48 Writing Contests in November - No entry fees

This November there are nearly four dozen writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and short plays. Prizes range from $50,000 to a scholarship. None charge entry fees.

Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Most of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline is past, you can prepare for next year.

Good luck! 

(Image credit: Pixabay)

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Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Restrictions: Open to citizens of the British Commonwealth. Genre: Unpublished short fiction (2,000-5,000 words) in English. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. Prize: Regional winners receive £2,500 (US$3,835) and the overall winner will receive £5,000 (US$7,670). Deadline: November 1, 2021.

Emma Lazarus Poetry Contest is hosted by the American Jewish Historical Society. Genre: Poem. “Just as Emma responded to the issues of her time by writing a poem that addressed American identity, we invite you to write your own poem that speaks to your vision of America.” Prize: $1,000 in each category (including “Collegiate/Emerging Adult Poet”). Deadline: November 1, 2021.

Defenestrationism.net. Genre: Flash fiction Suite: at least three flash fiction works that correlate, and build to something greater. Prize: $75. Deadline: November 1, 2021.

William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grants Program for Unpublished Writers. Restrictions: Writers must not have published a book, short story, or dramatic work in the mystery field, either in print, electronic, or audio form. Genre: Mystery stories of the Agatha Christie type—i.e., “traditional mysteries.” These works usually feature no excessive gore, gratuitous violence, or explicit sex. Prize: Each grant may be used to offset registration, travel, or other expenses related to attendance at a writers' conference or workshop within a year of the date of the award. In the case of nonfiction, the grant may be used to offset research expenses. Each grant currently includes a $1,500 award plus a comprehensive registration for the following year's convention and two nights' lodging at the convention hotel, but does not include travel to the convention or meals. Deadline: November 1, 2021. 

Gotham Book Prize. Genre: Book. "The Gotham Book Prize is awarded once a year to the best book (works of fiction and nonfiction are eligible) published that calendar year that either is about New York City or takes place in New York City." Prize: $50,000. Deadline: November 1, 2021.

Brunel International African Poetry Prize. Restrictions: The Prize is open to poets who were born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African. It is for ten poems exactly in order to encourage serious poets. These poems may, however, have already been published. Only poets who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published are eligible. Poets who have self-published poetry books or had chapbooks and pamphlets published are allowed to submit for this prize. Genre: Poetry. Prize: £3000. Deadline: November 1, 2021.

Start a Riot! Chapbook Prize. Restrictions: Submitter is a QTBIPOC+ literary artist AND is a current resident of the larger San Francisco Bay Area AND does not have a previous full-length publication in their submission genre. Genre: Prose - Fiction, Nonfiction, Graphic Novel, Hybrid, Cross-Genre. Prize: $1000. Deadline: November 1, 2021.

Furious Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction. "On the first Friday of every month, a new set of story prompts will be revealed. You will have 55 hours to submit your best 500-word (or fewer) story." Prize: $500AUD. Deadline: November 7, 2021.

The Rain Short Story Contest: Ghosts of the Past. Genre: Short story about artifacts from the past. Prize: $50. Deadline: November 7, 2021.

Spectator. Genre: Flash fiction up to 150 words: Tourist misinformation. ‘Now that we are allowed to travel more freely, it’s a good time to resurrect an old favourite. You are invited to submit snippets of misleading advice either for tourists visiting Britain or for British tourists travelling abroad. Please email entries to lucy@spectator.co.uk by midday on 3 November. Prize: £30. Deadline: November 3, 2021.

Women's Prize for Fiction. Genre: Full-length novels (no short story collections or novellas) by women, first published in the UK. Prize: 30,000 pounds. Deadline: November 8, 2021.

Dylan Thomas Prize. Restrictions: Authors must be aged 39 or under. Eligible books must have been commercially published for the first time in the English language between January 1 and December 31 of the year in which the deadline falls. Genre: Published books of poetry, fiction (novel, novella, or short story collection), radio scripts, or screenplays. Prize: 30,000 pounds, plus 1,000 pounds for shortlisted authors. Deadline: November 8, 2021.

Spectator Competition No. 3225: Night Terrors. ‘You are invited to provide a version of the Lord Chancellor’s ‘Nightmare Song’, for any member of the British cabinet, starting ‘When you’re lying awake…’ and continuing for up to 16 lines. Please email entries to lucy@spectator.co.uk by midday on 10 November.’ Prize: £30. Deadline: Deadline: November 10, 2021.

So to Speak. Restrictions: No fee for Black and Indigenous Writers only. Genre: Visual art, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Prize: $500 and publication. Deadline: November 14, 2021.

Weird Christmas Flash Contest. Genre: Weird flash fiction. 350 words max. Prize: $50 first prize, $25 second prize. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Perugia Press Prize. Restrictions: Poets must be women with more than one previously published full-length book. Genre: Poetry. Prize: Book publication and $1,000. Deadline: November 15, 2021. No fee for poets who are Black, Indigenous, and women of color.

Quarterly West.  Genre: Poetry and prose. Prize: $500. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize. Restrictions: Open to US poets for previously unpublished poems of any length that "help make real for readers the gravity of the vulnerable state of our environment at present." Genre: Poetry. Prize: Up to $1,000. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Bronx Council on the Arts Community Engagement Grants. Restrictions: Open to residents of Bronx County. Genre: All art forms, including writing. Grant: $1000 - $5000. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Restrictions: PEN America will only accept submissions from editors of eligible publications. Authors may not submit their own short story for this award. Genre: First published short story. Prize: $2000 and publication in The PEN America Best Debut Short Stories. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Patrick Henry Writing Fellowship. Genre: Nonfiction book in progress. The project should address the history and/or legacy – broadly defined – of the American Revolution and the nation’s founding ideas. It might focus on the founding era itself, or on the myriad ways the questions that preoccupied the nation’s founders have shaped America’s later history. Fellowship amount: $45,000 stipend, health benefits, faculty privileges, a book allowance, and a nine-month residency (during the academic year) in historic Chestertown, MD. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

New York Encounter Poetry Contest. Genre: Poetry on the theme "This Urge for the Truth." Prize:  Cash prizes of $300, $200 and $100 will be awarded to first, second and third place poems.  Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Stowe Prize. Restrictions: US authors only. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction or body of work that "makes a tangible impact on a social justice issue critical to contemporary society." Prize: $10,000. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Donald Murray Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Genre: Original, unpublished works of creative nonfiction with a preference for essays on writing, teaching, and teaching writing, but will consider quality entries on any subject, including topics related to social justice, civic action, and inequality. Prize: $300 in the form of an AMEX gift card and publication in Writing on the Edge. All entries will be considered for publication in the journal. Length: 8,000 words maximum (2500–4500 preferred) Deadline: November 15, 2021.

Apex Magazine: Holiday Horrors. Genre: Horror. "Your story must feature the holiday horrors th$200 prize, a written review from guest judge + publishingeme and be filled with frights." 250 words max. Prize: $25 and publication. Deadline: November 15, 2021.

One Teen Story. Restrictions: Open to writers age 13 -19. Genre: Short story between 2,000 to 4,500 words. Prize: $500 upon publication and 25 copies of the magazine. Deadline: November 19, 2021.

Arts & Letters Awards. Restrictions: Open to residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Genres: poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, dramatic script, art, music, and French language. Entries must be unpublished and completed during the previous 12 months. Prizes: C$1,000 and C$250. Deadline: November 19, 2021.

Penrose Poetry Prize. Restrictions: Open to LGBTQIA+ writers. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $200 prize, a written review from guest judge + publishing. Deadline: November 20, 2021.

The César Egido Serrano Foundation: VI International Flash Fiction Competition. Genre: Flash fiction on theme: "Faced with COVID; Solidarity and Resilience" - 100 words max. Prize: 20,000 dollars is awarded for the best story in any of the languages authorized in the contest: Spanish, English, Arabic or Hebrew. Three prizes of $ 2,000 each will be awarded for the best stories in each of the other remaining languages admitted in the contest, that are not winners of the main prize. Deadline: November 24, 2021. (Deadline extended)

Polar Expressions Publications Poetry Competition. Restrictions: Open to Canadian students in kindergarten through grade twelve. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $300, $200, $100. Deadline: November 26, 2021.

New Media Writing Prize. Genre: Fiction or non-fiction written specifically for delivery and reading/viewing on a PC or Mac, the web, or a hand-held device such as an iPad or mobile phone. It could be a short story, novel, poem, narrative game, documentary, or transmedia work using words, images, film or animation with audience interaction. Interactivity is a key element of new-media storytelling. Prize: £1000. Deadline: November 26, 2021.

Leonard L. Milberg '53 High School Poetry Prize. Restrictions: Student writers in the 11th grade. Prizes: First Prize – $500, Second Prize – $250, Third Prize – $100. Deadline: November 28, 2021.

Better Than Starbucks. Genre: Metrical poetry. Your sonnet can be shakespearean, petrarchan, spenserian, rhymed, or slant-rhymed. Blank verse is fine, as long as the sonnet form is clearly identifiable. They'll consider tetrameter, hexameter, etc. as well as pentameter. Prize: $100.  Deadline: November 30, 2021. Previously published work accepted.

Paul Torday Memorial Prize. Restrictions: Authors must be over 60. Genre: First published novel. The novel must have been first published in the UK and Republic of Ireland between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020. Prize: £1,000. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Love Letters to London. Genre: All forms and styles. "Tell us why you love London - Write a ‘Love Letter’ and celebrate our city. To fit with The London Society motto of ‘valuing the past; looking to the future’, entrants can write on any aspect of London’s past, present or future. It might be reportage, an historical essay, a ‘think piece’, a spot of futurology, a work of fiction, a poem. Entries can have been published elsewhere, but must fit the brief and have been written in 2021." Prize: £400. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Servicescape. Genre: Short story or nonfiction up to 5,000 words. Prize: $1,000. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Betty Trask Prize. Restrictions: Author must be a Commonwealth citizen. Genre: First novels, published or unpublished, written by authors under the age of 35 in a "traditional or romantic, but not experimental, style." Prize: Awards totaling 20,000 pounds. Top prize 10,000 pounds. The prize money must be used for foreign travel. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers. Restrictions: Open to writers aged 16-18. Genre: Poem. Prize: Full scholarship to The Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop, an intensive two-week summer seminar for writers aged 16-18. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Somerset Maugham Awards. Restrictions: Open to UK writers under the age of 35. Genre: Published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Prize: 2,500 pounds apiece to four winners. Prize money must be used for travel. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

UNT Rilke Prize. Restrictions: US citizens or residents. Open to authors with at least two prior published books of poetry. Genre: Book of poetry published between November 2020 and October 2021. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

AVBOB Poetry Competition. Restrictions: Open to any citizen of South Africa. Genre: Poetry. Prize: R10,000. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: $500. Deadline: November 30, 2021. 

Renee Duke Youth Poetry Award. Restrictions: Open to young poets age 17 and under. Genre: Poem relating to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Prize: $100. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Anita McAndrews Poetry Award. Genre: Poetry on theme of human rights. Familiarity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is recommended. Prize: First prize $200, Second prize $50. Deadline: November 30, 2021. 

Storytwigs micro-writing competition. Restrictions: Open to citizens/residents of United States or Canada. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Genre: Short prose 100 words or fewer on prompt of String. Prize: From $10 to $100. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Hudson Review Short Story Contest. Genre: Short story up to 10,000 words. Prize: First prize is $500. Second and third prizes are $250. Winning stories will be published in The Hudson Review. All entries will be considered for publication. Payment at regular rates. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Ghost Orchid Press: A Very Ghostly Christmas. Genre: Spooky flash fiction of up to 500 words that draws on the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas. Prize: First Place – $75, Second Place – $50, Third Place – $25. Deadline: November 30, 2021.

Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: November 30, 2021. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

18 Noteworthy Writing Conferences in November 2021

This November there are more than a dozen noteworthy writing conferences. You can attend workshops, presentations, readings, discussions, lectures, and critiques via Zoom. Some are also offering workshops in person. 

Conferences are not only the best way to meet agents, get tips from other writers, and learn about the publishing industry, they make you feel like a writer.

Plan ahead! Conferences often offer scholarships, but these have deadlines and most close early. If one of these conferences interests you, put the deadline date on your calendar for next year.

For a full list of conferences, organized by month, see Writing Conferences. While nearly all of those are in the United States, you can find links on that page that will take you to world-wide conference lists.

(Image credit: Pixabay)

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Fall Nonfiction Writers Conference. November 4 - 5, 2021. ONLINE EVENT. Online conference devoted to writing, publishing and promoting non-fiction books. Participation is live via phone or Skype, and recordings can be downloaded. Features 15 speakers over three days. Private Facebook group for attendees!

Atlanta Writers Conference. November 5 - 6, 2021: Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE: You must be a 2021 Atlanta Writers Club (AWC) member to participate in the conference (i.e., your dues need to be current through November 6, 2021). The conference features online craft and marketing workshops, editing consultations via e-mail, and in-person pitch sessions and manuscript and query letter critiques for fiction writers, nonfiction writers, and graphic novelists. Participating publishing professionals have included editors Nettie Finn (St. Martin’s Press), Nate Lanman (William Morrow/HarperCollins), Erin McClary (Sourcebooks), Chayenne Skeete (Penguin Random House), Haley Swanson (HarperCollins), and Alicia Tan (HarperCollins), and agents Lisa Abellera (Kimberley Cameron & Associates), Lauren Bieker (FinePrint Literary Management), Savannah Brooks (Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency), Penelope Burns (Gelfman Schneider/ICM), Brenna English-Loeb (Transatlantic Agency), Ronald Gerber (Lowenstein Associates), Jennifer Grimaldi (Chalberg & Sussman), Kaitlyn Johnson (Belcastro Literary Agency), Maria Napolitano (Bookcase Literary Agency), and Samantha Wekstein (Thompson Literary Agency). The cost of a single session ranges from $75 to $190; the cost of the All-Activities Package, which includes two manuscript critiques, one query letter critique, two pitch sessions, two workshops, and an optional preconference manuscript edit, is $650. Writers who are not members of the Atlanta Writers Club must purchase a yearlong membership for an additional $50 in order to register. Will be held online and in person.

Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference. November 6, 2021: Clark, NJ. "We are so excited about what promises to be a very special, educational, and entertaining 11th Anniversary Conference. In addition to our wonderful and diverse keynote speakers, we have a number of editors and agents who will be attending to take pitches as well as some awesome writer and reader workshops!" 

Sanibel Island Writers Conference. November 6, 2021: Sanibel Island, Florida. Participants at all stages of development — from notebook scribblers to published novelists — are invited to view a variety of discussions and panels on fiction, poetry, songwriting, YA literature, screenwriting, creative nonfiction, and publishing and editing. No registration is required for this year's conference, as it is free and open to the public.

Rally of Writers Conference. November 6, 2021: Lansing, Michigan. Michigan authors and educators in 15 breakout sessions and workshops on all aspects of writing, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, the Nuts & Bolts of manuscript submissions, and more. 

TALES OF THE TRADE: Story Telling Class for Hospitality Workers. November 9, 16, and 23, 10 am – noon. "We’ll start by sharing and recording experiences. Learn fundamental skills/tools to shape those experiences into a narrative or performance. The desire to be heard is often met with resistance from gatekeeping about the tools to speak. Let’s smash down that gate! By the end of the three-week program, each participant will have a small script — play, short film, performance art, etc. — developed from their own history and emotions. Everyone will leave with what they need to keep pushing forward into more creative expression." This program is offered free to anyone currently employed or furloughed from a job in a restaurant, bar, coffee house, etc. While free, registration is required.

American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) Conference. November 11 - 13, 2021: Tucson, AZ. Panels, workshops, readings, a book fair, and opportunities to meet with editors for translators. "The ALTA Annual Conference is a refreshingly collegial gathering of amateurs and professionals alike, both within the profession and outside it, all wholeheartedly committed to fostering, furthering, and supporting the practice of literary translation." Will be held in person.

2021 Kauai Writers Festival. November 11 – 14, 2021, Master class November 8 - 11, 2021:  Kalapaki Bay, Lihue, Kauai, HI. Join bestselling authors and agents in an intimate, oceanfront setting, with an emphasis on fiction, memoir, thrillers, and screenwriting. Includes in-depth sessions on craft, publishing, and the writing life, with opportunities for agent/editor feedback. 

Writing By Writers Manuscript Boot Camp. November 11 - 14, 2021: Tahoe City, CA. The Writing By Writers Manuscript Boot Camp is for the writer who has a full book-length manuscript (novel, memoir or short story collection) and would like to engage with a small group for a serious and productive response. The long weekend will include an intimate full manuscript workshop, craft talks, readings, an agent panel and individual agent meetings – the perfect pre-publication boot camp for any manuscript. Classes are limited to 5 participants.Tuition includes one three-day workshop, admittance to all craft talks, panels and readings, a one-on-one with an agent, all meals (dinner on Friday; three meals Saturday and Sunday; breakfast, and lunch on Sunday) and lodging in a single room for three nights. Vegetarian meals are available upon request.

Colrain Classic. November 11 - 15, 2021: Arlington, Vermont. "The Colrain Manuscript Classic is a highly focused, 3.5 day conference designed for poets with manuscripts in progress. The Classic features in-depth pre-conference work and candid, realistic evaluation and feedback from nationally-known poets, editors and publishers. In preparation, participants work at home on pre-conference assignments and then, in the workshop, review, arrange, and winnow their work based on the pre-conference work. In addition to the manuscript preparation workshop and editor sessions, there will be an editorial Q&A, and an after-conference strategy session." Will be conducted online.

North Carolina Writing Day Workshop. November 13, 2021. Online. A full-day “How to Get Published” event. "This writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more."

Red Clay Writers Conference. November 13 - 14, 2021: Kennesaw GA. Red Clay Writers Conference is the annual conference of Georgia Writers Association. Red Clay has been hosted since 2009 to encourage and inspire writers through literary events that focus on the art and craft of writing. Will be held online.

Autumn Writing Getaway. November 13 - 20, 2021: Galloway, NJ. "Our retreats are centered on the belief that when writers leave behind the distractions of their busy lives to gather in an encouraging community, they are able to make important breakthroughs in their writing. Each workshop will meet for 6 hours and will offer craft discussion, writing prompts, writing time, sharing and inspiration." Held in person and online.

Breakout Novel Intensive 2.0. November 15 - 21, 2021: Hood River, OR. Included are new or revised units on story discovery, strong voice, standout characters, the inner journey, compelling story worlds, beautiful writing, creating resonance and finding meaning in both story and process. Breakout fundamentals are also covered: strong characters, inner conflict, personal stakes, plot layers, powerful scenes, micro-tension, practical theme techniques and much more. Instructor: Donald Maass. Will be held online.

Romance Writers of America. November 18 - 20, 2021: Nashville, TN. The RWA Conference is the place where career-focused romance writers meet, mingle, and get down to the business of being an author. Conference highlights include the “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing; the Keynote speech; hearing from great speakers; book signings; and the Awards Ceremony. At the conference, career-focused romance writers can anticipate: education and information, networking with fellow writers, interaction with editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, and other romance publishing industry professionals. Will be held online.

North Carolina Writers’ Network Writingest State Online Conference. November 19 -21, 2021: Durham, NC. The WSOC will feature classes and conversations on the craft and business of writing, as well as a keynote address by North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, a Pre-Conference Tailgate and a Prompt Party to get creative juices flowing, online Open Mic readings and Happy Hour virtual gatherings, and an Agents & Editors panel discussion. Will be held online.

The Joshua Tree Experiential Arts and Writing Retreat. November 19 -21, 2021: Twentynine Palms, CA. Faculty: Sean Negus, Ariel Fintushel, Matthew Sherling, Nicelle Davis. "This retreat experiments with various experiential approaches to art and writing.  Retreat participants are encouraged to remain open to possibilities of improvisation, free play, rhizomatic experimentation, and pragmatic adjustments of the schedule throughout the retreat. Vaccines Required." Cost: Sliding scale/pay what you can $75-$400.

Kaz Conference Writing Workshop is a 5-week playwriting / screenwriting intensive for women writers.  The intensive takes place via ZOOM. Each week we will read and discuss two to three submitted plays/screenplays using the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process as a base for our critique. Writers receive two critiques of 10 to 30 pages from Kaz and the rest of the cohort. COST: $375.00. For women writers only. DATES: The Intensive will meet from 1-3PM on Thursdays beginning January 6,  2022.  To APPLY - GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION: 1) Submit 5 to 10 pages of your best piece of playwriting. Apply by November 30.

88 New Literary Magazines Accepting Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art - Paying Markets

Updated 8/26/22

New literary magazines are a boon for up-and-coming writers. They are staffed by motivated editors, eager for material to launch their new ventures.

Here are more than three dozen literary journals that opened in 2021. All of them pay writers, and none charge submission fees. They want every genre and style, from poetry, to fiction, to personal essays, to hybrid forms. The sky's the limit!

Remember, every established magazine - even the most august - had its first issue.

Note: Many literary journals have submission periods. If you miss a deadline, do not despair! There is always a second chance. (And a third, and a fourth...)

Happy submitting!

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Archive of the Odd. Genre: Speculative fiction, horror preferred. “Archive of the Odd is a zine of uncanny occurrences, told in even stranger ways.” Stories can be set in a variety of time periods, and written 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: $0.01/word for short stories.

Alphabet Box. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, up to 900 words. Writers can send more than one submission, as long as the total does not exceed 900 words. Payment: $25.

Abandon. Genre: Writing and artwork that has been created with abandon. Payment: $15. See deadlines.

The Deadlands. Genre: Speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction about death. They publish work “about the other realms, of the ends we face here, and the beginnings we find elsewhere.” Payment: $0.10/word for fiction (up to 5,000 words), $50/poem (any length), and $100/nonfiction piece (any length). Reprints accepted.

Flash Frog is a new online flash fiction magazine featuring stories under 1,000 words. "We like our stories like we like our dart frogs: small, brightly colored, and deadly to the touch." Payment: $25.

Haven Spec is seeking speculative stories in the English language up to 6,000 words. "We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and emotional depth." Payment: 1 cent/word for fiction and nonfiction, $5 - $10 for poetry, $35 for cover art. See themes. Every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone.

khōréō. Restrictions: Open to writers who identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. "This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, transnational/transracial adoptees, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’. We especially encourage BIPOC creators who identify as the above to submit their work." Genre: Stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. Payment: 0.08/word for fiction, $100 for nonfiction, and  $40-300 for art. 

Lost Colony Magazine. Lost Colony Magazine publishes one mid-length (10,000-25,000 words) story of speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy in all of their manifestations) every quarter. Payment: $50.

Mascara Literary Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction on theme Resilience. Payment: $200. See deadlines.

Orion's Beau. Genre: Gay fantasy: fiction, poetry, art. Payment: $3. Deadline: September 11, 2022. See themes.

Samjoko Magazine is devoted to publishing "exemplary work from content creators around the world. Focusing mainly upon the written word, we hope to create an immersive digital and print platform that stands out for its honesty and desire to take risks for the sake of artistic expression. We have no set aesthetic, though different themes will be focused upon periodically. We aim to publish seasonally, with our inaugural issue expected to be released early 2022. Response times vary  between 1 day to 4 months. Apologies in advance for form rejections. Our goal is to publish 15 pieces per issue." Payment: $20. Deadline: October 15, 2022.

Scrawl Place is part visitor’s guide, part literary journal. "My only fixed criteria is that your submission be about or connected to or associated with a specific, physical place that someone could visit. The more specific the place, the better. How that manifests in terms of content, style and form is up to you." Payment: $35.

Sepia Quarterly. Genre: Literary fiction and creative nonfiction between 100 and 5,000 words as well as poetry and art. "Sepia Quarterly seeks writing that makes us feel hazy, golden, sepia-toned. We want deep drifting emotions: nostalgia, maudlin, melancholy, morose, sentimentality etc." Payment: $25.

Tales From Between. Genre: Horror flash fiction, novelettes. Payment: $20 - $120. See deadlines.

The Phlogiston Press. Genre: Speculative fiction. "We’re looking for short form speculative fiction, old style, slipstream, horror, fantasy, science fiction, literary, poetry, flash with a maximum length of 8,000 words - or even a longer story to serialise over a few newszines." Payment: Royalties.

Uncharted Genre: Crime, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and thriller short stories. "We want stories that richly imagine the future of technology and science, that explore our world through a speculative lens. We want stories of fantasy that make us hunger for new worlds, new biomes, new places we can explore through thrilling sensual details and human empathy. We want stories that thrill us, that make us feel alive, that awaken our desires to explore and go on adventures." Payment: $200.

swim meet lit mag. Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, reviews, hybrids, visual art and photography. Preference for work involving swimming. Payment: Not specified. See deadlines.

Adi Magazine: Political Fictions. Genre: Short fiction. "We’re looking for short stories that examine lives impacted by policy and politics. We’re not interested in the drearily righteous; we want stories that unearth new worlds, that plumb interior lives alongside external conflicts, that satirize and fantasize, that disturb, beguile, challenge, surprise, ignite." Payment: For full-length stories, 2,500 words or more, payment is $500. For flash fiction, under 1,000 words, payment is $200. See deadlines.

Paper Lanterns. Genre: Fiction and poetry for young adults. Payment. €50 for poetry or flash fiction and €75 for short stories. If you are under 16, you will receive a book voucher. See deadlines.

Bleed Error "We’re looking for short stories, flash fiction, and poetry that runs the gamut of everything from absurdist horror to bizarre science-fiction to unsettling dark fantasy. We love the uncanny."  Length: Up to 7,000 words. Payment: 1c per word, and $15 per poem, regardless of length. All listed currency is in CAD. See deadlines.

Seize the Press "Seize The Press Magazine is looking to publish dark, transgressive speculative fiction. Bleak sci-fi, dark fantasy and horror only. We’re looking for stories that aren’t didactic or moralistic. We want stories where everything isn’t wrapped up neatly at the end. We want to promote a diverse range of voices from authors who write messy characters, so give us your problematic queers and your angry women—we want your difficult and morally questionable characters in unpleasant situations who don’t slide neatly into a narrow definition of positive representation and don’t fit the model minority mould." Length: 2000 words max. Payment: 6 pence (GBP) per word. This currently equates to slightly over 8 cents (USD)

Wyngraf publishes cozy fantasy. Stories should have a pre-modern technology level. Wyngraf doesn’t publish stories set on our Earth, either now or in the past. Payment: 1 cent/word up to 10,000 words. See deadlines.

Tasavvur is a new magazine of South Asian speculative fiction. “Tasavvur, which literally means Imagination in Urdu/Hindi, aims to provide a warm and cozy space for imaginative short stories from South Asia. While we love all sorts of stories, we want to publish those with a South Asian theme, setting or characters. Give us your dreamscapes and nightmares, your soaring fantasies, your futuristic miasmas.” Payment: 2.5 cents/word, for stories up to 5,000 words. See deadlines.

Utopia Science Fiction “We’re looking for enthralling stories set in a future we want to believe in, one we would fight to make a reality. We are especially in need of science and non-fiction articles for our Science Corner. Articles can be on any subject in any style, but must be accessible to a non-academic audience.” Length: 100 - 6,000 words. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $35 for nonfiction, and $25 for poetry. 

Solarpunk Magazine is a new speculative fiction magazine. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $75/essay. See schedule for deadlines.

Et Sequitur publishes short stories from 500 to 2,500 words. "We are open to all genres, from literary to speculative and everything in between. Our only requirement is that your submission in some way connect with the latest Et Sequitur story, be that in character (minor, major, protagonist, antagonist), setting (neighborhood, world, workplace, house -- even a certain object could work, if it's featured prominently), or theme. Be creative! Continue the story, tell a side-character's story, take the theme and twist it in a new way. In the submission form, you'll be asked to identify which element of the previous story you've chosen to incorporate in your own. Submissions for the next issue will open once the previous issue is published (expected to be the first day of every-other month). They will temporarily close when a story has been chosen for the next issue." Payment: $25.

Propagule publishes short stories that are intrepid with regard to experimentation and oddity; the strange, the surreal, the atypical, the unexpected. "Traditional genre divisions do not matter to us—we do not care whether a piece qualifies as strictly ‘literary’; we only care that it is high-quality, that it is well-written, and that it is interesting. Please send us pieces that you feel do not fit in anywhere else, or are beyond the pale of any given trend. Send us content that causes us to experience feelings we do not have names for." Payment: $20. 

Dark Yonder "There are no setting requirements, but all stories submitted must be loosely categorized as “neo-noir.” We’re not looking for your grandfather’s noir fiction. We’re looking for new, unique voices and interpretations of dark literary fiction (crime, horror, speculative lit, etc) that fit into our rapidly evolving world." Payment: $50.

berlin lit berlin lit is an online journal for new poetry in English, founded in 2022 in Berlin. Genre: Poetry. Payment: 20 euros per poem. See reading periods.

Book Worms is open to all HORROR sub-genres. No romance or erotica. Payment: $0.08/word. See reading periods.

The Rumen. "We publish works that move in the conceptual, that draw the tangential lines between condition and potential. We seek work that blends neoclassical ideas with urban grunge, the high concepts of reality mixed with the low reductions of fantasy. Like the aforementioned digesta, we want things that find new meaning when thrust through the reticulum of the written word. We want humor, horror, strange fixations, canvases upended, bodies broken down cell by cell." Payment: $10 for poetry, fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction, art.

Illustrated Worlds is a new quarterly magazine specializing in fantasy, dark fantasy and horror. Payment: fiction will pay one copy of the printed magazine and 1 cent per word. Poetry will pay one copy of the printed magazine and $10. Cover art will receive one copy of the magazine and $50. Inside art will receive one copy of the printed magazine and $10 - $20 depending on the size of the printed version.

The Four Faced Liar is a new print journal that accepts fiction and creative non-fiction (up to 4000 words); flash fiction (up to 1000 words); poetry (up to 3 pages); visual art (1 piece). Payment: €200 for a short story or CNF piece, €100 for a poem or piece of flash, and €100 for visual art, as well as a copy of the magazine for each contributor. See submission periods.

Gully is a new literary magazine, published annually in print and online. "We publish fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and visual art. Our founding editors are based in New York City, Singapore and Berlin, and we are excited to publish work by writers and artists from around the world." Payment: US$15 for poems and Gullets (flash fiction and non-fiction of less than 1,000 words) and US$30 for features and longer fiction (1,000 words and over). 

Anthophile magazine

Anthophile magazine is "a space for our contributors to explore and celebrate the plant and flower filled landscape we live in (understanding that plants and flowers are part of life's bigger picture, a synthesis and celebration of many arts and sciences) It will publish contemporary fiction and poetry, alongside incisive and erudite essays, and features. We are open to both experimental and traditional forms of writing, anything that's meaningful, surprising, felt. We like humour, and enjoy satire, 'fake non-fiction, open letters and the weird and quirky. We don't want to be too prescriptive about length but as a guide, non-fiction pieces between 800 and 2,500 words, short fiction, no more than 4000 words. We are open to publishing extracts from existing books and collections." Payment not specified. 

Alternative Milk

"We are looking primarily for poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction/essays and art submissions, but if it's good, please send it." Payment: Not specified. Has submission periods.

Black Lipstick

Black Lipstick is the internet boudoir of off-center beauty, literature and culture. Featuring art and writing on makeup, mental health, mortality, queerness, sex, gender, nostalgia, pop culture, parenthood, weird dreams, dark thoughts, and everything else. Affecting personal essays/hybrid nonfictions on almost any topic. Creative, deep-divey reviews of books, beauty products, films, experiences. Interviews with artists, writers and self-made icons. Glamour-forward with a punk ethos. Edgy but not edgelord. If your piece is too literary for Allure but too frivolous for Guernica, it’s probably Black Lipstick material. Payment: Essays/hybrid creative nonfiction (1500-3500 words): $150. Creative reviews and interviews (1000-2000 words): $100.

Over/Exposed

Over/Exposed publishes flash, short fiction, and non-fiction personal essays/memoir, poetry, reviews, experimental, and art. "We are focused on the publication of works that are vulnerable, experimental, a little bit weird and sexy. We prioritize the work of graduate students, so please indicate in your submission if you are a graduate student, including your university, and department." Open internationally. Payment: $15 CAD, Has submission periods.

Broken Antler publishes online and in print. They want all genres of horror, as well as sci-fi and dark fantasy. The editors are partial to a wide range of subgenres—body, cosmic, folk, gore, etc. For poetry, creative nonfiction, and hybrid submissions, we’re looking for work that is haunting and monstrous, weird and bizarre. Extra points if your work is experimental or doing something unusual with form. Send up to two hybrid submissions. Payment: $10 - $20. 

Heartlines. Restrictions: 50% of content is from writers identifying as being from Canada/Turtle Island. Genre: Speculative fiction and about relationships. "We're looking for short fiction and poetry focused on long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial. We don't want the blaze of new love or the obsession of a new friend. We want pieces that show that comfort that develops when people know each other for years." Stories - 1,000 - 3,500 words. Payment: $0.08 CAD per word for short fiction (1,000-3,500 words) and $60 CAD flat per poem. See submission periods.

Centaur is on the lookout for writing that’s inspired, bold, and surprising. With four seasonal issues a year, and between four and seven pieces in each, there’s only room for your best 400 words or fewer. Centaur will nominate pieces for each of the annual literary competitions or anthologies, including Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net. Payment: $20. Accepts art.

Roses and Wildflowers. Genre: Mythopoeic Fiction, Poetry and Art Fabulism, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Wonder Tales. Payment: $5 - $20. 

Phano. Genre: Short stories and essays, 5000 words maximum. Payment: 2 cents/word. 

Dracula Beyond Stoker. Genre: Fiction based on Stoker’s characters. See theme. Payment: 5 cents/word. See submission periods.

Hearth Stories. Genre: Speculative fiction. "We publish fiction and poetry that explore connection, family, relationships, comfort, and the natural world. The stories often fall into a fantasy, science-fiction, or magical realism sort of “slice of life.” Payment: 1¢ per word for accepted stories (with a minimum of $20 regardless of length. See submission periods.

Showcase: Object & Idea. Genre: Prose and poetry. "We explore Object & Idea. A poem and a prose piece are selected for each monthly issue, and the authors answer questions about the meaning behind their work." Payment: $50. Reprints accepted. 

Eavesdrop is a queer-focused multimedia magazine. Restrictions: Open to Canadians. Genre: Fiction, poetry, CNF, art, audio. Payment: $30 per poem, $70 per short fiction and CNF piece, $30 per comic. See themes.

Crimson Quill Quarterly. Genre: Sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and grimdark subgenres of fantasy fiction. Length: Up to 10,000 words. Payment: $25. See submission periods.

Big Wing. Genre: Poetry, prose, spoken word, and visual art works. See theme. Payment: $25. See submission periods.

Waystation. Genre: Space opera. Length: Short, compressed stories that are nevertheless complete and cohesive narratives (1500 to 2500 words). Payment: $10. See submission periods.

Heathen. Genre: Horror, dark fantasy. Length: Up to 7500 words. Payment: 5 cents/word. See submission periods.

Seven Story Hotel. Genre: Interviews, essays, stories, poems, and artwork. 7SH explores the weird, esoteric, and outsider fringes of contemporary culture, art, and technology. "We seek disruptions and heresies to conventional wisdom and/or the dominant narratives of a culture." Payment: $35. 

100 Foot Crow. Genre: Speculative drabbles (exactly 100 words). Payment: $8.

Pictura Journal Genre: Poetry, prose, art. Payment: $5.

Concord Ridge. Genre: Poetry, photography, art. Payment: $10 - $20.

The Wild Umbrella. Genre: Poetry, prose. Payment: €10 per poem and €25 per prose piece. 

Blanket Gravity Magazine. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art that is focused on publishing writing and art that explores mental health and/or emotional life. Payment: $40.

Big Smoke Pulp. Genre: Pulp. "There is no limitation on genre or content. Bring us your young adult romance, hard-nosed noir or epic sci-fi." Length: Microfiction – 101-750 words; Flash Fiction – 751-2,000 words; Short Stories – 2,001-7,500 words; they also accept serialized stories  Payment: 1 cent/word/CAD. See submission periods.

The Marrow. Genre: poetry written in, or translated into, English, from Australian and international poets. Payment: AU$40. 

Notch. Genre: Fiction and art. "We are looking for new and strange, excellent and mystifying, sharp. Send us work that sparks imaginative discourse, ideas to take our breath away and mull over for days to come." Themed issues. Payment: Not specified.

Rainy Weather Days. Genre: "Cozy" genre fiction. Length: 1,500-15,000 words. Payment: $25. 

Pulp Asylum. Genre: Pulp fiction. Payment: $15.

Dust & Dark. Genre: Horror. "We’re in the market for short, scary stories between 2,000 and 7,000 words in length. The majority of stories we publish are expected to be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. We’re looking for stylish, atmospheric horror fiction, and we take a broad view of what that means. We’re interested in clearly defined characters, evocative settings, tight pacing and compelling plots. But most of all, we’re looking for stories that leave a lingering sense of unease after we’ve read them. We’re much more interested in expertly rendered dread than straightforward shocks." Payment: £0.07 per word. Has reading periods.

Quist accepts writers age 14 and 21 and based in Quebec. Genre: Poetry and prose. "Give us your ghost stories and your gritty realism, your space operas and your mind-bending experimentalism! We want love poems and nature poems, poems about existential despair and poems about the contents of your fridge. Amaze us!" Payment: $75. Has reading periods.

Elastic. Genre: Poetry, essays and short fiction (of up to 4,500 words), and visual art of all kinds on themes. "We’ll print art and writing that’s immersive, dreamlike, daring, and genre- and time-bending; that interrogates power by breaking form; and that acts to expand the mind and the possibilities of narrative." Payment: "We pay relatively well for a small magazine." 

Wild Peach Magazine publishes work by unpublished and emerging creators, and features profiles and interviews with all kinds of people that thoughtfully explore the varying approaches to being a human. They want fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, reviews, and art. Payment: $100-500 for essays, $100-500 for fiction, $25 for poems, $50 for reviews, $50-700 for original art/comics/illustrations/photos, $25-200 for reprints.

Dust & Dark. Genre: Horror. Length: 2000 - 7000 words. "We’re looking for stylish, atmospheric horror fiction, and we take a broad view of what that means. We’re interested in clearly defined characters, evocative settings, tight pacing and compelling plots. But most of all, we’re looking for stories that leave a lingering sense of unease after we’ve read them. We’re much more interested in expertly rendered dread than straightforward shocks." Payment: 7 cents/word.

Just Keep Up. Genre: Science Fiction and Horror. Length: 100 - 10,000 words. Payment: $10 a story, $10 a poem. 

Port Crow Press. Genre: Art, poetry and short fiction. "We are a place for whimsy, the dark and dreary." Payment: 1 cent a word for prose and $5 USD per poem.

SpecPoVerse. Genre: Speculative poetry. Payment: $5. Has reading periods.

Kinpaurak. Genre: All genres—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, philosophical monologues, etc. However, nothing over 2,000 words. Payment: $5.

Tableware. Genre: Art, poetry, fiction, essays, photography, reviews. Most anything you can print on paper. Payment: $50. Has reading periods.

Italiks. Genre: Stories and creative work across all genres. Payment: $5.

Tough Poets Review. Genre: Poetry and prose. Payment: $5.

The Pretentious Literarian. Genre: Micro/short/flash fiction or CNF. All genres. Word count: 500-5000. Payment: $5. 

Kismet is a new literary magazine offering a fresh perspective on spirituality, religion, and mysticism for seekers and skeptics alike. Kismet isn’t tied to any particular tradition or spiritual outlook. Instead, the magazine aims to make space for diverging voices to pursue new ways of speaking to our longing for transcendence. They are currently accepting pitches for books forthcoming from December 2025 onward. Reviews should be between 1500-2000 words in length. Kismet also publishes essays, fiction and poetry. Payment: All reviewers are paid $250 per review. Unknown payment for essays, fiction, and poetry.

Slush

Slush seeks previously unpublished short stories of up to 5000 words in length. This includes micro and flash fiction as well as comics, prose poetry and other hybrids that play with form to split and skew expectations. Payment: Selected authors will be paid $100 AUD for their work.

Claudine

What we’re looking for. Pieces that move; pieces that surprise. Stunning prose. Thoughtful punctuation over strict grammar. Innovative form over arbitrary paragraphing. Intentional language over wordsmithing. Specificity and context over vague emotion. Interrogation and transcendence over bald trauma. We crave discovery and wonder and awe. Bittersweet is our favorite emotion. We love myths, fairy tales, fabulism, slipstream, and haunting vibes, but horror is not the best fit, neither is fantasy nor sci fi that leans more genre (plot-forward) than literary. More than any genre, we love prose that makes us ache and images that linger. (Sea creatures always a plus.) Word Count. Up to 400 words. Payment: $25.

Adventitious. 

We love speculative, surreal, and literary fiction. We admire its reach, its weirdness, and its refusal to color inside any lines. We believe in the work of the magazines and writers already making noise in that space, and we want to join in the ruckus: to publish fiction that’s as thoughtful as it is surprising, and to do it with style, respect, and a great sense of nonsense. Length: Flash Fiction (including Micro): Up to 1,000 words; Fiction: 1,000 – 6,000 words. Novelette: 6,000 – 17,000 words. Payment: $0.08 USD per word. Has reading periods.

The Carrier Bag

The Carrier Bag is dedicated to promoting stories of the mundane. All fiction submissions should not exceed 3000 words, and all poetry submissions should not exceed 3 pages. Payment: $10

Rat Bag Lit

"Fiction that crosses genres and blurs the lines between literary and genre. Work that keeps us up at night, stories that make us laugh, and the strangest dreams that pop out of your odd little noggin. Bold ideas, tight prose, snappy dialogue, speculative elements. Something we haven’t seen and, hell, maybe something we’ll wish we hadn’t. Mysterious, haunted mansions, crackling campfires, electric space stations, lonely abandoned farmhouses. That story that you hold close to your heart but has been rejected a billion times, but you keep sending it out because you believe in it, damnit? Yeah. Send us that one." Accepts drabbles, micros, flash fiction, short stories, poetry, CNF. Payment: $1 - $20 depending on length. 

4 Agents Seeking Thrillers, Speculative Fiction, Nonfiction, Kidlit, Commercial Fiction, Memoir, and more

Updated 1/14/26

Here are four agents actively seeking writers. Alex Reubert loves literature in translation, novels set outside the U.S., and stories that offer the reader a new or unconventional way of seeing. Novels that skew upmarket and literary are welcome, as are any narrators looking back and trying to make sense of their life. For nonfiction, he’s interested in memoir, psychology, narrative, literary studies, art history, popular science, philosophy, and cultural studies. He’s also seeking poets and musicians that have ventured into prose.

Tia Ikemoto is looking for middle grade, young adult, adult fiction and select nonfiction that speaks to a wide audience, upmarket & book club fiction, psychological and literary thrillers, women's fiction, updated rom coms, blockbuster or high concept commercial fiction, and historical fiction that takes us somewhere else or teaches us something new. Nonfiction: Pop culture, narrative nonfiction, journalism, of-the-moment essay collections, and the occasional experience-driven memoir. 

Mariah Stovall is actively seeking writers with strong voices and intersectional and interdisciplinary perspectives. She works on adult literary and upmarket fiction, narrative nonfiction, essay collections and memoir. She’s most passionate about music, mental health/illness, Black America, linguistics, histories of objects and ideas, pop science, and deep dives into subcultures and social movements. Natalie Edwards is seeking commercial, upmarket, and literary titles both contemporary and historical: stories of queerness and diaspora, hidden histories, workplace satires/sendups of #girlbosses, and anything that offers biting social commentary and disrupts conventional wisdom.

Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 

NOTE: Don't submit to two agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another.

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Mr. Alex Reubert of HG Literary

Alex began his publishing life as a bookseller at WORD Bookstores and an intern with New Directions and W.W. Norton & Company. He then spent five years as an international book scout, then literary agent, at Greenburger Associates before joining HG Literary in 2024. Hailing from Georgia, he now lives in Brooklyn where he enjoys walking through parks and visiting delis.

What he is seeking: Alex is pursuing books that, either by style or story, demand he keep reading. He loves literature in translation, novels set outside the U.S., and stories that offer the reader a new or unconventional way of seeing. Novels that skew upmarket and literary are welcome, as are any narrators looking back and trying to make sense of their life.  

For nonfiction, he’s interested in memoir, psychology, narrative, literary studies, art history, popular science, philosophy, and cultural studies. He’s also seeking poets and musicians that have ventured into prose. Writers that instill a sense of curiosity and wonder in others, no matter the subject, should get in touch and tell him about their work.

How to submit: Use his querymanager HERE.

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Ms. Tia Ikemoto of ICM Partners

Literary Assistant at ICM Partners. Originally from the Bay Area, she graduated from UC San Diego, and joined ICM in 2019. 

What she is seeking: Fiction: Bookclub, Commercial, General, Historical, Mystery, Thriller, Women’s Fiction, Young Adult

Non-Fiction: Humor, Journalism, Memoir, Pop Culture

Favorite sub-genres: Contemporary YA, Narrative Nonfiction, Pop Psychology, Psychological Thrillers, Upmarket Fiction

How to submit: Submissions should be emailed to tia.ikemoto@caa.com
Please email me your query and first 10 pages of the manuscript pasted into the body of the email.

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Mariah Stovall of Trellis Literary Management

Mariah Stovall joined Trellis Literary Management after agenting at Howland Literary and Writers House. Prior to that, she worked on the other side of things, at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and at Gallery Books. Mariah is a graduate of Pitzer College, of the Claremont Colleges, where she studied English and World Literature with a minor in Linguistics. She volunteers for VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts. She has written fiction and nonfiction for Ninth Letter, Hobart, Joyland, The Paris Review, Poets & Writers, Literary Hub and more.

What she is seeking: She represents adult literary and upmarket fiction, narrative nonfiction and essay collections, all by writers with strong voices and interdisciplinary perspectives. She is not currently seeking memoirs.

How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.

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Natalie Edwards of Trellis Literary

Natalie Edwards joined Trellis Literary after nearly two years at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Prior to that, she worked at Curtis Brown, Ltd. At Trellis, Natalie supports Allison Hunter and Michelle Brower, while actively building a list of her own. Natalie grew up in Pasadena, California and attended Bowdoin College, where she earned her BA in English with a minor in History and played four years of varsity softball. She lives in Brooklyn and still plays on several softball teams in the city.

What she is seeking: Natalie represents adult fiction and nonfiction across a broad range of genres. In fiction, she tends to lean more upmarket and literary, and her nonfiction tastes trend toward the narrative (memoir, history, science, cultural criticism) rather than the prescriptive (how-tos, cookbooks, craft/gift, etc.). Across her list, she loves projects with a great sense of humor, a strong streak of hope and wonder, and an inherent complexity that blurs genre and defies easy categorization—e.g., historical with a hint of the speculative, journalistic nonfiction with a memoir throughline. Above all, she is drawn to accessible voices with a literary sensibility, guiding her through a compelling story with the kind of steady plot momentum that keeps her effortlessly turning the page.

How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.

25 Literary Magazines Accepting Hybrid and Experimental Work - Paying Markets

Updated 1/13/26

Hybrid writing encompasses any literature that breaks down barriers. It can hop from one genre to another and fuse disparate forms, such as prose and poetry. Hybrids can blend fiction and nonfiction, experiment with novel approaches to plot and dialogue, employ lists, letters, or art to tell a story. If it defies categorization, it's a hybrid.

Hybrid writing has been around for a long time. William Blake's 18th century work, Marriage of Heaven and Hell, combined poetry, art, and prose. Some of our finest speculative fiction is hybrid. Is George Orwell's novel, 1984, literary fiction, science fiction, or political satire? Magical realism, as exemplified in novels such as Anthony's Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, or works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is, by definition, a hybrid.

If you are a writer who does not like to be hampered by the constraints of genre or style, here are more than two dozen literary magazines that are happy to pay for your untrammeled artistic expression.

(Image: Maxpixel)

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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: 1.5 cent/word USD + a share of royalties for fiction of 500-5,000+ words. See reading periods.

A Velvet Giant

We are open to work that takes the shape of basically any format: words, recordings, visual art, hybrid forms, etc. We are open to translated original work." Payment: $20. See reading periods.

beestung

Beestung is a quarterly online micro-magazine for non-binary and two-spirit writers and readers, with an emphasis on intracommunity sensibilities. beestung resists the canon and all forms of bigotry. Beestung considers poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrids, and art, by creators who fall under the non-binary umbrella or who are two-spirit. Multilingual work and work in translation is welcome. Payment: $20.

Bennington Review

Bennington Review publishes innovative, intelligent, and moving fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, film writing, and cross-genre work. "we are particularly taken with writing that is simultaneously graceful and reckless." Payment: $120 for prose of six typeset pages and under, $250 for prose of over six typeset pages, and $25 per poem, in addition to two copies of the issue in which the piece is published and a copy of the subsequent issue. See submission periods.

Brink

Brink accepts a variety of creative work from Nonfiction to Fiction, from Poetry to Translation, as well as hybrid work that falls into the cross-genre category of Evocations. "We are looking for contributions that engage both the particular theme of each issue as well as the idea of being on the brink."  Payment: $25 - $100. See reading periods.

Foglifter

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: $100. See submission periods.

Gordon Square Review

Gordon Square Review considers short stories, personal essays, and hybrid prose works. Please submit one piece of prose up to 5,000 words OR up to three flash pieces of 1,000 words or fewer (attached in a single document). Their focus and aesthetic is literary. Payment: $25 per prose piece and $10 per poem. See submission periods.

Neon Hemlock 

Neon Hemlock is a Washington, DC-based small press publishing queer speculative fiction magazines and chapbooks, as well as queer speculative fiction novellas and anthologies. Novellas are distributed in paperback and ebook formats. They ask for exclusive Worldwide English rights. They do not ask for audio rights. Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural, Slipstream, & Weird.  Hybrid work or difficult to categorize novellas are also welcome. Payment: Advance+Royalties option or a Royalties Only option for novellas. Payment for short work varies. See submission periods.

Ninth Letter

Ninth Letter is published semi-annually in print at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. They are interested in prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work. Payment: $25 per poem, $100 for prose. No submission fee during December.

The Offing

The Offing publishes personal essays, memoir, art, enumerate, back of the envelope. "The Offing publishes work that challenges, experiments, provokes — work that pushes literary and artistic forms and conventions. The Offing is a place for new and emerging writers to test their voices, and for established writers to test their limits." Payment: $25–$100.

Scrawl Place

Scrawl Place accepts CNF, Fiction, Poetry, Hybrids. Length: 900 words max. "Scrawl Place is part visitor’s guide, part literary journal. "The audience for this online publication is the guest, the visitor, the traveler, the day-tripper, the out-of-towner, and the in-towners eager to wander. I’m looking for submissions about “places in the places” where you live or where you’ve visited." The only fixed criteria is that your submission be about or connected to or associated with a specific, physical place that someone could visit. The more specific the place, the better. How that manifests in terms of content, style and form is up to you. The place you write about could be a Wonder of the World, a random street corner that means something to you, or anything in between." Submit up to 3 pieces at a time.  Payment: $35. Accepts reprints.

Smokelong

SmokeLong publishes flash narratives: fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid up to 1000 words. This word limit is firm. They do not consider poetry. "We are not interested in works previously published in online magazines. Pieces published only on your personal web site or blog will be considered, but inform us of this in your cover letter. Translated work must also be previously unpublished in the original language." Payment: $100 - $150.

Storm Cellar

Storm Cellar is a nationally distributed, independent literary arts magazine rooted in the Midwest, appearing in print and ebook editions. They publish fiction, poetry, art/images/graphics, and hybrid work. For hybrid works, send up to 15 pages and pick a home genre. “We want your prose, poems, chimeras, and ideas penned on envelopes in buses and train cars. The magazine aims to publish amazing work by new and established writers and artists, present a range of styles and approaches, and be as un-boring as it can. If you write one thing to be read while waiting for the all-clear to sound, send it here.”  Payment: $10

Canthius

Canthius is an intersectional feminist magazine that publishes poetry and prose by writers of marginalized gender identities, including trans, Two Spirit, non-binary, agender, cis women, genderqueer, GNC, and intersex writers. "We are committed to publishing diverse perspectives and experiences and strongly encourage Indigenous women, Black women, and women of colour to submit. We also welcome submissions in Indigenous languages. We consider unpublished work of poetry and prose (both fiction and creative non-fiction). We welcome experimental works and play excerpts. Please limit prose submissions to 3500 words and poetry submissions to five poems. For play excerpts, please limit submissions to 5-8 pages." Payment: $50 for one page, $75 for two pages, $100 for three, $125 for four pages, and $150 for five pages or more. See reading periods.

swim meet lit mag 

"We’re a new literary publication based in Meanjin/Brisbane. By literary, we mean poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction (we’ll accept reviews, too), but we’d also love to see visual art and photography. Send us hybrids, work that pushes the boundaries of creativity, and anything you’d be too scared to send elsewhere! What exactly are we looking for? Our mission is to provide an accessible avenue for publication, especially for emerging creatives, but we’re accepting submissions from anyone and everyone." Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, reviews, hybrids, visual art and photography. Preference for work involving swimming. Payment: $30 - $50. Has submission periods.

Propagule 

Propagule publishes short stories that are intrepid with regard to experimentation and oddity; the strange, the surreal, the atypical, the unexpected. "Traditional genre divisions do not matter to us—we do not care whether a piece qualifies as strictly ‘literary’; we only care that it is high-quality, that it is well-written, and that it is interesting. Please send us pieces that you feel do not fit in anywhere else, or are beyond the pale of any given trend. Send us content that causes us to experience feelings we do not have names for." Payment: Up to $30. 

Broken Antler

Broken Antler publishes online and in print. They want all genres of horror, as well as sci-fi and dark fantasy. The editors are partial to a wide range of subgenres—body, cosmic, folk, gore, etc. For poetry, creative nonfiction, and hybrid submissions, we’re looking for work that is haunting and monstrous, weird and bizarre. Extra points if your work is experimental or doing something unusual with form. Send up to two hybrid submissions. Payment: $10 - $20. 

Over/Exposed

Over/Exposed publishes flash, short fiction, and non-fiction personal essays/memoir, poetry, reviews, experimental, and art. "We are focused on the publication of works that are vulnerable, experimental, a little bit weird and sexy. We prioritize the work of graduate students, so please indicate in your submission if you are a graduate student, including your university, and department." Open internationally. Payment: $15 CAD. Has submission periods.

Centaur

Centaur is on the lookout for writing that’s inspired, bold, and surprising. With four seasonal issues a year, and between four and seven pieces in each, there’s only room for your best 400 words or fewer. Centaur will nominate pieces for each of the annual literary competitions or anthologies, including Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net. Payment: $20. Accepts art.

Vast Chasm

Vast Chasm Magazine publishes bold work that explores the expansive human experience, including flash and short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other nonconforming work. Payment: $50.

ergot.

ergot. is a literary website interested in furthering the innovative and experimental tradition in horror. They want fiction and hybrid work, including flash, excerpts, and work in translation, that push out the boundary of what literary horror is and what it might become. Length: up to 10,000 words (or up to 3 flash pieces) Payment: $25.

Rat World

Rat World is about creating an accessible platform for experimental/emerging/minority creatives to showcase their work, so we’re open to whatever you have - no matter how weird, experimental or strange it is. For note, the sections in our magazine are: Music, Arts, Writing, Poetry, Community, and Comics.  However, we are happy to home genreless works, interviews and all that good stuff that doesn’t quite fit in anywhere - including multimedia & audiovisual works. Payment: $30 NZD.

Ex-Puritan

The Ex-Puritan, formerly the Puritan, is open to submissions from all over the world. In addition to poetry, fiction, reviews, interviews, and nonfiction, they accept experimental work. Payment: $50+ CAD per experimental or hybrid work, at an increasing scale depending on the nature of the piece.

New Words

nw{p} is a trans* and gender-expansive poetry and hybrid journal, but that doesn’t mean work must be related to those topics. We publish three issues per year (Spring, Summer, & Fall) with work from emerging and established trans* poets. We want polished work that makes us stop mid-poem to catch our breath and linger on words; words that surprise us; words that make us catch fire. In addition to more traditional forms of poetry, nw{p} is a place for experimentation and hybrid process– work that mainstream journals won’t publish. Ultimately we want nw{p} to reside in the spectrum, just like we do. We never charge a reading fee. Expect 4-6 weeks for a response, though it’s often much faster than that. Payment is $15 + one copy.

Air/Light

Air/Light is looking for new and innovative works of literary arts across all mediums and genres including cross genre work. Length: Up to 4,000 words for prose, and up to 10 pages for poetry. Payment: 

• Poetry: $50
• Responses and department pieces: $100
• Fiction and essays/nonfiction: $200
• Visual art, music, and multimedia: $200

6 New Agents Seeking Commercial Fiction (all genres), Memoir, Literary Fiction, Kidlit, Romance, Fantasy and more

Updated 1/13/26

Here are six new agents actively expanding their client lists. Hannah Todd (UK) is actively looking for commercial fiction across all genres including women’s fiction; police procedurals; clever thrillers; cozy crime; romantic comedies; accessible historical fiction focusing on WW2 and including dual timeline novels; sagas; emotional issues-led fiction. Madison Scalera wants domestic fiction, historical fiction, romance, and memoirs, particularly coming-of-age novels. Dani Segelbaum is looking for a wide range of fiction and  non-fiction.

Tasneem Motala is interested in Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, New Adult, Science Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary YA, Cyberpunk, Fairytale Retellings, Low Fantasy, Magical Realism, Robots/A.I., Steampunk, Urban Fantasy. Rachel Altemose represents a diverse array of genres (children’s through adult) and is particularly keen on narratives with unique voices, diverse perspectives, immersive settings, complicated familial relationships, young/twenty-something protagonists, magical realism/surrealism, or experimental style. Barbara Jones is looking for fiction and nonfiction, from highly literary works to much more commercial fare.

Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change.

NOTE: Don't submit to two agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. Note: Many agents close their lists for the summer. They generally re-open in the fall.

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Ms. Hannah Todd of Janklow and Nesbit Ltd (UK)

Hannah started her career at an editorial company. Working to introduce authors, agents and editors, Hannah quickly discovered that it’s the people of publishing that make it such an interesting industry. Having graduated with First Class honours, she secured her first in-house publishing job at Bookouture and then went on to work at Canelo, Avon, One More Chapter and Head of Zeus, cultivating a specialism in digital publishing.

What she is seeking: I am looking for commercial fiction across the board, but with a particular focus on romance, SFF & mystery novels. Across all genres, I am drawn to books with exemplary characterisation and voice. I need to feel a real connection to your characters; whether I love them or loathe them, it's the strength of feeling that I am looking for. But don't let your characterisation overshadow the need for impeccable plot as I would love a page-turner that makes me feel as though I cannot put it down. We all want that 'just one more chapter!' feeling, and if you can make me laugh or cry then you're on to a winner! 

I don't represent children's, middle-grade or YA fiction, so please only send in works of fiction for an adult audience. 

How to submit: Read submission guidelines HERE.

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Ms. Madison Potter of P.S. Literary Agency

As a native New Englander, I currently reside in a shoebox on the Upper West Side with my two dogs and an excessive amount of plants. Each day, I hike up and down my sixth floor walk-up, which leaves me plenty of time to think about how to market your book. 

What she is seeking: Madison is currently acquiring genre fiction, upmarket fiction with commercial appeal, and non-fiction. On the fiction side, she enjoys stories with dystopian settings that explore human interaction with increasing technology; cozy fantasies with warmth and high fantasies with court politics or moral ambiguity; sweeping romances or those with unconventional pairings, such as slasher romcom or horror romances; and strange, cozy horror. In the speculative space, she is particularly interested in mythical creatures that go against norms or plots that subvert typical tropes. She also welcomes high-concept genre mashups or weird girl fiction — particularly anything with a surrealism and an unreliable narrator. On the non-fiction side, she is looking for poetic, identity-driven memoirs in the vein of Crying in H Mart / To Shake the Sleeping Self or narrative non-fiction that relies on investigative journalism, à la Mary Roach or Erik Larson.

How to submit: Read submission guidelines HERE.

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Ms. Dani Segelbaum of Arc Literary Management

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Dani is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication, where she studied journalism and political science. She has been a voracious reader for as long as she can remember. Dani began her publishing career as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins Publishers, focusing primarily on highly designed nonfiction titles.

What she is seeking: In nonfiction, she is particularly drawn to books in the areas of women’s issues, popular culture, illustrated/photography, history, politics, self-help, and current events. She also loves narrative non-fiction, biography, business, lifestyle, and cookbooks. Dani collaborates with a diverse range of authors, including illustrators, photographers, academics, psychologists, and journalists.

In fiction, Dani seeks contemporary and upmarket adult fiction, historical fiction, rom-coms, and women’s fiction. She loves compelling narrators and is drawn to writing that is voice-driven, highly transporting, and features unique perspectives and marginalized voices.

How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.

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Ms. Tasneem Motala of Belcastro Agency

Tasneem has a degree in English and Classical Civilizations and a post-grad in Publishing. Her experience includes writing beauty articles for Elevate Magazine, promoting Sonia Faruqi’s book, The Oyster Thief, to the book-blogging sphere as a marketing manager, and building her #ownvoices literary zine, KROS Magazine.

What she is seeking: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, New Adult, Science Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary YA, Cyberpunk, Fairytale Retellings, Low Fantasy, Magical Realism, Robots/A.I., Steampunk, Urban Fantasy.

How to submit: Use her querymanager form HERE.

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Ms. Rachel Altemose of Salky Literary Management 

NO LONGER LISTED ON AGENCY WEBSITE

Rachel Altemose (she/hers) is a junior agent and has been with Salky Literary Management since its inception in 2019. Prior to SLM, she interned at Eden Street Literary Agency and attended the Columbia Publishing Course. She has a burgeoning list of picture book, MG, YA, narrative/serious nonfiction, and literary fiction authors and also assists Jesseca, Eryn, Kate, and Charlotte with SLM and CSLA clients. Rachel is a lifelong lover of storytelling and graduated from Vassar College with degrees in English and drama. 

What she is seeking: She is interested in a diverse array of genres (children’s through adult) and is particularly keen on narratives with unique voices, diverse perspectives, immersive settings, complicated familial relationships, young/twenty-something protagonists, magical realism/surrealism, or experimental style.

How to submit: Use her query manager HERE.

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Ms. Barbara Jones of Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, Inc. 

Barbara became a literary agent after several decades as an editor, first in magazines (Grand Street, Harper’s, Vogue, Real Simple) and then in books (as editorial director at Hyperion Books and, most recently as executive editor at Henry Holt). She has also led writing workshops for thirty years, at Yale University, New York University, Queens University of Charlotte, and elsewhere.

What she is seeking: Barbara Jones represents literary and upmarket fiction and nonfiction, with a special interest in voices from underrepresented communities.

How to submit: Please send a query letter and the first few (up to 10) pages of your manuscript or proposal in the body of an email (not an attachment) to bjquery@skagency.com