of optimism and faith.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: Up to 2,500 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: $50 for written work, $25 for art
Details here  (click on ‘Our publishing concerns for 2025’)

Book XI: A Journal of Literary Philosophy – What We Talk About When We Talk About…
“Book XI is a journal dedicated to publishing personal essays, memoir, fiction, science fiction, humor, and poetry with philosophical themes. … Book XI is housed at Hamilton College’s Arthur Levitt Center for Public Affairs.” They have opened a submission period – all submissions must include “What We Talk About When We Talk About” as part of the title for this reading period. Submissions opened on 15^th October and will close mid-December or when their submission cap is met, whichever is earlier.
Deadline: 15 December 2025, or until filled
Length: 1,000-5,000 words for prose, or up to 5 poems
Pay: $200 for prose, $50/poem
Details here and here.

Oddity Prodigy Productions: Tales of Steel and Sorcery
“Do you have a story of epic adventure that you wish to share?  Are there tales of knights, dragons, villains, and magics you can bring to bear?  If so, you may be just the bard we are looking for! … We are looking for stories from across the vast genre, from the classic myth creation stories of J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula L. Le Guin, or Terry Brooks, to the pulp majesty of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. The vast worldbuilding of Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman’s Dragonlance, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, or N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance books, all the way to the grim visions of George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie. If your muse is more like the swashbuckling stories of Scott Lynch, or Brandon Sanderson’s detailed magic systems, or the thoughtful characters of K.S. Villoso, then we’re definitely interested. Fantasy is a deep and expansive genre, and we’d like to read what your imagination conjures!”
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 2,000-5,000 words
Pay: At least $10 (see guidelines)
Details here.

Dreamforge: Open Channel – The Art of Connection
They are open for speculative fiction submissions. They also accept poetry. They will read until the submission deadline, or until they meet their submission quota, whichever is earlier. Their theme for this year is, ‘Open Channel: The Art of Connection’ (see their submission system for details on the theme). “DreamForge Magazine celebrates connecting with the other. It shows how understanding can solve problems that seem impossible, and how communication and empathy—even in surprising ways—can help us through hard times.
Of course, core theme stories are always welcome too. Stories of “endurance, hope, and the triumph of the human spirit.” Stories that actively resist despair and offer constructive alternatives to dystopian futures, focusing on what builds rather than what destroys.”
Deadline: 31 December 2025, or until filled
Length: Up to 7,000 words for fiction
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here and here

DBS Press: Dracula Beyond Stoker – Van Helsing
Dracula Beyond Stoker publishes fiction issues (with some poetry) featuring characters and more from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. You can read about the magazine here. For their upcoming submission period, they want work on Van Helsing. “The one you’ve all been waiting for.
Doctor. Professor. Lawyer. Monster hunter.
Abraham Van Helsing has become a legend—but how did he get there?
What shaped the man who would face Dracula? What monsters, mysteries, or miracles did he encounter before the novel—and what haunted him after? We want your tales of the world’s most famous vampire hunter: his triumphs, his obsessions, his failures, and his legacy.”
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here.

THEMED CONTESTS

(There are some unthemed contests open now, as well, including:
— Polar Expressions: Student Contests for Short Story and Poetry: These are short story and poetry contests for Canadian students who are citizens and residents, from kindergarten to grade 12. Poems should be up to 32 lines and stories up to 450 words, on any topic; first prizes of CAD60-100 for students of various grades, as well as second and third prizes; additional cash prizes for schools; deadlines: 21 November 2025 for both, short stories and for poetry; details here.

— PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers: For 12 emerging fiction writers for their debut short story published during a given calendar year in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website; submitted stories must be published in the calendar year prior to the corresponding awards ceremony; prizes $2,000 each, deadline: 25 November 2025, details here and here.

— ServiceScape Short Story Award: Submit a work of short fiction or nonfiction, 5,000 words or fewer; award $1,000, deadline: 30 November 2025, details here.

— The Hudson Review Short Fiction Contest: For a short story of up to 10,000 words; writers who have never published in The Hudson Review are eligible to submit; awards $1,000; and $500 each for second and third places; deadline: 30 November 2025; details here.

— The African Poetry Book Fund: Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry: For poets born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African, and who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published, for a poetry manuscript; awards $1,000, deadline: 1 December 2025, details here and here.)

Defenestrationism: 2025 Flash Suite Contest
This is a contest for at least three flash fiction pieces (up to 1,000 words each) that co-relate in some way. The theme for this cycle is ‘Community’. A single piece of the suite may have been published before, otherwise, no previously published material. Finalists will be published daily on the site, followed by at least two weeks of Fan Voting – winners will be selected by a judging panel, with Fan Voting counting as an additional judge vote.    
Value: $75, $60
Deadline: 10 November 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here.

Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival: Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize
This prize will be awarded to a Brooklyn- focused non-fiction essay which is set in Brooklyn and is about Brooklyn and/or Brooklyn people/characters. “We are seeking compelling Brooklyn stories from writers with a broad range of backgrounds and ages (minimum age 18 years old) who can render Brooklyn’s rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences in Brooklyn.” Essays have to be 4-10 pages (up to 2,500 words). Value: $500
Deadline: 15 November 2025
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (click on ‘Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize’.)

The Academy of American Poets: Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize
This is an opportunity for US poets. The Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize for “exceptional poems that help make real for readers the gravity of the vulnerable state of our environment at present.” Poems could also be submitted in Spanish but must be accompanied by an English translation. Entries must be uploaded to Submittable as .doc, .docx, or .pdf files; and for entries by Performance or Spoken Word poets, most audio formats are accepted. Send one poem.
Value: $1,000; $750; $500
Deadline: 15 November 2025
Open for: US poets
Details here , here, and here (click on the relevant category)
(The Academy of American Poets also has other prizes, including the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, a $1,000 award recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year, deadline 15 February 2026, details here; the Academy also runs the Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship of $25,000 and a residency in Rometo be awarded in 2026for the translation into English of a significant work of modern Italian poetry by a US poet, deadline 15 February 2026, details here; see all the Academy of American Poets’ prizes here.)

Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize
This prize is for young UK-based writers. They want fiction or non-fiction of 1,000-1,500 words on the relevance of Benjamin Franklin’s relevance in our time. The quote for this year’s competition is “A republic, if you can keep it.” —Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” – Monday, September 17, 1787.
Writers are asked to interpret this quote for its significance today. Winning entries will be published online.
Value: £750, £500
Deadline: 19 November 2025
Open for: UK writers aged 18-25
Details here.
(And, The Emerging Writer Award is open to “unpublished prose writers (fiction) living in the UK with a collection of short stories or novel in development. Writers can be writing for any age group (including children and young adults) and may have had excerpts or articles published in the past, but have not yet published any major body of work. We would particularly encourage applications from those who experience barriers to the writing process.” Winner gets a tailor-made package including tuition via open courses, retreat time and/or mentoring at Moniack Mhor. The deadline is 30^th November 2025. Details here.)  

C Magazine: Indigenous Art Writing Award
C Magazine is Canada-based and publishes work on art. This prize is open to Indigenous writers all over the world, for art writing. “We’re excited to launch the 4th annual Indigenous Art Writing Award, an initiative created to support, compensate, and platform three standout individuals who are advancing critical and creative thought about Indigenous contemporary art.
Indigenous writers are invited to submit a single non-fiction text about an artist, project, exhibition, performance, event, initiative, theme, or other art-adjacent subject. Suggested length for submissions is between 1,000-2,000 words.
The winner will receive $1,500 CAD; editorial support to prepare their article for publication in a future issue of C Magazine and to be shared across ICCA’s platforms; and a two-year C subscription. Two runners-up will receive $1,000 CAD; an open invitation to develop a pitch for a different text to be published in C Magazine; and a two-year subscription. All participants can request feedback on their submitted work, and will receive a one-year subscription.
Applicants must identify as an Indigenous person. Given the resonances of Indigenous sovereignty and colonial realities across the globe, there are no geographical restrictions, though for the context of where we are located, we strongly encourage those based in Canada to apply. Submissions should primarily be in English, but may include non-English words or phrases. For submissions entirely in another language, we kindly ask for translations.”
Value: CAD1,500; CAD1,000 for two runners-up
Deadline: 24 November 2025
Open for: Indigenous writers
Details here.
(See all of C Magazine’s calls and guidelines here.)

Speculative Literature Foundation’s Gulliver Travel Grant
This grant is to help writers of speculative literature (in fiction, poetry, drama, or creative non-fiction) in their non-academic research. It is to be used to cover airfare, lodging, and/or other travel expenses. Writing samples (speculative literature) are part of the application requirement (see guidelines). This grant is awarded on the basis of interest and merit. Applicants need not have prior publishing credits to apply. The application portal for this grant will open during the submission period. They also have other grant submission periods coming up.  
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here (Gulliver Travel Grant) and here (schedule for all grants).

Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition
This is an international contest for novel manuscripts in the malice domestic genre, for writers who have never been the author of any published mystery novel. “Murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story. Whatever violence is necessarily involved should be neither excessive nor gratuitously detailed, nor is there to be explicit sex. The suspects and the victims should know each other. There are a limited number of suspects, each of whom has a credible motive and reasonable opportunity to have committed the crime. The person who solves the crime is the central character. The “detective” is an amateur, or, if a professional (private investigator, police officer) is not hardboiled and is as fully developed as the other characters. The detective may find him or herself in serious peril, but he or she does not get beaten up to any serious extent. All of the cast represent themselves as individuals, rather than large impersonal institutions like a national government, the mafia, the CIA, etc.” The work must be at least 65,000 words. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Details here.
(Minotaur is also running a First Crime Novel Competition, the deadline for that is 14^th December 2025.)

Dappled Things: The J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction
Dappled Things is a space for emerging writers to engage the literary world from a Catholic perspective. For this contest, they want stories of up to 8,000 words “with vivid characters who encounter grace in everyday settings—we want to see who, in the age we live in, might have one foot in this world and one in the next.” Please note, honorable mentions will also get publication and a subscription to the magazine. 
Value: $700, $300
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here.

One Teen Story Contest
This is a short fiction contest for writers ages 13-19, run by One Story Magazine; there are three categories divided age-wise for this contest – ages 13-15, 16-17, and 18-19. “One Teen Story is looking for great short stories written by teens about the teen experience. Some examples of stories we look out for are ones that deal with issues of identity, friendship, family, and coming-of-age. Gratuitous profanity, sex, and drug use are best avoided. We’re open to all genres of well-written young adult fiction between 2,000 and 4,500 words.”
Value: $500
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Open for: Writers ages 13-19
Details here and here.

(A couple of contests with later deadlines are:

— Minotaur, an imprint of McMillan, is running a First Crime Novel Competition, the prize is an advance of $10,000, and the deadline for that is 14^th December 2025; details here.
— Defenestration.net Lengthy Poem Contest: They are reading entries for a lengthy poem, of at least 120 lines and up to chapbook-length (see guidelines). It is best to divide it into parts or sections, though this is not a strict requirement. Poem cycles will be considered. Please note, the shortlisted poems will be posted on the website, which will be followed by fan voting. The prize is $300, and the deadline is 1 January 2026. Details here.

— On the Premises: The Return Of… : They want a story based on a prompt on their website. For this cycle, the prompt is, “The Return Of…”. “For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which someone or something has returned after a significant absence. Does this return make people happy, unhappy, or somewhere in-between? That’s up to you. Also: Was this return a surprise, or was it expected? That’s also up to you.“ They do not want children’s fiction, exploitative sex, over-the-top grossout horror, or stories that are obvious parodies of existing fictional worlds/characters created by other authors. Prizes are $250, $200, $150, $75, and the deadline is 2 January 2026; details here (general guidelines) and here (theme details).

— San José State University: Center for Steinbeck Studies – The Steinbeck Fellows Program: This awards writers of any age and background a $15,000 fellowship to finish a significant writing project. Fellowships are currently offered in Creative Writing (excluding poetry) and Steinbeck Studies; Fellows may be appointed in many fields, including fiction, drama, creative non-fiction, and biography. The creative writing fellowship does not require that there be any direct connection between your work and Steinbeck’s. The emphasis of the program is on helping writers who have had some success but have not published extensively, and whose promising work would be aided by the financial support and sponsorship of the Center and the University’s creative writing program. Award recipients will be required to reside within the counties of the San Francisco Bay Area or adjacent counties of the California central coast or central valley during most of the fellowship period. There are up to 6 fellowships of $15,000 each, and the deadline is 4 January 2026. Details here and here.)

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

Many, but not all, are open for submissions now. Some pay writers.

Meetinghouse
“We welcome all forms of writing: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and work that falls between those categories. … We appreciate genre-bending and genre-blending. We believe trying and failing to work through difficult ideas and feelings is more worthwhile than staying comfortable in what you know. Asking questions is better than answering them. … All submissions will be considered for print and digital publication unless submitters request otherwise.” They also accept translations. Send prose up to 7,500 words. They pay $40-100. The deadline is 16 November 2025. Details here.

One Story
This print magazine accepts literary fiction, and accepts some reprints (see guidelines). They pay $500 and 25 contributor copies for stories of 3,000-8,000 words. They will open for submissions on 3^rd November 2025, and will close when they hit their submission cap. Their submission portal will open during the reading period. Details here.

Press Pause Press
This is a print magazine and they accept fiction (up to 20-ish pages), as well as nonfiction, poetry, art, work on music, as well as pitches for work for ‘The Family Room’ section. They also publish work by at least one writer under 18 in each issue. Payment is contributor copies. Details here.

The Lorelei Signal
This is a quarterly SF/Fantasy magazine – one that features strong / complex female characters. “This does not mean your female character has to be the main hero or villain in the story. 
What it does mean is no shrinking violets, or women who serve only to get into trouble so the male hero can rescue them.” They accept stories up to 10,000 words (prefer 2,500-5,000 words), as well as poetry. Details here.

Sink Hollow
This journal is affiliated with Utah State University. They accept fiction (up to 7,500 words), nonfiction, poetry, and art only from undergraduate students worldwide. The submission deadline is 18 November 2025. Details here and here.

Cold Caller Mag
Cold Caller is a Substack-based magazine; it is “a publisher of crime and mystery fiction, and we define those terms broadly. We’re looking for stories of bad decisions and worse consequences; unlucky losers who can’t catch a break; grifters and con men convinced they’re about to score big; good men and women who have very good reasons to do terrible things.” They’ve given a list of stories, as well as TV shows and movies, that match their vibe (see guidelines). And, “We lean toward noir and realism, so generally speaking we aren’t looking for cozy mysteries, spy thrillers, or for cross-genre work such as mystery-romance, mystery-science fiction, mystery-fantasy, etc.” They prefer stories of 2,000-6,000 words, and can accept up to 10,000 words. They pay $125. Details here.

Freedom Fiction Journal
They accept flash (up to 500 words) as well as short (1,000-12,000 words) fiction. “Fiction Short Stories of All Genres such as Literary, Pulp fiction, SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Detective, Crime, Romance, Adventure, Western, Young Adult, Humour, Satire, etc. are welcome.” Details here.

Electric Lit: Recommended Reading
Electric Lit accepts fiction submissions of 2,000-10,000 words for its Recommended Reading section, and pay $300. They usually have short reading periods, when they open. Details here.

Bourbon Penn
They have detailed guidelines, including, “We are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd.  Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal.” They pay $0.04/word for stories of 2,000-7,500 words. Details here.

The Rappahannock Review
This magazine is affiliated with the University of Mary Washington. For fiction, they say, “We are looking for original, well written fiction. Pieces experimenting with form are encouraged. Although we are interested in a wide range of fiction, we will consider short, self-contained fiction (that is, no novel excerpts) that avoids cliché and experiments with the flexibility of its genre. Submissions may contain one piece up to 8,000 words or three pieces of flash, each containing 1,000 words or fewer.” They also publish creative nonfiction, poetry, audio, and visual art. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Strange Horizons
They have issued a call for speculative fiction stories from indigenous authors only; submissions will open on 3^rd November 2025, and will close when they reach a submission cap. See the call here, their general fiction submission guidelines here, and their submission guidelines for all genres are here. Strange Horizons pays $0.10/word for stories up to 10,000 words. Pay varies for other genres.

Uncanny Magazine
This award-winning speculative fiction magazine accepts stories, from flash to novelette length (750-10,000 words) – they announce their reading periods for stories of various lengths/genres on their website. They also accept poetry. Their submission portal opens during the reading period. They pay $0.10/word for fiction and $40 for poetry. Watch for their next submission period. Details here and here. 

Golgonooza Magazine
“Golgonooza Magazine is a new venture from our artistic collective dedicated to the exploration and innovation of The Weird as an artistic philosophy. (Seeking more information on what exactly we consider Weird? See our mission statement.)” They want fiction (up to 15,000 words), poetry, essays, and visual art “that summon the speculative, the horrible and marvelous, the numinous, and the strange for our first issue. We are also open to any other medium that could feasibly be published on a website! If your work squirms away from category, peels at the cracks in the surface of the world or sleeps deeply with unseen things, consider submitting to our magazine.” The deadline is 14 December 2025. Details here.

Short Story, Long
They accept fiction submissions. Each story is paired with original artwork. Length guidelines are 2,000-8,000 words (3,000-5,500 words preferred), and they pay $100. Watch for their next submission period. Details here.

Black Moon Magazine
They accept fiction (1,000-8,000 words), as well as poetry and visual art for their biannual issues. They also accept interviews and reviews for their blog. The deadline is 31 December 2025 for the January issue. Details here.

The Ex-Puritan
This Canadian magazine publishes fiction (1,000-10,000 words), nonfiction, experimental/hybrid work, interviews, reviews, poetry, and poetry in translation. They read submissions throughout the year, with cut-off dates for issues, and accept a limited number of fee-free submissions every month. They pay CAD150 for fiction; CAD50 per poem (capped at CAD100); CAD200 per essay; CAD100 per interview or review; CAD50+ per experimental or hybrid work, at an increasing scale depending on the nature of the piece. Details here and here.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
This magazine is “dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry. We are unrepentant in our goal of elevating unapologetic sword and sorcery to a rightful high place.” And, Tolkienesque (as in really long) poetry will most likely be treated — and paid — like fiction. “Similarly, prose pieces of fewer than 1,000 words will be paid at poetry’s standard rate of $25.” They pay $25-100 for fiction of up to 10,000 words, $12.5-25 for poetry. A note on their website says they will likely reopen for submissions toward the end of 2025. Details here.

Psychopomp Lit
This is a literary magazine of the students of CUNY Graduate Center. They accept fiction up to 10,000 words, as well as nonfiction, poetry, and translations. They’re reading submissions for Issue 2. Details here.

Sundial
This is a literary magazine of historical fiction; they publish works up to 20,000 words, as well as poetry. They are currently open only for art; all other genres are closed. Details here.

New Maps
This magazine publishes deindustrial fiction. They have detailed guidelines, including, “As New Maps uses the term, deindustrial fiction is:
Fiction that takes into account the effects of resource depletion and environmental damage on the future of the world, and the existence of hard limits to what humankind can do to mitigate these effects.
Fiction that takes place in the world that you and I live in: that is, an Earth that obeys the same physical laws as the real Earth.
Stories may include elements of the metaphysical, supernatural, or paranormal, but only to the extent that you, the author, find it plausible that these things may actually happen in our world as you understand it.” They pay a quarter cent a word for stories and rarely publish works above 10,000 words. Details here.

confetti
confetti is the magazine of the Westchester Writing Workshop and they accept submissions from around the world. They publish fiction, from microfiction to novelette-length, as well as nonfiction and poetry. The deadline for their Spring edition is 1 March, and for their Fall edition, it is 1 September. Details here.

Fiction on the Web
They’re accepting submissions for online and audiobook publication, in these genres:

• funny stories – for when you need a laugh
• creepy stories – to make your hair stand on end
• fantastic stories – ghosts, swords, magic and fantasy
• futuristic stories – many worlds of science fiction
• criminal stories – crooks and detectives
• real life stories – everyday life and relationships

Submissions should be between 1,000 and 10,000 words”. Details here.

West Branch
They accept fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and translation. West Branch is affiliated with Bucknell University. Send up to 30 pages of prose or up to 6 poems. Pay is $100 per submission of poetry, $.10/word for prose up to $200. They read submissions between 1^st August and 1^st April. Details here.

MENACE
They publish work that “encapsulates the dark, the transgressive, the gross. While not strictly a space for the speculative, M E N A C E seeks the “literary weird”—work that would be rejected from big literary magazines for being too genre.” They particularly want work from BIPOC speculative fiction writers, though they welcome work from all writers. You can read more about them here. They accept fiction (up to 10,000 words), creative nonfiction, poetry, hybrid, art, film, video, sound, as well as queries for (not completed submissions of) reviews and critique. Details here.

Dirty Magick Magazine
They publish fiction – urban fantasy, sword and sorcery (not high fantasy), as well as gothic and supernatural horror. Please read their guidelines to see how they define these genres, and also see the sub-genres they are interested in. They pay  $50 for stories of 2,000-12,500 words. They’ll reopen in May 2026. Details here.

Black Cat Weekly
Black Cat Weekly publishes mystery, as well as science fiction and fantasy fiction. They have distinct guidelines for each genre. For mystery, they say, “stories must include a crime. It isn’t a mystery if it doesn’t have a crime.We prefer traditionally plotted stories rather than experimental or literary fiction. Think Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, John D. MacDonald, etc. The good stuff. We prefer not mixing fantasy with mystery. Werewolves, ghosts, talking cats, etc. are fantasy. … No gimmick stories, no surprise endings. PG-13 rating.”
Please note, they have one portal for submitting mystery, and another for submitting science fiction and fantasy. They prefer stories of 1,500-15,000 words, but can accept up to 45,000 words. Pay is $0.01/word up to $50. Details here (mystery guidelines), here (sf & f guidelines), and here (submission portals).

Interzone
Interzone is a Europe-based magazine that accepts fantastika of up to 17,500 words. And, “Translations are accepted, even if the story has been published previously in a language other than English – please include the name of the translator.” They pay EUR1.5¢/word. Details here.

Zooscape
They publish anthropomorphic fiction of up to 10,000 words; query for longer. “All stories must be furry.  That means an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. We’ll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks.  We love science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars.” They also accept reprints. They pay $0.08/word for original stories up to 1,000 words, and $80 for longer. They will reopen for submissions on 1^st February 2026. Details here.

The Masters Review: New Voices
“Our New Voices category is open year-round to any new or emerging author who has not published a novel-length work of fiction or narrative nonfiction with a major press. Authors with published short story collections are free to submit. … The Masters Review pays a flat rate of $100 for flash-length stories (1,000 words or fewer) and $200 for longer stories (up to 7,000 words).” Details here.

Neon Hemlock Press
They publish queer speculative fiction, and are accepting novellas from all writers (science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural, slipstream, & weird, hybrid work, prefer works that explore some element of queer experience, 17,500–40,000 words) till 30^th October 2025, see here – scroll down. (That page also has details of all of Neon Hemlock Press’s open / forthcoming calls.)

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.