Many writers have shared their thoughts with the public:

"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." - Hannah Arendt

"Forget all the rules. Forget about being published. Write for yourself and celebrate writing." - Melinda Haynes

"I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live." - Anais Nin

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." - Stephen King

"To understand a literary style, consider what it omits." - Mason Cooley

"It is human nature to imagine, to put yourself in another's shoes. " - Geraldine Brooks

"Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the internet." - Anon

Publishing Short Stories

This is a selected list of publications that accept unsolicited short stories without charging anyone a reading\submission fee or requiring a subscription. They may have restrictions on genre \theme\content. Some are digital-only publications (available to read online or download), some have printed editions too and a few are print-only. Some publications accept submissions at any time while others are open at various times during the year.

Some publications will let you submit more than one short story at a time ('multiple submissions') and\or submit a story that's under consideration elsewhere ('simultaneous submission'). Different publications have different requirements for formatting\presentation, additional information to include and file types. Some are very picky. A publication can take weeks or months to respond to you, and some will respond only if they want to publish your story.

Most publications won't accept material created using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) because they're interested in your experience, imagination, thoughts, feelings etc and they appreciate writing on which you've spent time, effort and skill. They also want to see your personal writing style rather than a homogenized one from a computer program.

If you have a story accepted by a publication, they'll want certain rights such as First Electronic Rights, or First Serial Rights and Non-Exclusive Electronic Rights. Occasionally, the information on a publication's website about rights is inaccurate. A publication will probably ask that you don't publish your story elsewhere for a time ('exclusivity period') and might ask that in future, you credit them as the first publisher. Note that they might not accept any further stories from you for a time, in order to publish a variety of writers.

There are many other publications out there too, in addition to the ones on this list. Some have more restrictions on who can submit to them.

I'm not affiliated with any of these publications and can't guarantee the accuracy of the information so please do your own research before submitting anything.

Publications that pay for stories:

General fiction - unpublished stories:

• Agnes and True. Digital. Accepts stories that show a 'Canadian sensibility'. Size limit: 500 - 3500 words. Pays CAD $75.
• Aniko. Print. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues. No specified word limit. Pays AUD $125.
• Bridge House Publishing. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed anthologies. Size limit: 1000 - 5000 words. Pays a share of royalties once a year if they've accrued to at least GBP £10.
• Consequence. Print and digital. Accepts submissions Jan 15 through Apr 15, and Jul 15 through Oct 15 each year. Theme: war. Size limit: 5000 words. Pays USD $30 - $50.
• Craft. Digital. Size limit: 6000 words. Pays USD $100 for up to 1000 words, USD $200 for 1001 - 6000 words.
• Crannog. Print. Accepts submissions during May and Nov each year. Size limit: 2000 words. Pays €200.
• Dreamworldgirl. Print and digital. Accepts submissions only from women. Accepts submissions during Apr through Jun, and Oct through Dec each year. Themed issues. No specified word limit. Pays USD $5 - $10. See the contact page on their website for the email address for submissions.
• Electric Literature. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 1500 words, or 2000 - 10,000 words. Pays USD $100 for up to 1500 words, USD $300 for 2000 - 10,000 words.
• Elegant Literature. Digital. Accepts submissions only from new\emerging writers. Themed issues. Size limit: 500 - 2000 words. Pays (Canadian) 10 cents\word.
• Flash Fiction Online. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Some issues are themed. Varying word limits. Pays USD $100.
• Fractured Lit. Digital. Size limit: 1000 words. Pays AUD $50 for up to 400 words, AUD $75 for 401 - 1000 words.
• Griffith Review. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues. Size limit: 4000 words. Pays (Australian) 75 cents\word.
• Gutter. Print and digital. Accepts submissions during Northern Hemisphere Spring and Autumn. Size limit: 2500 words. Pays GBP £50.
• Island. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Accepts submissions only from Australia, New Zealand, and Australians overseas. Size limit: 4000 words. Pays (Australian) 40 cents\word with a minimum of AUD $600 and a maximum of $1500 but deducts the cost of a subscription for non-subscribers.
• Island Online. Digital (an online-only supplement to Island magazine). Accepts submissions at times. Accepts submissions only from Australia, New Zealand, and Australians overseas. Size limit: 1500 words. Pays AUD $600 but deducts the cost of a subscription to Island for non-subscribers.
• Mascara Literary Review. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 3000 words. Pays AUD $200 (to Australians only).
• MudRoom. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 6000 words. Pays USD $15.
• Notch Magazine. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues. Size limit: 1500 words. Payment not specified.
Overland. Print and digital. Accepts submissions only from Australia and New Zealand. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 3000 words. Pays AUD $550 for printed stories, AUD $170 for digital stories.
• Prairie Fire. Print. You can submit fiction once every 12 months. Size limit: 10,000 words. Pays (US) 10 cents\word up to a maximum of USD $250.
• Quadrant. Print and digital. Size limit: 1000 - 4000 words. Pays AUD $250 (not mentioned on the site).
• SmokeLong Quarterly. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 1000 words. Pays USD $100.
• Splinter. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. There can be restrictions on who can submit. No specified word limit. Pays AUD $900.
• The Atlantic. Print and digital. No specified word limit. Payment not specified.
• The Big Issue - fiction edition. Print. Accepts submissions only from Australia. Accepts submissions from late Mar through early Jun each year. Size limit: 500 - 3000 words. Pays AUD $500.
• The Dublin Review. Print. No specified word limit. Pays GBP £300+.
• The Masters Review. Digital. Accepts submissions only from new\emerging writers. Size limit: 7000 words. Pays USD $100 for up to 1000 words, USD $200 for 1001 - 7000 words.
• The New Yorker. Print and digital. No specified word limit. Payment not specified.
• The People's Friend. Print and digital. Size limit: close to 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000 or 7500 words. Pays GBP £80 - £110.
• The School Magazine (Countdown, Blast Off, Orbit, Touchdown). Print and digital. Accepts stories for 7 - 12 year old children. Size limit: 1500 words. Pays (Australian) 50 cents\word.
• The Stinging Fly. Print and digital. Accepts submissions during two-week periods during May and Nov each year. No specified word limit. Pays GBP £150 - £1200.
• The Suburban Review. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues. Size limit: 500 - 2500 words. Pays AUD $300 for 500 - 1000 words, AUD $375 for 1000 - 2000 words, AUD $450 for 2000 - 2500 words but deducts $40 for a subscription for non-subscribers.
• The Threepenny Review. Print and digital. Accepts submissions from Jan 1 through April 14 each year. Size limit: 4000 words. Pays USD $400.
• Uncharted. Digital. Size limit: 1000 - 5000 words. Pays USD $200.
• Vast Chasm Magazine. Digital. Size limit: 5000 words. Pays USD $50.
• Westerly. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 3500 words. Pays AUD $500 for printed stories, AUD $250 for digital stories.

General fiction - both unpublished and previously published stories:

• Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Print and digital. Previously published stories are accepted if they were not published in the USA. Theme: mystery\detective stories. Size limit: almost any length (preferably 2500 - 8000 words). Pays (US) 6 - 8 cents\word.
• Mslexia. Print and digital. Accepts submissions only from women. Accepts submissions at times. Accepts previously published stories if they were self-published (not selected or commissioned via an independent editorial process). Varying themes. Varying word limits. Pays GBP £30+.
• One Story. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Previously published stories are accepted if they were published only in print outside of North America. Size limit: 3000 - 8000 words. Pays USD $500.
• Short Fiction: The Visual Literary Journal. Digital. Accepts submissions from all countries except the USA. Accepts submissions at times. Previously published stories are accepted if they were published only in print and the publication has fewer than 5000 subscribers\sales. Size limit: 500 - 5000 words. Pays GBP £30 - £100.
• Short Story Stack. Digital. Size limit: 6 - 10,000 words. Pays USD $100+.
• Solstitia. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues but the theme isn't strictly enforced. Size limit: 10,000 words. Pays USD $50.
• Stanchion. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Previously published stories are accepted if they were published only on social media\personal blogs. Limit: 4000 words. Pays USD $20.
• Stanchion - Elegant Variations. Digital (an online-only supplement to Stanchion magazine). Accepts submissions at times. Previously published stories are accepted if they were published only on social media\personal blogs. Limit: 1000 words. Pays USD $5.
• Story Unlikely. Digital. Accepts submissions from Feb 2 through Sep 29 each year - you can submit once every 90 days during that time. Size limit: 3500 words. Pays (US) 8 cents\word for unpublished stories and (US) 2 cents\word for previously published stories.
• The Lascaux Review. Digital. No specified word limit. Payment not specified.
• The Literary Hatchet. Digital. Size limit: 500 - 7500 words. Pays: USD $10.

Speculative fiction - unpublished stories:

• Amazing Stories. Digital. Size limit: 1000 - 24,000 words. Pays USD $10 for under 2500 words, USD $20 for 2500 - 24,000 words.
• Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 20,000 words. Pays AUD $10 for under 1000 words, (Australian) 1 cent\word for 1000 words+ but with a minumum of AUD $20 and a maximum of AUD $100.
• Asimov's Science Fiction. Print and digital. Size limit: preferably 1000 - 20,000 words. Pays (US) 8 - 10 cents\word for up to 7500 words, (US) 8 cents\word for 7501+ words.
• Aurealis. Digital. Accepts submissions Mar 1 through Sep 30. Size limit: 2000 - 8000 words. Pays AUD $20 - $60 per 1000 words.
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Digital. Accepts literary adventure fantasy in a secondary world setting. Size limit: 15,000 words. Pays (US) 8 cents\word.
• Clarkesworld Magazine. Print and digital. Accepts science fiction and fantasy (no horror). Size limit: 1000 - 22,000 words. Pays (US) 14 cents\word.
• Indie Bites. Print and digital. Accepts submissions only from adults. Accepts submissions at times. Themed anthologies, fantasy only. Size limit: 7500 words. Pays GBP £5 plus a share of any donations.
• Last Girls' Club. Print and digital. Accepts submissions only from adults. Accepts submissions at times. Accepts submissions with female main characters only. Themed anthologies with a focus on horror\supernatural\creeping dread. Size limit: 2500 words. Pays (US) 0.015 cents\word.
• Lightspeed. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 10,000 words (preferably no more than 5000 words). Pays (US) 8 cents\word.
• Luna Station Quarterly. Digital. Accepts submissions only from women. Accepts submissions from Dec 15 through Feb 15, Mar 15 through May 15, Jun 15 through Aug 15, and Sep 15 through Nov 15 each year. Accepts science fiction and fantasy (no horror). Size limit: 500 - 7000 words. Pays USD $10.
• Nightmare. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Accepts horror and dark fantasy. Size limit: 7500 words (preferably no more than 5000 words). Pays (US) 8 cents\word.
• Shoreline of Infinity. Digital and print. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 6000 words. Pays GBP £20 per 1000 words.
• Space and Time. Print and digital. Accepts submissions 15 - 31 Jan and 15 - 31 Jul each year. Size limit: 5000 words. Pays (US) 1 cent\word.

Speculative fiction - both unpublished and previously published stories:

• Emerging Worlds. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. No specified word limit. Pays GBP £5.

Publications that accept short stories but don't pay for them:

General fiction - unpublished stories:

• Active Muse. Digital. Accepts submissions only from adults. Size limit: 3000 words.
• African Writer Magazine. Digital. Accepts stories that engage African people, places and ideas. Size limit: 4000 words.
• Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Print and digital. Theme: crime. Size limit: 12,000 words.
• All Your Stories. Print and digital. Varying word limits up to 2500 words.
• Bright Flash Literary Review. Digital. Accepts submissions only from adults. Size limit: 50 - 1500 words.
• Cafe Lit. Digital. Size limit: 3000 words.
• Club Plum. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Some issues are themed. Size limit: 3000 words.
• Confluence. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 2500 words.
• Cordella Magazine. Print and digital. Accepts submissions only from women. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues but the theme isn't strictly enforced. No specified word limit.
• Eleventh Hour Literary. Digital. Accepts submissions from Jan 15 through Mar 15, and Aug 15 through Oct 15. Accepts stories that have been rejected by other publications and then revised. Size limit: 7000 words.
• Femmeuary. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Feminist slant. Size limit: 3000 words.
• Fictive Dream. Digital. Size limit: 2500 words.
• Flash Fiction Magazine. Digital. You can submit once a month. Size limit: 300 - 1000 words.
• Flash Fiction North. Digital. Size limit: 500 words.
• Funny Pearls. Digital. Accepts submissions only from women. Accepts humorous stories. Size limit: 4000 words.
• Heat. Print and digital. No specified word limit.
• Literary Yard. Digital. No specified word limit.
• Loud Coffee Press. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Accepts stories that contain a reference to coffee and\or music. Size limit: 99 - 1000 words.
• MER - Mom Egg Review. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Theme: motherhood. Size limit: 1000 words.
• Northern Eclecta. Print and digital. Accepts submissions from mid Jan to early Mar each year. Themed issues. No specified word limit.
• OyeDrum. Digital. Accepts submissions only from women. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues. No specified word limit.
• Oyster River Pages. Digital. Accepts submissions from Jan 15 through May 1 each year. Size limit: 6000 words.
• Persimmon Tree. Digital. Accepts submissions only from women over 60. Size limit: 3500 words.
• Prole. Digital and print. Size limit: 7500 words.
• Review Americana: A Creative Writing Journal. Digital. Accepts stories that appeal to Americans and bear some relationship to American culture. No specified word limit.
• Short Stories 101. Digital. No specified word limit.
• Silly Goose Press. Digital. Accepts submissions only from adults. Accepts submissions at times. Some issues are themed. Limit: 3000 words. Some issues have lower word limits.
• Socjeta Literary Review. Digital. Accepts stories about social issues. Size limit: 1000 words.
• Spadina Literary Review. Digital. Size limit: 500 - 2000 words.
• Superpresent. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed issues. Size limit: 500 - 2000 words.
• The Manchester Review. Digital. Accepts submissions at times. Size limit: 6000 words.
• The Paris Review. Print and digital. Accepts submissions during Feb, Jun and Oct each year until they reach capacity. Size limit: 40 pages.
• Thin Skin. Digital. Accepts submissions only from writers aged late 40s/50+. Accepts literary fiction only (no genre fiction). Size limit: 3000 words.
• Twist & Twain. Digital. Accepts submissions only from adults. Size limit: 3000 words.

General fiction - both unpublished and previously published stories:

• Craft. Digital. Size limit: 6000 words. No payment for previously published stories.
• CultureCult. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Themed anthologies (often dark\horror themes). Size limit: 8000 words.
• Firewords. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Previously published stories are occasionally accepted. Themed issues but the theme isn't strictly enforced. Size limit: 2000 words.
• FlashFlood. Digital. Accepts submissions during one week a year, in April. Size limit: 300 words.
• Fractured Lit. Digital. Size limit: 1000 words. No payment for previously published stories.
• The Incandescent Review. Digital. Accepts submissions only from writers age 13 - 24. Accepts submissions at times. Previously published stories are accepted if they were published only in print or on personal blogs\social media accounts. Size limit: 6 pages.
• Willows Wept Review. Print and digital. Previously published stories are accepted if they were published only in print more than one year ago, or on a personal website. No specified word limit.
• Uncharted. Digital. Size limit: 1000 - 5000 words. No payment for previously published stories.

Speculative fiction - unpublished stories:

• Bag of Bones Press. Print and digital. Accepts submissions at times. Accepts horror and dark fiction. No specified word limit.

Speculative fiction - both unpublished and previously published stories:

• AntipodeanSF. Digital. Size limit: 500 - 1000 words.