Special Feature

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in September 2025

These magazines accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and comics. They are a mix of literary and genre magazines. Not all of these magazines are open through the month. WesterlyThis Australian magazine accepts fiction, poetry, creative as well as scholarly nonfiction, comics, and art. They are currently reading submissions for Issues 70.1 and 70.2.Deadline: 17 September 2025…
Issue Six Hundred Forty One Special Feature

Lessons from a Thousand Submissions

By Michael Theroux Casinos live on a thin margin of success, the ‘house edge’, yet the percentage is lucrative. That ‘casino advantage’ varies by game from less than 0.5 to about 5.25%; games with a low house edge pay out less than do games with a built-in higher advantage for the casino That’s a lot…
Issue Six Hundred Forty One Special Feature

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in September

This list focuses on ten publishers that we are excited about that are open to submissions this month. Some are only open for a short period of time, others will be open the whole month and beyond. At least four of these are presses we have not covered previously. Please note that if a publisher…
Issue Six Hundred Forty Special Feature

How to Find Publishers Open to Direct Submissions

Over a year ago we stopped releasing a new review of a publisher every week. We still review the same amount of publishers a month, but we release the four to five new publisher reviews as links on a longer list. This has helped decrease the amount of submissions publishers receive and the amount of…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Nine Special Feature

90 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (August 2025)

This list of publishers meet our guiding principles, but are only open to free submissions from historically underrepresented writers or focus on publishing content produced by historically underrepresented writers. Some of these publications are open to a wide range of writers including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, and those living with disabilities….
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Eight Special Feature

In Praise of Repetition Loops, Echoes, and the Power of Return

By Sabyasachi Roy I woke up humming the same two lines of a poem for three mornings straight. And you know what? I kind of loved it. That stuck-in-your-head feeling is exactly what writers can aim for. A phrase that creeps back into your brain—whispered at the start of every chapter—turn into a little drumbeat…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Eight Special Feature

The Sentence as a Spine: How Syntax Shapes Story

By Sabyasachi Roy Writers talk a lot. Plot arcs, character depth, themes that whisper and shout—it’s all very lovely and MFA-scented. But underneath all that flourish and philosophizing, there’s one unsung hero holding the whole mess together: the sentence. That’s right. The humble sentence. You know, that thing your seventh-grade English teacher ruined for you…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Six Special Feature

12 Magazines Seeking Microfiction

Though not everyone can write a famous 6-word story (and here is a short take by OpenCulture on the story attributed to Hemingway), it is a great exercise to try. And while magazines have different length requirements for microfiction (from a few words to a few hundred), the general consensus is, it is shorter than…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Five Special Feature

The Beautiful Blur: Writing in the Liminal Space Between Genres

By Sabyasachi Roy There’s a weird little place where poems go when they get too talky, and where stories wander off when they forget to have plots. Welcome to the genre blur. Population: writers who mutter, “I don’t know what this is, but it feels right.” If you’ve ever stared at your own Word doc…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Five Special Feature

81 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (July 2025)

This list of publishers meet our guiding principles, but are only open to free submissions from historically underrepresented writers or focus on publishing content produced by historically underrepresented writers. Some of these publications are open to a wide range of writers including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, and those living with disabilities….
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Three Special Feature

Plot Holes? I Prefer to Call Them “Opportunities for Interpretation”

By Sabyasachi Roy This article can come with an alternate title, Gaslighting Yourself into Believing Your Book Makes Perfect Sense. This is not without a rational outing. You spent years hammering out your novel, agonizing over every plot twist, ensuring airtight logic. And then some smug reader points out that your main character, locked in…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty One Special Feature

10 Magazines and Anthologies Publishing Humor

These websites / magazines and anthologies accept humor. They can be in the form of humorous lists or letters, articles or jokes, or a funny bent in stories. Some of them pay writers. Where possible, please read the publication to get a sense of the work they’re looking for. Thin Air MagazineThe magazine is published…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Special Feature

4 Unique Writing Habits of Famous Writers

By Isha Jain As someone who wants to improve my craft, I often read about the writing advice and habits of accomplished writers. Over the years, I have come across many quirky habits that have helped some famous writers. Like Dan Brown, who wears gravity boots and hangs upside down from a frame to clear…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Special Feature

Why You Should Question Your Writing Goals

Ratika Deshpande       When I first found my calling as a writer, I imagined myself writing novels. A couple of years later, I thought I’d write collections of short stories. Today, I mostly write articles and essays, although I’m again entertaining the idea of publishing books. I’ll probably have a different writing goal in a…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Nine Special Feature

Unusual Writing Formats: When Your Story Demands Footnotes, Letters, or a Series of Haikus

By Sabyasachi Roy A few years ago, I decided to write a short story for a competition. It started as a simple tale of a man trying to return a library book, but somewhere along the way, my brain decided, “Hey, what if the story was told entirely through increasingly absurd footnotes?” What began as…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Seven Special Feature

« Older Entries

  • Manuscript Publishers By Category

  • Literary Journals By Category