Sorry We're Prosed: 25+ Writing Opportunities For May
Where to send essays, stories, novels, flash and other writings this month
Hello again,
I’ll keep it short this month, because there are a lot of opportunities to get to. May is a big time for reading periods and many of them are only open until the end of the month, so it’s time to get cracking on some writing.
As ever, if no pay or prize is mentioned then there probably isn’t any. I don’t include journals which charge submission fees. I do list competitions that you have to pay to enter — but I draw the line at around £15/$18.
Let’s get to it!
Closing soon
There’s still a bit of time to submit to Shoreline of Infinity’s climate change issue. There’s a good list here of what kind of thing that could include, with a lean towards more hopeful visions for the future. Pay is £20 per 1,000 words and you can submit until 11 May.
One Story, which publishes individual short stories in print, is now open for submissions and could close sharpish, as the window will only run until they hit their cap of 2,000 submissions. Contributors get $500 and 25 contributor copies.
My friends over at Diet Milk are having a short submissions period for mini pieces on the theme ‘Food’. Prose is paid at $20 per piece. Get your writing in by 15 May.
For the Twilight fans, new lit mag Renesme Literary is looking for responses to the theme ‘blue filter’ — a reference to the distinctive palette of the first film in the series. Submit by 15 May.
There’s a great prize bundle of creative writing workshops and books up for grabs in the London Lit Lab x Writers & Artists Opening Lines contest. To enter, you just have to write a short paragraph about your favourite opening line in literature by 26 May.
I have to say I love Exposed Brick’s table laying out exactly how they assess work sent to them, even if it does give me major GCSE flashbacks. They are reading essays and other prose on the theme ‘Mirror’ until 28 May, with accepted pieces paid $30.
Speculative magazine Heartlines is looking for short fiction focused on long-term relationships, whether platonic, romantic or familial. Their current reading period ends 30 May, and they pay 8 Canadian cents per word.
Hotel is reading submissions this month for its online archive, and work may be considered for its paper magazine and possible print projects. Essays, interviews, short stories and other forms are all accepted.
New Zealand journal Folly has a new short story prize, which is open until 30 May. It costs $6 NZD to enter and the top prize is $1,000 NZD.
Until the end of the month, The Writing District Prize is open for entries. It costs $15 to submit, and the top prize is $1,000.
And another contest, the Great Story Competition, which has a choice of four different time periods and locations in which entries should be set. It costs £5 to submit and the top prize is £100.
A hiker finds a cassette tape in an abandoned mine reading DO NOT PLAY… that’s the intriguing set-up for Playlist of the Damned, an anthology which looks for horror stories on a musical theme. Pay will be 5 cents a word, or more if the Kickstarter meets its stretch goals. Deadline 31 May.
Last call for the Yeovil Literary Prize, which closes on 31 May. Categories include novels, short stories, and children’s novels. It now costs £14.50 to enter a novel, with a top prize of £1,250. Short stories are £8 and the winner gets £600.
There’s a fantastic new award for UK-based writers over 50 here: the Jenny Brown Associates Over 50 Award will give one writer £1,000 and a residential writing course at Moniack Mhor. You need to submit the first 5,000 words of your novel, with a full manuscript or something close to it available if called in. And it’s free!
Lovely indie publisher Whimsical Press is accepting submissions for its next anthology on the theme ‘Elements’. Send work by 1 June to be considered.
Classic fairy tales on the theme of ‘Love’ can be sent to The Fairy Tale Magazine until 2 June. Accepted work gets a flat rate of $50.
Open now
The next themed writing showcase at Mslexia, a magazine for women writers, is ‘poison’. Submit by 5 June.
Remington Review takes both fiction and non-fiction, and will be open for its summer issue until 9 June.
A little reminder about the Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, which is open until 30 June. It costs £10 to enter and the top prize of £1,000 for each category. There are prizes for both fiction and life writing.
Accepting entries until 2 July, the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize is open internationally. It costs £7 to enter, with a £175 top prize.
Short, hybrid pieces can find a home at Centaur Lit, which pays $20 per story and is currently looking at pieces for its August issue.
The Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize is open for entries until 1 September. This one is for residents of the UK, Ireland, or any Commonwealth country. It costs £7.50 to enter and there are free entries available for low-income writers based in the UK (you have to apply for one of these by 18 August). The top prize is £1,000.
Opening Soon
Speculative fiction publication If There’s Anyone Left will open for their next submissions period in June. Their focus is on publishing marginalised writers, with a pretty broad definition of what that means, so check the terms before submitting. Pay rate is 8 cents a word.
Divinations Magazine, which just released its first issue, will open again for its second on 1 June. This one will be on the theme ‘Cursed’.
Ongoing
Dismantle Magazine is interested in personal essays that explore larger issues related to fashion, pop culture and social change. They pay $100 per piece.
Submissions are open at Cornice, a new publication that pays a flat fee of £35/$40, or less for pieces on the shorter side. Stories should feature active protagonists who advance the narrative.
That’s all for this time. I hope to write something soon about how I wrote a story that fit two competition themes simultaneously. I’d also like to ask other writers for their tips on how to write hopeful Cli-Fi — if you have any expertise on that one or can think of someone who does, let me know.
as usual, Alys, an excellent round-up, many thanks for your continued hard work on behalf of subbing writers.