Cricket Media's New Call

Want to get your mind off a certain virus?  Have extra time in quarantine?  Need a break from the dark, gritty novel you're writing, or that manual on how to survive an apocalypse? 

If you write for kids, or would like to get into it, consider Cricket Media's call for submissions (due June 15) for Cricket, Spider, Ladybug, and Babybug.  It's a highly competitive market which pays professional rates.  

SPECIAL CALLS:

BABYBUG®: Beep-Beep, Vroom-Vroom! and Breezy Summer

LADYBUG®: Making Make Believe and My Family

SPIDER®: Wordplay and Get a Move On!

CRICKET®: Best Friends Forever? and Tales of the Sea 

Submission details here:  https://cricketmag.submittable.com/

If you want a subscription for your own kids (or your own market research): http://shop.cricketmedia.com/all-childrens-magazine-subscriptions.html

Melinda Brasher's fiction and travel writing appear most recently in Hippocampus, Deep Magic, and Twenty-Two Twenty-Eight.  Her newest non-fiction book, Hiking Alaska from Cruise Ports is available on Amazon.    

She loves hiking and taking photographs of nature's small miracles.  

Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

Literary Magazines with Themes--On the Premises

If you're looking for a short story contest with no entry free and quite good pay, try On the Premises.

As indicated by the title, this e-zine always has themes.  The current contest, running until March 6, is "More Than One."

"For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words in which one or more characters face this problem:  there is more than one of something that there should absolutely, positively be only one of."

Sounds fun!

Guidelines:  https://onthepremises.com/

They also have mini contests between regular contests.  The mini contests require VERY short prose, and the themes are often quite interesting.  For example, in the fall I entered one about purposely bad world-building.  The results were quite fun.  You can read them here (including my winning entry):  https://onthepremises.com/minis/mini_43/ 

Melinda Brasher's fiction and travel writing appear most recently in Hippocampus, Deep Magic, and Twenty-Two Twenty-Eight.  Her newest non-fiction book, Hiking Alaska from Cruise Ports is available on Amazon.    

She loves hiking and taking photographs of nature's small miracles.  

Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

Market Research--Horror Tree

For those of you looking for markets to submit your fiction to, especially if you write horror or other speculative genres, here's a resource for you:

Horror Tree  (Horrortree.com)

It's a blog that includes various types of posts, including interviews with authors.  

I like it for its postings of magazines accepting submissions.  One thing I really appreciate is how clearly it outlines the pay structure (or lack thereof).  Other pertinent information (deadlines, what they're looking for, word count, etc) is also very clear.  It's a great resource.  On the left, you can also narrow your search.  

If you're a writer of speculative fiction, I challenge you to go check this out and submit at least one story to a magazine you find here.

Melinda Brasher's fiction and travel writing appear most recently in Hippocampus (May/June), Leading Edge (Volume 73) and Deep Magic (Spring 2019).  Her newest non-fiction book, Hiking Alaska from Cruise Ports is available on Amazon.    

She loves hiking and taking photographs of nature's small miracles.  

Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

Literary Magazines with Themes: The First Line

Image courtesy of The First Line Magazine

The First Line is a literary magazine where each issue contains stories that all start with the same first line.  

Next year will be their 20^th year in print, so they're doing something a little different.  To celebrate all past issues, they're welcoming stories based on previous years' first lines.  For the spring 2019 issue (stories due Feb 1), you can choose from twenty different first lines.

If you're interested in a little inspiration or a fun challenge, take a look:  The First Line

Sample First Lines for Spring:

The rules are clearly spelled out in the brochure.
"Well, there's ten minutes of my life I'll never get back."
My father and I left on a Thursday.
I remember the radio was playing the best song.
Whitney Heather Yates knew she was in trouble from the moment she learned how to spell her name.
It sounded like she said, "Every day when I get home, I find a naked body in the bed."
The party was only the beginning of what would happen tonight.
"Step this way as our tour of Earth continues."
"How did you end up with a nickname like that?"
The first thing I saw when I woke was Chris' face.
"The incident on the island is the stuff of legend, but let me tell you the real story."
Jimmy Hanson was a sallow man who enjoyed little in life save for his _________. [Fill in the blank.]

Guidelines Highlights:

-Stories must be between 300 and 5000 words and unpublished.  Poetry is also welcome. 

-Multiple submissions are fine, so if you find several of these prompts interesting, go to town!

-Pay is between $25-50.

-Submit electronically before February 1 for the spring issue.  Other submission dates and first lines are available on their website.

You can read (and listen to) Melinda Brasher's most recent short story sale at Pseudopod.  It's a tale of a man who doesn't believe in superstition...until he has to.  You can also find her fiction in Ember, Timeless Tales, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others. If you're dreaming about traveling to Alaska next summer, check out her guide book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; a Cruise and Port Guide. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

A New Tool for Submitting Your Work

For all you writers out there submitting short stories, non-fiction, flash fiction, or poetry to literary magazines, I thought I’d share a new tool I found. It’s a (relatively) new feature on Submittable, and it’s called “Discover.”

What's Submittable?

If you submit your work a lot, you almost certainly already have a Submittable (formerly Submishmash) account. Skip to the next paragraph. For those of you who don’t know about Submittable, it’s a submission platform that many literary magazines use nowadays. On their website they’ll link to their Submittable page, and if you’re already logged in, you just need to fill in some basic information, paste in a cover letter if required, and upload your document. It also gives you a handy dashboard of all your submissions, the dates, results, etc. Accounts are free and some magazines will only accept submissions this way.

The New Tool:

The new Discover feature lists magazines that use Submittable and have open calls for submissions.  The listings don’t have quite enough information for my tastes. For example, they don’t break it down into paying and non-paying markets. You can’t filter by type of submission or other important factors, such “for locals only” restrictions or calls for the visual arts. It also includes opportunities such as writer's residencies. There are quite a few markets that charge reading fees or contest entry fees. So it’s a bit laborious. 

Why it's Cool:

Despite its limitations, the key is that these markets are all currently OPEN, and the listings clearly indicate when they close. Since temporarily closed markets are one of the big obstacles I run into when submitting my work, I think this is useful.

Check it out and see if you like it:

https://manager.submittable.com/login

Here's a little screen shot of calls closing today:

Melinda Brasher's fiction appears in Nous,  Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and other magazines  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  

Her newest book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; a Cruise and Port Guide helps budget travelers plan a trip to majestic Alaska.  Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

Literary Magazines with Themes--Fall 2017 Edition

It's time for another of my roundups of literary magazines with themes. Due dates range from the end of this month to January 2018

As always, read website guidelines carefully and have fun!  Entry is free to all the magazines listed below, and all are paying markets.

On the Premises

Theme:  Community

Genres:  Fiction

Deadline:  September 1, 2017

Word Count:  up to 5000

Pay:  $60-220

Guidelines: http://onthepremises.com/contest-rules/

Timeless Tales

Theme:  Rumpelstiltskin

Genres:  Fairy Tales--Fiction, Poetry

Reading dates:  August 18-Sept 1

Word Count:  up to 2000, 1500 preferred

Pay:  $20

REPRINTS ACCEPTED
Guidelines: http://www.timelesstalesmagazine.com/submissions

Ladybug

Theme:  Spaceships and Superheroes

Genres:  Fiction, activities, crafts, activities, recipes for kids age 6-9

Deadline:  August 31, 2017

Word Count:  varies depending on type of work, but very short

Pay:  varies by type--professional rates
Guidelines: https://cricketmag.submittable.com/submit/17817/spider-magazine-for-ages-6-9

Enchanted Conversation

Themes:  Godfather death (reading period Sept 1-Sept 30)

      Elves and the Shoemaker (reading Period Nov 1-Nov 30)

Genre:  Fairy Tale, fiction and poetry

Reading Period:  Sept and Nov 2017

Word Count:  700-3000 stories, poems of any length

Pay:  $30
Guidelines:  http://www.fairytalemagazine.com/p/blog-page_22.html

The First Line

First line must be: "I'm tired of trying to see the good in people."

Genres:  Fiction

Deadline: November 1, 2017

Word Count:  up to 5000

Pay:  $25-50
Guidelines:  http://www.thefirstline.com/submission.htm

THEMA Literary Journal

Theme:  Dancing in the Wind

Genres:  Fiction

Deadline: November 1, 2017

Pay:  $25
Guidelines:  http://themaliterarysociety.com/submissions.html

  

Shooter

Theme:  New Life

Genres:  Stories, Poetry, Non-fiction

Deadline:  November 5, 2017

Word Count:  2000-7500

Pay:  Up to 25 GBP
Guidelines: https://shooterlitmag.com/submissions/

Ouen Press

Theme:  Taste

Genres:  Fiction

Deadline:  Dec 31, 2017

Word Count:  3000-10000

Pay:  Contest winners:  100-300 GBP
Guidelines: http://www.ouenpress.com/19.html

Pantheon:

Theme:  Gorgon; Stories of Emergence

Genres:  Flash fiction issue--dark, weird, speculative, horror

Reading Period:  Opens January 1, 2018

Word Count:  Around 1000 words preferred

Pay:  $.06/wd

REPRINTS ACCEPTED ($.03/wd)
Guidelines:   https://pantheonmag.com/submission-guidelines/

Melinda Brasher's fiction appears in Nous,  Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and other magazines. One of her first sales was to THEMA above.  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  

Her newest book, Cruising Alaska on a Budget; a Cruise and Port Guide helps budget travelers plan a trip to majestic Alaska.  Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

Literary Magazines with Themes, Fall 2016

It's that time again:  my roundup of literary magazines with themes, all with due dates this fall.  Read website guidelines carefully and have fun!

Lackington's

Theme:  Musics

Genres:  Speculative

Dates:  Opens November 5

Word Count:  1500-5000

Pay:  1 cent per word (Canadian)

Guidelines: http://lackingtons.com/submissions/

Tacitus Publishing

Theme:  Shattered Space (Stories taking place in space—with a horror element)

Genres:  Sci Fi

Dates:  October 31,2016

Word Count:  1500-5000

Pay:  1 cent per word

Guidelines: http://www.tacituspublishing.com/call_for_submissions.html

Third Flatiron

Theme:  Weird West/Steampunk

Reading Period:  November 1-December 31, 2016

Word Count: 1500-3000

Pay: 6 cents / word

Guidelines:  http://www.thirdflatiron.com/liveSite/pages/submissions

  

Ouen Press

Theme:  The Journey

Genres:  TRUE travel story

Dates:  October 31

Word Count:  3000-10000

Pay:  Contest winners:  100-300 GBP

Guidelines: http://www.ouenpress.com/11.html

The First Line

First line must be:  "In the six years I spent tracking David Addley, it never occurred to me that he didn't exist."

Deadline: November 1, 2016

Word Count:  up to 5000

Pay:  $25-50

Guidelines:  http://www.thefirstline.com/submission.htm

THEMA Literary Journal

Theme:  The Missing Letters

Deadline: November 1, 2016

Pay:  $25

Guidelines:  http://themaliterarysociety.com/submissions.html

Pantheon:

Theme:  Janus (Inspired by, not actually about)

Reading Period:  Dec 31

Word Count:  the shorter the better

Pay:  $.01/wd

Guidelines:   https://pantheonmag.com/submission-guidelines/

Sockdolager

Theme:  Women of War

Deadline: November 1, 2016

Word Count: 1000-5000

Pay:  2 cents per word ($15 per reprint)

Guidelines:  http://www.sockdolager.net/submission-guidelines/

Enchanted Conversation

Theme:  The New Year

Genre:  Fairy Tale

Reading Period:  Nov 1-Nov 30

Word Count:  700-3000 stories, poems of any length

Pay:  $30

Guidelines:  http://www.fairytalemagazine.com/p/blog-page_22.html

Infective Ink

Theme:  Overheard

Deadline:  October 28, 2016

Pay:  $10 for stories 1500 words and up

Guidelines:  http://infectiveink.com/guidelines.html

Shooter

Theme:  Cities

Genres:  Stories, Poetry, Non-fiction

Dates:  October 16, 2016

Word Count:  2000-7500

Pay:  Up to 25 GBP

Guidelines: https://shooterlitmag.com/submissions/

Melinda Brasher's fiction appears in Nous,  Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and other magazines.  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  For something a little more medieval, read her YA fantasy novel, Far-Knowing. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

Literary Magazines with Themes--Spring 2016

Here's my spring 2016 list of upcoming themes or prompts for literary magazines.  They're fun to write to, and you may also find that they match stories you've already written.  As always, read guidelines carefully.

Third Flatiron

Theme:  Keystones

Genres:  Speculative

Reading Period:  April 15-June 15, 2016

Word Count: 1500-3000

Pay: 3 cents / word

Guidelines:  http://www.thirdflatiron.com/liveSite/pages/submissions

Lackington's

Theme:  Animals (see more detailed description in guidelines)

Genres:  Speculative

Dates:  Opens May 10

Word Count:  1500-5000

Pay:  1 cent per word

Guidelines: http://lackingtons.com/submissions/

The First Line

First line must be:  "By the fifteenth month of the drought, the lake no longer held her secrets."

Deadline: May 1, 2016

Word Count:  up to 5000

Pay:  $25-50

Guidelines:  http://www.thefirstline.com/submission.htm

THEMA Literary Journal

Theme:  Second Thoughts

Deadline: July 1, 2016

Pay:  $25

Guidelines:  http://themaliterarysociety.com/submissions.html

Grey Wolfe Publishing

April Prompt:  "Every morning at 9:00 a.m. sharp, you get a call on your cell phone. The speaker says 'I know what you did' and then hangs up. This has been going on for two weeks straight. What did you do and how do you react to these calls?"

Deadline:  April 30, 2016

May Prompt:  You’re sitting at the breakfast table one morning, looking at the top news stories while drinking your coffee. The top story this morning is a crazy fan who was arrested for breaking into a local bookstore and stealing all of YOUR books! He’s quoted as saying “I just want to be their best friend!” Your first crazed fan. What do you do?

Deadline:  May 31, 2016

Word Count:  up to 2000

Pay:  $25 to contest winner

Guidelines:  http://greywolfepublishing.com/2016%20Monthly%20Contests.html

Enchanted Conversation

Theme:  Summer Solstice and Mid-Summer

Genre:  Fairy Tale

Reading Period:  May 1-May 30

Word Count:  700-3000 stories, poems of any length

Pay:  $30

Guidelines:  http://www.fairytalemagazine.com/p/blog-page_22.html

Infective Ink

Themes:  Dear Diary—due April 27, 2016

The End of the World—due May 28, 2016

Pay:  $10 for stories 1500 words and up

Guidelines:  http://infectiveink.com/guidelines.html

On the Premises

Next theme:  TBA

Word Count:  up to 5000

Pay: $60-220 

Guidelines:  http://onthepremises.com/current-contest/

Timeless Tales

Theme:  The Snow Queen

Genre:  retelling of fairy tales—various styles and genres, poetry

Word Count:  up to 2000, 1500 preferred

Pay:  $20

Guidelines:  http://www.timelesstalesmagazine.com/#!submissions/c1vmu

Story

Theme:  Identity

Genres:  Stories, essays, poems

Word Count: up to 2500 for prose

Pay: Unclear

Guidelines:  http://www.storymagazine.org/submit/

Melinda Brasher's first fiction sale was in THEMA, one of the magazines above.  She has other stories published in various magazines, including On the Premises.  Visit her online at www.melindabrasher.com

The Submission Grinder--a useful resource

Submitting short stories to magazines takes a lot of time and effort.  I’ve found a resource that’s helped.  It’s the (Submission) Grinder website, a listing of magazines, e-zines, anthologies and contests you can send your fiction to.

I like it because the magazines are searchable by length, payment, genre, whether they accept reprints, and even style of writing.  It also has a good layout for each magazine's main page, clearly showing the most important information and giving fairly reliable links to their website and specific guidelines.    

You can also sign up for an account and track your submissions, helping keep you organized and giving valuable information back to the community about rejection rates and response times.

They plan to add non-fiction and poetry listings in the future (though some of the magazines here accept non-fiction and poetry too, so it can be useful if you have a portfolio of various genres).

Head on over to the Submission Grinder and submit some of your work!  

Melinda Brasher currently teaches English as a second language in the beautiful Czech Republic.  She loves the sound of glaciers calving and the smell of old books.  Her travel articles and short fiction appear in Go Nomad, International Living, Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others.  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite pieces, check out Leaving Home.  Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

Submitting to Fiction Magazines with Themes--Spring 2015

From The First Line Magazine

Looking for writing inspiration or a new writing challenge?  Check out these upcoming themes from short story magazines.  Find one that strikes your fancy, write your best story, and send it in.  

Portals--Submissions accepted April 1-30
2065 (the year)--Submissions accepted May 1-31
Sport--Submissions accepted June 1-30
Crossed Genres.  (Science fiction or fantasy only, 1000-6000 words, Pays $.06/wd)
Submission Guidelines.

Lost in the Zoo--Due July 1, 2015

THEMA Literary Journal  (Print, Reprints accepted, Fewer than 20 pages prefered, Pays $25)
Submission guidelines

"Laura liked to think she was honest with herself; it was everyone else she lied to."--Due May 1, 2015
"The old neighborhood was nearly unrecognizable."--Due August 1, 2015

The First Line Literary Magazine.  (Print and PDF, 300-5000 wds, Pays $25-50, stories must start with the given line)
Submission Guidelines.

Nyx (the ancient goddess of night)--Due April 30, 2015
Monsters (dark fantasy and horror)--Due June 31, 2015

Pantheon.  (Mythology, The shorter the better,  Pays $.01/wd)
Submission Guidelines.

Dear Diary--Due March 28, 2015
Telling your kids about 'the birds and the bees' is always a difficult task--Due April 27, 2015
Modern spins on common fairy tales--Due May 28, 2015
Memory Loss--Due June 27, 2015

Infective Ink.  (Pays $10)
Submission Guidelines.

Learning--Due March 6, 2015--THIS FRIDAY
Check the website later for the next theme

On the Premises.  (1000-5000 words, Pays $40-180)
Submission Guidelines.

Perseus and Medusa--Due March 23, 2015
Timeless Tales.  (Fairy tales and myths retold in any genre, 2000 words maximum, Accepts reprints, Pays $15)
Submission Guidelines.

Un/Natural World (exploring natural and built worlds on Earth)--Due July 15, 2015
Story  (Pays $20/pg up to $200)
Submission Guidelines.

Kenya--Due April 7, 2015
The Dominican Republic--May 5, 2015
National Parks around the World--Due June 2, 2015
The Olympics--Due July 7, 2015

Faces (World culture and geography for ages 9-14, 800-word retold legends, folktales, stories, and original plays from around the world, Pays professional rates)
Submission Guidelines

Also consider Cobblestone's other magazines accepting 800-word stories based around themes:  Cobblestone (American history), Dig (archeology and history), Odyssey (science). 
Submission Guidelines

Themed magazines can also be a good way to find homes for your trunk stories, but be sure that the theme is a close fit, or you'll disrespect the magazine.  As always, pay close attention to the writers' guidelines.

And keep on creating!

Melinda Brasher's first fiction sale was in THEMA, one of the magazines above.  She has other stories published in various magazines, including On the Premises.  She also loves to travel and is currently writing a budget traveler's guide to cruising Alaska. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com/

Finding Appropriate Literary Magazines For Your Stories

If you’re submitting short stories to literary magazines, doubtless you’ve read in submission guidelines things like this:  “To get a feel for our editorial style, read several issues of the magazine before submitting.”

This is excellent advice, not only for finding good fits for your stories.  Reading many good short stories from different literary magazines will also help your craft.  However, it’s extremely time consuming if you do it in a scattershot, luck-be-with-me sort of way, finding a magazine at random, reading back issues, and only then deciding it’s not a great fit.

Instead, narrow your search first.  One way to do this is to buy or check out recent short story collections that pull from various literary magazines.  Two good ones are The Best American Short Stories and The Pushcart Prize; Best of the Small Presses.  If you’re a genre writer, you may find similar anthologies in your field, like The Year’s Best Science Fiction.  These anthologies generally list which magazines the stories first appeared in. When you find a story you like, and feel it might fit with your writing, put that magazine on your short list.  Research your short-list magazines to make sure your first impressions were right.  Then, of course, submit exactly how the magazine wants, according to their guidelines.  Then submit again.  And again.

*     *     *     *     *

Melinda Brasher has sold short stories to several magazines, including Ellipsis Literature and Art and Intergalactic Medicine Show.  You can read her most recently published story, "Passcodes," free at The Future Fire.  She's currently living in the Czech Republic and loving the nature (and the wild blueberries and raspberries for dessert during her hikes).  Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com/