I just submitted my first short story to a pro-rate market. I spent some time going through the short story market options and putting information on them. I figured I would share that information.
For now, I'm just going to present my list, organized in three tiers based on how much they pay submissions. As I spend more time this year working on and submitting short stories, I may update this post to include more information about each magazine, including links to their submissions page, how much they pay, and what they're looking for.
This list is whittled down from the SFWA qualifying market list. I've removed items that only take science fiction, as well as those that are for a variety of reasons difficult to submit to. (A couple of those I removed are "invite only," others are rarely published anthologies, and others require stories to be in a specific shared setting, for example.)
Be advised that many of these publications only accept submissions during specific windows. In some cases you may have to wait weeks or months before you're able to submit. If your story is right for that publication, it's worth waiting.
Even if you aren't interested in submitting short stories, many of these magazines are worth following for examples of good writing. For all of the options below, it's best to read many of their published short stories before writing one to submit.
If you have anything you'd like to say or add about any of these markets, be sure to mention it in a comment.
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These magazines pay 9 cents per word or up.
Clarkesworld Magazine: Clarkesworld is a top-rate British sci-fi and fantasy ezine that promotes itself based on the awards they've won. Short stories they publish are also sold in yearly anthologies. Their submission page offers no other guidelines about what they're looking for, but in practice they prefer a narrow range of highly literary submissions. Their submission process is fast, easy, and efficient, with as little as two day turnaround. They pay 10 cents per word for the first 5,000 words, and 8 cents for each word following, up to 16,000 words. Chances of having even a quality story accepted are very low.
Fireside Fiction
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Cicada Magazine (YA)
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These pay 8 cents per word.
Lightspeed
Strange Horizons
Diabolical Plots
Uncanny Magazine: Uncanny Magazine is one of the younger magazines on this list, founded on Kickstarter by people who had worked for Apex Magazine. They are looking for experimental, well-written stories that make readers feel. They also run special editions with more specific requirements. Uncanny pays 8 cents per word up to 6,000 words but has long stretches where they do not accept ordinary fiction.
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And these pay 6 cents per word.
Apex Magazine: "Beautiful. Shocking. Surreal." Apex Magazine looks for emotional stories, and while their submissions page currently offers no guidelines other than their tagline, it used to read that they were looking for stories it "scared you to write." They pay 6 cents per word for stories up to 7,500 words, and an additional 1 cent per word if they podcast it.
Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
Podcastle
Nightmare Magazine
Ares Magazine
Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Horrors
Cast of Wonders
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
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In addition, the following sites take Flash Fiction of 1,000 words or less.
Flash Fiction Online
Daily Science Fiction
Grievous Angel
For now, I'm just going to present my list, organized in three tiers based on how much they pay submissions. As I spend more time this year working on and submitting short stories, I may update this post to include more information about each magazine, including links to their submissions page, how much they pay, and what they're looking for.
This list is whittled down from the SFWA qualifying market list. I've removed items that only take science fiction, as well as those that are for a variety of reasons difficult to submit to. (A couple of those I removed are "invite only," others are rarely published anthologies, and others require stories to be in a specific shared setting, for example.)
Be advised that many of these publications only accept submissions during specific windows. In some cases you may have to wait weeks or months before you're able to submit. If your story is right for that publication, it's worth waiting.
Even if you aren't interested in submitting short stories, many of these magazines are worth following for examples of good writing. For all of the options below, it's best to read many of their published short stories before writing one to submit.
If you have anything you'd like to say or add about any of these markets, be sure to mention it in a comment.
~~~~~~~~~~
These magazines pay 9 cents per word or up.
Clarkesworld Magazine: Clarkesworld is a top-rate British sci-fi and fantasy ezine that promotes itself based on the awards they've won. Short stories they publish are also sold in yearly anthologies. Their submission page offers no other guidelines about what they're looking for, but in practice they prefer a narrow range of highly literary submissions. Their submission process is fast, easy, and efficient, with as little as two day turnaround. They pay 10 cents per word for the first 5,000 words, and 8 cents for each word following, up to 16,000 words. Chances of having even a quality story accepted are very low.
Fireside Fiction
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Cicada Magazine (YA)
~~~~~~~~~~
These pay 8 cents per word.
Lightspeed
Strange Horizons
Diabolical Plots
Uncanny Magazine: Uncanny Magazine is one of the younger magazines on this list, founded on Kickstarter by people who had worked for Apex Magazine. They are looking for experimental, well-written stories that make readers feel. They also run special editions with more specific requirements. Uncanny pays 8 cents per word up to 6,000 words but has long stretches where they do not accept ordinary fiction.
~~~~~~~~~~
And these pay 6 cents per word.
Apex Magazine: "Beautiful. Shocking. Surreal." Apex Magazine looks for emotional stories, and while their submissions page currently offers no guidelines other than their tagline, it used to read that they were looking for stories it "scared you to write." They pay 6 cents per word for stories up to 7,500 words, and an additional 1 cent per word if they podcast it.
Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
Podcastle
Nightmare Magazine
Ares Magazine
Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Horrors
Cast of Wonders
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
~~~~~~~~~~
In addition, the following sites take Flash Fiction of 1,000 words or less.
Flash Fiction Online
Daily Science Fiction
Grievous Angel
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Myth Weaver
It was always going to be a long shot. I'll submit it to Uncanny as soon as they reopen for ordinary submissions, and if it's rejected again, I'll try Apex. I'm hoping that it fits much closer with what they're looking for.
