Where to Publish Your Short Story and Poetry
Let’s Find That Work a Home
You’ve written your short story/poem, you’ve edited it extensively, and now you’re ready to publish. The question is, where do I find publications open for submissions? I’m so glad you asked! Here are a list of resources where you can find and submit to publications and competitions:
WritersMarket
WritersMarket is a web and print-based subscription service that will curate a list/database where you can search for publications and agencies taking on new writers. You do have to pay for it, but it’s an invaluable tool. Publications are actively adding themselves on this list, so the chance of it being inaccurate are fairly low, at least in my experience. You can also save manuscripts, save publications, and keep track of all of your submissions, which is super convenient. It’s great.
Poets&Writers
This is my go-to for publication. They have a section for agencies, competitions, small presses, literary magazines, etc, and the database is completely free. Publications also put themselves on here, but I have found that a lot of the listings are out of date. However, the selection is so large that you will inevitably find a listing that is accurate and can submit there. 100% of my publication credits have come from this website. The magazine is great, too, for those who prefer a physical list.
Submittable
Submittable is how a lot of publications accept submissions now. So, inevitably, you will have an account here. However, something a lot of people don’t realize is that you can actually find publications through Submittable. This is similar to WritersMarket in that most of the listings here are going to be accurate as publications have to pay to use the service and you can track your submission through the platform, but it’s free for submitters. I’d say of the three, it’s my favorite and ends up getting used regardless since almost all of the publications you find on the other two websites utilizes this as their submission manager.
These are the three tools I utilize to publish my poetry and short stories. Have you used any of these? Are there any others you can recommend? I’d love to hear about them. Comment below, and let me know.
Lissy