Resources for Literary Journals – Updated for 2021

Around 2 years back I’d written this post linking to the best resources where you can find literary journals to submit your fiction, essays and poetry.

Most of it is still valid, but an updated version is due, because some resources are back up and some have moved. There may be more out there, but the ones I’ve listed below are my favourites and I refer to them most often when seeking out markets for my work.

1. Duotrope: This is a database of markets for fiction, poetry and nonfiction, and also literary agents. They switched to a paid subscription model a few years ago, costing $5 per month or $50 per year if you take an annual subscription. I continued to subscribe have subscribed the last two years and intend to continue, considering that I easily recover the cost within a few months.
2. Erika Dreifus’ Practicing Writing Newsletter: One of the best resources out there, focused solely on paying opportunities. Since I last published my list, this newsletter has moved to Substack. You can subscribe here. In addition, Erika Dreifus also publishes links to useful markets regularly over at her The Practicing Writing blog.

2. Cathy’s Comps and Calls: An invaluable resource for paying markets with and without deadlines. Cathy Bryant runs this site and she’s from the UK, so her list features quite a few UK-specific markets as well.
3. Published to Death: A month-wise list of calls for submissions including deadlines and themes. An excellent resource for fiction and other creative writers.
4. Trish Hopkinson – A Selfish Poet: Trish Hopkinson is a poet and regularly shares details of markets primary focused on poetry. Since most such markets accept fiction and creative nonfiction too, they’re a great resource to add to the list.
5. Ralan: This site has been around for many years and features mainly Fantasy, SF, and Horror markets.
6. NewPages.com: This is an entirely free resource and includes a huge number of listings. However, you might have to sift through quite a few to uncover the paying opportunities.
7. Entropy Mag: Entropy is itself a “website featuring literary and related non-literary content.” Every quarter they publish a list of submissions calls with upcoming deadlines.
8. Submittable Discover: Submittable is known more for their submission platform that most literary journals use. The Discover platform helps writers/artists seek out opportunities and filter them based on their requirements. I find that it requires some work to unearth the submissions call that pay and don’t take submission fees.
9. Poets and Writers: This turned out a worthy addition to my list of resources. You can filter the list as per your requirements as well.

Bonus Resource: Becky Tuch, who had set up the immensely useful site The Review Review, has started a brand new Substack newsletter called Lit Mag News Roundup. You can subscribe here.

That’s all I have for this week. If you have any additional resources, please drop a link in the comments below!