It is good to start out by submitting your work to literary journals that have fast response times. It is rewarding to hear back from journals within a month, rather than a year later, when you have forgotten all about them.
Submitting to journals with fast response times helps keep you motivated.
All of these journals respond to submissions within a month. The response time data is based on information from Duotrope, The (Submission) Grinder and Chill Subs.
Most, but not all, of them are open for submissions now.
Poets Respond – Rattle
As part of this series Rattle publishes a poem “written within the last week about a public event that occurred within the last week.” They respond to all submissions within two days and the poem is published online by the end of the week. They pay.
The Dark Magazine
An electronic magazine that publishes dark fantasy and horror short stories. They respond within two weeks. They pay contributors.
The Shore
An online poetry journal that responds to most submissions within two weeks.
Eunoia Review
The Eunoia Review describes themselves as a publisher of “beautiful thinking.” They respond in three days or less. They are based in Singapore.
Ghost Parachute
This flash fiction publisher tries to respond to all submissions within two weeks.
The New Verse News
The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues. Because of the nature of what they publish, they respond within a week.
Flash Frog
A fast-responding flash journal that pays. They try to respond within a week.
Milk Candy Review
An ePublisher of beautifully weird flash fiction up to 750 words in length. They generally respond within a week.
Fusion Fragment
They publish science fiction and literary fiction with science fiction elements. They allow some reprints. They respond within two weeks. They are a paying market. They reopen to submissions on July 1st.
SmokeLong Quarterly
An established publisher of flash fiction that responds to most submissions within two weeks. They are a paying market, but they also charge for some submission periods, but not others.
Radon Journal
Radon welcomes short story and poetry submissions containing elements of anarchism, transhumanism, dystopia, and/or science fiction. They pay all contributors and try to respond to all submissions within two to four weeks.
Star*line
The official journal of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, responds to most submissions within two weeks. This is a paying journal.
Neologism Poetry Journal
This literary journal publishes a wide range of creative poetics. Do not submit again within the same month unless explicitly instructed to do so.
Third Wednesday Magazine
They publish short fiction and poetry and try to respond to most submissions within two weeks. They also accept about 25% of what is submitted. They offer token payment.
The Inflectionist Review
They want to publish poetry that “fosters dialog between the reader and writer, between words and their meanings, between ambiguity and concept”. They respond within a week.
Pithead Chapel
An online journal that publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. They have a monthly submission cap and try to respond within three weeks.
Intrepidus Ink
They respond within a week but are looking for very specific stories, ones that “explore intrepid culture: our stories feature four elements in every story: danger, struggle, emotion, and OVERCOMING.” They have specific submission guidelines that you must follow.
FlashFlood Journal
FlashFlood is National Flash Fiction Day’s curated online journal. They only have one reading period a year. They respond to all submissions within a week.
trampset
trampset publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and they try to respond to all submissions within two weeks.
The Penn Review
This established literary journal responds to most submissions within three weeks. They are closed to submissions at the time of this update.
Wildness
A respected journal that mostly publishes poetry, they respond to most submissions within a month.
Scapegoat Review
They publish poetry, flash fiction, and visual art and respond to most submissions in two weeks.
Bright Flash Literary Review
They publish flash fiction, as well as fiction and memoir up to 1,500 words in length. They respond to most submissions within a week.
Dishsoap Quarterly
They respond within two weeks and are open to short fiction and nonfiction, as well as micro fiction and non fiction, poetry, and hybrid work.
The Orange & Bee
They publish “original and contemporary short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, with a strong focus on fairy tales”. They respond within a month, and they pay. They reopen to submissions in July.
Ink in Thirds
They publish poetry & prose and try to respond to all submissions within a week.
The Woolf
They publish short stories, flash fiction, micro-fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and visual art. They are currently closed to submissions but when they are open they try to respond within two weeks.
Trashlight Press
They describe themselves by saying “Trashlight Press is a lit mag for the feral, the rejected, the too-much-to-handle. We’re a home for weirdos and wordsmiths, the ones who never want to stay within the lines. The pieces we publish don’t play it safe – the scream, crawl, glow, and bleed.” They have fast response times and an over 50% acceptance rate. They have some themed reading periods and have rolling submission periods that do not have a theme attached.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2025 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
