{"id":12982,"date":"2026-03-03T12:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/?p=12982"},"modified":"2026-03-03T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T20:36:09","slug":"10-magazines-paying-up-to-700-for-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/uncategorized\/10-magazines-paying-up-to-700-for-short-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Magazines Paying up to $700 for Short Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


S. Kalekar

<\/strong>These fiction magazines\/podcasts pay up to $700 for fiction. A few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry.

Strange Pilgrims
<\/strong>This is a new Substack-based magazine, and they will open for 24 hours only, on 6th<\/sup> March, in honor of Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez’s birthday. They publish 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. Submission is via their portal.
Reading period: 6th<\/sup> March 2026
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>.

(Plott Hound <\/strong>is also open for submissions till 15th<\/sup> March 2026; they accept speculative fiction starring animals. Send 1,000-5,000 words (prefer 3,000-4,000 words) for fiction, up to 5 poems, 1,000-2,500 words for essays; they pay $0.08\/word for stories, $50 for poetry, $100 for essays; details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)

Dark Moon Books: Horror Library<\/strong>
They want \u201c\u00a0<\/strong>Original, thoughtful horror-centric short stories\u201d. There is no theme.
Deadline: 9 March 2026
Length: 1,500\u20135,000 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $0.02\/word
Details here<\/a>.\u00a0

Waxen<\/strong>
They accept short fiction, poetry, and illustrations. \u201cWe are interested in the weird, the occult, the surreal, and the horrific. We love experimentation.\u201d They are open throughout the year, with cut-off dates for issues. Their upcoming deadline is mid-March for the Spring issue.
Deadline: 15 March 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction
Pay: $50
Details here<\/a>.

Apex Magazine
<\/strong>Apex Magazine\u00a0<\/em>is a digital dark science fiction and fantasy magazine publishing short fiction, essays, and interviews. During 2026, they will be closed to fiction submission during certain months; \u201cWe will be closed in February, April, June, August, October, and December 2026.\u201d They are open during March 2026 for short fiction. They also accept nonfiction pitches (not submissions).
Deadline: 31 March 2026
Length: Up to 9,000 words for fiction
Pay: $0.08\/word for fiction; additional $0.01\/word if story is podcast
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>. \u00a0

(Apex also has a themed<\/strong> monthly flash fiction challenge that opens on the 7th<\/sup> of each month for general submissions, see guidelines<\/a> \u2013 scroll down.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Aurealis<\/strong>
This Australian speculative fiction magazine is open for general submissions (from all writers) during March. \u201cAurealis<\/em>\u00a0is looking for science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories… All types of science fiction, fantasy and horror that are of a \u201cspeculative\u201d nature will be considered, but we do not want stories that are derivative in nature. We do not publish horror without a supernatural element.
Although we are an Australian-based publication, we are open to submissions in English from anywhere in the multiverse during specific reading periods.\u201d Please read their guidelines carefully, including about file format.
Deadline: 31 March 2026 (for general submissions; Australian and NZ writers can submit till end-September)
Length: 2,000-8,000 words
Pay: AUD20-60 per 1,000 words (\u201cassume the lower rate for unsolicited submissions\u201d)
Details here<\/a>.

Hearth Stories
<\/strong>\u201cHearth Stories publishes slice-of-life stories with a focus on nature, forests, connection, family, romance\/relationships, and comfort\/kindness. We are primarily focusing on stories set in a pre-industrial-revolution time period (or a fantasy world resembling such), preferably not in city settings.\u201d They also have several other details in their guidelines, including genre \u2013 Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary (if it fits the other requirements); and vibe \u2013 Cozy, Lightly-Romantic\u2026, Mystical, Nature Oriented. This is a vegan magazine (see guidelines). Do not send poetry or non-fiction.
Deadline: 31 March 2026
Length: 1,000-10,000 words
Pay: $0.01\/word
Details here<\/a>.

Banshee<\/strong>
They want submissions from Irish and international authors for issue 22 (autumn\/winter 2026) \u2013 flash and short fiction, non-fiction, as well as poetry.
Deadline: 31 March 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words for prose, up to 40 lines for poems
Pay: \u20ac300 for a story\/essay; \u20ac100 for flash fiction; \u20ac75 per poem (click on \u2018We believe in paying writers\u2019 here<\/a>)
Details here<\/a>

Night Shades<\/strong>
This is a speculative fiction magazine. They publish four stories a month.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Up to 500 words
Pay: $75
Details here<\/a>.

The No Sleep Podcast<\/strong>
This is a horror podcast. They accept all kinds of horror stories. They have detailed guidelines (including preference for first-person stories), please read them carefully. And, \u201cFor standard episodes, we\u2019re looking at anything from microfic up to stories of about 8,000 words, though the sweet spot is around the 2,000 to 2,500 word range. Anything over 8,000 words is typically reserved for bonus episodes or finales, which are less frequent and therefore require stricter acceptance standards.\u201d
Deadline: Open now
Length: See above
Pay: $60 for flash fiction; $250 for regular stories; $500 for stories of 15,000+ words
Details here<\/a>.

Folded Space Podcast<\/strong>
\u201cFolded Space is an audio science fiction anthology showcasing short-form science fiction from voices across the spectrum of human existence.\u201dThey want science fiction\/speculative stories. Regarding atmosphere\/tone, they want:
\u201cGothic space; vast, ancient, and slightly terrifying; Cultural weight, where tradition, language, and the machinery of empire\u00a0are as real as their spaceships; Cosmic indifference, make\u00a0the universe feel both beautiful and dangerously indifferent to human life; A laboratory for identity, and what it means to be sentient\u201d. Also see \u2018What we\u2019re looking for, which includes \u201cStarships, habitats, ancient ruins, found bobbles, megastructures; Strong worldbuilding and character development; Stories that show what it is to be or not to be a person in a high-tech world\u201d and more.
Deadline: Open now
Length: 3,000-7,000 words
Pay: $0.02\/word
Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n


Bio:<\/strong>\u00a0S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine.\u00a0She can be reached\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S. Kalekar These fiction magazines\/podcasts pay up to $700 for fiction. A few also accept other genres, like non-fiction and poetry. Strange PilgrimsThis is a new Substack-based magazine, and they will open for 24 hours only, on 6th March, in honor of Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez’s birthday. They publish fiction and non-fiction. \u201cWe\u2019re not married 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-12982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12982","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=12982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12983,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12982\/revisions\/12983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}