Fantasy Magazine
Fantasy is an award-winning fantasy and dark fantasy magazine, open for general submissions (i.e. submissions from all writers) for the first week of March. They’re open to submissions from BIPOC writers through 2023. All dates are subject to change.
Reading period: 1-7 March 2023 for general submissions; BIPOC submissions open through 2023
Length: Up to 7,500 words for fiction, up to 6 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem
Details here.

(Also, Fusion Fragment will open for science fiction and SF-tinged literary fiction during 24^th-31^st March; send stories of 2,000-15,000 words; pay is 3.5 Canadian cents per word, up to CAD300. The submission portal will open during the reading period.
And MetaStellar will be open for flash fiction submissions through March; they accept other genres too, though there is no payment for those.)

Masks Literary Magazine
They publish fiction, nonfiction, graphic stories, poetry, art, and photography. They may close early if the submission cap is reached. U.S. contributors will receive a complimentary copy of their print issue; international contributors will receive a PDF. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 31 March 2023, or until filled
Length: Up to 2 poems; up to 3,000 words for prose
Pay: $25 for prose and art ($100 for featured artist), $20/poem
Details here.

(There are a few other magazines that have submission caps in March, including Split Lip Magazine, which will accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, reviews, and art. They want literary, mainstream, or experimental writing, but no genre fiction. Their upcoming fee-free submissions periods are March, May, August, September, and November; there is a submission cap, so free submissions might close early. Pay is $25-75. Details here.
— And The Paris Review will open for prose submissions in March. They usually have a submission cap for online submissions, which they hit early on; check during the submission window whether they will accept postal submissions; details here.
— Shenandoah will open for poetry submissions on 1^st March, and will close when their submission cap is reached; at the time of writing, other genres were open too; they pay $100/poem, $100 per 1,000 words for prose, and $50 per page of comic, up to $500. Details here and here.)

West Branch
West Branch is affiliated with Bucknell University. They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translations.
Deadline: 1 April 2023
Length: Up to 6 poems; up to 30 pages for prose
Pay: $50 for poetry and $0.05/word for prose, up to $100
Details here.

Undertow Press: Weird Horror Magazine
This magazine publishes weird horror; as for all magazines, please read some back issues to see if your work is a good fit (click on Weird Horror Mag issue tabs on this page). They’ll read submissions for the magazine during March.
Reading period: 1-31 March 2023
Length: 500-6,000 words
Pay: 1.5c/word
Details here.

Gallery of Curiosities
They want retropunk fiction for their podcast. “That means steampunk, dieselpunk, dreadpunk, bronzepunk, dark fantasy, the Odd, and others that haven’t even been invented yet punk … but not atompunk.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 15 April 2023
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here.

Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine.

Chapter House is published twice a year, and each edition features writing from around fifteen contributors. They publish poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, and they occasionally publish screenwriting. On their blog, they also publish reviews, interviews, and videos of craft talks and readings.

Now through April 16, Chapter House is accepting submissions for their Summer 2023 edition. Poets may submit three to five poems, totaling five pages or fewer. Authors of fiction or creative nonfiction may submit one short story or creative nonfiction essay, or up to three flashes, 5,000 words or fewer total.

Chapter House accepts submissions using Submittable, not via email or by post.  They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw writing published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published work, including writing published on blogs and social media.

Chapter House only accepts submissions that follow the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Chapter House, please visit their website at https://chjournal.submittable.com/submit.

All submissions must be made by post and they only respond to submissions if interested. They cannot return materials to the author.

They do not disclose who their distributor is but I’ve long encountered their work, particularly in art supply stores, gift shops, and stationary stores. My kids own a number of their sticker books.

The nonfiction work they publish covers a wide range of topics, including but in no way limited to spirituality, cooking, mathematics, music and how to books on art, drawing, and crafts. They publish a wide range of nonfiction, and it’s worthwhile to spend time with their catalogue to see if they are the right fit for your work.

You can learn more about their submission guidelines here.

Authors are constantly reminded to use social media in order to promote their books, articles, essays and other writing. There are many options and various platforms available to us. Should TikTok be one of them?

TikTok has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, it is wildly popular with various age groups, especially younger people, and offers a variety of ways to post. On the other, there are questions about it being used by the Chinese government to spy on some journalists. TikTok videos run the range from harmless fun (pet videos, dance challenges, restaurant reviews) to rancorous socio-political debates.

But there is a definite place for an author to promote books and other writing. You can promote your book signings, or post videos of the actual signings, as well as screenshots and videos of articles, poems, and anything else you write. You can even hold a live event on TikTok and viewers can comment.

Similar to Twitter, you need to use hashtags (#) and at marks (@) wisely, so as to gather popularity and views for your videos. You can also reach out to everyone you know and ask them to “follow” you (as in Twitter and Instagram), similar to friending someone on Facebook. Look over the many types of hashtags you can use for your work: #books #booksoftiktok and other writing, publishing and book hashtags as well as particular subject areas, based upon your topic. On a search engine type in “popular hashtags on TIkTok ” to get more ideas.

Many of my TikToks have been straight-forward videos, with minor embellishments. (I tend not to get too gimmicky.) But you might want to use the effects, filters, templates and other items for use. You can also make a video out of still photos. Plan in advance about what you want to show; perhaps write and edit a script to streamline your material. Especially for your first few videos, create a storyboard of shots and dialogue, as if you were creating a commercial production.

Watch TikTok videos of various types and subjects and decide what you like and dislike. Emulate what you like for your presentation, avoid doing what you think won’t work.

Some of my TikToks have featured my books and an anthology that included one of my essays. I have made these out of videos or still photos and targeted them for holiday sales and other events. A few times I made still-photo videos of articles I wrote. For all of these I have included links to either purchase the books or read the articles online.

Many of the TikToks I’ve posted are related to material found in my books, and I included my Facebook page and Instagram account so they can also be visited by those who are interested. I have publicized my trilogy of books on lost synagogues by taking videos of the actual buildings I’ve documented in the books. One of these videos has already garnered over 13,200 views! Others have had hundreds and thousands of views. By posting about my topic and linking to my books, I hope to publicize these and generate more sales.

Remember that TikToks are not private matters, so think carefully about what you want to “put out there” in the world of social media. You want to take pride in these videos, not be embarrassed or worry about legal issues. This is a big problem with many younger (and some older) users of TikTok.

Some users of TikTok can be downright vicious and may mock or critique your material. You will need tough skin. I have only encountered that a tiny bit; most of the comments I’ve had were simple questions such as “Where did you photograph this?” and “What is the name of that building?”

Other users have asked “Where can I buy this?” (respond to them with information). You can also encourage them to ask their libraries (local, school, work) to purchase your books. Let users know if there are ebook versions of your books.

Although TikTok may seem to have a spontaneous air to it, many of the TikToks are planned in advance, and if you are promoting your writing, this is how you should approach this. Think about how you want to portray your book or article, how you hope to market it, and put some polish and thought into the TikTok “package.” Experiment, but experiment wisely.

Try TikTok for your books and see what happens. The app is free. Along with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms, it can help generate interest in your work and perhaps even sales. Good luck!

Bio: Ellen Levitt is a writer and teacher, and a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of The Lost Synagogues of Brooklyn, The Lost Synagogues of the Bronx and Queens, and The Lost Synagogues of Manhattan (www.avotaynu.com) and Walking Manhattan (www.wildernesspress.com) . She has also written many freelance articles and essays for online and in-print publications.