19 Literary Magazines Accepting New Writers - Paying markets

For emerging writers, establishing a publications resume can be quite a challenge, especially if you have never published any of your work. But there always has to be a first - your initial short story, poem or personal essay published by a literary magazine. 

Take heart, new writers! There are magazines that want your work, and will even pay you for it. 

Also see: Mega-List of Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazines - Paying markets - Many speculative fiction magazines are happy to publish emerging writers.

Note: If you have missed a magazine's open submission period, you can always submit during their next submission period.

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Albion Review, based in Albion College, publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry.  All submissions are elegible for a prize of $200. Undergraduates only.

Apparition Lit is a speculative fiction magazine that publishes themed issues four times a year. They accept new and established writers. They publish poems and stories between 1k-5k words in January, April, July, and October. They also hold monthly flash fiction contests between the 1st and 15th of each month. Flash stories must be under a 1000 words and be inspired or based on the chosen theme. Payment: $0.03 per word, minimum of $30.00 dollars for short stories and a flat fee of $30 per poem.

The Audacity features an emerging writer twice a month. Open to writers with fewer than three article/essay/short story publications and no published books or book contracts. Genre: Submit your best nonfiction: literary essays and memoir. Please submit only one essay at a time. Essays should be between 1500 and 3000 words. They may take up to eight weeks to respond but we will respond to all submissions. Payment: $2,000.

Baltimore Review. Genre: Poetry; send up to three poems, fiction, creative nonfiction, videos (including poetry), and cross-genre work. Payment: $40. See deadlines.

The Bellevue Literary Review accepts work related to their themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. "We welcome submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Incorporate anecdotes that feel alive, and dazzle us with thoughtful and creative analysis that allows these anecdotes to serve a larger purpose." Length: Maximum 5,000 words. Payment: Honorarium.

The Blue Route. Genre: Fiction or creative nonfiction totaling no more than 3000 words. Submit up to 3 poems. Payment: $25. Undergraduates only.

The Dark is an online horror and dark fantasy magazine published monthly. They publish fiction between 2,000 and 6,000 words. Payment: 6 cents/word.

LampLight Magazine is a quarterly journal of dark fiction and horror. They prefer literary fiction with a bizarre, Twilight Zone-style twist. Payment: Unpublished Fiction: 3¢ per word, $150.00 max. Reprints: 1¢ per word up to 7,000 words. See submission periods.

Longleaf Review has a "particular interest in outsider perspectives." Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Payment: $20. See submission periods.

Masters Review New Voices. New Voices is open year round to any new or emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length with a wide distribution. Authors with short story collections are free to submit, as are writers with books published by indie presses. Payment: $200 for short fiction and narrative non-fiction, and $100 for flash-length narratives (up to 1,000 words)

New Reader Magazine wants stories "about humans and about being human." Investigative stories are welcome, as are memoirs and profiles, interviews, etc. of people who are doing interesting things and changing perspectives in big cities or small, secret towns. They are also looking for fiction and poetry of all kinds, and especially welcome experimental fiction and poetry and work that defies genre conventions. Payment: $5-$20 per published piece.

New Writing Scotland is an annual volume publishing poetry and prose from both emerging and established writers. Restrictions: Open to writers resident in Scotland or Scots by birth, upbringing or inclination. Genre: All forms of writing. Payment: £20 per published page. See submission periods.

SAND is a Berlin publication that "looks for submissions that push the boundaries of form, message, and voice in fresh and unpredictable ways—work that is haunting for its soul, edge, and truth." Genre: Fiction, flash fiction, art, poetry, translations. Payment: Professional rates. See submission periods.

SmokeLong Quarterly publishes flash narratives--fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid--up to 1000 words. They like stories with surprising language and have emotionally resonant narratives. They are always open for submissions. Payment: $50.

Susquehanna Review offers the Gary Fincke Creative Writing Prize for the best piece of poetry ($100) and the best piece of prose ($100) in the issue. There is no entry fee. All undergraduate submissions to Susquehanna Review will automatically be under consideration for the contest, with the exception of students of Susquehanna University. Undergraduates only.

Triangle House Review publishes fiction and nonfiction. "We are ALWAYS looking to consider pieces by writers who have never been published in any capacity before." Payment: $50.

Woodcat Review is looking for works that capture the spirit and experience of the outdoors and the obscure corners of the country. "We are looking for writers, and poets whose lives and passions begin in the mountains, forests, and along the open road. From Cascadia to Acadia, Voyageurs to Big Bend, and all the life in between, yours are voices which speak to travel and adventure, triumph and disaster, challenge and hope, love and loss." They accept flash fiction, short fiction, nonfiction essays, and poetry. Payment: $20 for first page of poetry and $10 for each subsequent page, up to $50 max. Poetry pays up to $50 max. Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction pay up to $100 max.

Write City Magazine is published by the Chicago Writers Association. They accept fiction, nonfiction and quality poetry. Payment: $50/CWA members, $25/nonmembers per prose piece and $35/members, $10/nonmembers per poem. See submission periods.

Masks. Genre: Prose, art, film, audio, and poetry. Payment: Fiction and nonfiction writers will receive a $25-$35 honorarium per piece (3,000 words or less), and poets will receive $20 per poem. Artists, photographers, and audio/filmmakers receive $25.00 per piece (no more than two). The Featured Artist receives $100. "We have no restrictions on the writers or content we publish, but we’re passionate about publishing new writers, new artists, and new perspectives." See submission periods.