January is an exciting month, as several journals will open their doors for submissions during the month. These magazines/journals pay for fiction, and they are all scheduled to open for a limited period during January 2021. A few also accept other genres, like nonfiction and poetry.
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores
This speculative fiction magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork. They publish science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch, in written, podcast, video, and/or graphic story form; see guidelines for the hard sells, and the kind of stories they won’t accept. They also accept reprints of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They read submissions during the first two days of each month.
Reading period: 1-2 January 2021
Length: Anywhere from 1,000 words and up for fiction (shorter works favored); unspecified for others
Pay: $0.06/word for fiction, $0.02-0.06/word for nonfiction, $1/line for poetry up to 40 lines (lower for longer poems)
Details here.
(Another market that will open for speculative poetry in January is Uncanny Magazine; 4-18 January 2021. No fiction or nonfiction during this submission window.)
Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine
They publish fairy tale themed fiction and poetry; both of these have to follow the specific yearly theme, while nonfiction can be on any fairy tale subject. They’re open for 72 hours at the beginning of each month (January-November). For 2021, the theme is ‘Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk.’ Their guidelines say, “I’m looking for old fashioned herbal healers who served villages way back in the day, midwives also tended to help with a variety of ailments, and “cunning folk,” who used folk magic as well as potions, salves and poultices, etc. Think of regular herbalists, hedge witches, kitchen witches, regular midwives, etc. I am looking for folklore to merge into fairy tales here.
What does that mean? It means you should submit works that have at least an element of the theme above. You may retell an existing fairy tale or use a story for a jumping off place for your poem or story. You can mashup two or more fairy tales. The theme may figure into your work in subtle or large ways.”
Reading period: 1-3 January 2021
Length: 750-1,000 words for prose; poetry of any length
Pay: $50
Details here.
Scum
This Australian magazine is interested in feminist-friendly fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They accept work from 1st to 7th of every month.
Reading period: 1-7 January 2021
Length: Up to 2,000 words for prose, up to 50 lines for poetry (max 3 poems)
Pay: AUD60
Details here.
Cossmass Infinities
This magazine of science fiction and fantasy is open during the first week of each month, alternating between under-represented and general submissions. During the first week of January they will be open for submissions by Black, Asian, Latin, LGBTQ+ and other under-represented authors; general submissions will be open during the first week of February.
Reading period: 1-7 January 2021 for under-represented writers
Length: 2,000-10,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
The Stinging Fly
This Irish magazine publishes fiction and poetry from Ireland and abroad, as well as commissioned essays, and they have a particular interest in promoting the short story. They are currently open for fiction submissions only.
Deadline: 8 January 2021
Length: No length guidelines for fiction
Pay: €30/page for fiction
Details here.
Electric Literature: The Commuter; Recommended Reading
Electric Lit will open a brief submission period for two series in January.
The Commuter – Electric Lit’s The Commuter is a space for poetry, flash, graphic, and experimental narratives. It publishes weekly.
Recommended Reading – This series publishes fiction, and they will be only accepting short fiction (not flash) during this submission window.
Reading period: 18-24 January 2021
Length: The Commuter – up to 1,500 words for prose, 4-6 poems; Recommended Reading – 2,000-10,000 words for fiction
Pay: $100 for The Commuter, $300 for Recommended Reading
Details here.
Shenandoah
This literary magazine publishes essays, creative nonfiction, short stories, excerpts of novels in progress, poems, comics, and translations of all of the above. Their upcoming submission window is for prose only (fiction and essays). They accept comic submissions and translations throughout the year. They can only accept 800 submissions per month, so they recommend submitting early during a reading period.
Reading period: 15-31 January 2021
Length: Up to 8,000 words for prose
Pay: $100 per 1,000 words, up to $500
Details here (scroll down).
(They’re also accepting submissions for The Shenandoah Fellowship for BIPOC Editors.)
Hermine
This is a Canadian print-only journal of short stories, published annually and distributed by mail. Their website says they will open in early January, and will close when a submission cap is reached. Pay varies with each issue; for the first issue, it was CAD0.08/word (see FAQ).
Reading period: Will open in early January, and remain open until submission cap is reached; dates are unspecified.
Length: Up to 4,000 words
Pay: Unspecified
Details here (submission guidelines) and here (FAQ).
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.
