The following literary journals are all open to publishing longer short stories, although the specific lengths the journals are looking for does vary. So if you have written one or several short stories that exceeds 3,000 words in length, here are some good options for you.

Some of these publishers open and close to submissions, so if one of your favorite literary journals is not currently accepting submissions, make sure to monitor their website. The journals are listed in no particular order.

1. The Long Story

This is the only literary journal in North America devoted exclusively to publishing long stories. The stories they are looking to publish are between 8,000 and 20,000 words in length. They publish one print issue a year and are open to electronic submissions.  They are open to most genres. To learn more, visit their website here: http://www.longstorylitmag.com/longstorylitmag/LongStory.html

2. The Fiction Desk

The Fiction Desk is a UK based print magazine that focuses on publishing short stories between 2,000 and 20,000 words. They pay their authors. They try to respond to all submissions within three months, however if you pay their “voluntary” submission fee your piece will be expedited and they will respond to your submission within two weeks. To learn more read their submission guidelines here: http://www.thefictiondesk.com/submissions/short-story-submission-guidelines.php

3. The Conium Review

The Conium Review publishes fiction of all length from flash fiction (which must be shorter than a 1000 words) to Novellas (that start at 15,000 words and can go up to 40,000). They are an annual print journal (although they have an online compendium it has different requirements). Contributors receive copies of the issue their work appears in. To learn more read their submission guidelines here: http://coniumreview.com/submission-guidelines/

4. NovellaT

NovellaT is an online literary journal that publishes novellas and short stories in a serialized fashion. They came up with this idea when they were based in Boston with the idea of making it easy to read on public transpiration (in Boston their public transportation system is called the T). Each week their subscribers receive a new section of the story. They break down the story into sections after accepting it.  Stories should be between 13,000 and 40,000 words in length. To learn more about their submission guidelines visit their website here: http://www.novella-t.com/submit/

5. The Collagist

The Collagist is a respected online literary journal that is published by Dzanc Books. They are open to publishing novellas up to 40,000 words in length. To lean more about their submission process, visit their guidelines here: https://thecollagist.submittable.com/submit

Boroughs Publishing Group is an e-publisher that focuses on publishing romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Within the romance genre they are interested in publishing a large number of sub genres including contemporary romance, young adult, historical fiction, paranormal, urban fantasy, multicultural, erotic, thrillers, and fantasy novels.

Boroughs Publishing Group has been around now for over five years. The editor at the helm, Chris Keesler, has a good reputation. The company seems to be consistently growing. The website is aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and focused on selling books rather than recruiting authors (always a good sign).

Many authors that have signed with them have ended on staying on with the company after the release of their first book. Their books have well designed covers and overall they appear to be more professionally edited than most e-romance books.

All submissions are accepted electronically. You can submit via email or through their online submission manager. They are open to backlisted books but only if you query first. If you are an unpublished author you must submit a completed manuscript. If you are an author who has been previously published, you can submit just the first three chapters.

They accept simultaneous submissions as long as you inform them of that fact in the cover letter. Novellas should be 30-40,000 words in length and novels should be between 70-120,000 words in length. Submissions to their lunchbox romance line must be already completed manuscripts that are between 6,000 and 12,00 words in length.

All stories must focus on romance, but any heat level is fine. You can submit more than one manuscript at a time but they must be submitted separately. If you have written a series, tell them, but only submit the first novel.

They try to respond to all submissions within 8 weeks and you are encouraged to query them after that point.

To read their full submission guidelines visit them here. To learn more about the books they have previously published visit their main page here.

The major hurdle that poets face is reading and contest fees.

I always tell writers looking to publish fiction or non-fiction that they should never pay a traditional publisher.  I tell them a traditional publisher of any standing will not charge their writers. This is true for fiction and for non-fiction. It is true for most genres.

Unfortunately it is not true for poetry books.

I am not saying that there are not good, reliable, traditional poetry publishers, just that there are very few that don’t charge a reading fee or a contest entry fee for authors without a significant track record (ie: a book or two).

That does not mean that the publisher should charge you anything beyond the reading fee. A legitimate publisher will not. But the reading fee has become standard for poetry manuscript contests and even for open reading periods.  Reading fees usually range in price from $25  to $50.

I have a lot of problems with reading fees and as you can see from our guiding principles,, we would not review a publisher that charged them. However as an individual who has an academic career, I must submit to these publishers.

If you are serious about publishing your book of poetry, the truth is that you will most likely end up paying a fee. Most publishers are open to first books and unsolicited manuscripts only through open reading periods (with a fee attached) and contests.

Most of the best publishers only select one book of poetry to be published a year by a poet without a previous book. These books are always selected via reading periods or more commonly contests.  Winning one of these big contests is a great thing but it isn’t easy.

I would say that a little over half the publishers I would consider for my book charge a reading fee and because I am serious about getting it published, I have ended up paying that fee.