Resources for Writers
Included here is my go-to list of resources for all things writing-related. It covers websites, books, and literary magazines; the submission process, craft advice, professional direction, and more. Most presses, agents, books, craft tips, and what-have-you are easily accesible with a quick search, but if you’re looking for a shortlist of reputable literary sites and texts to dive into, here’s a fair place to begin!
Online
The Review Review
NewPages
Erika Dreifus’s newsletter (fee free subs + residencies)
Lambda Literary (for work related to LGBTQ community)
Literistic
Aerogramme Writers
Poets & Writers
Writer’s Digest
AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs)
Bookfox
Write Jobs (particularly helpful if you write sci-fi/speculative work)
Journal of the Month
Submittable
Duotrope
The (Submission) Grinder
Publishing… and Other Forms of Insanity (particularly her list of lit mags that accept reprints)
Books
The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
Tin House Writer’s Notebooks I & II
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Mystery and Manners by Flannery O’Connor
Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction by John McNally
75 Lit Mags and Journals to Get You Started
This is but a TINY sampling of journals—some of my favorites, alongside well-known publications and smaller ventures. All worth checking out! Each journal’s website usually has full submission details and (often) samples of work they love. Many of these are fee free, or at least provide a couple of fee-free submission windows per year.
Key: p = poetry; f = fiction; nf = nonfiction; br = book reviews; flash = flash fiction & sometimes nonfiction (generally less than 1000 words); spec = speculative fiction/sci-fi/fantasy; w/m = women/feminist/mother focus; $ = pays contributors; L = local; Q = lgbtq; tr = translations
- A Public Space (p, f, nf, tr)
- AGNI (p, f, nf, br) $
- American Short Fiction (f) $
- Bateau (p, flash)
- Black Warrior Review (p, f, nf)
- Boulevard (p, f, nf) $
- Brevity (nf, <750 words)
- Catapult (nf) $
- Cheap Pop (flash, <500 words)
- Cincinnati Review (p, f, nf) $
- Contrary (p, f, nf) $
- Creative Nonfiction (nf) $ for contests
- Daily Science Fiction (spec, flash, <1500 words) $
- Electric Literature (f) $
- f(r)iction (p, f, nf)
- Fairy Tale Review (fairy tale retellings, nf)
- Fiction Southeast (flash, <1500 words)
- Fourth Genre (nf)
- Glimmer Train (f) $
- Gravel (p, f, nf, flash)
- Guernica (p, f, nf) $
- Hermeneutic Chaos (p, f)
- Hobart (p, f, nf)
- HOOT (p, flash)
- Indiana Review (p, f, nf)
- Indianola Review (p, f, flash)
- Iowa Review (p, f, nf, tr) $
- JMWW (p, f, nf, flash)
- Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (L, spec, flash, p, f, nf, $)
- Lightspeed (spec) $
- Liminal Stories (spec) $
- Literary Mama (p, f, nf, w/m)
- Massachusetts Review (p, f, nf, tr, L)
- Masters Review (f, flash)
- Meat for Tea (L, p, f, nf)
- Mid-American Review (p, f, nf, tr, br)
- Midwestern Gothic (p, f, nf, Midwest-related)
- Missouri Review (p, f, nf)
- Motherwell (nf, w/m) $
- New England Review (p, f, nf, tr) $
- New south (p, f, nf, flash, br)
- New World Writing (p, f, nf)
- No Tokens (p, f, nf, w/m)
- Noble/Gas Quarterly (p, f, nf, flash)
- One Story (f) $
- Paper Darts (flash, p, f, lots of unusual, animal-oriented pieces)
- Paris Review (p, f, nf)
- phoebe (p, f, nf, spec, br)
- Pinball (f, nf, flash) $
- Pleiades (p, f, nf, br)
- Ploughshares (p, f, nf, tr)
- Prick of the Spindle (p, f, nf, br)
- Proximity (nf)
- Rattle (p) $
- Redivider (p, f, nf)
- Ruminate (nf)
- Shimmer (f, spec) $
- Skirt the Issue (w/m, nf) $
- Slice (p, f, nf)
- SmokeLong Quarterly (flash)
- So to Speak (p, f, nf, w/m)
- Split Lip (p, f, nf, flash)
- Storychord (f)
- Sundog Lit (p, f, nf, flash)
- Sycamore Review (p, f, nf)
- The Common (L, p, f, nf, PLACE)
- The Fem (p, f, nf, w/m)
- The Sun (p, f, nf) $
- Tin House (p, f, nf) $
- Uncanny (p, f, nf, spec) $
- Vol. 1 Brooklyn (nf, br)
- WhiskeyPaper (flash)
- Wigleaf (flash, <1000 words)
- Word Riot (p, f, nf, br)
- Wyvern (p, f, flash)