Written by S. Kalekar May 4th, 2023

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in May 2023

These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; they are a mix of literary and genre magazines. Not all of them are open through the month.

Uncanny
This science fiction and fantasy magazine is open for a week in May for short fiction submissions, and for a fortnight for novella submissions. “We want  intricate, experimental stories … with gorgeous prose, verve, and imagination that elicit strong emotions and challenge beliefs.”
Deadline: 7 May for short fiction, 15 May 2023 for novellas
Length: 750-10,000 words for short fiction, 17,500-40,000 words for novellas
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here and here.

— Lightspeed is also open for the first week of May, for fantasy short story submissions of 1,501-10,000 words, and pays $0.08/word. They’ll open for science flash fiction submissions later, too. Details here and here.
— Fusion Fragment will open for science fiction and SF-tinged literary fiction submissions for one day only, on 13th May. The submission portal will open during the reading period. They pay 3.5 Canadian cents per word, up to CAD300, for stories of 2,000-15,000 words. Details here. 
— Solarpunk is open for unthemed solarpunk stories and poetry during the first two weeks of May. They are still accepting submissions for a themed issue, ‘Solarpunk Myth’, too. They also accept translations, nonfiction, and artwork. The deadline is 14 May 2023 for fiction of and poetry, nonfiction is open on an ongoing basis. The pay $0.08/word for fiction, $40 per poem, $75 for essays. Details here and here.

Old Pal
They accept poetry, fiction, criticism, excerpts, audio, mixed media, and various mediums of art.
Deadline: 20 May 2023
Length: up to 10 pages of poetry, up to 15 pages of prose
Pay: $50
Details here.

— Cutleaf opened on 1st May for literary fiction submissions, as well. They will stay open until 7th May or until they reach their quota, whichever is earlier. They pay $100-400 for stories up to 6,000 words. Details here.
— One Story also opened for fiction submissions on 1st May, and will stay open until they reach their quota. They pay $500 for literary fiction, including translations and some reprints, of 3,000-8,000 words. Details here.
— The Cincinnati Review, too, opened for literary fiction, fiction translation, nonfiction, poetry, and poetry translation submissions for their print magazine on 1st May, and will stay open until filled. They pay $25/page for prose, $30/page for poetry, and $25 for their online feature, miCRo. Details here.

Escape Pod
This is the science fiction online magazine and podcast. “We are fairly flexible on what counts as science (superheroes! steampunk! space opera! time travel!) and are interested in exploring the range of the genre. We want stories that center science, technology, future projections, and/or alternate history, and how any or all of these things impact individuals and society.
Escape Pod leans in the direction of escapism, hopepunk and optimism rather than grimdark and gloom.” They have extensive guidelines. They also accept reprints. Escape Pod is from the Escape Artists suite of magazines (see links on the top of the page for their other magazines, and see individual schedules for open and forthcoming submission periods).
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Length: 1,500-6,000 words for short fiction, longer for reprints
Pay: $0.08/word for original stories, $100 for reprints
Details here (guidelines overview), here (detailed guidelines), here (submission portal), and here (schedule).

Reader Beware
They are reading submissions for their third issue. Their guidelines say, “we want to see pulp horror of all kinds – think Friday the Thirteenth, Psycho Goreman, and Glorious. Think Junji Ito, Grady Hendrix, and Eric LaRocca. We want your creepy gorefests!  Don’t be afraid to get explicit with it, just don’t send us anything too mean-spirited. Gore is great, peril and torment are great–continuing the horror tradition of fetishistically brutalizing women is not.” They also accept poetry and comics.
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 3 pages for poetry
Pay: $0.01/word for fiction, $0.05/line for poetry, $5/page for comics
Details here.

Contemporary Verse 2
This is a quarterly literary journal that publishes poetry and critical writing about poetry, including interviews, articles, essays, and reviews.
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Length: Varies
Pay: $30 per poem, $40-150 for prose
Details here and here.


Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.

 

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