 |
| Pixabay |
Much like other genres of speculative fiction, horror enjoys a loyal, and possibly fixated, fan base. Horror isn't all blood and gore. The subgenres include everything from the mildly unsettling (like Twilight Zone), to splatterpunk (which is exactly what you think it is). Some of the genres accepted by horror magazines include: humorous horror, holiday horror, psychological horror, science fiction horror, slasher horror, supernatural horror, gothic horror, erotic horror, teen horror and, of course, anything with zombies, werewolves, vampires, or other malevolent creatures. Many of the magazines on this list also accept dark fiction, dark fantasy, and other genre crossovers that evoke a sinister mood.
Read the submission guidelines, and make sure to follow them carefully before submitting.
Many more paying markets, organized by topic and genre, can be found here: Paying Markets. You can find markets and submission calls specifically geared to dark fiction on Open Call: Horror Markets.
Note: Many speculative fiction magazines accept horror in addition to science fiction and fantasy. You can find a long list of speculative fiction magazines here: Mega-List of Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazines - Paying markets
Read the submission guidelines, and make sure to follow them carefully before submitting.
Many more paying markets, organized by topic and genre, can be found here: Paying Markets. You can find markets and submission calls specifically geared to dark fiction on Open Call: Horror Markets.
Note: Many speculative fiction magazines accept horror in addition to science fiction and fantasy. You can find a long list of speculative fiction magazines here: Mega-List of Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazines - Paying markets
| Publication | Payment | Submission Guidelines | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apex | $.08 per word | http://www.apex-magazine.com/submission-guidelines/ | No simultaneous submissions See submission periods |
| Nightmare | $.08 per word | https://johnjosephadams.moksha.io/publication /nightmare/guidelines |
Accepts horror and dark fantasy No simultaneous submissions See submission periods |
| Tales from the Moonlit Path | $10 | https://talesmoonlitpath.com/submissions/ | See submission periods Themed issues |
| Spooky | 1 cent/word | https://spooky-magazine.com/submission-guidelines/ | Cozy horror. Fun horror. Classy horror. Dare we say, wholesome horror? See submission periods |
| Just Chills Podcast | $25 | https://justchillspodcast.com/submissions/ | Horror. Length: 4000 – 7000 words |
| Gothic.net | Payment is negotiated | http://www.gothic.net/submissions/ Online form |
Length between 2,000 and 10,000 words |
| Tales of Horror | 6 cents/word for fiction, $40 per poem | https://ashtonspot.com/talesofhorror/ | Accepts fiction up to 5,000 words in length. See submission periods |
| Aurealis Australia |
AU$20 to $60 per 1000 words | https://aurealis.com.au/submissions/ Submissions from Australian and New Zealand writers: 1 March – 30 September Submissions from anyone anywhere: March |
Accepts short stories between 2000 and 8000 words |
| Kaleidotrope | $0.01/word | http://www.kaleidotrope.net/guidelines/ | See submission periods Also accepts poetry |
| Three-lobed Burning Eye | $.08/word | http://www.3lobedmag.com/submissions.html | No simultaneous submissions |
| Tales of Horror Magazine | $0.06/word fiction, $40 per poem | https://ashtonspot.com/talesofhorror/ |
Horrific and weird stories Reprints accepted |
| Last Girls Club | $0.015 USD/word Poetry, $10. | https://www.lastgirlsclub.com/submit | Feminist horror See submission periods |
| Madness Heart | $10 for stories | https://madnessheart.press/submissions/?v=7516fd43adaa | Madness Heart publishes full-length horror, as well as anthologies See submission periods |
| Psychopomp | Advance against royalties of $750, as well as 25% of net receipts. | https://psychopomp.com/novella-guidelines/ | Speculative fiction or literary novellas between 20,000 to 40,000 words that fall under the umbrella of goth, death, funerary, grief, loss, alternative, otherworldly themes. |
| Red Raven | £10 | https://www.redravenbooks.com/#writers | Short horror |
| Pseudopod | $.08/word for original fiction, $100 flat rate for short story reprints, and $20 flat rate for flash fiction reprints (stories below 1500 words) | http://pseudopod.org/submissions/ | Podcast |
| Crepuscular | 10 cents/word with minimum of $5 | https://www.patreon.com/posts/submission-85137677 | Microfiction stories exploring places, characters, and questions buried in the gray areas 250 words max |
| Grinning Skull Press |
0.025 cent/word
|
https://grinningskullpress.wordpress.com /submission-guidelines/ |
Novels, novellas, and occasionally short stories |
| Black Hare Press | 5,000 to 10,000 – $25 USD; 10,000 to 17,000 – $50 USD | https://www.blackharepress.com/submissions/ | 5,000 words minimum Drabbles (100 words) |
| Hungur | $25 $12 for reprints $5 per poem |
https://www.hiraethsffh.com/hungur-chronicles-guidelines | Vampires |
| Dark Peninsula Press | $25 - $50 for anthologies |
https://www.darkpeninsulapress.com/submissions.html | Anthologies See calls for submissions |
| A Midnight Kind of Place | £15 | https://www.amidnightkindofplace.com/submissions/ | Horror market based in Scotland in the UK, focused on short stories 500-10,000 words See reading periods |
| Dreams and Nightmares | $12 | http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.com /guidelines.htm |
Mostly poetry |
| Nightmare Magazine | 8 cents/word $40 per poem |
https://adamant.moksha.io/publication/nightmare/guidelines |
Dark fantasy and horror short stories, poems, and nonfiction See reading periods |
| Electric Spec | $20 | http://www.electricspec.com/Submissions.html | Macabre See reading periods |
| Stone’s Throw | $25 | https://www.rockandahardplacemag.com/stones-throw-submissions | Dark fiction See reading periods |
| khōréō | 0.10/word for fiction, $100 for nonfiction, and $40-300 for art. | https://www.khoreomag.com/submissions/ | See reading periods Open to writers who identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms Stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. |
| White Cat Publications | 2 cents/word | https://whitecatpublications.com/guidelines/ | Accepts mystery, romance, thrillers, suspense, ghost stories and horror stories (no slasher stories, please), westerns, steampunk and fantasy. |
| Gamut | 10 cents/word | https://houseofgamut.moksha.io/publication/house-of-gamut | "We are looking for a wide range of dark speculative fiction" Themed issues |
| Polar Borealis | $10 for one thousand words or less. One cent a word for stories 1,000 words to 3,000 words in length | https://polarborealis.ca/submission-guidelines/ | See submission periods Horror with SF aspects Open only to Canadians, long-term foreign residents living in Canada, landed immigrants, or Canadians currently living outside Canada |
| The Phantom Pulse | $0.03 per word for unpublished fiction and $0.01 per word for reprints | https://www.thephantompulse.com/ | Traditional horror, sci-fi horror, dark fantasy, and the weird. We have diverse reading tastes and are open to experimental forms and stories. |
| Waxen | "Fair compensation" | https://www.waxen.org/ | We are looking for short fiction, poetry, and illustrations. We are interested in the weird, the occult, the surreal, and the horrific. We love experimentation. |
| (s)crawl | $20 |
https://scrawlmag.com/submissions/ | Horror fiction 100 - 5,000 words Poetry See submission periods |
| Horror Addicts.net |
Some submissions are paid, some not | https://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/current-submission-calls/ | HorrorAddicts.net is a podcast, blog, and publisher run by horror addicts, for horror addicts. Accepts nonfiction |
| Don't Flinch Podcast | $100 | https://dontflinchpodcast.com/script-submissions/ | Scripts 20 - 30 minutes in length |
| Underbelly Zine | $10 | https://underbellyzine.blogspot.com/p/what-we-want-extreme-horror.html | Extreme Horror See submission periods |
| Tales From Between | £15 plus a physical copy of the issue. REPRINT: £5 plus a physical copy of the issue. | https://talesfrombetween.wordpress.com/submissions/ | Horror up to 1000 words Has submission periods |
| Heathen | 5 cents/word | https://heathen.press/ ON HIATUS |
Horror, dark fantasy Up to 7500 words See submission periods |
| The Other Stories | 15 GBT | https://theotherstories.net/submissions/ CLOSED ? | Horror podcast See themes |
| Unfading Daydream | $5 - $10 | https://unfadingdaydream.wordpress.com /submissions/ |
1,000 - 7,000 words See reading periods |
| Infinite Horrrors | $0.08/word | https://www.infiniteworldsmagazine.com/submissions-faqs | 1500–5000 words Accepts short fiction, illustrations, comics |
| Crone Girls Press | Payment not specified | https://cronegirlspress.com/submissions/ | Dark speculative fiction anthologies and horror flash fiction. See reading periods |
| Underland Arcana | $0.01 / word—up to 5,000 words—for publication on the website. Additional publication in other formats (ebook and collected print editions, for example) will be under a shared royalty basis | https://www.underlandarcana.com/submissions/ | Short fiction that veers into the numinous, the esoteric, the supernatural, and the weird. "We like these stories to be mildly speculative, fantastic, mysterious, and/or horrific (if you prefer genre tags)." See reading periods |
| The Slab Press | 1p a word to a maximum of £50 | https://theslab.press/calls-for-submission/ | Horror Themed issues |
| Cosmic Horror Monthly | 1 cent per word for original fiction. 1/2 cent per word for reprints; $10 – $20 for interior artwork. Negotiable; $100 for cover art. Negotiable. | https://cosmic-horror.net/submissions/ | Up to 7,500 words Horror, dark scifi See reading periods |
| Agita | 5 cents USD per word | https://agitamag.com/submissions/ | Horror or dark science fiction flash stories 1000 words max See reading periods |
| ergot | $25 | https://www.ergot.press/ |
ergot seeks experimental fiction and hybrid work under 10k words that pushes the boundaries of what literary horror is and what it might become. |
| Pulp Revival | $25 | https://www.pulprevivalpress.com/services-2 | WORD COUNT: 1,000 – 7,500 words Has themes |
| Die Laughing | $10 for flash, $25 for short | https://dielaughingmag.com/about-2/ | That sweet spot of horror comedy that is genuinely funny but also genuinely scary. Can be as goofy, gory, or smutty as you like! |
| Ghoulish Tales | 10 cents/word | https://ghoulish.rip/reopened-for-short-story-submissions-ghoulish-tales/ | See reading periods Short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.” |
| A Midnight Kind of Place | Original fiction receives £30 (GBP), reprints receive £10 (GBP) | https://www.amidnightkindofplace.com/submissions/ | Horror anthologies 1,000 – 10,000 words Accepts reprints |
| Mithila | $50 for short fiction, $10 for original poetry/essays /flash |
http://mithilareview.com/submission-guidelines/ | 4,000 - 8,000 words Flash, under 2,500 Accepts poetry |
| Sometimes Hilarious Horror | $25 for original stories, $10 for reprints | https://sometimeshilarioushorror.blogspot.com/2024/01/submission-guidelines.html | Horror stories of up to 15,000 words Accepts art |
| Roads Less Traveled | £40 per story regardless of length | https://www.midnightstreetpress.com/submission-guidelines | Horror and dark fiction mashups Also accepts nonfiction and interviews |
| The Dark | 5 cents/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words on publication for first world rights; up to 6,000 words 1 cent/word for reprint fiction |
http://thedarkmagazine.com/submission -guidelines/ |
Horror and Dark Fantasy 2,000 – 6,000 words Fast response time Accepts reprints |
| Bag of Bones Press | £0.005 per word | https://www.bagofbonespress.com/submission-calls | "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." |
| The Fifth Corner | Payment unspecified | https://thefifthcorner.ca/submissions/ | Accepts original, unpublished short fiction that explores dark, unsettling, and psychologically resonant themes. |
| Dark Yonder | $50 | https://www.darkyonder.online/submissions | "Neo-noir" Dark literary fiction (crime, horror, speculative lit, etc) |
| Stygian Lepus Magazine | $5 | https://stygianlepus.com/submissions/ | Dark speculative fiction |
| Liminal Stories | 6 cents/word | http://liminalstoriesmag.com/submissions/ | Up to 10,000 words See reading periods |
| Allegory | $15 | https://www.allegoryezine.com/submissions | See reading periods |
| Diabolical Plots | 8 cents/word | http://www.diabolicalplots.com/guidelines/ | No simultaneous submissions See reading periods |
| Illustrated Worlds Magazine | 1 cent/word for fiction, $10 for poetry, $20 - $50 for art. | https://www.illustratedworldsmagazine.com/submission-guidelines.html#/ | Dark fantasy and horror, fiction and art See reading periods |
| Book Worms | 8 cents/word | https://rsaintclaire.com/ |
Horror See reading periods |
| Nocturne Magazine | $10, $25 for art |
https://www.nocturnezine.com/submissions-and-guidelines | Horror, dark fantasy, or speculative 6000 words or fewer. Flash fiction (under 1000 words) |
| Polymorphic | $30 CAD | https://polymorphicmagazine.com/submissions/ | Short horror stories and art |
| Sanitarium | $5 | https://www.thesanitarium.co.uk/submissions | See reading periods |
| Kangas Kahn | 8 cents/word | https://www.kkpublish.com/ | See reading periods Has themes |
| Broken Antler |
$20 for print magazine, $10 for online publication | https://www.brokenantlermag.com/submit | Horror and weird fiction, as well as sci-fi and dark fantasy |
| Tales to Terrify Podcast | $0.01 USD per word | https://talestoterrify.com/submissions/ | They periodically have calls for specific themes Length varies Reprints accepted |
| Red Cape Anthologies | £10 | https://redcapepublishing.com/submissions/ | Anthology series. See themes and deadlines. |
| The Dark Door | $25 per illustration featured (or a bundled rate of $25 for multiple marginals), and a rate of $15-50 USD per story depending on word count | https://illadvisedrecords.com/thedarkdoor | Terrifying tales and insidious illustration in the style of 70s and 80s pulp horror fiction zines |
| Perpetual Motion Publishing Newsletter | $25 | https://pmmpublishing.submittable.com/submit/34164/perpetual-flash-fiction | Flash fiction up to 1500 words Has reading periods |
| Nightmare Fuel | $15 | https://cloakedpress.com/sfwgs-nightmare-fuel/ | Anthologies |
| The NoSleep Podcast | $100 for short fiction, and $125 for regular submissions. | https://www.thenosleeppodcast.com/submissions | First-person perspective |
| MetaStellar | $0.08/word for original fiction | https://www.metastellar.com/write-for-us/ | Fantasy, horror, and science fiction of up to 7,500 words. Accepts reprints. |
| Hellbound Books | $5 | https://hellboundbookspublishing.com/subs-anthologies.html | Themed anthologies |
| Archive of the Odd | $15-$25 for fiction of 500-5,000+ words | https://archiveoftheodd.com/submissions/ | “Archive of the Odd is a zine of uncanny occurrences, told in even stranger ways.” Has reading periods |
| Weird Horror Magazine | 2 cents/word | https://www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/submit | Weird horror 500 - 7000 words Open to submissions periodically |
| The Ghastling | £15 | https://theghastling.com/submit/ | Psychological horror, folk horror, ghost stories and the macabre. Has submission periods |
| Horrific Scribes | $25 | https://horrificscribblings.com/about/submissions/ | Dark fiction, mostly horror (all subgenres) but also the horror-adjacent, e.g. dark fantasy and dark sci-fi and also surreal and experimental work with dark edges. |
| The Dundee Review | £25 per published story (approx. $33 USD or €29 | https://dundeereview.com/submit/ | All forms and styles of Gothic short fiction, including tales of terror and wonder, horror, crime, dark romance, science fiction, speculative fiction, the weird or the fantastical. And we are open to all authors, wherever you may be. |
| Deep Cut Magazine. | 8¢ per word | https://magazine.deepcut.press/submissions/ | Literary horror: dark fiction with teeth and an interior life, and scholarship Has submission periods |
| Horror Story Magazine | 2 cents/word | CLOSED | Horror stories and poetry 1000 - 2000 words |
| Witch House | $10 | https://witchhousemag.blogspot.com/ | Cosmic horror Has submission periods |
| Dark Dead Things | $.02 per word for short story and nonfiction; flat rate of $30 per poem | https://www.darkdeadthings.com/submissions | Weird short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. "We love horror but are open to anything strange, surreal, or subversive." Has submission periods |
| Just Keep Up | $10 a story, $10 a poem | https://www.justkeepupmagazine.com/submissions | Stories should be science fiction and/or horror (preferably both) and 100-10,000 words long |
| Monstrous | 6 cents/word | CLOSED | Dark fiction, flash, comics, prose, and articles. Print format |
| Nightlight Podcast | $200; Flash fiction, 5 cents/word; Reprints, $50. | https://nightlightpod.com/ |
Horror by Black writers Has submission periods |
| Zombies Need Brains | 8 cents/word | https://www.patreon.com/posts/66268714 | Science fiction, fantasy, and horror, including all subgenres |
| Dark Holme Publishing | £50 | https://www.darkholmepublishing.uk/submissions-portal | Horror and dark fantasy |
| PsychoToxin Press | Royalties | CLOSED | Novelettes, novellas, novels, short story collections, short stories |
| Max Blood’s Mausoleum | $30 | CLOSED | Horror short stories up to 8,000 words |
| House of Long Shadows | Subscription revenues share | https://houseoflongshadows.substack.com/p/submission-guidelines | Gothic Horror Reprints accepted |
| Horrorsmith | $25 | https://www.horrorsmithpublishing.com/pages/submissions | Horror and thriller short stories Word Count - 3,000-10,000 words |
| Frost Zone | $15 CAD | https://www.frostzonestories.com/p/submissions.html | Dark literary fiction 1800 - 3800 words |
| Skull and Laurel | 3c/word (USD) originals; $25 (USD) reprints | https://tenebrouspress.com/submissions | Weird Horror, Dark Fantasy, Dark Science Fiction. Short Fiction, Narrative Poetry. They also encourage things like comic strips, mixed media, found footage, puzzles, games, experiments, and other weird forms, as long as they tell a story. Translations welcome. Word count: 100 to 4999 words. |
| Infinite Horrors | 8 cents/word | https://www.infiniteworldsmagazine.com/submissions-faqs | Horror and comics |
| Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell |
| Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell |
| Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell |
| Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell |
| Table Cell | Table Cell | Table Cell |
Table Cell |
