Founded by Tim Sevenhuysen, 50-Word Stories publish two stories every weekday with the best story of each month winning a $10 prize. Authors may submit one story per month, and the story may be previously unpublished, a reprint, and or a simultaneous submission. They provide a form with which you can send your work, or you can send it directly to the editor at Tim@FiftyWordStories.com. Authors are also encouraged to submit holiday or date-specific stories as long as this is included in the cover letter.

Authors should be aware that the editor publishes his own work on the site along with other authors as a way to create a community of microwriters. 50-Word Stories also has a high acceptance ratio and provides personal feedback in most of its responses. This feedback means even novice writers can benefit from the publication, and more seasoned writers can fine-tune word choice with the stimulating exercise of a 50 word story. What better way to warm yourself up for writing?

Mandy Brown is a writer in Central Texas, the 2013 recipient of A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Tillie Olsen Fellowship, and the author of The Sting (Sweatshoppe Publications, 2013). Mandy currently teaches English at an alternative school and loves it! Read more of her writing at her website.

One key contribution of Memoirabilia is in creating an outlet for memoirists to showcase their work on an on-going basis. Being published in this magazine can get authors, particularly those who are new to the publishing industry, some exposure and help their efforts to build their platform.

This is achieved in several ways. The journal reviews published memoirs, and thus creates an opportunity for authors to promote their work to other writers and, potentially, to those who love reading memoirs. The magazine features interviews with authors, which is another great way to connect with potential readers. Memoirabilia contains a number of life stories from both published and unpublished memoir writers. A new feature of the magazine is WriterSpeak, where writers have an opportunity to share their experiences of any and all aspects of writing life.

There is no set deadline and submissions for all issues are welcomed at any time. Launched at the beginning of 2015, Memoirabilia is currently open for submissions to its fourth (June/July) issue. They seek 750-word ‘Life Tales’ – in other words a mini-memoir or life story vignette. Poems which tell a story without necessarily rhyming (‘Memoir Poems’) are especially welcome for this issue. 750-word book excerpts are also accepted and can be a great way to interest readers in your memoir. The magazine also features 500-word editorials on all aspects of the writing life. From my personal experience, the response rate is fast.

To learn more please visit their website.

Bio:
Dr Gulara Vincent is a writer of memoir and short stories, blogger, as well as a university law lecturer. Gulara lives in Birmingham, England, with her husband and two young children. You can visit her writer’s blog at http://gularavincent.com/blog.

Having your work published in one of these journals can help a great deal with procuring a publisher or an agent for a full manuscript. Not all of the journals are currently open to submissions, but many of them are. The list is in no particular order.

Azimov’s Science Fiction
Stories that Asimov’s published in the past have won 54 Hugos and 25 Nebula awards. The editors of Asimov’s have won 20 Hugo awards for Best Editor.2You can read a full review of the magazine here. Or you can visit their website here.

Analog
A respected journal that publishes everything from short stories to novellas. They also publish poetry and fact based articles. The payment amount depends on the story length and article type. You can visit their website here to learn more.

Apex
Apex is a beautiful publication that publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They pay 6 cents a word for everything up to 7,500 words in length. Anything longer than that they pay one cent a word for. They also publish poetry. To learn more visit their website here.Their submission guidelines can be visited directly here.

Strange Horizons
They have a very low acceptance rates, they pay professional rates, and most importantly they publish good stories. Unlike some of the other publications, it is easy to get a feel for what they publish online as many of the stories are available for the public to read directly on the website. To learn more visit their website.

The Dark
The Dark has a very quick response time, sometimes within a day, but often within two weeks. They focus on publishing dark science fiction, surrealism, magic realism, and fiction with elements of the fantastic mixed in. To learn more visit their website.

Ideomancer
They publish speculative fiction and poetry. They pay 3 cents a word for prose, or a flat rate of 40 dollars. They pay 6 dollars per poem. To learn more visit their website here.

Lightspeed
Lightspeed is an established monthly electronic publisher of science fiction and fantasy writing. Many of the works that have been published there have gone on to be nominated for prestigious genre awards, including the Hugo. They pay authors 8 cents a word and publish stories of up to 7,500 words in length, although their general preference is for stories that are around 5,000 words. You can read our full review here. To submit, visit their website.

Clarkesworld Magazine
They publish science fiction and fantasy works in print and eMagazine editions. They are highly respected. They pay their fiction authors 10¢ per word for the first 4000 words, and 7¢ for each word over 4000. To learn more read our full review here or visit their website.

Adromeda Spaceways
They accept science fiction, fantasy and supernatural horror works up to 10,000 words in length. They accept poetry and non-fiction works as well. They pay 1.25 cents/Word (in Australian currency) with a $20 minimum per piece. To learn more visit their website here.

Shimmer
Shimmer is an online journal that specializes in publishing speculative fiction. They largely publish contemporary fantasy short stories, although they are also open to science fiction and horror. They have a large readership and a good reputation. You can read our full review here. To submit visit their website.