Thank you for this! As an added note to your mention of Submittable's No Fee filter on Discover, the ones where organizations have chosen to add their fees within the form as different answerable options are the ones not filtered out.
Even since I first drafted this essay (really only several weeks ago), I seem to be finding "hidden" fee information increasingly frequently on Submittable. It's frustrating!
An excellent article, and thanks for the Comps and Calls mention! I subscribe to a different litmag every year, so that at least I'm doing something to support them. Though the ones that don't charge submission fees sometimes thank me for listing them in C&C, so that's a way of helping them too. Some very helpful tips here, and I've learned a thing or two. Many thanks.
For every five dollars that I am able to save, I can buy a copy of one of my books at cost to give to a friend, industry person, or future friend. I enjoyed this article and all the great suggestions.
Thank you for this resource. As a new author looking to get some of my writing published, I don't have a strong preference either way (actually I'm used to paying fees from Academic Writing), but this guide helped me to understand some of the resources available to begin to get published.
Thanks so much for all your work. To help me find free submission opportunities, I downloaded Brecht's Top 1000 Literature Magazines, and then filtered out any of the paying markets, leaving me with a ton of free markets to research.
Am I the only one who thinks Split Lip waiving its submission fee for black writers is absurd? What about hispanic writers? Or Chinese? Or Korean? Or Catholic? Or Jewish? All those groups have been stigmatized, oppressed, or treated unfairly in some way in our history. What about female writers? What about senior writers? Politically conservative writers (who can’t get a thing published even today)? And what about the black writer who was born into an influential and powerful American family? They get to submit for free, too, just because they are black?
Those other groups have been stigmatized and had their share of challenges, true. These types of opportunities are often not just for those who've been oppressed, but for those who have not been as present in the publishing world because of that systemic oppression. Up until very recently - and still today - a lot of Black stories have been written by white writers because Black writers were kept from the publishing field. This is one small way to try to balance those scales. I know whatever I will say here will not be changing your mind, but it's important to think specifically about what something is meant to accomplish.
Which black writers were kept from the publishing field? Ralph Ellison? James Baldwin? Phyllis Wheately? Richard Wright? Percival Everett? Lorraine Hansberry? Martin Luther King? Malcolm X? Booker T. Washington? Toni Morrison? Langston Hughes? Chester Himes? Jean Toomer? Alice Walker? W.E. DuBois? Eldridge Cleaver? Claude Brown? Maya Angelou? Alex Haley? August Wilson? Earnest J. Gaines?
We probably don't know their names... because they weren't published (or promoted). But good job listing a couple dozen names to prove that there is no issue. Your work here is done.
Can you give me a single example of a black writer who wasn’t published due to the color of their skin? Good writing is always published if the writer has something important to say. That’s what the list proves.
Bruce, you're probably just angry that your writing isn't good enough to be published so you're looking for someone to blame. It just must be preferential tretment of others.
When a lit mag has a no-fee policy but tells you on their Submissions page that subscribing for a year moves your work to "the top of the pile," how is that not a submission fee for anyone willing to buy the subscription?
Is that the case with one of the if-you-subscribe-we'll-waive-the-fee publications that I mentioned as examples? If so, I'm sorry I missed it. Otherwise, I hope that you can tell from the piece that I was already unwilling to grant this path unqualified-strategy status.
I forgot now which lit mag it was, sorry. I looked at so many submission pages this week, but when someone asks for close to $40 bucks, that seems steep for getting your work noticed faster.
As always (and as a long-time grateful subscriber to your newsletter and links, Erika), your advice summarizes terrific options and resources for keeping the search for fee-free submissions from becoming chaotic. Thank you so much for your work and research!
First of all, thank you, Erika, for this column -- and for your very helpful columns with fee-free opps.
* * Writers: If you ever lose track of Erika, her site is linked on the "Published to Death" Blog.
N.B.: there are poetry zines who do not charge for submissions and who also graciously tend to offer free feedback on rejected poems, if requested.
I always send a Ko-Fi tip afterwards --- and encourage tipping good poetry publishers, subscribing to poetry newsletters, and boosting your favorite zines' posts on social media!
Oh, dear. That's disappointing. There's still no mention of that on the page at https://www.gasherpress.com/first-book-prize. Thank you for the information. Are you part of the team there?
Well, there wouldn't necessarily be one on the Submittable page yet, since it opens/would have opened in July, but I'll message them; they may not realize that the prize page itself is still up and unchanged. Thanks.
Thank you for this. I wrote to them earlier today; they're currently out-of-office, but perhaps when they return they'll be able to update the website page as well.
Thank you for this! As an added note to your mention of Submittable's No Fee filter on Discover, the ones where organizations have chosen to add their fees within the form as different answerable options are the ones not filtered out.
Even since I first drafted this essay (really only several weeks ago), I seem to be finding "hidden" fee information increasingly frequently on Submittable. It's frustrating!
Me, too!
An excellent article, and thanks for the Comps and Calls mention! I subscribe to a different litmag every year, so that at least I'm doing something to support them. Though the ones that don't charge submission fees sometimes thank me for listing them in C&C, so that's a way of helping them too. Some very helpful tips here, and I've learned a thing or two. Many thanks.
For every five dollars that I am able to save, I can buy a copy of one of my books at cost to give to a friend, industry person, or future friend. I enjoyed this article and all the great suggestions.
Very helpful tips, thank you!
Really great. Thanks for this, Erika.
Thank you for this resource. As a new author looking to get some of my writing published, I don't have a strong preference either way (actually I'm used to paying fees from Academic Writing), but this guide helped me to understand some of the resources available to begin to get published.
Thank you Erika for your continued help to other writers. Your generosity is an inspiration.
Thanks for this, Erika, and for all you do for our writing community! And thanks to you too, Becky!
Thank you for your effort. All sensible suggestions.
Thank you so much for your meticulous work on this.
Thanks so much for all your work. To help me find free submission opportunities, I downloaded Brecht's Top 1000 Literature Magazines, and then filtered out any of the paying markets, leaving me with a ton of free markets to research.
Not familiar with that source, I have to say, but sounds like it's helped you out, and that's great.
Thanks for this info! I found the list easily when I googled. So many mags!
Am I the only one who thinks Split Lip waiving its submission fee for black writers is absurd? What about hispanic writers? Or Chinese? Or Korean? Or Catholic? Or Jewish? All those groups have been stigmatized, oppressed, or treated unfairly in some way in our history. What about female writers? What about senior writers? Politically conservative writers (who can’t get a thing published even today)? And what about the black writer who was born into an influential and powerful American family? They get to submit for free, too, just because they are black?
Those other groups have been stigmatized and had their share of challenges, true. These types of opportunities are often not just for those who've been oppressed, but for those who have not been as present in the publishing world because of that systemic oppression. Up until very recently - and still today - a lot of Black stories have been written by white writers because Black writers were kept from the publishing field. This is one small way to try to balance those scales. I know whatever I will say here will not be changing your mind, but it's important to think specifically about what something is meant to accomplish.
Which black writers were kept from the publishing field? Ralph Ellison? James Baldwin? Phyllis Wheately? Richard Wright? Percival Everett? Lorraine Hansberry? Martin Luther King? Malcolm X? Booker T. Washington? Toni Morrison? Langston Hughes? Chester Himes? Jean Toomer? Alice Walker? W.E. DuBois? Eldridge Cleaver? Claude Brown? Maya Angelou? Alex Haley? August Wilson? Earnest J. Gaines?
We probably don't know their names... because they weren't published (or promoted). But good job listing a couple dozen names to prove that there is no issue. Your work here is done.
Can you give me a single example of a black writer who wasn’t published due to the color of their skin? Good writing is always published if the writer has something important to say. That’s what the list proves.
Bruce, you're probably just angry that your writing isn't good enough to be published so you're looking for someone to blame. It just must be preferential tretment of others.
You’re wrong again. I have been published, and I’m not looking for someone to blame. That’s an activity for those who like to whine about oppression.
When a lit mag has a no-fee policy but tells you on their Submissions page that subscribing for a year moves your work to "the top of the pile," how is that not a submission fee for anyone willing to buy the subscription?
Is that the case with one of the if-you-subscribe-we'll-waive-the-fee publications that I mentioned as examples? If so, I'm sorry I missed it. Otherwise, I hope that you can tell from the piece that I was already unwilling to grant this path unqualified-strategy status.
I forgot now which lit mag it was, sorry. I looked at so many submission pages this week, but when someone asks for close to $40 bucks, that seems steep for getting your work noticed faster.
As always (and as a long-time grateful subscriber to your newsletter and links, Erika), your advice summarizes terrific options and resources for keeping the search for fee-free submissions from becoming chaotic. Thank you so much for your work and research!
You're welcome!
First of all, thank you, Erika, for this column -- and for your very helpful columns with fee-free opps.
* * Writers: If you ever lose track of Erika, her site is linked on the "Published to Death" Blog.
N.B.: there are poetry zines who do not charge for submissions and who also graciously tend to offer free feedback on rejected poems, if requested.
I always send a Ko-Fi tip afterwards --- and encourage tipping good poetry publishers, subscribing to poetry newsletters, and boosting your favorite zines' posts on social media!
Happily, it's not too difficult to find me online! ;-)
Thank you, Erika, for all you do on behalf of other wordsmiths!! Glad to have this chance to applaud in public.
The Gasher First Book Prize has been cancelled, hopefully just for this year.
Oh, dear. That's disappointing. There's still no mention of that on the page at https://www.gasherpress.com/first-book-prize. Thank you for the information. Are you part of the team there?
The only mention is on this page: https://www.gasherpress.com/submissions
And then, there's no entry for the prize on the submittable page.
Well, there wouldn't necessarily be one on the Submittable page yet, since it opens/would have opened in July, but I'll message them; they may not realize that the prize page itself is still up and unchanged. Thanks.
They announced it on Instagram last month: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr8xxZ2uL0s/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Thank you for this. I wrote to them earlier today; they're currently out-of-office, but perhaps when they return they'll be able to update the website page as well.