The following 10 magazines and journals focus on publishing science fiction. Some also are interested in publishing horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction, as well as poetry, but the main focus remains on Science Fiction. All of these journals are highly respected, many have been around for a long time. All of the following journals pay their authors professional rates (starting at 2 cents a word). Because they are respected paying markets all of these journals are highly selective, and they only publish a very small percentage of the work that is submitted to them.
Having your work published in one of these journals can help a great deal with procuring a publisher or an agent for a full manuscript. Not all of the journals are currently open to submissions, but many of them are. The list is in no particular order.
Azimov’s Science Fiction
Stories that Asimov’s published in the past have won 54 Hugos and 25 Nebula awards. The editors of Asimov’s have won 20 Hugo awards for Best Editor.2You can read a full review of the magazine here. Or you can visit their website here.
Analog
A respected journal that publishes everything from short stories to novellas. They also publish poetry and fact based articles. The payment amount depends on the story length and article type. You can visit their website here to learn more.
Apex
Apex is a beautiful publication that publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They pay 6 cents a word for everything up to 7,500 words in length. Anything longer than that they pay one cent a word for. They also publish poetry. To learn more visit their website here.Their submission guidelines can be visited directly here.
Strange Horizons
They have a very low acceptance rates, they pay professional rates, and most importantly they publish good stories. Unlike some of the other publications, it is easy to get a feel for what they publish online as many of the stories are available for the public to read directly on the website. To learn more visit their website.
The Dark
The Dark has a very quick response time, sometimes within a day, but often within two weeks. They focus on publishing dark science fiction, surrealism, magic realism, and fiction with elements of the fantastic mixed in. To learn more visit their website.
Ideomancer
They publish speculative fiction and poetry. They pay 3 cents a word for prose, or a flat rate of 40 dollars. They pay 6 dollars per poem. To learn more visit their website here.
Lightspeed
Lightspeed is an established monthly electronic publisher of science fiction and fantasy writing. Many of the works that have been published there have gone on to be nominated for prestigious genre awards, including the Hugo. They pay authors 8 cents a word and publish stories of up to 7,500 words in length, although their general preference is for stories that are around 5,000 words. You can read our full review here. To submit, visit their website.
Clarkesworld Magazine
They publish science fiction and fantasy works in print and eMagazine editions. They are highly respected. They pay their fiction authors 10¢ per word for the first 4000 words, and 7¢ for each word over 4000. To learn more read our full review here or visit their website.
Adromeda Spaceways
They accept science fiction, fantasy and supernatural horror works up to 10,000 words in length. They accept poetry and non-fiction works as well. They pay 1.25 cents/Word (in Australian currency) with a $20 minimum per piece. To learn more visit their website here.
Shimmer
Shimmer is an online journal that specializes in publishing speculative fiction. They largely publish contemporary fantasy short stories, although they are also open to science fiction and horror. They have a large readership and a good reputation. You can read our full review here. To submit visit their website.
