57 Calls for Submissions in January 2020 - Paying markets

Pxfuel

There are more than four dozen calls for submissions in January. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.

I post calls for submissions on the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

Happy submitting!

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Vernacular Books: The Way of the Laser – Future Crime Stories. Genre: Crime stories. "We want crime stories that take place in the future. Preferably these stories will go beyond simple murders or capers to reveal something about how technology and the powers that wield it have changed our world. Is poisoning the nanobots responsible for programming the ads in your neural feed a crime? Is organized crime society’s only hope or responsible for its downfall? Consider what will constitute a crime and what unique problems it poses for your characters." Payment: $0.05/word + royalties. Length: 4,000-8,000 words. Deadline: January 1, 2020.

The Temz Review. Genres: Prose (fiction and creative non-fiction) up to 10,000 words long. Payment: $20. Deadline: January 1, 2020.

Full Bleed: Archives. Genre: Criticism, fiction, poetry, graphic essays, belles lettres, artwork, design, and illustration. "We are especially interested in submissions that critique, investigate, or rely on archives of various kinds. We seek new writing about artists working with, playing with, re-contextualizing, or elevating archival materials; art or design projects responsive to historical documents; and essays, fictions, and poetry related to the work of archiving." Payment: Modest honorarium. Deadline: January 1, 2020.

Griffith Review 69: The European Exchange (Australia). Genre: Essays and creative non-fiction, reportage, fiction, poetry, memoir and picture stories. "Griffith Review seeks new work that illuminates the evolving connections between Europe and Australia – work that asks not only how Europe speaks to the rest of the world, but how the rest of the world speaks back." Payment: Negotiated. Deadline: January 2, 2020.

BE MY GRUMPY VALENTINE: GRUMPY OLD GODS VOLUME 6. Genre: Speculative fiction. "We’re looking for stories of humans who manage to find love or just escape Grumpy Old Gods whose love mojo is a little shaky – (maybe their eyesight isn’t so good…maybe they just don’t have the juice…maybe they are tired as hell of making matches and really need to retire). We’re looking for happy endings in this one – humans finding love despite the ‘help’ of cranky deities, people who didn’t want their free will subverted escaping to have a beer with friends on Valentine’s…even people breaking free of love spells to find true love on their own." Length: 3000-4000 words. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: January 3, 2020.

Havok. Genre: Mystery, scifi, comedy, thriller, and fantasy on theme of Strange New Worlds.  Length: 300 to 1,000 words. Payment: $10. Deadline: January 5, 2020.

Novel Noctule. Genre: Horror fiction and poetry. Payment: $10. Deadline: January 5, 2020.

Crone Girls Press: Coppice and Brake. Genre: Fiction submissions of dark fantasy, supernatural, and eerie horror. Length: 500-1,500 words for flash fiction, 3,000-8,000 words for short stories, and 12,000-25,000 words for novellas. Payment: $0.02/word or $25/story, whichever is greater. (Seriously? $25 for a novella?) Deadline: January 6, 2020.

Crone Girls Press: Stories We Tell After Midnight. Genre: Chilling horror. Length: 500-1,500 words for flash fiction, 3,000-8,000 words for short stories, and 12,000-25,000 words for novellas. Payment: $0.02/word or $25/story, whichever is greater. (Again, seriously? $25 for a novella?) Deadline: January 6, 2020.

Nosetouch Press: Fiends in the Furrows II. Genre: Folk horror. "Folk Horror continues to stalk sunlit fields and shadowed groves with its grafting of the mundane and the sublime. The pervasive themes of isolation, paranoia, depravity, loss of individuality, and rustic madness captivate and terrify audiences." Length: 4,000-8,000 words. Payment: $0.04/word. Deadline: January 7, 2020.

Scum. Genre: Feminist-friendly work of any variety, but as a general rule your piece should be under 2000 words (50 lines for poetry, max. 3 poems) and able to be classified as “fiction”, “culture”, “memoir”, “column”, “poetry”, and/or “review”. Payment: $60 AUD. Deadline: January 7, 2020. Opens to submissions on January 1.

Prairie Fire. Genre: Fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, and poetry on the topic of walking.  General submissions (non-themed) also open. Payment: Prose: $0.10 per word. Poetry: $40 per poem.  Deadline: January 10, 2020.

MUSE. Genre: MUSE is a discovery magazine for children and teens ages 9 - 14. The editors seek fresh and entertaining articles from the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: January 13, 2020.

PodCastle. Genre: Speculative fiction: podcast. Payment: $0.06/word. Deadline: January 15, 2020. Accepts reprints.

Pixie Forest Publishing: Phobia! An Anthology of Fear. Genre: Short stories that feature a phobia. Stories should be between 1500 and 4000 words. Payment: $10. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Kanstellation: The Dark Side of Science. Genre: Poetry, fiction, flash fiction, art. "We’re looking for writing and art that explores the unintended side effects or consequences of scientific advancement, including but not limited to the areas of biology, physics, chemistry, and geology.” Payment: $120/essay, $100/flash, $60/poem, illustration, or photograph. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

The New Gothic Review. Genre: Gothic fiction. Payment: $15. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Camden Park Press: Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse. Genre: Short stories about cats and their women – their badass women. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Death’s Head Press: Dark Stars. Genre: Science fiction horror. Payment: $20. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Cats. Genre: True stories and poems. Payment: $200. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Dogs. Genre: True stories and poems. Payment: $200. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Women Artists Datebook. Genre: Poems and artwork by women on theme of social justice.  Payment: $70. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Great Weather for MEDIA: Annual Print Anthology. Genres: Poetry, flash fiction, short stories, dramatic monologues, and creative nonfiction. "Our focus is on the fearless, the unpredictable, and experimental but we do not have a set theme for our anthologies." Payment: $10. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Carte Blanche. Genre: Fiction, CNF, art, and poetry. Payment: Modest honorarium. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

AE Micro: Stars. Genre: Micro science fiction about stars. Length: Up to 200 words. Payment: CAD 0.10/word for fiction; CAD 50-300 for art. Deadline: January 15, 2020.

Superior Shores Press: Heartbreaks & Half-Truths: 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense. Genre: Short stories of mystery and suspense with an overarching theme of heartbreaks and half-truths. Payment: $10 USD for reprints and $20 USD for previously unpublished. Deadline: January 15, 2020. Accepts reprints.

The Stinging Fly. Genre: Fiction and poetry. Payment: Token. Deadline: January 16, 2020.

Rattle Postcards. Genre: Poetry. "The poems may be any style or subject, but must have been written on and be accompanied by a related postcard. Homemade postcards, artists you know, or public domain/Creative Commons licensed art is preferred. Our goal is to support and encourage the act of writing poems on postcards and sharing them in this personal and intimate way." Payment: $100. Deadline: January 16, 2020.

Jaggery. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, art, and poetry. Jaggery seeks engrossing, entertaining, and enlightening fiction from or about South Asia and its diasporas. Payment: Fiction $100, Poetry $25, Essays and interviews $25, Art $25. Deadline: January 16, 2020.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on theme of Silence. Payment: $5. Deadline: January 20, 2020.

Human/Kind. Genre: Poetry, prose and art on themes. (See site for themes.) Payment: $5 for each poem, prose, art, video, experimental or hybrid piece and $3 for each micropoem. Deadline: January 21, 2020.

Rogue Blades: Mostly dead! Genre: Short stories based on the Princess Bride. Length: 3000 words minimum. "This is a fantastical romance adventure sequel to RBE's fantastical romance adventure SOMEBODY KILL THE PRINCE! A continuation of our classical fairy-talish homage to THE PRINCESS BRIDE (book and movie by William Goldman). The theme to SOMEBODY KILL THE PRINCE! was that of diabolical machinations defeated by ‘Last Boy Scout’ good-guy/gal-ism! The theme to MOSTLY DEAD! is that of diabolical tortures defeated by ‘Last Boy Scout’ good-guy/gal-ism!" Payment: $42. Deadline: January 26, 2020.

Every Day Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction up to 1000 words. Suitable stories for February, including Groundhog Day, The Day the Music Died, The Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, getting tired of winter / cabin fever. Payment: $3. Deadline: January 27, 2020.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Stories about Christmas. Genre: Stories and poems about the holidays. "We are looking for stories about the entire December holiday season, including Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and New Year’s festivities too. We want to hear about your holiday memories and traditions. The rituals of the holiday season give a rhythm to the years and create a foundation for our lives, as we gather with family, with our communities at church, at school, and even at the mall, to share the special spirit of the season, brightening those long winter days. Please share your special stories about the holiday season with us." Payment: $200, publication, and 10 author copies.  Deadline: January 30, 2020.

The Overcast. Genre: Speculative fiction podcast. Payment: $20 minimum. Deadline: January 30, 2020. Accepts reprints.

The Genre Hustle: Murder Park After Dark Volume 3. Genre: Horror dark fantasy stories of no more than 2000 words. Sci-fi is also welcome so long as it’s scary. Payment: $0.02/word up to 1,500 words; $30 for comics and visual stories. Deadline: January 30, 2020.

The Rumpus. Genre: Fiction, poetry. Payment: $300 divided among all contributors (?). Deadline: January 31, 2020.

The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns. Genre: Nonfiction. "Known, lesser known and obscure cases are welcome. Add something new to the discussion, a different viewpoint or angle. First-person accounts are especially welcome from writers with some connection to the crimes. Stories can take place anywhere in the world and during any time frame. Material must be meticulously fact-checked before submission, including dates, names, locations etc." No reprints. Payment: $130. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Dragon Soul Press: Reign of Queens. Genre: Speculative short stories: "In these stories, women rule and worlds governed by men are a thing of the past. Whether righteous or downright sadistic, these authoritative female figures shape their worlds for better or worse despite the trials thrown their way." Word Count – 5,000-15,000. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Room. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and art by women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and nonbinary people. Theme: Neurodivergence. Payment: All contributors will be paid upon publication: $50 CAD for one page, $60 for two pages, $90 for three pages, $120 for four pages, $150 for five or more pages. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Split Lip Magazine. Genre: Fiction (flash and short stories), memoirs, and poetry. with a pop-culture twist. Payment: $50 per author (via PayPal) for our web issues. Payment for print is $5 per page, minimum of $20, plus 2 contributor copies and a 1-year subscription. Deadline: January 31, 2020. Note: Submit early in January to avoid submission fees.

Gallery of Curiosities. Genre: Retropunk fiction: "steampunk, dieselpunk, dreadpunk, bronzepunk, others that haven’t even been invented yet punk … but not atompunk." Payment: 4 cents a word USD for original fiction and a penny a word for reprints, with a minimum of $30 USD for stories less than 1000 words. Deadline: January 31, 2020. Opens January 1.

Planet Scumm. Genre: Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream. Payment: $30. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Nashville Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, art, and nonfiction. Payment: $25 per poem & song selection; $100 per selection for all other categories, including featured artwork. Translators receive $25 per poem & $100 for prose selections. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Aether&Ichor. Genre: Fantasy. Payment: £5 (or equivalent currency) per 1,000 words, at a minimum of £5. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Be You. Genre: True stories about women."You are in charge of your life and the decisions you make. A woman doesn’t have to lose her femininity or become a bully. A woman doesn’t have to be single or divorced to be looked upon as independent. Married women and women in relationships are independent, too. We are looking for your true stories on how you are running your life, how you became empowered and achieved independence. Your story will help young women feel stronger, more capable, and more confident… more empowered." Payment: $200, publication, and 10 author copies. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Sub-Terrain Magazine: House Made of Dawn (Visions of the Cultural Ramifications of Current and Future Trends in Digital Technologies) Genre: Essays, creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. “This special issue of subTerrain will code readers into ecstatic dream worlds that are just around the bend of the collective mind. We will be searching for a new cosmological culture amongst the Ones and Zeros of the near and distant future.” Payment: $50/poem; $50/page of prose. Deadline: January 31, 2020. No fee for mailed submissions.

Twelfth Planet Press: Rebuilding Tomorrow. Genre: Post-apocalytic short stories. "Rebuilding Tomorrow is a followup anthology to Defying Doomsday, which was an anthology of apocalypse-survival fiction with a focus on disabled characters. Rebuilding Tomorrow will again focus on disabled and/or chronically ill protagonists but, rather than focussing on survival in the immediate aftermath of an apocalypse, we want stories set a significant time after an apocalyptic disaster. We want stories that show society getting back on its feet and people who have moved past (or are in the process of moving past) subsistence-level existence into a new, sustainable world, even though it’s one that has been irrevocably changed by an apocalypse." Payment: $0.08/word. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Quommunicate Publishing: Hashtag Queer – LGBTQ+ Creative Anthology, Vol 4. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and scripts on LGBTQ+ themes. Payment: $5/page. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Flash Bang Mysteries. Genre: Mystery/Crime. This magazine is looking for original mystery/suspense of all types (police procedural, private eye, amateur sleuth, cozies, hardboiled, etc.). Flash fiction ONLY between 500 and 750 words. "Basically, if it involves a crime and it is within our guidelines, we would love to consider it. We want stories that feature believable characters who speak naturally, realistic situations that bleed conflict, and surprise endings that stay with us long after we reach the final period. We welcome new and established authors." Payment: $20. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge (Online). Genre: Poetry. There's a long tradition of poetry responding to art (and vice versa). Every month Rattle will post an image on their Ekphrastic Challenge page. Poets will then have one month to write a poem in response to that specific image. Payment: $50.   Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Negative Space: An Anthology of Survival Horror. Genre: Survival horror genre of video games. Payment: $50.00 + digital copy. Deadline: January 31, 2020. Opens January 15.

JMS Books: LGBTQ Romance: Lend a Helping Hand. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories. "Stories where romance blooms when someone extends a helping hand to someone else." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

NGY Review. Genre: Story on theme of An abandoned place. Poetry on any theme. Payment: Token. (Payment in Japanese yen.) Deadline: January 31, 2020. Reprints accepted.

Timeworn Literary Journal. Genre: Historical fiction stories in English under 5,000 words. They should be set before 1996, rooted in history and voice-driven. "We're looking for "Historical Fiction from the fringe." Work with a bend toward the surreal, the dream-like, the strange. The offbeat kind of story that settles into your heart long after reading. That said, we also value beauty and warmth and a generally well-written story with soul. Romance, Mystery, Crime and the Gothic are all acceptable. Speculative elements strongly encouraged." Payment: $25. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Qwerty. Genre: Poetry and prose about ecology. "For this special issue, Qwerty invites decolonial, innovative approaches to and encounters with the environment—its physical, social, and linguistic spaces." Payment: $10. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Circumference. Genre: New translations of poetry and drama. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: January 31, 2020.

Port Yonder Press: Eastern Iowa Review. Genre: Lyric essays and prose poems, creative nonfiction and hybrid works. Payment: $10. Deadline: January 31, 2020.