Hello again,
As you read this, I’ll be crossing the breadth of Ireland on a train. Depending on the quality of the on-board Wifi, I might not be able to get the word out about this post straight away. So if you find this edition helpful, it would mean a lot if you’d give it a share.
A little note on pay rates this issue. As I’ve said before, if no pay or prize is mentioned, then there probably isn’t any. I prefer to include unpaid opportunities and those paid below professional levels and let subscribers decide for themselves whether it’s worth their time.
However, one of the opportunities listed below brings up the issue of when low pay is an issue. These calls span indie mags run by volunteer staff to traditional publishers, so there’s obviously a difference in what’s reasonable, depending on who’s offering it.
My instinct is to keep listing opportunities as long as they meet my arbitrary rules (no fee for journals, reasonable fees for contests) and continue to let you decide for yourselves. But let me know in the comments if you have a different perspective.
And with that, let’s turn the page.
Closing soon
Nature writers, Tin House will have one of its rare weekend-long submission periods for unagented writers this weekend. Works can include both memoir and essay collections.
UK-based writers still have a couple of weeks left to submit to The Sunday Post’s short story competition. The first prize is 12 months of premium membership of Writers’ HQ, which gives you access to courses, workshops, and retreats. Enter by 15 September.
Literary journal On-the-High seeks pieces on the theme ‘Film Noir’, so anything with a flavour of crime, cynical heroes and moral corruption is on the menu.
Submissions for another issue of lit mag Primer are open until 21 September. This one is on the theme ‘Contours’.
The deadline for the next issue of Reckoning, which publishes creative writing on environmental justice, will close 22 September.
The Pulp Idol competition from Writing on the Wall will close for submissions on 22 September. This contest invites writers from the Liverpool City Region to send in the first chapter of their novel, for the chance to be published in an anthology.
You know what has been sorely missing from the fiction scene? Speculative stories about crabs. That’s what Crab Tales Magazine is after, and they’ll pay 3 cents a word for them. Get in on the first ever issue by sending a piece by 24 September.
Long-running Northern Ireland literary magazine The Honest Ulsterman is inviting submissions for the October issue. Prose, critical writing and interview suggestions all welcome. The deadline is 25 September.
A spooky autumnal anthology is in the works at Horrorsmith. Payment for stories will be 1 cent per word. Send anything with a Halloween or fall element by 25 September.
Share work on the topic of ‘Secret Thoughts’ with t’ART Magazine by 25 September. It can be a short story, essay, article, or all kinds of other forms.
Circumference, a translation-focused journal, is looking for translations of essays, articles, interviews and other prose until 26 September.
Women with a connection to Scotland can send a short story on the theme of ‘Adventure’ for the new Bold Types Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Competition. Prizes include mentoring. Submit by 29 September.
Entries are open for the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize until 30 September. I always like how you can read all the past winners for this one, which gives a real sense of what they’re looking for. It costs £10 per story, with a prize of £2,500.
Submissions over at Vagabond City Lit are always open, but right now they have a special callout for past contributors. If you’ve published there before and have something new, send it in using the form.
A reminder for the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers’ Prize, which closes 2 October. The top prize is £200, mentoring, and a host of other benefits.
Open now
Substack publication Open Secrets, which was set up to publish the kind of personal essays that used to appear on several now-shuttered publications, is looking for a few more essays. Selected pieces will be paid $100 on publication.
Unbound is looking for essays on the realities of living with poverty, for publication in an anthology. There’s a £200 fee upfront, but no initial mention of any royalties from the book. As others have pointed out, this seems pretty low.
The Society of Authors is open for entries to the Tom-Gallon Trust Award, which is for a short story that can be either published or unpublished. Writers need to be UK or Ireland residents, and to have had at least one short story accepted for publication. The deadline is 31 October and the prize is £2,000.
Heartland Society of Women Writers is having a contest, open to women and non-binary writers. It costs $5 to enter, there’s no theme, and the top prize is $100.
For UK-based essayists aged 18 to 30, the Stuart Hall Essay Prize is open until 9 November. You can choose your own theme, but should engage with Hall’s interest areas of race and inequality in culture and society.
Fiction and non-fiction submissions are always open at Story Sanctum. They are working towards paying writers a $10 honorarium starting next year.
Opening soon
Science fiction publication Fusion Fragment is opening tomorrow for a short submissions window until 8 September.
Another one opening tomorrow is Booth, which is run by the Butler University MFA program. But you have plenty of time for this one, as it closes at the end of March.
Short story publisher One Story will once again be open from 5 September. Get on it because this is a popular one, and the window will close when they hit 3,000 submissions.
The Frogmore Papers will be open for submissions starting in October. If you are UK-based, you need to send work in by post, but international writers can submit by email.
There will be a very short open submission window at Luna Press from 6 to 8 October. They are looking for sci-fi short stories on the theme ‘The Utopia of Us’. Authors will receive a one-off payment of £75.