80 Calls for Submissions in May 2025 - Paying markets

This May there are more than six dozen calls for submissions. 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 upcoming calls for submissions shortly before 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!

Note: I update this list continually throughout the month, so check back frequently for new submission calls.

(Image: Pickpik)

__________________

The First Line Journal. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry using the line provided. (See theme) Payment: $25-$50 for fiction, $25 for nonfiction, $10 for poetry. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

The Paris Review. Genres: Prose. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: Opens May 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.

Hellbound Books. Genre: Texas horror. The stories must be written and submitted by Texas authors and must be set (based) in Texas. Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

Unnerving Magazine. Genre: Horror. Length: 500 -3500 words. Payment: 1.5 cent/word. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

The Lunch Hour. Genre: Poetry, prose, nonfiction, fiction, & anything else. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

Solar Pons: A Year of Mystery 1919. Genre: Mystery featuring Solar Pons. Payment: $100. Deadline. May 1, 2025.

Foglifter. Genre: Foglifter is a biannual compendium of queer and trans writing. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ writers celebrate, mourn, rage, and embrace. "Foglifter welcomes daring and thoughtful work by queer and trans writers in all forms, and we are especially interested in cross-genre, intersectional, marginal, and transgressive work. We want the pieces that challenged you as a writer, what you poured yourself into and risked the most to make. But we also want your tenderest, gentlest work, what you hold closest to your heart. Whatever you're working on now that's keeping you alive and writing, Foglifter wants to read it." Payment: $50. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

Okay Donkey. Genre: One flash fiction OR one poem per author, per submission period. See website for details. Payment: $20. Deadline: Opens May 1, 2025 and closes when cap is reached.

Folly. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, CNF. "We look for works with blunt, provocative humour, satirical takes on the social scene, and starkly honest accounts of ordinary life. We are particularly seeking content that is provocative, a bit sexy and is starkly honest." Payment: NZD $25-$50. Deadline: May 1, 2025. May close early if cap is reached.

Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror: short stories and poems - see themes. Payment: Fiction, 1.5 cents/word. Poetry, $10. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

Shenandoah. Genre: CNF. Payment: $80 per 1000 words of prose up to $400. Deadline: Opens May 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: May 1, 2025. See themes.

Certain Age is looking for gorgeous essays, fiction, poetry, art, photography and video work from creative people "of a certain age" and a lot of attitude. Payment: $75. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

Spellbinder: Genre: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, art. Payment: £3. Deadline: May 1, 2025.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: May 2, 2025. Opens May 1.

Stone's Throw. Genre: Noir, dark fiction, crime short stories. Length: between 1,000 and 2,000 words. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 4, 2025. Note: This is a monthly call.

The Suburban Review. Genre: Prose, art, poetry. See theme. Payment: $300 - $500. Deadline: May 4, 2025.

Eggplant Emoji is an annual comedy publication. Genre: Eggplant Emoji Volume 3 will be a print and eBook collection of hilarious short stories that are character-driven and culturally striking. Stories selected for this anthology will define pop culture with unforgettable characters, outrageous situations, and riotous humor. Length: 1,000 – 7,000 words. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 5, 2025.

Bright Wall/Dark Room. Genre: Essays on any film or television-related topic. Payment: $100. Deadline: May 6, 2025.

University of Queensland Press has launched the careers of many celebrated Australian writers, such as David Malouf, Peter Carey, Kate Grenville, Doris Pilkington and Nick Earls. Originally founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, Indigenous writing and youth literature. UQP publishes books across the following categories: non-fiction (history, politics, current affairs, biography and memoir, environmental issues), literary fiction, including short stories, children’s and young adult (YA) books (fiction and non-fiction), poetry. They do not publish books in the following categories: Genre fiction (including romance, science fiction, fantasy, and erotica), travel guides, cookbooks, self-help books, plays/scripts/music scores, textbooks, unrevised theses or conference proceedings. Read their submission guidelines here. Deadline: May 7, 2025. Open the first seven days of every month.

Hexagon. Genre: Speculative fiction short stories, flash fiction, poetry, graphic stories, and visual art, in English or French. Payment: $5 for accepted poetry and cartoons, 0.01$ per word for all short stories up to 7,500 words, $40/page for comics and $150 for cover art pieces. (Payment in CAD). Deadline: May 7, 2025. Open to submissions the first week of every second month.

Planet Scumm. Genre: Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: May 7, 2025.

The Fabulist. Genre: Fantastical flash fiction. Payment: $100. Deadline: May 7, 2025. Opens May 6.

Tin House. Genre: Debut Poetry Collections. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 11, 2025. Opens May 10.

Winter Lore Book 3:  Aurora: Tales of Winter Dreams. Genre: Fiction, poetry, articles, etc. See theme. Payment: $20 for original fiction, $10 for poetry, $5 for reprints, $5 for short articles, poems and spells on winter rites, traditions and rituals. Deadline: May 13, 2025. Accepts reprints.

Georgia Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, non-fiction. Payment: $50 per printed page for prose and $4 per line for poetry. Essay-reviews and standard reviews earn honoraria of $50/printed page. Deadline: May 14, 2025. Fee to submit online; no fee for postal submissions.

Goblins & Galaxies Magazine. Genre: Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and science fiction stories under 6,000 words. Payment: 3 cents (USD) per word for original fiction. Deadline: May 14, 2025. Opens May 7.

Diet Milk. Genre: Gothic flash fiction and poetry. See theme. Payment: $3 for micro fiction, $5 for flash fiction. Deadline: May 15, 2025.

Reader Beware. Genre: Horror. Payment: $0.01/word for fiction, $0.05/line for poetry, $5/page for comics. Deadline: May 15, 2025.

Tableware. Genre: Art, poetry, fiction, essays, photography, reviews. Most anything you can print on paper. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 15, 2025.

Luna Station Quarterly. Restrictions: Open to women writers only. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $10. Deadline: May 15, 2025. 

The Stinging Fly. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. Payment: Fiction and nonfiction: €30 per magazine page; Poetry: €50 per poem; Featured Poet: €250. Deadline: May 15, 2025.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Holiday Celebrations Genre: True stories and poems. "Everyone loves the holidays and making cherished memories. And these titles do make wonderful gifts for everyone on your list. How do you celebrate the holidays? Are your celebrations very traditional or are they very spontaneous and never the same?" Payment: $200. Deadline: May 15, 2025.

The Lorelei Signal. Genre: Fantasy short stories, flash fiction, and poetry with strong female characters. Payment: $15 for short stories, $5 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces, $5 for reprints. Deadline: May 15, 2025. Accepts reprints.

Archive of the Odd. Genre: Speculative fiction, horror preferred. “Archive of the Odd is a zine of uncanny occurrences, told in even stranger ways.” They’d like a variety of time periods. Stories can be in any format, except traditional prose. Some of the suggested formats are: academic papers; technical writing; medication warning sheets; sales papers; newspaper articles; recipes; knitting/crochet/weaving/what-have-you guides; care guides (plant, animal, rock garden, etc); or any other unusual format. Submissions do not have to be entirely in text. Payment: $15-$25 for fiction of 500-5,000+ words. Deadline: May 15, 2025.

Fourteen Poems Genre: Poems. "We want to represent all that's thrilling about the new wave of LGBT+ poets. If you’re a poet, even if you’ve never been published before, we want to read your work. Every issue we publish 14 of the best queer poems we’ve found, and we want to include you! We publish 4 times a year, but take submissions all year round. To be considered, email up to 5 poems, preferably in a pdf format, with a small paragraph about yourself." Payment: £25 for each poem published. Deadline: May 16, 2025.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: May 16, 2025.

Three-Lobed Burning Eye. Genre: Horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Payment: $0.08/word. Deadline: May 16, 2025.

The Forge Literary Magazine. Genre: Prose. They prefer stories under 3,000 words but will consider up to 5,000 words. Payment: $100. Deadline: May 16, 2025. Free submissions open on the 1st of each month and close when cap is reached. 

Griffith Review. Genre: Non-fiction and fiction that responds to the theme "Best Dressed." Payment: AUD$0.75 per word. Deadline: May 18, 2025.

Cordite. Genre: Poetry. Payment: Not specified. Payment is available for Australian contributors only. Deadline: May 18, 2025.

Farmer-ish. Genre: Nonfiction, CNF, poetry related to farming (including recipes). Payment: $25 for print journal. Deadline: May 20, 2025. See themes.

The Deadlands. Genre: Fiction. "The Deadlands exists in liminal spaces between life, death, and elsewhere. We are looking for fiction that concerns itself with death—but also everything death may involve." Payment: 10 cents/word for fiction. Deadline: May 21, 2025. Accepts reprints. 

Stygian Lepus Magazine. Genre: Dark speculative fiction. Payment: $5. Deadline: May 25, 2025.

(s)crawl magazine. Genre: Horror fiction and poetry. Payment: $20. Deadline: May 29, 2025.

The Cincinnati Review. Genre: Literary nonfiction (up to 20 pages), fiction (up to 40 pages), poetry, poetry translations, drama, and art. Payment: $25/page for prose in the journal, $30/page for poetry, $25 for miCRo posts or special features. Deadline: May 30, 2025. Opens on the first day of the month and closes once they hit the submissions cap.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Change your habits & attitudes / change your life Genre: True stories and poems. "Habits. Attitudes. Breaking bad habits and replacing them with good habits play an important role in self-care. Change your attitude and you can change your life. And self-care - including mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing - is vital to ensuring that your needs are met. It's probably what we neglect the most." Payment: $200. Deadline: May 30, 2025.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Stories About Pets. Genre: "From backyard to barnyard; from couch to coop; from aquatic to aerial; from indoor to outdoor; from fins to fur to feathers - we want to hear about all your pets." Payment: $200. Deadline: May 30, 2025.

Poet Lore. Genre: Poetry. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 30, 2025.

Kweli Journal. "Kweli is the first online journal of its kind to celebrate community and cultural kinships. In this shared space, you will hear the lived experience of people of color. Our many stories. Our shared histories. Our creative play with language. Here our memories are wrapped inside the music of the Muscogee, the blues songs of the South, the clipped patois of the Caribbean." Genre: Self-contained novel excerpt, short story, or creative non-fiction piece, poetry. Length: No more than 7,000 words. Payment: "Upon publication." Deadline: May 30, 2025.

The Bombay Literary Magazine. Genre: Fiction, poetry, translated fiction/poetry and graphic fiction. Payment: Indian rupees 5,000 (approx. $61) per contribution. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Short Story, Long. Genre: Short stories, 2k-8k words long (3,000-5,500 range preferred). Payment: $100. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Book Worms. Genre: Horror: fiction, poetry, and essays. See theme. Length: Up to 1,500 words. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Open Secrets Magazine. Genre: First person 1,000-2,000 word personal essays written entirely by the author without use of AI and based on the author’s life experience relating to climate change and/or cliimate issues. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 31, 2025

University Press of Kentucky. Genre: Books of poetry or fiction (novels, short story collections, etc.). Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2025. Closes when submission cap is reached, so submit early.

Escape Pod. Genre: Science fiction (Audio and written format). Payment: USD $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. Deadline: May 31, 2025. Reprints accepted.

Skin. Genre: Speculative stories (2-5k words) on the theme of patterns. "We tend to prefer speculative, surreal, supernatural, dark fiction with creeping, poetic, dread-inducing prose, and endings we can't predict, but we're open to all subgenres of dark fiction." Payment: 1 cent per word. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series. Restrictions: Open to any individual living in the U.S. who identifies as an immigrant and who either (i) was born in another country, (ii) has at least one parent who was born in another country (iii) is a refugee, or (iv) lives in the United States under Asylum or a Protection Program, such as TPS or DACA. Genre: Books of poetry, prose (fiction or nonfiction), and hybrid texts of poetry and prose. Payment: In addition to publication, marketing, and a standard royalties contract from Black Lawrence Press, authors chosen for the Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series will receive a travel stipend of $500, which can be used for book tours or in any manner chosen by the authors. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Olit. Restrictions: Strong preference for Orlando based writers/submissions about Orlando and surrounding areas. Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Hybrid, Artwork, Photography. "Send us all kinds of stuff. We love the artfully weird." Payment: $10. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Dragon Soul Press: Beyond the Veil. Genre: All Fae stories are welcome. All genres are accepted. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Agbowo. Restrictions: Open to writers of African origin. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and art. Payment: NGN 20,000-50,000. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Dragon Soul Press: The Fear Driver. Genre: Horror drabble. Drabbles are 100 words each. A minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 drabbles from each author. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Malahat Review. Genre: Fiction. Payment: CAD $70/page. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Broken Sleep Books. Genre: Poetry collections (40+ pages). Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Haven Speculative. Restrictions: Open to submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 8¢ per word for fiction and $20 for poetry. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Plenitude Magazine "Plenitude Magazine aims to promote the growth and development of LGBTTQI literature through an online publication of literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic narrative, book reviews and short film by both emerging and established LGBTTQI writers. We define queer literature and arts as works created by LGBTTQI people, rather than works which feature queer content alone." Genre: Poetry. Payment: $60. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Baltimore Review. Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, videos (including poetry), and cross-genre work. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 31, 2025. May close early if they reach their cap.

Wrath Month. Genre: Fantasy, science-fiction, and horror short stories that embrace punk and queer rage. Payment: 8 cents.word. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Black Fox Literary Magazine. Genre: Fiction, CNF, poetry, art. Payment: $20. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Heartlines Spec. Restrictions: "Since Heartlines Spec is primarily a Canadian magazine, we're looking to feature writers identifying as being from Canada/Turtle Island. This includes expats, new immigrants, and people who refuse/resist Canadian Identity. Our goal for each issue is to publish at least 50% Canadian content." Genre: Short fiction and poetry focused on long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial. "We want stories and poetry with strong, confident relationships amid all the sci-fi/fantasy. We are especially interested in stories featuring queer platonic relationships, ace/aro love stories, and polycules." Payment: $0.08 CAD per word for short fiction and $80 CAD flat for poetry. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets. Genre: Full-length poetry collections. Payment: Royalties. Read full guidelines HERE. Deadline: May 31, 2025. 

AGNI. Genre: Poetry and prose. Payment: $10 per printed (or printed-out) page for accepted prose, and $20 per page for accepted poetry, up to a maximum of $150. Deadline: May 31, 2025. Fee to submit online. No fee to submit by USPS.

Flash Fiction Online. Genre: Speculative flash fiction. See theme. Payment: $100. Deadline: May 31, 2025. Accepts reprints.

Graveside Press: Illustrated Poetry Anthology. Genre: Illustrated poetry. "Give us your limericks, sonnets, haiku, ballads, and free verse! Have visual poetry? EVEN BETTER. We want grim, gothic, morbidly funny, terrifying works." Payment: $0.02/word. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Utopia Science Fiction. Genre: Utopian science fiction. See theme. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $30 for nonfiction, $25 for poetry. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Far Futures. Genre: Speculative fiction exploring the colonial possibilities of Titan. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 31, 2025.

Split Lip Magazine. Genre: Fiction (flash and short stories), memoirs, and poetry. with a pop-culture twist. Payment: $75 for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, and art, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews web issues. Deadline: May 31, 2025. Closes when they reach capacity, so submit early.

AND A FEW MORE...

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: June 1, 2025. See themes.

IHRAM Publishes. Genre: Poetry, fiction, esssays, art. Theme: Invisible Chains: Contemporary Slavery and Forced Migration. Payment: $50 for writing, $25 for art. Deadline: June 1, 2025.

Wallstrait. Genre: Flash fiction, longer stories, hybrid, and experimental stuff you can't quite define. Length: Up to 5,000 words. Payment: $25. Deadline: June 1, 2025. 

Eerie River. Restrictions: Open to underrepresented Canadian authors. Genre: Novels or novellas in the genres of dark fiction, dark romance, horror romance, or horror, Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 1, 2025.

Green Writers Press is an independent, Vermont-based publishing company dedicated to spreading environmental awareness and social justice by publishing authors who promulgate messages of hope and renewal through place-based writing and environmental activism. Genre: Adult/juvenile fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 1, 2025.

Eternal Haunted Summer. Genre: Poetry, short fiction. Theme: Music. Payment: $5. Deadline: June 1, 2025.