Show Me the $$$! Literary Magazines That Pay

By Becky Tuch

Yeah, yeah, we all know that we’re not in this writing profession for the money. Still, do you ever wonder which journals pay their contributors? You might be surprised to know, and to know how much. Here is a list of some of the paying lit mag markets. All information is taken from the journals’ websites:

AGNI has published more than sixty issues and gone through many incarnations in its thirty-five years, including its tenure at Antioch, as a private publication in Western Massachusetts, and, since 1987, at Boston University, supported by the graduate Creative Writing Program. The magazine is one of the strongest voices of one of the most active writing communities in America, and we continue to focus on developing audiences for contemporary literature. Pay ranges from 1-4.9 cents per word for fiction; $5-$50 for poetry.

The Antigonish Review is a quarterly literary journal published by St. Francis Xavier University. The Review features poetry, fiction, reviews and critical articles from all parts of Canada, the US and overseas, using original graphics to enliven the format. For forty years, The Antigonish Review has consistently published fine poetry and prose by emerging -- and established -- writers. Prose contributors receive $50 plus copies; Poets receive $10/page to a maximum of $50, plus copies

In the Asia Literary Review Publisher Ilyas Khan, Managing Editor Duncan Jepson and their editorial team publish online and in print the best contemporary writing from and about Asia. Fiction writers receive 5 cents per word.

Black Warrior Review was established in 1974 by graduate students in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama. The journal publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners alongside up-and-coming writers. BWR pays a one-year subscription and a nominal lump-sum fee for all works published.

Boulevard strives to publish only the finest in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction (essays, interviews, etc.). Therefore we ask that you send only your best work. While we frequently publish writers with previous credits, we are very interested in publishing less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise. If you have practiced your craft and your work is the best it can be, send it to Boulevard. We pay $50-$500 (sometimes higher) for accepted work.

Camera Obscura is a biannual independent literary journal and internet haunt featuring contemporary literary fiction & photography. Contributors include established, as well as, emerging writers and photographers. A $1000 featured writer award will be given to the writer of a story selected for publication in each issue as determined by the editors. There is no fee for this award. All stories are eligible.

The Capilano Review has a long history of publishing new and established Canadian writers and artists who are experimenting with or expanding the boundaries of conventional forms and contexts. International writers and artists appear in our pages too. Founded in North Vancouver in 1972 by Pierre Coupey, the magazine continues its original mandate to publish the literary and visual arts side by side while favouring the risky, the provocative, the innovative, and the dissident.Contributors are paid $50 per published page to a maximum of $300. 

Carve seeks to publish outstanding literary fiction and to promote the writers we publish, helping both new, emerging, and established authors reach a wider literary audience. This is achieved through sharing their stories across a variety of publication mediums: online, print, e-readers, and more. In addition, we take special pride in our editorial process. While we cannot send a unique response to every submission, we certainly try. We offer notes and critiques on stories that we feel are nearly aligned with our vision while noting that ultimately selections are subjective and varied. We pay our contributors as funds allow. Compensation varies between $20-$50 for your story.

Crazyhorse was founded in 1960 by the poet Tom McGrath. Crazyhorse's mission is to publish the entire spectrum of today’s fiction, essays, and poetry—from the mainstream to the avant-garde, from the established to the undiscovered writer. Payment for accepted work: $20-35 per page of layout, depending on annual budget and grants received. 

The Fiddlehead is open to good writing in English from all over the world, looking always for freshness and surprise. Our editors are always happy to see new unsolicited works in fiction and poetry. Pay is approximately $40 CAD per published page, plus two complimentary copies of the issue with your work.

FLASH Fiction Online aims to serve flash fiction readers and writers with a professional, sustainable market for flash fiction stories. We pay fifty dollars ($50) per story.

The Georgia Review features an eclectic blend of essays, fiction, poetry, graphics, and book reviews. Appealing across disciplinary lines, the Review draws its material from a wide range of cultural interests—including, but not limited to, literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, politics, film, music, and the visual arts. The Georgia Review pays all contributors; the current standard rates are $50 per printed page for prose and $4 per line for poetry. 

The Gettysburg Review publishes the very best contemporary poetry, fiction, essays, essay-reviews, and art in issues as physically beautiful as they are intellectually and emotionally stimulating. Our most important criterion is high literary quality; we look for writers who can shape language in thoughtful, surprising, and beautiful ways and who have something unique to say, whatever the subject matter or aesthetic approach. Payment is upon publication: $2.50 per line for poetry and $30 per printed page for prose.

Glimmer Train is one of the most respected short-story journals in print. The journal is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the Midwest, O.Henry, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories anthologies. Payment is $700/story.

Gulf Coast is the nationally- distributed journal housed within the University of Houston's English Department, home to one of the nation's top ranked creative writing programs. Our readership of the print journal currently exceeds 3,000, with more and more coming to our ever-expanding website. The print journal comes out each April and October.

The Malahat Review is dedicated to excellence in writing. Its aim is to discover the most promising of the new writers and publish their work alongside the best established writers, to present work accurately and attractively to readers, and to increase awareness of Canadian writing in general through perceptive critical comment. We purchase first world serial rights and, upon acceptance pay $30 CAD per published page.

The Missouri Review, founded in 1978, is one of the most highly-regarded literary magazines in the United States and for the past thirty-four years we’ve upheld a reputation for finding and publishing the very best writers first. We are based at the University of Missouri and publish four issues each year. Each issue contains approximately five new stories, three new poetry features, and two essays, all of which is selected from unsolicited submissions sent from writers throughout the world. Payment rate is $40 per printed page. 

The New Quarterly is a magazine of Canadian fiction, poetry, and conversation, primarily about the writer’s craft. Our mandate is to nurture emerging writers by publishing and promoting their work alongside that of well-established writers we admire, and to provide an editorial context in which both can be read. We try to balance serious consideration of matters literary with playfulness and invention. The tone is generally celebratory. We pay, on publication, $250 for a short story and $40 per poem or "postscript" story.

Ninth Letter is published semi-annually at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are interested in prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work. Ninth Letter pays $25 per printed page, upon publication, for accepted material, as well as two complimentary copies of the issue in which the work appears.

The Pedestal Magazine is the vision of published writer and entrepreneur John Amen. Mr. Amen’s mission for the magazine is to publish a premier literary journal, exclusively online, featuring new and established writers and visual artists. Many bimonthly issues include in-depth interviews with a featured writer and visual artist, along with examples of their work, as well as poetry, fiction, and non- fiction from writers around the world. Pay Rate: $.05 per word. Pay Rate: $40 per poem.

Ploughshares was founded in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in the Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, Ploughshares has been based at Emerson College, which hosts one of the best M.F.A. programs in creative writing in the country. Published in April, August, and December in quality paperback, each issue is guest-edited by a prominent writer who explores personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles. Payment is upon publication: $25/printed page, $50 minimum per title, $250 maximum per author, with two copies of the issue and a one-year subscription. 

The Southern Review publishes fiction, poetry, critical essays, interviews, book reviews, and excerpts from novels in progress, with emphasis on contemporary literature in the United States and abroad. Poems and fiction are selected with careful attention to craftsmanship and technique and to the seriousness of the subject matter. Although willing to publish experimental writing that appears to have a valid artistic purpose, The Southern Review avoids extremism and sensationalism. Critical essays and book reviews exhibit a thoughtful and sometimes severe awareness of the necessity of literary standards in our time. The Southern Review pays $25 per printed page with a maximum payment of $200 for prose and $125 for poetry, plus two copies of the issue in which the work appears and a one year subscription.

Subtropics seeks to publish the best literary fiction, essays, and poetry being written today, both by established and emerging authors. We will consider works of fiction of any length, from short shorts to novellas (up to 15,000 words) and self-contained novel excerpts. We give the same latitude to essays. We appreciate work in translation and, from time to time, republish important and compelling stories, essays, and poems that have lapsed out of print. For stories and essays, Subtropics pays a flat fee of $1,000 ($500 for a short short) for North American first serial rights. Poets are paid $100 per poem.

The Sun is an independent, ad-free monthly magazine that for more than thirty years has used words and photographs to invoke the splendor and heartache of being human. The Sun celebrates life, but not in a way that ignores its complexity. The personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry, and photographs that appear in its pages explore the challenges we face and the moments when we rise to meet those challenges. We pay from $300 to $2,000 for essays and interviews, $300 to $1,500 for fiction, and $100 to $500 for poetry, the amount being determined by length and quality. 

Sycamore Review is Purdue University’s internationally acclaimed literary journal. SR publishes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, as well as interviews, book reviews and art. SR strives to publish the best writing by new and established writers and also to provide an online forum for lively literary discussion. Sycamore Review pays each contributor two copies, and $50 per short story or non-fiction piece, or $25 per poem. 

turnrow is a biannual journal that publishes nonfiction of general interest, short fiction, poetry, visual art, and interviews. Each issue contains a 16- to 24-page color insert of visual art. In addition to its general search for fine work of any type, turnrow seeks nonfiction by people who are not primarily writers, work by writers writing out of their usual genre, and nonfiction that concerns an intersection between science and humanities. Turnrow pays $50 per poem; $15 per page of prose. 

Vestal Review is a magazine for flash (short-shorts) fiction. We realize that there are different definitions of what a flash story is and all of them have merit. In our definition, a flash story is no longer than 500 words and it has a plot. If it's longer than 500 words and/or has no plot, we are not interested. Most genres, other than children's, syrupy romance or hard science fiction, are accepted, and we love humor. Stories up to 100 words (excluding the title)--10 cents a word; Stories between 101 and 200 words--5 cents a word; Stories between 201 and 500 words--3 cents a word; Stories of great merit receive up to $25 flat fee; 3 cents a word is a minimum pay in any case.

The Washington Pastime is an online literary magazine that publishes short fiction on a monthly basis. All original fiction published in The Washington Pastime is considered for The Washington Pastime Collections trade paperback series. We publish literary and genre fiction in the following categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, Western and other categories of general fiction. We will accept Poetry but it can be a hard sell. We never get enough humor. If you have a humorous story, please send it to us. Pay ranges from Token payment to Professional payment (5 US cents per word) for fiction

West Branch is a semiannual magazine of poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews. Founded in 1977, West Branch is published in the spring and fall of each year at the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell University. Payment is awarded for accepted works in the amount of $20/poem + $10/additional page, or $10/page of prose, with a minimum payment per writer of $30 and a maximum payment of $100. 

Wet Ink is an attractive quarterly magazine that showcases the best new writers alongside established authors: from fiction writers and poets to memoirists and social commentators. We publish a wide range of styles, from traditional to experimental, literary to quality genres, depending on the submissions we receive.Published submissions are paid: poetry $70, prose under 1500 words $70, above 1500 words $120.

Becky Tuch is the Founding Editor of The Review Review.

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