84 Calls for Submissions in April 2024 — Paying markets
This April there are seven dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.
I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month’s calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)
Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.
Happy submitting!
Totally Entwined: Family Business. Genre: Novellas, 30,000–50,000 words. Theme: Mafia romance. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
The Paris Review. Genres: Poetry. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: Opens April 1, 2024, and closes when they reach capacity.
Canthius. Restrictions: Open to women, trans men, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming writers. Genres: Unpublished poetry and prose (both fiction and creative non-fiction — “we welcome experimental works and play excerpts).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.” Theme: Trash. Payment: $50 for one page, $75 for two pages, $100 for three, $125 for four pages, and $150 for five pages or more, regardless of genre. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
The Beast Hunt. Genre: Speculative fiction. “Theme: Monsters have feelings too, even if it’s used to rage against the machine.” Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Creature Feature Classics #1: Lycanthropy. Genre: Stories on theme: Werewolves. Length: 3,000–8,000 words. Payment: £20 and 3 author copies. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Write or Die. Genre: Short fiction. Length: Up to 4000 words. Payment: $200. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
The Ex-Puritan. Genre: Poetry, fiction, reviews, interviews, essays, and experimental work. “The Ex-Puritan now seeks to publish the best in all forms of writing.” Payment: $100 — $200 (CAD). Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Gordon Square Review. Genre: Poetry, short stories, personal essays, and hybrid prose works. Payment: $25 per prose piece and $10 per poem. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Toronto Journal. Genre: Short stories from anywhere in the world. “We will also consider non-fiction pieces about local history (Toronto, GTA, and surrounding).” No word limit. Payment: $50 CAD per piece. All published writers will also receive two printed copies of the issue in which they appear. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Kangas Kahn. Genre: Horror short stories on theme: Clowns Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: April 1, 2024..
Salamander. Genre: Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
West Branch. Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation. Payment: $50 per submission of poetry, and $.05/word for prose with a maximum payment of $100. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Shenandoah. Genre: Poetry. Payment: $100. Deadline: Opens April 1, 2024, and closes when they reach capacity.
Zero Street Restrictions: Open to LGBTQ+ writers. Genre: Full-length literary fiction. “Zero Street will be committed to LGBTQ+ literary fiction with commercial potential, providing marginalized authors opportunities for a wide readership in the trade fiction market. The series editors are Timothy Schaffert, bestselling author of The Perfume Thief, and SJ Sindu, author of Blue-Skinned Gods. The series seeks LGBTQ+ literary fiction of all kinds, from stories of modern life to innovations on traditions of genre and are particularly interested in BIPOC authors, trans authors, and queer authors over 50.” Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: April 2, 2024. Opens April 1.
Island Online. Restrictions: Open to Australian and New Zealand citizens and residents only. Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction. Payment: $500. Deadline: April 3, 2024.
Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: April 5, 2024.
Only Poems. Genre: Poetry. “We love prose poems, traditional forms (ghazals, villanelles, sestinas), love poems, sex poems, and experimental questionnaires, but we are not married to a style or genre. We are welcoming of anything you think is your most exciting work. Ultimately, we want poems that move us or make us go: “God, I wish I had written this!” Payment: $55. Deadline: April 7, 2024.
Daikaijuzine. Genre: Speculative fiction, poetry, art. Payment: $10.00 for each short story, and $5.00 for each poem and flash fiction piece. Deadline: April 7, 2024.
Stone’s Throw. Genre: Noir, dark fiction, crime short stories. Length: between 1,000 and 2,000 words. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: April 7, 2024.
Flame Tree: Sun Rising Short Stories. Genre: Speculative fiction on them: The Sun. “This will be a feast of modern fiction, folklore and mythology, and ancient tales of the looming, life-giving, eye-burning solar entity that dominates our sky.” Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: April 7, 2024. Accepts reprints.
Flame Tree: Moon Falling Short Stories. Genre: Speculative fiction on theme: The Moon. “This collection will bring a potent mix of superstition and belief that reaches back to the gods of Babylon, Ancient Egypt and Greece. Khonsu, Innana, Artemis and Thoth are just a few of the deities who brought a mix of love, sensuality and war to the ancient perceptions of the world.” Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: April 7, 2024. Accepts reprints.
Laughs in Space. Genre: Humorous science fiction. Length: 2000 words to 9000 words. Payment: £10 per 500 words, up to £55. Deadline: April 7, 2024.
Terrain.org. Genre: “The Climate Stories in Action series will expand our vision of climate activism and help people imagine meaningful ways to be involved. We are inviting storytellers to submit poetry, nonfiction, fiction, art and multimedia pieces that showcase climate activism in professional, civic and community life. We are interested in stories that help shift our cultural mindset from despair to creative possibility and from isolation to collective purpose.” Payment: $200. Deadline: April 8, 2024.
Mslexia. Restrictions: Open to women. Genre: Fiction poetry, nonfiction. Payment: £25. Deadline: April 8, 2024. See themes.
berlin lit. Genre: Poetry. Payment: 20 euros per poem. Deadline: April 10, 2024.
Seaside Gothic. Genre: Seaside gothic fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or a collection of photographs or illustrations. Payment: £0.01 per word. Deadline: April 14, 2024.
Solarpunk Magazine. Genre: Solarpunk. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $75/essay. Deadline: April 14, 2024.
Griffith Review. Genre: Fiction and nonfiction on theme: Status Anxiety. Payment: AUD$0.75 per word. Deadline: April 14, 2024.
Hansen House. Genre: Hansen House is looking for anything with queer protagonists or by queer authors so long as the story does not fall into the “bury your gays” trope. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Bull City Press: Inch. Genre: Small collections — a minimum of three stories or essays, or a constellation of poems, between 10–16 pages in length. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Radon. Genre: Short stories and poetry containing elements of anarchism, transhumanism, dystopia, and/or science fiction. Payment: 1 cent per word for original work, half a cent per word for reprints. $20 per original poem and $10 for reprints. $100 for issue cover art, $30 for back cover art, and $20 for art used on their website. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Mythulu Magazine. Genre: Submit AI-assisted short stories, art, nonfiction. See prompts. Payment: $0.08/word. Comics pay $45/page. A.I. Art pays $10/page. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Bourbon Penn. Genre: “We are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal.” Length: 2000–7500 words. Payment: 4 cents/word. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Vault of Shadows. Genre: Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 3000 and 7500 words (not really a firm limit — the final product will be the comics script, not the short story), that can be adapted into a comic book script of 12 pages or less. Payment: $35 per page of the adapted script, up to 12 pages, paid via PayPal, and a print copy of the issue. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Electric Spec. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $20 per piece. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Epoch. Genre: Poetry, prose, art and comics. Payment: $100 — $500 for poetry, prose, and comics, depending on length, and $350 for cover art. Deadline: April 15, 2024. No fee for snail mail submissions.
The Threepenny Review. Genre: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction. Payment: $400 per story or article, $200 per poem or Table Talk piece. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Consequence Magazine: The Culture of War. Restrictions: Open to BIPOC writers. Genre: Short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, interviews, reviews, and visual art mainly focused on the culture of war. Payment: $20 — $60 for prose and poetry, $150 for art. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Bikes in Space. Genre: Queer Halloween short fiction (in written or comics form) about bicycling from a feminist perspective. Payment: $50 minimum. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Rattle: Tribute to Musicians. Genre: Poetry. “We want to explore how music in the air in forms poems on the page. The poems may be any style or subject, but must be written who have been professional musicians at some point in their lives.” Payment: $100. Deadline: April 15, 2024.
Grimm Retold. Genre: Horror and dark fantasy of Dark Grimm Fairy Tales, retold in new and horrific ways. Length: 2000–8000 words, Poems 1–4 pages. Payment: $25 for stories 2000–5000 words (after edits), $35 for stories 5000–8000 words (after edits), $15 for poems, $10 for reprints. Deadline: April 19, 2024. Accepts reprints.
Astrolabe. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography & art. Payment: $50. Deadline: April 20, 2024.
Super Canucks: An anthology of small-town Canadian superheroes. Genre: Superhero stories. “ We want stories set in and around the nation’s more often overlooked locales — isolated small towns, remote reservations, bedroom communities, and other underrepresented areas of Canada.” Payment: $200. Deadline: April 21, 2024.
Flash Fiction Online. Genre: Weird Horror flash fiction. Payment: $100. Deadline: April 21, 2024.
Mudroom. Genre: Poetry, fiction, essays, and essays in translation. Payment: $15. Deadline: April 25, 2024.
Off Topic Publishing: Poetry Box. Genre: Poetry. Payment $30 CAD. Deadline: April 25, 2024. This is a monthly call.
Dragon Soul Press: Fairy Rites. Genre: “All Fae stories are welcome. All genres are accepted.” Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Texas Review Press: The Sabine Series in Literature. Genre: Poetry and fiction. The Sabine Series in Literature highlights work by authors born in or working in Eastern Texas and/or Louisiana. There are no thematic restrictions. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024. Submissions are capped at 300.
Brick. Genre: Literary nonfiction. Payment: $55–685, depending on the length of accepted work, plus two copies of the issue the work appears in and a one-year subscription to the magazine. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Verve Poetry Press. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscripts. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
The Rabbit Hole. Genre: Weird stories and poems. Theme: “Not From Here”. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024..
Plenitude Magazine Restrictions: Open to Canadians. “Plenitude Magazine aims to promote the growth and development of LGBTTQI literature through an online publication of literary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic narrative, book reviews and short film by both emerging and established LGBTTQI writers. We define queer literature and arts as works created by LGBTTQI people, rather than works which feature queer content alone.” Genre: Poetry. Payment: $50 — $100. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
The Temz Review. Genre: Prose (fiction and creative non-fiction) up to 10,000 words long. Payment: $20. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
After Happy Hour. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, comics. Payment: $10. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Don’t Ask, Ghosts Tell. Genre: LGBTQ+ horror anthology loosely related to military life/service. Payment: $0.03/word (USD) for short stories with potential for increase based on Kickstarter success. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Boulevard. Genre: Poems up to 200 lines. Send up to five poems. Also fiction and nonfiction. Payment: $50-$250 for poetry, and $100–300 for prose. Deadline: April 30, 2024. No submission fee for mailed submissions.
Agbowo. Restrictions: Open to African origin writers only. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, book reviews and art/photography. Payment: Single Poems — $25; Suites of poems (2–4) — $50; One act plays -$50; Essays/Nonfiction — $60; Fiction — $60; Visual Art — $35. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Massachusetts Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, hybrid, translations. Payment: $100. Deadline: April 30, 2023. Fee for online submissions. No fee for USPS.
Cast of Wonders. Genre: YA Speculative fiction. Podcast. See theme. Payment: $.08/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words. For reprints, a $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, and a $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
the other side of hope. Genre: Poetry by refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only. They accept submissions in English for this reading period. Payment: £50. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Cursed Cooking: A Horror Community Cookbook and Food Horror Anthology. Genre: Horror on theme: Food. Payment: 5 cents per word for original fiction works and 1 cent per word for reprints. Accepted recipe submissions will receive $5. Deadline: April 30, 2024. Reprints accepted.
Book Worms: Rock n Roll. Genre: Horror: fiction and essays. See theme. Length: Up to 1,500 words. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Lanternfish. Restrictions: Open to writers identifying as Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Genre: Fiction and memoir, full-length (60 to 100,000 words) and novella-length (20 to 40,000 words). Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Deadly Yellowstone: A Collection of Mystery Shorts. Genre: Mystery short stories set in Yellowstone National Park. Length: 10,000 words max. 3,000 to 7,000 words preferred. Payment: $25. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Small Harbor Publishing. Genre: Poetry, art. See theme. Payment: Honorarium. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
I’m Here. Restrictions: Open to writers living in Canada. Genre: YA short stories connected in some way to the theme of “identity.” Payment: $250. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Harbor Review. Genre: Poetry, art. Payment: $10. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Book Slayer Press. Restrictions: OPEN to any and everyone that identifies (now or in the past) as femme in the most inclusive of definitions. Genre: Adult speculative poetry under 50 lines. “HEMORRHAGING FLOWERS: A COLLECTION OF 100% FEMME RAGE is a collection of speculative poetry showcasing the spectrum of femininity and the rage contained within.” Payment: $10. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Book Slayer Press Hentai Ectoplasm. Genre: Adult horror, including genre-chimeras. Submissions must be between 3,000 and 6,000 words. “Twelve — fifteen authors will tell a story of survival as their neighborhood is cut off by the destruction, each delivering the perspective of their respective home.” Payment: $100. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Best New England Crime Stories 2024. Restrictions: Open to all writers who currently live in the six New England states. Genre: Crime stories, mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, historical, and horror. Payment: $25. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Funny Stories. Genre: True stories and poems. “We are looking for stories about something that happened to you in your life — in your relationship with a partner or spouse, a parent or child, a family member or friend, at work or at home — that made you and the people around you laugh out loud.” Payment: $200. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Texas Review Press publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and scholarly works. “Topics we are interested in include 20th/21st Century American Poetry, Environmental Writing, Ecopoetics, Contemporary Poetics, Creative Writing Pedagogy, Southern Literature, Southern Issues, Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas/Louisiana Literature, Texas/Louisiana History, Folklore, Cajun-Creole Studies, African-American Literature, African-American Studies, Latinx Literature, Latinx Studies, & Texas/Mexico History.” Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024. Submissions are capped at 300, so submit early.
Haven Speculative. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 8¢ per word for fiction and $20 for poetry. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Psychopomp. Genre: Speculative fiction or literary novellas between 20,000 to 40,000 words, that fall under the umbrella of goth, death, funerary, grief, loss, alternative, otherworldly themes. Payment: $750 advance and 25% of net net receipts. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Thisledown Press (CANADA). Restrictions: Open to Canadian authors, with a preference for Western Canadian voices. Genre: Full-length literary work, including novels, short story collections, creative non-fiction, and collections of poetry. They will consider YA novels and — occasionally — books for younger children. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Soul Ink: Volume 2. Genre: Poetry. 1,000 word count minimum (not line count) Payment: Royalties (?) Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, New Year’s. Genre: True stories and poems. “Please submit your true stories and poems about the entire December holiday season, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and New Year’s festivities too.” Payment: $200. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Mythaxis. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $20. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Typehouse. Restrictions: In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, no-fee submissions are open for all Arab creators, not limited to those in the US. Genre: Prose, poetry, art. Payment: $25. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
FIYAH. Restrictions: Submissions are restricted to people of the African Diaspora. Genre: Speculative fiction, art, and poetry about African Diaspora. Length: Short fiction 2,000–7,000 words and novelettes up to 15,000 words. See theme. Payment: $150 per story. $50 per poem. $300 per novelette. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Nonbinary Review. Genre: Speculative fiction, poetry, art. Theme: Heredity. Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose; up to 3 pages for poetry Payment: $0.01/word for prose, $10 for poetry. $25 flat fee for visual art, or $50 for pieces chosen as cover art. Deadline: April 30, 2024.
Malahat Review. Genre: Fiction. Payment: CAD $70/page. Deadline: April 30, 2024. (Note: Submissions by Canadian writers are accepted for consideration all year.)
AND A FEW MORE…
Cincinnati Review. Genre: Prose, poetry, art. Payment: $25/page for prose in journal. $30/page for poetry in journal. Deadline: Opens on May 1, closes when cap is reached.
Grumpy Old Gods Anthology: Grumpy Old Sherwood Genre: Speculative fiction stories. Theme: Robin Hood. “It’s open season on storytelling. It means you can take whatever bits you like best of thousands of available tales, and twist and turn them however you like.” Length: 3,000–4,000 words. Payment: A percentage of the profits. Deadline: May 1, 2024.
Bright Wall/Dark Room. Genre: Essay on theme: Spike Lee. “For our month of Lee, we’re seeking essays and voices tackling any and all of his films, his performances, his writings, his impact on cinema and culture.” Payment: $100. Deadline: May 1, 2024.
Everyday Heroes. Genre: Contemporary Fiction. “In Honor of Mark Christopher Wagner the 2nd, we are looking for compelling and heartfelt stories centered around those who serve their communities. Stories of Firefighters, First responders, Law Enforcement, etc. Those Everyday Heroes who make a difference in the lives of their communities.” Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 1, 2024.
LONG DIVISION: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners. Genre: Stories of transgression, of the mechanisms behind what’s fraying the bonds that bind us. Payment: 10c/word for original short fiction (up to 5,000 words). Deadline: Opens on May 1, closes when cap is reached.
The Bombay Literary Magazine. Genre: Fiction, poetry, translated fiction/poetry and graphic fiction. Payment: Indian rupees 5,000 (approx. $61) per contribution. Deadline: Opens on May 1.
The First Line. Genre: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction using the first line provided. (See site.) Payment: $25.00 — $50.00 for fiction, $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction. Deadline: May 1, 2024.
Seven Story Hotel. Genre: Interviews, essays, stories, poems, and artwork. 7SH explores the weird, esoteric, and outsider fringes of contemporary culture, art, and technology. Payment: $35. Deadline: May 1, 2024. or until filled.
Vault of Shadows. Genre: Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 3000 and 7500 words (not really a firm limit — the final product will be the comics script, not the short story), that can be adapted into a comic book script of 12 pages or less. Payment: $35 per page of the adapted script, up to 12 pages, paid via PayPal, and a print copy of the issue. Deadline: Extended submission window exclusively for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and other marginalized writers open April 16 — May 1, 2024.
Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror: short stories and poems — see themes. Payment: Fiction, 15 cents/word. Poetry, $10. Deadline: May 1, 2024.
Foglifter. Genre: Foglifter is a biannual compendium of queer and trans writing. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ writers celebrate, mourn, rage, and embrace. “Foglifter welcomes daring and thoughtful work by queer and trans writers in all forms, and we are especially interested in cross-genre, intersectional, marginal, and transgressive work. We want the pieces that challenged you as a writer, what you poured yourself into and risked the most to make. But we also want your tenderest, gentlest work, what you hold closest to your heart. Whatever you’re working on now that’s keeping you alive and writing, Foglifter wants to read it.” Payment: $25. Deadline: May 1, 2024.
Like this article? For more articles about the publishing world, useful tips on how to get an agent, agents who are looking for clients, how to market and promote your work, building your online platform, how to get reviews, self-publishing, as well as publishers accepting manuscripts directly from writers (no agent required) visit Publishing and Other Forms of Insanity.
