Online Markets
Online or electronic literary journals are now important markets for writers. Print journals have a heavy financial load to carry, what with their need for paper, printing and postage. Online journals publish varied forms and word lengths, have shorter response times, and most "publish" more issues than traditional journals — that all adds up to more opportunities for emerging writers. And the best ones, like the Barcelona Review and Blackbird, compete with any bound journal. Of course, the same guidelines apply for online as print journals. Read back issues so you get a sense of what they publish and follow its submission guidelines.
Below you'll find links to student-generated market sheets that rate online publications for the emerging writer. The ranking is based on quality of work, experience of contributors, quantity of prose published, guidelines, design, etc. (Based on those criteria, publications more open to the emerging writer are ranked higher.) Once you review our two-cents, you can click right to the journal's home page and make your own decision.
It goes without saying but we'll say it anyhow; the views expressed in our market research are those of the student reviewers and do not represent the opinions of the Fiction Writing Department, or Columbia College Chicago. The research can help you narrow down your search for a suitable home for your prose.
3:AM
- Bi-weekly British journal that isn't put off by lack of experience
PDF Market Sheet
Big Ugly Review - Ironically, a big beautiful journal
PDF Market Sheet - Issue 7
Brevity - Make it short and sweet, and it better be the truth.
PDF Market Sheet
Carve - It's what we talk about when we talk about great fiction.
PDF Market Sheet
Catalonian Review - A new and promising zine
PDF Market Sheet - Vol. 3
Corium Magazine- They'll get under your skin but won't reject you on your birthday.
PDF Market Sheet
Corvus Magazine- This British emerging writer-friendly journal is named after the genus crows and ravens share.
PDF Market Sheet
Denver Syntax - Provactive reading to keep you warm during ski season
PDF Market Sheet
Devilfish Review - Since 2011, misfits have found a home here.
PDF Market Sheet
Dogzplot - Online quarterly, flash posts biweekly
PDF Market Sheet
Failbetter
- Well-respected quarterly journal
PDF Market Sheet
Fiction Southeast - Flash fiction for the technologically savvy.
PDF Market Sheet
Fifty-Two Stories - Never again will you go a week without reading good fiction.
PDF Market Sheet
Fringe Magazine - Voices from the fringe
PDF Market Sheet
From the Depths - A story will rise.
PDF Market Sheet
Full of Crow - Macrow quality, microw flaws.
PDF Market Shee
Hobart - Monthly updates keep this professional journal fresh
PDF Market Sheet - Nov. 2009 Issue
Jersey Devil Press - Fiction with a quirk.
PDF Market Sheet
Juked - Anything but a fake-out, this magazine satisfies.
PDF Market Sheet
Midwestern Gothic - Whether it's pieces physically set in the Midwest or work inspired by your time living here, they want it.
PDF Market Sheet
Mississippi Review - Don't M-I-S-S this one!
PDF Market Sheet
Monkey Bicycle - Stories that will make you look twice.
PDF Market Sheet
Necessary Fiction - This weekly magazine is a must.
PDF Market Sheet
Painted Bride Quarterly - A perfect marriage of awesome and prose
PDF Market Shee
PANK - A magazine where no story is off-limits.
PDF Market Sheet
Passages North - Onward and upward only for this Michigan magazine.
PDF Market Sheet
Shimmer - Speculative fiction for a miscreant world.
Smokelong Quarterly - Among the upper tier of flash publications
PDF Market Sheet - Issue 25
Tattoo Highway - Bi-annual journal where serendipity lives.
PDF Market Sheet
Vestal Review - The oldest magazine
dedicated exclusively to flash fiction
PDF Market Sheet
Wigleaf- (very) short fiction
PDF Market Sheet
Word Riot - The name says it all.
PDF Market Sheet
Other Markets We Like:
Anderbo - Cleanly designed site lets its readers focus on the writing
Barcelona Review
- Trilingual magazine crosses all kinds of borders
Blackbird - Online journal of Virginia Commonwealth University
Blood Lotus
- So much more than just an awesome name
Blood Orange Review - Precise, fierce, unusual, oh, and seedless.
Chiaroscuro - Let out your inner goth with this journal of dark writing.
Copperfield Review - The most current of historical fiction.
Dark Sky - A story a week gives emerging writers plenty of shots
Del Sol Review
- Publishing arm of Web Del Sol champions the newbie
Elimae- Minimalist site has put the focus on stories for over a decade
Feathertale Review - A home for humor writing with a snarky edge
Flash Me Magazine- Flash fiction of all genres, but keep it clean, punk
Flashquake - Get under your desk for some great reading
Front Porch - Crisp journal from Texas State U's MFA program
Identity Theory - An ambitious and frequently updated online journal
Opium Magazine - Online venue for humorous flash fiction
Our Stories - These folks put a focus on emerging writers
Pindeldyboz- Over 1,000 stories by over 600 authors in only 7 years
StorySouth - As Southern as a mint julep
Thieves Jargon - New content daily gives newcomers a great chance
