Written by December 22nd, 2016

The Twelve Best Literary Journals: 2016 Edition

Out of all the literary journals we reviewed this year the following 12 are our personal favorites. They run a wide gamut, from highly respected to new and intriguing.

If a literary journal you admire is not on this list it is probably for one of the following reasons:

  1. We didn’t review that literary journal this year.
  2. We have never reviewed that literary journal.
  3. They charge reading fees for submissions. We never review journals that don’t accept free submissions.

This year we reviewed over 50 literary journals, all of which we liked, and from those 50 journals we have picked these 12. Credit is owed to the wonderful Ella Peary who wrote most of these reviews.  Click on the name of the journal to read our review and visit their website.

Not all of the literary journals are currently open to submissions, but most are.

The list is in no particular order.

Banshee
A new Irish print literary journal that is off to a great start.

Escape Pod
An audio science fiction journal that publishes a lot of great work.

LitMag
This brand new literary journal pays very well.

Lady.
This literary magazine only publishes work by female authors. They publish a lot of good, compelling work.

Long Exposure
A literary journal that incorporates and explores visual art.

Poetry Magazine
The most prestigious and established poetry only literary journal.

Clarkesworld Magazine
This science fiction journal is well established and they pay well.

HORSETHIEF
A beautiful electronic journal that dabbles in print.

Door is a Jar
This journal prefers emerging voices.

Guernica
This literary journal has its finger on the present.

Valparaiso Poetry Review
A wonderful journal that publishes both the emerging and the established.

 

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Inkubator Books

Inkubator Books

This Dublin, Ireland-based press focuses on publishing crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers. They do not publish work outside of this genre, and they do not publish work outside of Amazon. Most of the work they publish do very well on Amazon through Kindle Unlimited. The books they publish are not just available digitally, they also…

Watertower Hill Publishing

Watertower Hill Publishing

A small press founded in 2020 by Joshua L. Daughrity, who publishes his work under the pen name Joshua Loyd Fox. It started out as a self-publishing operation, but expanded from there into anthologies. Watertower Hill held their first open reading period for manuscripts in 2023. They are transparent about how many authors they signed…

Subtle Body Press

Subtle Body Press

Subtle Body Press is a small press that publishes a schizo-philosophical / countercultural journal series called Seven Story Hotel and a short fiction focused literary journal called Body Shots, both of which are currently open to submissions. They are also seeking a novella-length work of fiction or creative nonfiction to publish this year.  This is…

Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications is an independent publisher of English-language nonfiction books on Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness. The work they publish is for Buddhist practitioners of all stages as well as for non-Buddhist readership. They also say, “We are also interested in books exploring new directions in Buddhist scholarship.” Like most faith-based publications, they are only interested…