13 Paying Markets for Flash Fiction
In this age of short attention spans, flash fiction is becoming increasingly popular. Literary magazines which previously only considered short stories of at least 3,000 words are now calling for fiction short enough to be considered “flash fiction.” In some cases journals — even some that are not normally considered literary markets — are calling for “micro fiction” which can be brief enough to tweet. (National Geographic!)
Flash fiction, aka “short-shorts” (not referring to clothing), are self-contained pieces of fiction that are shorter than what literary magazines define as a short story.
If that is not sufficiently vague for you, word counts for flash fiction are even vaguer. Some magazines define flash fiction as fewer than 2,000 words, others fewer than 1,000. Or 1,800. Or 700. In short (pun intended), flash fiction is any length that the editors say it is. Because size matters, flash fiction pays less than short stories.
That being said, you can get paid something, if not much, to submit short pieces. As always, make sure to follow submission requirements. (Click on the titles of the magazines for guidelines.)
For more paying markets see: Paying Markets
___________________
Bards and Sages Quarterly is interested in all speculative genres (horror, fantasy, science fiction, slipstream, steampunk, magical realism, etc) .
Submissions: Flash fiction should be up to 500 words. Send Submissions to: quarterly@bardsandsages.com
Payment: $10
_______________
concīs is about brevity: the succinct, pithy, condensed, laconic, crisp, compressed and compendious. Genre — if you believe in such labels — is unimportant: poems, prose poems, flash fictions, micro-essays, reviews in miniature, sudden fictions, haiku, tanka, American Sentences, insights, epigrams, the unclassifiable…they’re all good.
Submissions: Use their submission form on the website. (You can also email submissions.) Submit up to 5 pieces, 25 lines or 250 words or less. There is no minimum word count. Accepts reprints.
Payment: $20 per piece
_______________
“We ask our fiction writers to imagine their readers navigating a story with one finger poised over a mouse button. Can your story stay that finger to the end? We favor fiction that is contrary in any number of ways, but our fiction typically defies traditional story form. A story may bring us to closure, for example, without ever delivering an ending. And it may be as poetic as any poem.”
Submissions: Contrary uses an online form. Stories should be no longer than 1,500 words.
Payment: $20 per author per issue, regardless of the number of works or nature of the submission.
_______________
Science Fiction (DSF) is a market accepting speculative fiction stories: science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, etc.
Submissions: Stories are submitted through an online form. (You need to register first.) Stories should be from 100 to 1,500 words in length. They will consider flash series — three or more flash tales built around a common theme. If you are submitting a flash series, please note that it is a series in your cover letter and at the top of the submitted text in the submission box. Each story does need to stand on its own. DSF does not accept simultaneous submissions.
Payment: 8 cents per word for first worldwide rights and for nonexclusive reprint rights. Additionally, they pay more for reprinting in themed Daily Science Fiction anthologies.
_______________
Every Day Fiction is looking for very short (flash) fiction, of up to 1000 words. There’s no such thing as too short — if you can do the job in 50 words, have at it! All fiction genres are acceptable, and stories that don’t fit neatly into any genre are welcome too. While personal experiences and other non-fiction can be great sources of inspiration, please turn them into fiction.
Submissions: All stories must be submitted through Submittable. They do not accept simultaneous submissions.
Payment: Token payment of $3.
_______________
Flash Fiction Online strives to publish fiction that presents the full variety of humanity in its pages. As such, they encourage submissions from writers of every stripe. They particularly like to see stories from writers whose backgrounds not well-represented in the field of short fiction, whether it be due to race/ethnicity, religion, ability, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else.
Submissions: Flash fiction online uses Submittable. Stories should be from 500 to 1,000 words in length.
Payment: Sixty dollars ($60) per story. For reprints, they pay $.02 (two cents) per word for nonexclusive rights.
_______________
“Send us your stories, poems, and essays, your work pulsing with beats, haunted by melodies. You can submit multiple works in a single or in multiple genres, but please use your best judgment about sending us the best work you have that is appropriate to our music-driven mission.”
PLEASE NOTE: They are looking for written work to evaluate on the page. They are not seeking recordings, songs, or readings with musical accompaniment. Work will be considered for publication as an audio recording after they have accepted it for print. They ask you to include a brief artist’s statement illuminating your work’s relationship to specific musical forms and artifacts. You are welcome to include an author bio as part of your artist’s statement.
Submissions: Uses submittable. Submissions should be under 1,800 words in length. Please specify whether your submission is fiction or non-fiction along with an artist’s statement explaining how your work engages the world of music.
Payment: Their pay scale for flash varies based on length. $75–150 is the typical range.
_______________
Page & Spine
Submissions: Flash Fiction to 1,000 words. Format: Single space. Indent paragraphs. Do not skip a line between paragraphs. Considered between October 1st and June 1st only.
Payment: All prose up to 3,000 words = $0.01/word with a $20 minimum, except microflash (up to 150 words) = $5
_______________
Perpetual Motion Machine
PMMP publishes dark fiction that branches out into many genres, such as horror, science fiction, and crime. In addition to books, PMMP also publishes a quarterly horror magazine titled Dark Moon Digest, and hosts the Stephen King podcast, Castle Rock Radio. They are interested in dark fiction in the horror, science fiction, crime, and noir genres.
Submissions: Uses Submittable. All submissions must be no more than 1,000 words.
Payment: $25
_______________
Pinball
Pinball accepts genre-inspired and literary fiction, as well as non-fiction essays and comics “allowing for permeability and mutation of prose into new territories.” Work accepted will be published online and/or in print at the discretion of the editors.
Submissions: Uses Submittable. Word count for flash fiction not specified.
Payment: $15
_______________
Pseudopod is a genre magazine in audio form. “We’re looking for horror: dark, weird fiction. We run the spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy. We publish highly literary stories reminiscent of Poe or Lovecraft as well as vulgar shock-value pulp fiction. We don’t split hairs about genre definitions, and we do not observe any taboos about what kind of content can appear in our stories. Originality demands that you’re better off avoiding vampires, zombies, and other recognizable horror tropes unless you have put a very unique spin on them. What matters most is that the stories are dark and compelling.”
Submissions: Uses Submittable. Flash fiction stories should be under 1500 words.
Payment: $.06/word for original fiction, and $20 flat rate for flash fiction reprints
_______________
Splickety fills gaps in the modern reader’s day with concise, poignant fiction. They want stories that hit fast and strike hard — stories that, no matter the genre, can cut through the day’s troubles and grip readers with short attention spans. Splickety has three imprints, each one of which publishes on a quarterly schedule: Splickety, for general fiction; Spark, for romance; and Havok, for speculative fiction.
Submissions: Stories should be between 300 and 1,000 words long and it should fit one of their scheduled upcoming themes.
Payment: 2 cents per word
_______________
“Becoming a flash fiction writer for us gets you free access to publish your flash fiction stories on our site and interact with other writers and readers in our forum. This will help keep your flash fiction writings organized for future publications, improving your writing skills, gaining much-needed exposure. We will promote any official releases (flash fiction or not) with a direct link on our flash fiction site. The link will point to your official publication on Amazon. Even promoting your non-flash fiction pieces helps. We will put everything into supporting all of your work.”
Submissions: Send your flash fiction sample to: theflashreads@gmail.com There is no minimum or maximum word count, but each writing piece should be less than a five-minute read. All levels of writers from novices to experts are accepted.
Payment: $50 if your piece is selected to be included in one of their books.
Like this article? You can find more great writing resources, including free contests, calls for submissions, useful tips on how to get an agent, agents who are looking for clients as well as publishers accepting manuscripts directly from writers, tips for how to market and promote your work, how to build your online platform, how to get reviews, how to self-publish, and where to find markets for your work on Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity.
The Writing Cooperative is a community of people helping each other write better. Become a member to join our Slack team, get fresh eyes on your writing, and participate in the 52-Week Writing Challenge! Only $3 a month.
