Test Yourself
I have noticed many writers asking about Beta Readers and opinions about first chapters - and I am guessing those questions arise out a need for feed-back on writing quality. A way to short-cut the Beta Reader quest is to submit short fictions to what are called the Literary Magazines. When you begin to publish in the “Little Mags,” you will know you are doing quality writing and will be able to approach larger works such as novels with the confidence you have developed serious writing skill.
In my own short-story pubbing days, I compiled a list of Literary Magazines to whom I regularly submitted stories - some accepted stories appearing in print, some on-line.
Though it is about 2-years old now, find below my list of Literary Magazines 97% of which do not charge reading fees prior to acceptance.
If a Literary Magazine will vet you by publishing your story, you should know and appreciate the very significant fact that you have successfully competed in the literary market place and that you are a hot shot.
The basic approach is just Google a mag name and follow their instructions on how to submit.
Oh. Submitting to the Literary Magazines is an intro to query lettering. The little mags will often want a short cover letter - and they mean short.
THE LIST:
A-Minor(f.f.)
Apple Valley Review(4K) ed. Leah Browning
A Public Space(1/1-1/31)
Bacopa Literary Review
Barely South Review(8/25-10/25; 1/15-3/15) (<4K)
Behind Closed Doors
Bennington Review(9/1-1/1)
Blackbird(Fall)
Blue Earth Review
Blue Lake Review(re-prints)
Blue Stem(5K)bluestem@emporia.edu
Bodega Magazine
Booth Lit. mag
Boulevard
Brilliant F.F.
Brink
Broken Plate
Buckman Journal(Ptld)
Burningword Lit. Mag(f.f.)
Capra Review (5K)
Cardinal Sins Journal
Cascadia Review(OR)
Catapult
Cheap Pop(June-20%)
Chestnut Review(f.f.)
Cimarron Review
Cincinnati Review($25/page)
Citron Review(<1K)
Cleaning Up Glitter
Club Plum Lit(scary?) (Thea Swanson)
Coachella Review
Cobalt Review
Collateral Journal
Colorado Review(5-8K)
Common Ground Review
Confrontation(opens 8/21)
Consequence Magazine
Contrary magazine
Cosmonauts Avenue
Crab Creek Review (seattle)
Crack the Spine(f.f. & m.f.)
CRAFT(to 6K – some re-prints)
Critical Pass Review
Deep Overstock(OR!)
Descant(1-5K)(9/15-12/15)
Dream Catcher(<2K, post)
Drunk Monkeys(20%)(re-prints)
Emerge Literary Journal
Ennoia Review (no simos, does reprints, 1.5K)
Everyday Fiction (f.f. no simo)
Failbetter
Faultline Journal(10/15-12/15)
Fiction(fictioninc.com)
Fiction Int’l
Fictive Dream
Fields Magazine
Filling Station
Fish Food Mag(f.f.)
Five on the Fifth
Five to One
Fleas on the Dog
Flint Hills Review(8K11/1-3/31)
Floyd City Moonshine(<8K)
The Forge(free subs 1st of mo.)
F.F. On-line(500-1K – re-prints)
Fractured Lit(some re-prints) (scary f.f.)
Friday Flash Fiction
45the Parallel(OSU <3K)
Ghost Parachute(f.f.)
Ginosko Lit Journal(Robert Paul Cesaretti Ed.)
Gold Man Review(Salem, OR) regional only
Gone Lawn
Grain Mag.($50/page)(3.5K)
The Gravity of the Thing(3K)(OR)
Guernica(no F.F.)($150/story)(2-7K)
Harper’s Magazine
Heavy Feather Review(1st of mo.)
Hopkins Review(8K)($10/pg)
Hudson Review(<10K; no simos)
The Hunger(nifty!)(1/1-1/31)
Illuminations(free via post)
Invisible City(9/16/22)
JMWW(<3K)
Juked(print <2.5K)
Lascaux Review(re-prints)
Lamp Light
Levee magazine
Light and Dark(<3K)
Litbreak(1st of mo.)
LIT Magazine
Little Fiction(2K<X<5K)
Little Star Journal
Literally Stories
Literary Orphans
Literary Yard
Louisiana Literature Journal
Louisville Review(Jan/Feb)
Lunch Ticket(2.5K 2/1-3/1)
Lumiere Review(3K)
(Mac)ro(Mic)
Malahat Review($10/pg/8K/Mar-Apr-Sep-Oct)
Masters Review(Ptld)(7K)($200/story)
Matador Review
Maudlin House(3.5K)
Menacing Hedge(scary)
Measure Press(books)
Mid-American Review
Midway Journal(1/1-5/31)
Milk Candy Review(.75K)
Moon City Review
Moss Journal(PNW)($125/story)
Mount Hope
Mud Season Review(6K)
Munyori
The Nation
The New Yorker
New Delta Review (winter)
Ninth Letter(8K-$25/pg) (free only Nov/Dec)
Noctua Review( sub 10/l – 12/31)
Non-Conformist
O-Dark-Thirty(for Vets)
Olive Tree Review(8K)
One Story
Ostrich Review
Oyster River pages
Passages North(opens 9/1)
Paterson Review(1.5K)
Pidgeon Holes(F.F.)
Pinball(pays $25/story)($15/f.f.)
Pleiades
Plentitudes(1.5-5K)
Portland Review(1.2-2.5K)
Post Road Magazine
Potato Soup Journal
Press Pause Press
Puritan Literary Magazine(10K)
Quarter After Eight(Ohio U. Pays $150)
Rougarou(every 4 mos)
Ruminate Magazine
Rumpus(1/1-1/31, 7/1-7/31)
The Rupture
The Rush
Salamander
Salt Hill Journal(7/15-9/1, 12/1-1/15)
SAND Journal(5K 12/20-1/10)(opens early 2023)
Scribble
Shooter Lit. Mag.(2K<X<6K)
Silver Pen Writers
Slice(pubs 8%)
Small Print Magazine(Sub. 10/1/22)(8K)
SmokeLong Quarterly(1K)
Soundings East(9/1-2/15 – 3.5K)
Southampton Review
Southwest Review
Split Rock Review(2K)
Spry
Spelk(f.f.)
Stoneboat Lit. Journal
Stonecoast Review
Storm Cellar(5K)(safety & danger)
Storyscape Journal(5K)
Straylight(no simo)
The Sun(no simo)
The Temz Review
Three Penny Review(open 1/1-1/31)
Timberline Review(Willamette.Writers)(11/1-12/15)(3.5K) Bird S. 11/6/22
TINGE
Tiny Molecules(F.F.)
Tiny Spoon Lit Mag(1/1-4/1)
Type House Lit Mag(Oregon)
Unbound Brooklyn Journal
Upstreet
The Void
The Waking (see Ruminate)
Waterstone Review(10/1-11/1 8K)
Waxwing(no limit)(9/1-4/30 1st of mo.)
West Branch(8/1-4/1)
Wigleaf(ff)
White Wall Review(Toronto)(6K)
Wizards in Space(3.5K)
Woven Tale Press(reprints after 5 yr) (6.5K)
Write City(<1.8K)
Yale Review
Yalobusha Review
Your Impossible Voice(long OK)
X-R-A-Y
Sources
https://www.pw.org/literary_magazines?&perpage=*
http://everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines
https://creativewriters.blogspot.com/
https://www.thereviewreview.net/
https://heypublisher.com/publishers/search
https://www.facebook.com/groups/35517751475/
https://creativewritersopps/blogspot.com/
https://discoversubmittable.com/