{"id":12750,"date":"2025-09-17T11:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/?p=12750"},"modified":"2025-09-17T11:23:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T18:23:14","slug":"14-fiction-magazines-and-anthologies-paying-up-to-1000-for-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/uncategorized\/14-fiction-magazines-and-anthologies-paying-up-to-1000-for-short-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Fiction Magazines and Anthologies paying up to $1,000 for Short Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


S. Kalekar
<\/strong>
These magazines and anthologies pay for fiction. Many also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. Some calls are themed. They\u2019re open now, or will open soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electric Lit: The Commuter
<\/strong>They accept flash prose (send one or more pieces, can be stand-alone or interconnected, with total length up to 1,500 words), poems (up to 3 poems), and graphic narrative for The Commuter section.
Deadline: 21 September 2025, or until their submission cap is reached
Length: See above\u00a0
Pay: $100
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

Strange Pilgrims
<\/strong>This is a new Substack-based magazine, and they will open their first reading period soon, for fiction and non-fiction. \u201cWe\u2019re not married to any genre, structure, or subject. We love surreal, speculative, and fabulist stories; unhinged, lyric, and fragmented essays; voice-driven experimental narratives and slow-burn realism; cultural and literary criticism; hyper-intellectual riffs and children\u2019s stories \u2014 so long as they move. If your work is honest, well-crafted, and offers something emotionally and intellectually vivid, we want to read it.\u201d You can read more about them, as well as their likes and influences, here<\/a>. They will publish one piece each week, alternating between flash and long-form. Their submission portal will open during the reading period.
Opens on: 21 September 2025
Length: Up to 1,000 words for flash, up to 5,000 words for short prose
Pay: $50 for flash prose, $200 for longer works
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

Reckoning X: Communication
<\/strong>They publish work on environmental justice, and for their 10th<\/sup> issue, they\u2019re reading submissions broadly around the Communication theme. \u201cWhat brought us to this? How do those of us who grasp the direness of our situation\u2014as a species, as a global community\u2014convey or fail to convey that to others? These are dauntingly complex questions, and it\u2019s clear the familiar solutions fall catastrophically short. Show us new answers, new framings. Reach for the weird tools, the neglected ones. Show us how journalism should work. Tell us stories about stories. Illuminate the economic structures behind our educational institutions and the walls against understanding that dog our international borders. Interpret the data for us, then interpret the interpreters. Let\u2019s crack open the ways knowledge is produced and spread amid late-stage capitalism.
We\u2019re seeking art, poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction \u2026 in particular from Indigenous, Black, Brown, queer, trans, disabled, neurodivergent and\/or otherwise marginalized writers and artists from everywhere.\u201d\u00a0
Deadline: 22 September 2025
Length: Up to 15,000 words for prose, up to 10 pages for poetry
Pay: $0.10\/word for prose, $50\/poem
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

Cutleaf: Collaborative short fiction<\/strong>
\u201cCutleaf\u00a0<\/em>seeks fiction submissions from writers who\u2019ve completed a short story written in a collaborative spirit with another person. This idea of a collaborative spirit extends beyond a proofreader or editor. At its core, the collaboration must be an equally shared endeavor that results in a short story. This, in other words, is a co-written or jointly written short story.\u201d
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Length: Up to 4,000 words preferred
Pay: $100-300
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.
(Cutleaf is also open for nonfiction, and will stay open for that until a submission cap is met; see here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)

Nashville Review: Kink & Culture<\/strong>
They are accepting fiction, non-fiction, translations, comics, and also have a Featured Artist section. Poetry submissions are closed. They have detailed guidelines on the Kink & Culture theme, including, \u201cThe idea for\u00a0Kink and Culture<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0did not arrive to me as theory first, but through a certain embodied friction: a ghazal layered over electronic basslines on a warm Nashville night, a Bombay sandwich served in a caf\u00e9 thousands of miles from where it was born. Both moments were translations\u2014familiar yet not quite. That\u2019s what kink and culture share: they thrive in the spaces where memory collides with invention, where desire remakes tradition into something subversive and new. … Consider this your permission to push against boundaries\u2014of genre, of body, of expectation. Send us fiction with tension and truth. Play with length \u2013 write micro, flash, short story, and longer short story. Play with genre, form, and content. Send us non-fiction essays that unpack the historical, political, and personal. \u2026 Send us translations, hybrid work, music, and visual art that give permission to not just your own voice, but also of those who come after you.\u201d Nashville Review is affiliated with Vanderbilt University.
Deadline: Until filled for fiction; 30 September 2025 for other genres
Length: Up to 7,000 words for fiction, up to 8,000 words for non-fiction
Pay: $100 for prose and art
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

(Another prestigious literary magazine affiliated with a college is also open for submissions: The Kenyon Review <\/strong>is accepting unthemed<\/strong> as well as themed submissions of fiction (including flash), non-fiction, and poetry on these four themes: Alchemy \u2013 The NOPE Dossier<\/strong>; Invisible Cities<\/strong>; Precarity<\/strong>; and Document <\/strong>(Previously: Who Gets to Be American?). Please see guidelines for details on the themes. They also accept excerpts from larger works, as well as translations. Send up to 7,500 words for prose, up to 6 poems, up to 30 pages for excerpts. They pay $0.08\/word for prose up to $450, $0.16\/word for poetry up to $200. The deadline is 30 September 2025; details here<\/a>.)\u00a0

Trollbreath Magazine<\/strong>
They want speculative fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. \u201cOur interests are as varied as the endless amount of genres, from dark fantasy to hope punk to surrealism, and everything in between. We have a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful forms, but what motivates us most are great stories by wonderful authors eager to share their visions of the past, the future, the in between, and everything that lies outside the margins. Coloring beyond the lines encouraged.\u201d They also accept fiction reprints and translations, as well as artwork. Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Length: 1,500-7,500 words for fiction (prefer 4,000-5,000 words), up to 2,500 words for non-fiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.04\/word for original fiction, $40 for non-fiction, $25 for poetry
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

Inked in Gray: In the Words of a Flower Anthology
<\/strong>They want upper YA and adult fantasy (both high and low fantasy) for this anthology. \u201cAll stories should incorporate an aspect of floriography, the language of flowers.\u201d And, \u201cPlease give us diversity! Mental health rep! Fat rep! Visible and invisible disabilities!\u201d
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Length: 2,000-7,000 words
Pay: $50
Details here<\/a>.
\u00a0
Manawaker Studios: Home Constellations Anthology
<\/strong>They want fiction, poetry, and art for this anthology. They want stories about the future which feature non-traditional families. They have detailed guidelines, including, \u201cSubmitted works should be of any genre, as long as the work depicts a world that is noticeably in the future. Hard and Soft Sci-fi, (Post-)apocalyptic, Solarpunk, Slipstream, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Alternate (future) History, Supernatural, Retro-futurism etc. are all fine names for genres that often take place in the future, but your story doesn\u2019t have to fit into one of those. In fact, if it manages to miss all of those labels, we may be even more interested to see it\u201d. They also accept graphic narrative fiction, as well as reprints.
Deadline: 30 September 2025
Length: Up to 3 poems; no length restrictions for fiction
Pay: 5$ + 1c\/word over 500 (up to 5k) words + .2c\/word over 5k words (see guidelines)
Details here<\/a>. The Paris Review<\/strong>
They will open for prose and poetry on 1st<\/sup> October. They also welcome translations. They will accept submissions by Submittable<\/a> until their cap is reached, and also hard-copy submissions postmarked till end-October.
Opens on: 1st<\/sup> October 2025
Length: Up to 6 poems; unspecified for prose
Pay: Unspecified
Details here<\/a>.

Short Story, Long<\/strong>
They are open for fiction submissions. Each story will be paired with original artwork.
Deadline: 1 October 2025
Length: 2,000-8,000 words (3,000-5,500\u00a0words preferred)
Pay: $100
Details here<\/a>.

Flame Tree: Wars in the Stars Short Stories
<\/strong>For this fiction anthology, they want \u201cSci-fi on an epic scale, battles fought across galaxies, complex political intrigue against the backdrop of interstellar empires and dominions, all the while affecting the lives of characters with familiar loves,\u00a0lives, worries, drama.
We’re seeking space stories that burst with imagination at the same time as solid world-building, high-stake conflict, inventive advanced technologies, relatable storylines and unique beings, and vibrate with the sense of awe and possibility that the wonder of the universe inspires.\u201d They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 1 October 2025
Length: 2,000\u20134,000 words
Pay: $0.08\/word for originals
Details here<\/a>.
(Flame Tree often issues calls for fiction anthologies, which they announce on this blog<\/a>. A couple of deadlines are in September: Folklore & Horror Short Stories<\/strong><\/a>, deadline 26th<\/sup> September; Christmas Ghosts Short Stories<\/strong><\/a>, deadline 28th<\/sup> September 2025; other calls are open too, with later deadlines.)

Tractor Beam
<\/strong>They publish soilpunk fiction and graphic fiction. \u201cFor our upcoming issues, we\u2019re specifically seeking stories exploring a positive future on Earth with an emphasis on soil and agriculture in the winter, the productive role of ice and snow in the seasons, frost and permafrost, future fashion and style, entertainment and culture, the ocean and soil under water, soil as tech, soil as the origin of life and anti-apocalyptic futures. Literal or abstract, near term or on distant horizons: worlds can take inspiration from innovations or alternative practices in earth and material science, regenerative agriculture, food, microbiology, and more.\u201d
Deadline: 6th<\/sup> October 2025
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $1,000
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

Cold Caller Mag
<\/strong>Cold Caller<\/a> is a new Substack-based magazine; it is \u201ca publisher of crime and mystery fiction, and we define those terms broadly. We’re looking for stories of bad decisions and worse consequences; unlucky losers who can’t catch a break; grifters and con men convinced they’re about to score big; good men and women who have very good reasons to do terrible things.\u201d They\u2019ve given a list of stories, as well as TV shows and movies, that match their vibe (see guidelines). And, \u201cWe lean toward noir and realism, so generally speaking we aren\u2019t looking for cozy mysteries, spy thrillers, or for cross-genre work such as mystery-romance, mystery-science fiction, mystery-fantasy, etc.\u201d
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 10,000 words (prefers 2,000-6,000 words)
Pay: $125
Details here<\/a>.

Gutter Magazine<\/strong>
Gutter is a Scotland-based magazine \u201cof new Scottish and international writing. During our two annual submission windows, we accept poetry, fiction and essays from writers in Scotland and beyond.\u00a0
We look for work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the status quo, work that pushes at the boundaries of form and function, work that is striking and beautiful. We believe that great writing transcends boundaries, and we reject any distinction between literary and genre, high art and popular culture.\u201d
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 2,500 words for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: \u00a350
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>

Bio:<\/strong>\u00a0S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S. KalekarThese magazines and anthologies pay for fiction. Many also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. Some calls are themed. They\u2019re open now, or will open soon. Electric Lit: The CommuterThey accept flash prose (send one or more pieces, can be stand-alone or interconnected, with total length up to 1,500 words), poems (up to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12751,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750\/revisions\/12751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}