Freelance Writing Opportunities
Attention Freelance Writers: 16 Places to Submit Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and More
Check out these 16 writing markets today!
For those of you who have read my writing market articles, you know that I love to share markets with my readers. I usually write about evergreen markets (markets that are almost always looking for freelancers) that pay a decent amount of money or articles that focus on calls for pitches and submissions. However, In Mid-May, I decided to add some lower-paying markets and markets I usually do not cover (contests with entry fees, publishers of full-length books, lower-paying markets).
I write this as a quick article (short, 150–300 words) and it only covers one market.
This article has the markets I talked about last month (that are still open or will be open in the future, to submissions).
Of course, on the off chance you have read all of these articles, I added three additional markets I have not written about before.
I hope you find somewhere new to submit your work too. Good Luck!
42 Miles Press Poetry Award Contest
42 Miles Press Poetry Award Guidelines
The 42 Miles Press Poetry Award was created to bring new and original voices to the poetry reading public. This is an annual prize for a poet writing in English for both never before published poets and poets who have published many book-length poetry volumes.
They are looking for volumes of poetry that exhibit the contemporary voice in American poetry and experimental work.
There is a $25.00 one-time entry fee for this contest.
The deadline for submission is June 15, 2022.
The winner will receive $1,000, publication, and 50 author copies.
Apex
Apex is a literary magazine and podcast that accepts submissions for works of fiction. They accept short stories of up to 7,500 words. If the story is over 7,500 words, they will reject it automatically.
This is a professionally paying fiction market that pays the professional rate of $0.08 a word. Payment for a story will be up to $600.00. If they read your story on the podcast, you will paid an additional $0.01 a word. That could be up to an extra $75.00 for the story.
They do not accept previously published work or simultaneous submissions.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
If you are looking for a good market for literary science fiction short stories, you should consider sending your work to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is looking for short stories or up to 15,000 words. They will consider longer works, but the longer the story, the better it needs to be. Their payment is the professional rate of $0.08 a word, so payment could be up to $1,200.00 for a 15,000-word story.
These stories must have a setting of a secondary world. The setting could be earth, but it must be different from modern-day earth (they consider modern-day 1930 — current). If using an older earth model, the history must be different from actual history. They also do not want urban fantasy or stories told in a contemporary real world.
They are looking for character-centric stories, and they want literary style short fiction with “gorgeous, poetic prose.”
Cemetery Gates Media
General Submissions and Formatting Guidelines
Cemetery Gates has an open call for submissions, with no deadline, for horror novels of 40,000 words or more. However, they are only looking for very specific authors. They want authors who have at least two paid horror manuscripts (such as flash fiction, short fiction, short stories, or novellas) but who have never published a novel.
If you fit this criterion, you can send a 40K words or more manuscript to [email protected].
You will need to send the manuscript, a synopsis of the story, your author’s website, your Twitter handle, a brief bio, and at least two writing credits.
If they select your book to publish, they offer a $500.00 signing bonus, a $500.00 advance, and a 60% royalty share on physical and electronic books.
Clarendon House Publications
Clarendon House Publications Website
Clarendon House Publications Submission
The Clarendon House Publications Submission page has multiple submission opportunities. One of these opportunities is articles about writing for their magazine. They also publish poetry, interviews, essays, artwork and more.
Payment ranges from £10–50.
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope is a publication that is working on overcoming stereotypical, patronizing, and sentimental ideas and attitudes about disabilities. They accept writers with and without disabilities, but if the writer is not disabled, they must be writing about disabilities. They are looking for the following types of writing:
- Nonfiction — Articles relating to the visual and literary arts, personal essays, memoirs, and interviews. You can submit up to 5,000 words, a maximum of 2 pieces.
- Fiction — They are looking for short stories, again 5,000 words max, which can be all in one story or split between two stories. These stories need to be well crafted, especially with the plot and characters.
- Poetry — You can send up to 5 poems. These poems should have evocative language and strong imagery.
- Book Reviews — They accept book reviews of up to 5,000 words (up to two reviews). These book reviews should be about or from publications covering disabilities or the arts.
Payment will range from $10.00–100.00.
The Kelsay Books 2022 Young Poets Prize
Kelsay Books 2022 Young Poets’ Prize (For Poetry Manuscripts)
If you are a poet between the ages of 18–30, you might be interested in entering the Kelsay 2022 Young Poet’s Prize. They are taking entries through June 15, 2022; however, there is an entry fee of $22.00 for this contest.
This contest is for books of poetry, so the entry you submit should be between 30–120 pages. At least one-quarter of your entry must be previously published. You can include some published works if the original publisher grants reprint permission.
Prizes for this contest are as follows:
- First Place: $500.00, 50 copies of the book, and a publishing contract.
- Second Place: $200.00, 25 copies of the book, and a publishing contract.
- Third Place: $25 copies of the book, a publishing contract.
- Seven Honorable Mentions: A publishing contract.
Mason Jar Press 1729 Book Prize Contest
Mason Jar Press 1729 Book Prize Contest Page
Mason Jar Press (with support from The Ivy Bookshop) currently has an open call for books. This open call is from April 15, 2022 — July 15, 2022. They are looking for novels, novellas, story collections, memoirs, essay collections, or biographies. Although they are open to most prose forms and all genres, they do lean towards semi-experimental works. Hybrid works are also welcome.
The winner of this contest will receive $1,000, contributor copies, and quarterly profit-sharing. The contract will stipulate more details.
Orca
Orca is a literary journal that publishes flash fiction, short stories, and nonfiction. This journal is published four times a year. The April and October issues are for literary fiction, while the January and July issues are for literary speculative stories.
Literary Speculative Fiction
If you are interested in publishing literary speculative stories, the next deadline for this type of work is May 31, 2022. The issue will be published in July of 2022. You can submit stories of up to 8,000 words. Payment is $50.00 for stories 2,500 words or longer and $25.00 for stories under 2,500 words.
They only accept unpublished fiction. If you are submitting flash fiction instead of short stories, you can submit up to 3 flash fiction stories of 1,000 or fewer words each. You can only submit to one category per issue — so you can not send a short story and flash fiction for the same issue.
Literary Fiction and Nonfiction
If you are interested in submitting literary fiction, the next deadline for that type of fiction is October 15, 2022. That issue will be released in December of 2022. They accept both literary fiction and Nonfiction articles for the literary fiction issues.
For literary fiction, they accept works of up to 8,000 words. You can either send in one short story or up to three flash fiction pieces of less than 1,000 words each.
For nonfiction, they are looking for articles between 2,000–8,000 words. They publish 1–2 nonfiction articles written in a literary style per issue. Some topics they are interested in include political events, nature, science, the environment, mathematics, history, and true crime.
Payment for literary fiction and nonfiction is $50.00 for works of 2,500 words or more and $25.00 for pieces of less than 2,500 words.
Misc Information
If you are unsure of the difference between literary fiction and speculative literary fiction, their guidelines (under speculative) have an excellent explanation of the differences.
QU
Are you always on the lookout for new literary magazines to submit to? It is especially lovely to find literary journals and websites that actually have a budget to pay their authors more than a contributor copy or two!
This literary journal is accepting submissions through August 22, 2022. Unfortunately, they can only accept submissions from American authors currently residing in America (no submissions from International writers or Americans living abroad).
Payment is $100.00 for prose and $50.00 per poem or visual art. You will also receive one contributor’s copy of the magazine and the monetary compensation.
This magazine is published by the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte, and the editorial staff is made up of current students.
Quagmire Fiction Contest
Quagmire is looking for fiction submissions under 5,000 words. The theme of this inaugural contest is Quagmire — which means awkward, complex, and hazardous situations. You can use these themes anywhere in the story, from the characters, ideas, absurd situations, experimental plots, or surreal settings. They want weird, wacky, and everything in between.
There is a $10.00 entry fee for this contest.
The deadline is July 1, 2022.
Prizes are as follows:
- 1st Place — $500.00 plus publication
- 2nd Place — $150.00 plus publication
- 3rd Place — $50.00 plus publication
- 4th and 5th Place — $50.00 plus online publication
Quip
Quip describes itself as an offbeat and off-kilter literary journal publishing stories that move to their own rhythm. They are looking for fresh voices and weird themes, and world. They also want stories that speak to millennials. The author does not need to be part of the millennial generation but should be able to relate to their life experience.
Like with most online literary magazines, there is a $3.00 reading fee. Payment for accepted works is $25.00. Stories should be between 500–5,000 words.
They are especially looking for stories with a great plot, emotionally moving the readers and great characters. They also appreciate underrepresented voices.
Substantially Unlimited
Substantially Unlimited Guidelines
Okay — so I want to start by saying this is a lower-paying opportunity — it only pays $15.00. I debated whether or not to share because of that. However, I am sharing because not everyone writes for money, they are many reasons outside financial gain to write. ALSO — most people are not making $15.00 per article they publish on Medium, so I figured some people may be interested in this opportunity regardless of the pay.
Substantially Unlimited
Substantially Unlimited is a literary and arts magazine for disabled people. This includes people with social, emotional, cognitive, or mental disabilities. If they select your work for publishing, they will pay you $15.00 (Venmo or PayPal), give you feedback, promote it on social media and respond quickly!
General Submissions
You need to identify as disabled, but you do not have to write about your disability or disabilities in general. You can send work 1–15 pages long with a cover letter. If selected for publishing, they will also need a bio and your social media handles. If published, you will also be allowed to create an audio version of your work. There is no deadline for general submissions.
Themed Submissions
They will also be having 4 themed issues a year. Deadlines for themed submissions are January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.
The first theme for the Summer of 2022, due on July 1, is “stigma.” This is what they say about this theme:
“What does the word “stigma” mean to you? How does stigma related to mental health? To disability? When have you felt stigmatized in your life? Why and how? Who decides what is stigmatized? Is stigma based on difference? Are people afraid of difference? Why or why not? What language maintains or rejects stigma? Is stigma a stain? Is stigma a symptom of disease? Do stigmas belong in flowers?”
You can email your manuscripts to [email protected].
Unnerving
Unnerving has an open call for submissions for flash fiction. They pay $15.00 for stories of 400–1,500 words. Only submit one story at a time, if rejected, wait 30 days after rejection to submit another story.
They also have an open call for novels. The details are on the submission page but it does not cover the payment.
Vestal Review
The Vestal Review is a flash fiction magazine with two reading periods per year. They accept submissions from February 1 — May 31 and August 1 — November 30. You should only submit one story at a time and not submit again until you hear back about your current submission. Turn around time is approximately 2 months.
If accepted, they pay $50.00. However, like many literary magazine’s they have a reading fee of $3.00. Many journals use submittable to receive submissions, and they only get so many free per month. Then the journals have to pay for the service. Payment is made through PayPal.
The Vestal Review defines flash fiction as stories of no more than 500 words. They accept all genres and especially love humor. Their website has the latest issue online, so you will be able to read stories they have chosen for publication.
The Vincent Brothers Review
The Vincent Brothers Review Website
The Vincent Brother Review Guidelines
The Vincent Brothers Review exists to promote appreciation for the literary arts by publishing 4 electronic issues a year as well as one print issue a year.
They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They pay a minimum of $25.00 for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that appear in either their print or online issues.
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Finally, If you are really interested in writing markets and potential writing opportunities, I write about magazines, websites, and writing contests all the time! I love helping other writers find potential markets for their work (and getting paid is pretty awesome, too!). Check out all the other markets I have written about!
Make sure you bookmark that page (or follow me or sign up for emails) because I try to write several market articles weekly!
Good luck finding the perfect writing markets for you!