Erica Verrillo's Blog

Pickpik
This October there are more than six dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.
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I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

Happy submitting!

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IHRAM Press: Art, Action, Impact: Voices of 21st-century Activism. Genre: "This anthology will explore interventions that have sparked widespread change, highlighting protests and acts of resistance expressed through art, storytelling, and personal activism." Payment: $50. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Mudroom. Genre: Poetry, fiction, essays, and essays in translation. Payment: $15. Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025.

Polar Borealis. Restrictions: Open to Canadians only. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: 1 cent per word. $10 for one thousand words or less. $20 for two thousand words or less (but reasonably above one thousand). $30 for three thousand words or less (but reasonably above two thousand). Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025.

The Iowa Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry. Payment: $1.50 per line for poetry ($100 minimum) and $0.08 per word for prose ($100 minimum). Deadline: October 1, 2025. No fee for snail mail submissions. $4 fee for online submissions.

The Forge Literary Magazine. Genre: Fiction, flash fiction, micro-fiction. Length: Under 3,000 words preferred. Payment: $75. Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025. They open to fee-free submissions on the first of each month and close when they reach their quota.

Gordon Square Review. Genre: Poetry, short stories, personal essays, and hybrid prose works. Payment: $25 per prose piece and $10 per poem. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

The Last Line. Genre: Fiction that ends with the last line provided. Payment: $20-$40. Deadline: October 1, 2025.


The Paris Review. Genres: Fiction, poetry. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.


Sundog. Genre: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art. Payment: $50. Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.

Humour Me. Genre: Funny short stories with the theme ‘Autumn.’ Payment: £7.50. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Flame Tree: Wars in the Stars Short Stories. Genre: Sci-fi on an epic scale. Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: October 2, 2025. Opens October 1. This is a monthly call.


Stone's Throw. Genre: Noir, dark fiction, crime short stories. Length: between 1,000 and 2,000 words. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: October 3, 2025. Note: This is a monthly call.

Tales from the Moonlit Path. Genre: Dark, eerie speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: $10 for fiction. Deadline: October 4, 2025.

Daikaijuzine. Genre: Speculative fiction, poetry, art. Payment: $10.00 for each short story, and $5.00 for each poem and flash fiction piece. Deadline: October 5, 2025.

Shadows in the Ravens Eye: A Reimagining of Poe’s Tales. Genre: Short stories that reinterpret Poe's legends with fresh angles, but keeping with his style and atmosphere. Keep the dread, the obsession, the unreliable minds. Surprise us with setting, voice, or twist. Length: 2,000 to 3,000 words. Payment: 20 cents per book. Deadline: October 5, 2025.

Raconteur Press. Genre: Detective stories. The early pulp magazines and books may have cost a dime, but these detectives need more than that to keep body and soul together. They were the gumshoes, the flat-feet, who used old-fashioned persistence and a healthy dose of common sense to track down clues and close the net on the perpetrators. Read Frederic Brown’s The Fabulous Clipjoint and you’ll have a clue to what we’re looking for. Men whose gruff exterior hid a soft heart and a sharp mind, they were not noir, they were something uniquely American, classless, and driven by a desire for justice—but not at all costs. They got their man, or woman, in the end. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 5, 2025.

Tractor Beam. Genre: Soilpunk speculative fiction. Payment: $1,000 for stories and graphic novellas up to 6,000 words. Deadline: October 6, 2025.

Affirm Press. Restrictions: Open to Australians only. Genre: All literary and genre fiction. For non-fiction, they are interested in most subjects that have a connection to Australia. authors or authors based in Australia, and only manuscripts that haven’t been previously published. They only accept submissions on the first Monday of each month. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 6, 2025.

Trans Survivors Zine. Genre: Trans and nonbinary art. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: October 13, 2025.

Planet Scumm. Genre: Hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, speculative fiction, weird fiction, slipstream. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: October 13, 2025.

Solarpunk Magazine. Genre: Solarpunk. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $75/essay, $100 for reprint cover art, $200 for original unpublished cover art, $50 for reprint interior art, $100 for original unpublished interior art  Deadline: October 14, 2025.

Inner Worlds Zine. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy, or supernatural horror prose with a strong emotional or psychological focus. "We are mainly interested in fiction, but we’re open to speculative memoir or creative non fiction, as long as it has speculative elements.” Payment: £0.02 per word for each piece accepted, with a minimum £20 payment. Deadline: October 14, 2025 for members of marginalised groups only.

The Orange & Bee. Genre: Original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales. Payment: Poetry: flat rate $US50.00 per poem; Flash fiction/non-fiction: flat rate $US80.00 per story (max 1000 words); Short fiction/non-fiction: $US0.08 per word (max 4000 words). Deadline: October 14, 2025.

Translunar Travelers Lounge. Restrictions: September 15 - 21 is reserved for writers of color. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $0.03 per word with a minimum of $20. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Horror Tree: Trembling With Fear. Genre: Horror short stories. Payment: $5. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Genre: Science fiction and fantasy. Length: 1500-7500 words. Payment: $0.005/word up to 7500 words. Minimum of $15. Reprints paid at full rate. Deadline: October 15, 2025. Accepts reprints.

The Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror poetry and fiction on theme: Secret Police, ICE, and the Disappeared. Payment: $0.015/word for fiction, and $10 for poetry. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Consequence Magazine: The Culture of War. Genre: Short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, interviews, reviews, and visual art mainly focused on the culture of war. Payment: $20 - $60 for prose and poetry, $150 for art. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Cutleaf: Literary Nonfiction. Genre: Literarhy nonfiction.. Payment: $100 to $300 for published prose. Deadline: October 15, 2025. Closes when cap is reached.

New Orleans Review. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Payment: $300 for prose, $100 for poetry. Deadline: October 15, 2025. In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, there are no submission fees for Latinx writers from September 15th to October 15th.

Rattle: Rebels. Genre: Poetry. "Our Spring 2026 issue will be dedicated to literary rebels—those poets who run counter to the literary mainstream." Payment: $100. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Into the Deep, Dark Woods Anthology. Genre: Original fiction and poetry in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, mystery, humor, and romance, appropriate for up to a “PG-13” audience. The setting of “deep, dark woods” must be central to the story. Payment: 6 cents/word. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Electric Spec. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $20 per piece. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Rooted. Genre: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, CNF, audio, art. See theme. Payment: $10 for online publication only. No payment for print. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Foglifter. Genre: Foglifter is a biannual compendium of queer and trans writing. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ writers celebrate, mourn, rage, and embrace. "Please submit work that engages with themes that may include gender expression and transition, reproductive justice, disability and chronic illness, surveillance and censorship, body modification culture, fat liberation and anti-ableism, queer desire and sexuality, the racialized body, and performance and protest. We invite works that grapple with the political, personal, and cultural dimensions of the queer body." Payment: $100. Deadline: October 16, 2025.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: October 17, 2025.

Seaside Gothic. Genre: Seaside gothic fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or a collection of photographs or illustrations. Payment: £0.01 per word. Deadline: October 19, 2025.

Flame Tree: No Laughing Matter. Genre: Fiction which embraces the horror/thriller genres with elements of bleak, black humour, wry observation, a touch of irony and satire, and hints of the absurd. Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: October 19, 2025.

Hub City Press. Restrictions: "We are seeking new and extraordinary voices from the American South." Genre: Debut and second novels. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 19, 2025.

Quist. Restrictions: Open to writers and artists between the ages of 14 and 21 and based in Quebec. Genre: Poetry and prose. Payment: $75. Deadline: October 20, 2025.

Astrolabe. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography & art. Payment: $50. Deadline: October 22, 2025.

Mythaxis. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: €0.01 per word, with a €20 minimum. Deadline: October 30, 2025.

Neon Hemlock. Genre: Speculative fiction novellas. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 30, 2025.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Parallel Universe Publications: Swords & Sorceries. Genre: Heroic fantasy. Payment: £25. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Engen Books. Restrictions: Newfoundland and Labrador writers preferred. Genre: Space Stories. Length: under 7,500 words. Payment: $0.01 CAD per word. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Harbor Review. Genre: Poetry, art. Payment: $10. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

The Temz Review. Genre: Prose (fiction and creative non-fiction) up to 10,000 words long. Payment: $20. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Nine Arches. Genre: Poetry collections. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.
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Tenebrous Press. Restrictions: Open to POC. Genre: New Weird Horror novels and novellas. Length: 20,000 - 120,000 words. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Brick. Genre: Literary nonfiction. Payment: $65–720, depending on the length of accepted work, plus two copies of the issue the work appears in and a one-year subscription to the magazine. Deadline: October 31, 2025. Closes when cap is reached, so submit early.

Phylum Press. Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and visual art. See theme. Payment: $10. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Rebel Satori Press. Restrictions: Open to LGBTQIA+ writers. Genre: Book-length speculative fiction involving LGBTQ+ characters written by LGBTQ+ authors, including but not limited to: sci-fi, interstitial, slipstream, horror, and supernatural fictional manuscripts. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

My Galvanized Friend is a new publication focused on highlighting works from those identifying as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, and essays between 500 and 3,500 words as well as works of poetry and original works of art. Payment: $25 per fiction/nonfiction/essay and $10 per page of poetry. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

MetaStellar. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy or horror. 1000 words max. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Flash Point Science Fiction. Genre: Speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length. "Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short." Payment: 2 cents/word. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Made in L.A. Restrictions: Preference for writers who currently live in and around Los Angeles. Genre: Fiction. Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: October 31, 2025. 

Walpurgis Witcheries Anthology. Genre: Sword and sorcery. Length: Between 4,000 and 8,000 words. Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: October 31, 2025.


​AfriCANthology II: Strange Truth of Black Canadian Fiction. Restrictions: Open to  writers who live in Canada or are Canadian citizens living outside the country who self-identify as Black. Genre: Short stories (2,500 to 4,000 words) in any genre of fiction that honour the anthology’s themes and relate to the Black experience in Canada.  Payment: $200 CAD. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series. Restrictions: Open to any individual living in the U.S. who identifies as an immigrant and who either (i) was born in another country, (ii) has at least one parent who was born in another country (iii) is a refugee, or (iv) lives in the United States under Asylum or a Protection Program, such as TPS or DACA. Genre: Books of poetry, prose (fiction or nonfiction), and hybrid texts of poetry and prose. Payment: In addition to publication, marketing, and a standard royalties contract from Black Lawrence Press, authors chosen for the Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series will receive a travel stipend of $500, which can be used for book tours or in any manner chosen by the authors. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Olit. Restrictions: Strong preference for Orlando based writers/submissions about Orlando and surrounding areas. Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Hybrid, Artwork, Photography. "Send us all kinds of stuff. We love the artfully weird." Payment: $10. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Dragon Soul Press: FIRE & ASH. Genre: All dragon-themed stories. All genres accepted.  Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Manawaker Studio: 100 Word Project. Genre: Speculative fiction of exactly 100 words. See theme. Payment: $1. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Anvil Press. Restrictions: Open to writers living in Canada. Genres: Full-length books per year in the following genres:
• literary fiction (short story collections, novels, uncategorizable prose)
• creative nonfiction
• memoir
• essay collections
• poetry
• books about Vancouver history (preferably off-beat or little-known history)
Read submission guidelines here. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Haven Speculative. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 8¢ per word for fiction and $20 for poetry. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Wildhouse Publishing. Genre: Full-length poetry collection. "Wildhouse Publishing curates books for unconventional people with adventurous spirituality." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Midnight Meadow Publishing's goal is to publish engaging and unique LGBTQ+ stories while elevating marginalized voices. They are interested in a wide variety of genres. Read submission guidelines HERE. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Flash Fiction Online. Genre: Speculative flash fiction. Payment: $100. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Glass Poetry Press. Genre: Poetry chapbooks. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Phoenix Poets Series: University of Chicago Press. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscripts. Payment: Royalties. Read full guidelines HERE. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

SpecPoVerse. Genre: Speculative poetry. Payment: $5. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Inner Worlds Zine. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy, or supernatural horror prose with a strong emotional or psychological focus. "We are mainly interested in fiction, but we’re open to speculative memoir or creative non fiction, as long as it has speculative elements.” Payment: £0.02 per word for each piece accepted, with a minimum £20 payment. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Ember. Genre: Creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry aimed at children and teens. Payment: 2 cents per word or $20 per work, whichever is more, for worldwide first publication rights in English. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

New Writing Scotland. Restrictions: Open to writers resident in Scotland or Scots by birth, upbringing or inclination. Genre: All forms of writing are invited: autobiography and memoirs; creative responses to events and experiences; drama; graphic artwork (monochrome only); poetry; political and cultural commentary and satire; screenplays; short fiction; travel writing or any other creative prose may be submitted. Maximum recommended length of 3,500 words in total. Payment: $25/page. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Spring Into SciFi. Genre: Science fiction short stories. Payment: $15. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

AND A FEW MORE...

Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror: short stories and poems - see themes. Payment: Fiction, 1.5 cents/word. Poetry, $10. Deadline: November 1, 2025.

Ninth Letter Web Edition. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. See theme. Payment: $25 per poem and $75 for prose. Deadline: November 1, 2025.

Podcastle. Genre: Fantasy podcast. Length: Up to 6,000 words. Payment: $0.06/word for original; $100 for reprints, $20 for flash fiction reprints. Deadline: Opens November 1, 2025.

Clocks. Genre: Dark fiction, speculative fiction, near sci-fi, strange, wondrous. Payment: $40. Deadline: November 1, 2025. Closes when cap is reached, so submit early.

Foglifter. Genre: Foglifter is a biannual compendium of queer and trans writing. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ writers celebrate, mourn, rage, and embrace. "Foglifter welcomes daring and thoughtful work by queer and trans writers in all forms, and we are especially interested in cross-genre, intersectional, marginal, and transgressive work. We want the pieces that challenged you as a writer, what you poured yourself into and risked the most to make. But we also want your tenderest, gentlest work, what you hold closest to your heart. Whatever you're working on now that's keeping you alive and writing, Foglifter wants to read it." Payment: $50. Deadline: November 1, 2025.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: November 1, 2025. See themes.

The First Line Journal. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry using the line provided. (See theme) Payment: $25-50 for fiction, $25 for nonfiction, $10 for poetry. Deadline: November 1, 2025.

Thema. Genre: Fiction, poetry, and art on theme: Today's Onerous Task. Payment:  $10-$25 for short fiction and artwork, $10 for poetry. Deadline: November 1, 2025. Accepts reprints.

PxHere This October there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range from $10,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Many of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.

Good luck! 

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PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative. Restrictions: Applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. Prize: Grant, amount not specified. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Horror Writers Association Diversity Grants. Restrictions: Ppen to underrepresented, diverse people who have an interest in the horror writing genre, including, but not limited to writers, editors, reviewers, and library workers. Genre: Horror. Prize: $500 grant. Deadline: October 1, 2025.


The Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry, sponsored by the African Poetry Book Fund and in partnership with the literary journal, Prairie Schooner, is the only one of its kind in the world and was established to promote African poetry written in English or in translation and to recognize a significant book published each year by an African poet. A standard edition is 48 pages or more in length. Genre: Open to any book of original poetry, in English, published during 2015 in a standard edition by a full-length collection of poetry. Restrictions: African nationals, African residents, or poet of African parentage with roots from any country, living anywhere in the world. Prize: USD $1,000. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Changes Book Prize. Genre: First or second collection of poems. Prize: $10,000 and publication, Deadline: October 1, 2025.

2025 IHLR Long Story: Nonfiction and Fiction. Genre: Long fiction or CNF. Length: 20 to 40 pages. Prize: $1000. Deadline: October 1, 2025. Note: They will accept 25 free submissions on October 1, 2025.

2025 Iron Horse Long Story: NaPoMo Contest. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $1000. Deadline: October 1, 2025. Note: They will accept 25 free submissions on October 1, 2025.

The Lindenwood Review Undergraduate Flash Nonfiction Contest. Restrictions: Open to undergraduate students. Genre: Flash Nonfiction. Prize: $50 and publication. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Sunlight Press. Genre: Flash fiction. Prize: $750. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Quarterly West.  Genre: Poetry and prose. Prize: $500. Deadline: No fee days: October 1 - 2, 2025. (After that point, submissions for BIPOC writers only will remain free.)

TCU Texas Book Award. Genre: Book of fiction, nonfiction, art or photography about Texas. Books must have been published between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024. Prize: $5000. Deadline: October 3, 2025. 

American Antiquarian Society Fellowships for Creative Writers is calling for applications for visiting fellowships for historical research by creative and performing artists, writers, film makers, journalists, and other persons whose goals are to produce imaginative, non-formulaic works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history. Successful applicants are those whose work is for the general public rather than for academic or educational audiences. The Society's goal in sponsoring this program is to multiply and improve the ways in which an understanding of history is communicated to the American people. Prize: A stipend of $2,200. Deadline: October 5, 2025.

DC Reid Poets’ Grant. Restrictions: Open to poets of "modest means." Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, living in Canada, who have published at least two books of poetry with a traditional publishing house. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $5000. Deadline: October 6, 2025.

Neal Peirce Foundation Journalism Travel Grants. Genre: Journalism. "Grants are intended to support journalists in covering undertold stories about ways to make cities and their metro regions work better for all their people. Grants will cover travel expenses necessary for on-the-ground reporting. Full-time freelancers as well as journalists currently employed by a news organization are eligible to apply. The grants are for journalists to travel to cities within the U.S. to produce one or more stories for publication." Prize: Up to $1500. Deadline: October 7, 2025.

Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship. Restrictions: Open to fiction writers aged 21+ who have not yet published a book and have never been enrolled in an MFA program. Writer must not have a book under contract with an agent and/or publisher at time of application, and writer cannot have been published by One Story (or have a forthcoming publication with One Story). Genre: Short fiction that "speaks to issues and experiences related to inhabiting bodies of difference." Prize: Free tuition for all of One Story's online classes and programming, a travel stipend of $2,000 and tuition to attend week-long summer writers' conference in Brooklyn, and a full manuscript review/consultation of a story collection or novel in progress with an executive editor. Deadline: October 8, 2025.

Zocalo Book Prize. Genre: US-published nonfiction book that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or undermine human connectedness and social cohesion. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: October 10, 2025.

John Lewis Writing Grants. Restrictions: Open to Black and African American writers who have resided in Georgia for at least one year. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or screen/playwriting. Prize: $500. Deadline: October 10, 2025.

North Carolina State Fiction Contest. Restrictions: Open to residents of North Carolina with no published fiction books. Genre: Short stories. Prize: $500 for fiction (up to 5,000 words) and $250 for shorter fiction (up to 1,200 words). Deadline: October 10, 2025.

Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative. Restrictions: Adults aged 18 and up who live in the United States. Genre: Short stories and CNF touching on themes related to money and personal finance. Prize: $1000. Deadline: October 12, 2025.

Latino Voices in Children’s Literature Writing Contest. Restrictions: Open to Latino authors who are at least 18 years of age or older and residing anywhere in the United States. Genre: Children’s stories written by and about Latino people. Must be original children’s books for ages 0–4 (50–125 words) or for ages 4–8 (300–800 words). Prize: $1,000 cash prize. Deadline: October 13, 2025.

Tales from the Moonlit Path. Genre: Short story on theme of Halloween based on movie quotes (See site); 2000 words max. Prize: $50. Deadline: October 13, 2025.

Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship. Restrictions: Poet must be born in the United States.  Genre: Poetry. The sample must not exceed either (1) 40 typed pages or (2) one printed volume plus no more than 20 typed pages of your most recent work. There is no minimum page requirement.  Prize: $60,500 for a year of travel and study abroad. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Charles Potts Poetry Award. Genre: First book of poetry. Prize: $1000. Deadline: October 15, 2025.


Poetic Justice Institute Book Prizes. Restrictions: Submissions are restricted to BIPOC Writers. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscripts. Prize: $1000 and publication. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Mindfood. Restrictions: Open to Australian and New Zealand residents only. Genre: Short story 2000 words in length and previously unpublished. Prize: U$1000 for the Australian winner and one (1) prize money of NZ$1000 for the New Zealand winner. Deadline: October 17, 2025.

Waltham Forest Poetry Competition. Genre: Poem on theme: Weather. Prize: 1st £50, 2nd £30, 3rd £20. Deadline: October 20, 2025. No entry fee for writers aged 18 and under.

John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize. Genre: Published book of poems. Publishers may submit four copies of a debut full-length poetry collection (or bound galleys) published originally in the English language. Prize: €10,000 (approximately $11,400) Deadline: October 20, 2025.

International Booker Prize. The International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English is awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the author of the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible novel or collection of short stories. The work must be published by a UK or Ireland publishing house. Authors are not permitted to enter their own works. Prize: £50,000 divided equally between the author and the translator. There will be a prize of £2,000 each of the shortlisted titles divided equally between the author and the translator. Deadline: Any imprints that have more than six books to submit to the prize, may nominate the additional titles as call ins. All call-in nomination forms, justification letters, first chapters and full PDFs must be submitted by Thursday, 23 October 2025. If no text is available at the time of call-in, it should be sent as soon as it is available. 

Storyhouse: Preservation Foundation Essay Contest for Unpublished Writers. Restrictions: The contest is open to writers whose creative writing has never produced revenues of over $250 in any single year. First prize winners of previous contests, while ineligible for prizes in regular contests, can compete in this one.  Genre: Travel Nonfiction. Prize: First prize is $200. Runners-up will receive $100. Deadline: October 30, 2025.

Shady Grove Literary. Genre: Any style, genre, tone of flash fiction. Length: 300 words max. Prize: $100. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Women's Prize for Fiction. Genre: Published novel by a woman. Entrants must be writing in English and must be published between 1 October 2025 and 30 November 2025. All subject matters and women of any age, from any nationality or country of residence are eligible. Prize: £30,000.00. Deadline: October 31, 2025. Read submission details HERE.

Graybeal-Gowen Prize for Virginia Poets. Restrictions: Poets living in or born in Virginia, as well as those who have lived in Virginia for two or more years in the past, are eligible. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $1000. Deadline: October 31, 2025. (Closes after 500 submissions)

Live Theatre's North East Playwriting Award. Restrictions: Open to playwrights who are either from or based in the North East of England, age 16 and older. Genre: Full-length play. Prize: £10,000 top prize. A second award will be exclusively for young people aged 16 to 25. This will be a commission fee of £7,000 (under 70 minutes) and a commitment to develop the play at Live Theatre. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

IHRAM: African Human Rights Spoken Word Contest. Restrictions: Open to poets and activists from across the African continent. Genre: 1-minute video where you passionately recite a unique and artistic poem crafted by you. Prize: $100. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

The Marfield Prize, also known as the National Award for Arts Writing, is given annually by the Arts Club of Washington to nonfiction books about the arts written for a broad audience. Genre: Non-fiction book. Self-published books not accepted. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

The Solstice Prize. Restrictions: Open to 7 - 25 year olds. Genre: Short stories, blog posts, and poems. Nature writing. Prize: Publication and cash prizes for winners in three age groups: 7-11, 12-14, and 15-17. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

New York Historical Society Children's History Book Prize. Genre: Nonfiction history or historical fiction for middle-grade readers that was published in the US in the current calendar year. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. Restrictions: Open to poets of color with US citizenship who have not previously published a book-length volume of poetry. Genre: Poetry chapbook. Prize: $500, publication by Northwestern University Press, fifteen copies of the book, and a featured reading at The Poetry Foundation. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

The Young Walter Scott Prize. Restrictions: Open to UK authors aged 11-19. Genre: Historical fiction between 800 and 2000 words. Prizes: £500 travel and research grant to further explore historical places in the UK, and an invitation to the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland. Two runners-up in each category receive a £100 book token, and all four winning stories are published in a special YWSP anthology book. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Lex:lead Essay Competition. Restrictions: Candidates must show citizenship in an eligible country and be enrolled in studies with at least one law class in an eligible country at the time of the award. Genre: Essay: How can laws regulating climate change and the environment support economic development? Prize: $500 scholarship. Deadline: Registration deadline October 31, 2025.

US Naval Institute Essay Prize. Genre: Essay. Length: 3,000 words max. Great power competition will require the Sea Services to rethink how to address national, strategic, and operational challenges and the way they will have to fight. Essays may address any topic. Prize: First Prize: $6000; Second Prize: $3000; Third Prize: $2000. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Tom-Gallon Trust Award. Restrictions: Open to citizens of the United Kingdom, Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland with at least one short story published or accepted for publication. Genre: Short story, maximum 5,000 words. May be unpublished. Prize: £2,000.00. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Betty Trask Prize. Restrictions: Author must be a Commonwealth citizen. Genre: First novels, published or unpublished, written by authors under the age of 35 in a "traditional or romantic, but not experimental, style." Prize: Top prize 10,000 pounds. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

The Eric Gregory Awards. Restrictions: Applicants must be under 30 and a British subject by birth and must ordinarily be resident in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland. Genre: Poetry collection. Previously published work accepted. Prize: £4,000.00. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

McKitterick Prize. Restrictions: Open to authors over age 40. Genre: First novel. The work must have been first published in the UK in the year in which the deadline falls (and not first published abroad), or be unpublished. Prize: £4,000.00. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. Restrictions: Open to a UK or Irish writer, or a writer currently resident in those countries. Genre: A novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home. Inspired by Malcolm Lowry’s novel, Under the Volcano and in celebration of its author, the prize aims to inspire literary excellence and encourage writers to travel and to write from the resulting experience. Publishers must enter the work. Prize: The winner will receive £2,000 and the runner-up £750. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

The Queen’s Knickers Award. Genre: Children’s illustrated book for ages 0-7. "It will recognise books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether this be in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement." Prize: £5,000, as well as a golden Queen’s Knickers badge. The runner-up will receive £1,000 and a silver badge. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Somerset Maugham Awards. Restrictions: Open to UK writers under the age of 35. Genre: Published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Prize: 2,500 pounds apiece to four winners. Prize money must be used for travel. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Voice.club. Genre: Flash fiction, 350 words max. See theme. Prize: $25 Amazon gift card. Deadline: October 31, 2025. Note: You have to join in order to enter. 

The Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest is sponsored by Hollins University. Restrictions: Open to young women who are sophomores or juniors in high school or preparatory school. Genre: Poetry. Prize: Up to $5,000 renewable annual Creative Talent Scholarship in creative writing if winner enrolls at Hollins. Free tuition and housing for the university’s Hollins summer creative writing program. $200 cash prize. Publication in Cargoes, Hollins’ award-winning student literary magazine. Ten copies of Cargoes. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Mikrokosmos Annual Fiction and Poetry Contest. Genre: Fiction and poetry. Prize: First Place Prize: $200; Second Place Prize: $100; Third Place Prize: $50. Deadline: October 31, 2025.

Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: October 31, 2025. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

Jackson Hole, WY: © Brian Evans/Getty Image This October there are more than three dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but most will be held in person or use a hybrid format.These writing events offer everything a writer might want: intensive workshops, pitch sessions with agents, how to market your books, discussions - there is something for everyone.

I have included conferences with deadlines that have already passed on this list to give you advance notice. If you miss an application deadline, put it on your calendar for next year. Quite a few conferences offer scholarships, so apply early. Plan ahead!
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For a full list of conferences held throughout the year see Writing Conferences.
Be sure to check out Highlights list of workshops. They offer many throughout the year. 

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The 2025 Online Florida Writing Workshop. October  3 - 4, 2025: Online. This is a special two-day “How to Get Published” writing workshop. In other words, it’s two days full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. We’ll discuss your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the day’s classes will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome. And even though this is the “Florida” Writing Workshop, make no mistake — writers from everywhere are welcome to attend virtually. Our WDW writers conferences have helped dozens of writers find literary agent representation.

TLA Power of Words Conference. October 3 - 5, 2025: Unity Village, MO. "Network with writers, storytellers, performers, musicians, health professionals, educators, and change-makers to connect with those who share your passion of making a difference with words. Discover diversity and experience visionary voices at keynote sessions. Get inspired with workshops in five areas:  Social Transformation, Right Livelihood, Engaged Spirituality, Narrative Healing and Ecological TLA.

James River Writers Conference. October 3 - 5, 2025: Richmond, Virginia. James River Writers is excited to offer both in-person and online elements for our conference this year. Join us for Master Classes online, on Friday, October 4. Then, join us at the Greater Richmond Convention Center (in Richmond, Virginia) for a full slate of programs focusing on the craft and business of writing. Look forward to lively panel discussions, live critique sessions with literary agents, fun and engaging plenary sessions, and agent one-on-one meetings (standard with your ticket). In addition, we’ve included opportunities for networking and socializing, because community is at the heart of everything we do. Since 2003, this multi-day event  has been known for its inspiring, collegial atmosphere and hospitality. Whether you’re just starting out on your writing journey, or a seasoned professional, there’s something for everyone. 

State Writing Conference & Convention, sponsored by The Kansas Authors Club, Oct 3 - 5, 2025: Junction City, KS. Theme: Words Take Flight: Choose Your Own Adventure. Writing workshops, panels, and presentations. 

Write on the Sound Writers' Conference and Pre-Conference. Oct 3 - 5, 2025: Edmonds, WA. Founded in 1985, Write on the Sound writers’ conference (WOTS) is a small, affordable conference focused on the craft of writing. A variety of sessions, workshops and panel discussions are available for all levels and interests, including valuable information regarding today’s writing and publishing industry. 

The Creativity Workshop in New York. October 3 - 6, 2025: New York, New York. "The Creativity Workshops take away the fear of writing and open the way to new ideas. They are especially helpful for writers in fiction, poetry, memoir, theatre and film to get over writing blocks. In our Creativity Workshop Retreats you will generate both new work and ideas for the work you are in the midst of creating. We use many different techniques to help you find your way through the novel, essay, poem, memoir, or script you are writing or hope to write. In The Creativity Workshop you will be doing free writing, writing from guided visualizations, collaborative writing, journaling and memoir work and even some rudimentary drawing, collage and photography."

Picture Book Summit. Oct 4, 2025: Online. A one day live event for picture book writers including author keynotes, interviews, workshops and agent & editor panels. Recordings provided for attendees for four months post-conference.

Retreat for Survival and Healing. October 4-5, 2025: Knoxville, TN. This two-day retreat for sexual assault survivors will be held at The Birdhouse in Knoxville, TN and will be a safe space for creativity, generative writing exercises, discussions on ways to write trauma, advice on publishing, and more. Come join us in mutual support for a weekend of writing time for healing, safety, and comfort. The event will be open to writers of all backgrounds and experiences and provide an opportunity to work with many talented poets and writers from around the country including Jezmina Von Thiele, LySaundra Campbell, Bell McEntire, Dena Igusti, and Michelle Guerrero Henry.

Flathead River Writers Conference. October 4 - 5, 2025: Kalispell, MT. Writers help writers in this two day conference packed with energizing speakers and workshops. Features: Workshops, MS preparation & submission, working with agents, movie deals, media use, & children's book publishing.

DFW Writers Conference. October 4 - 5, 2025: Hurst, TX. Featuring pitch sessions with literary agents, advanced classes, engaging panels, interactive workshops.

The Gotham Writers Fiction Conference. October 4 - 5, 2025: NY, NY. On Day 1, there are four panels and presentations, each designed to give you a peek behind the publishing curtain. You’ll hear from agents, editors, and writers, all offering their insight into the process of getting a novel out to the world. On Day 2, there are Pitching Roundtables where writers spend the day at a table with two literary agents. You’ll be pitching your book project to the agents, but rather than sweating through a very quick pitch (as done at most conferences), you’ll spend four hours with the two agents, presenting your query letter and the first two pages of your manuscript, listening to others do the same, and getting in-depth feedback from the agents about your work and the publishing process. If you don’t quite have a book ready for publication, but want to prep for the day you do, you may sign up for just the Panels and Presentations.

Intro to Writing Nonfiction: History, Biography, STEAM, and Much More! October 7 - 23, 2025: Online. Are you ready to write nonfiction for teens and children, but don’t know where to start? Join award-winning authors Jennifer Swanson and Christine Taylor-Butler for an in-depth exploration of the craft of nonfiction writing for young readers. With their guidance, you’ll build a strong foundation in key aspects of the genre, from research and structure to voice and engagement. You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with editor Eileen Robinson, gaining insights into the acquisition and editing process for nonfiction projects. Plus, connect with fellow writers who share your passion and start building a supportive network within the nonfiction community.
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Diving Into Picture Books: Format, Structure, and Practice. October 7 - 28, 2025: Online. Ready to write your own picture book? Join author Nikki Shannon Smith to learn the process from start to finish. This workshop covers everything from brainstorming to polishing your final draft.


Editing for Impact: Revising Your MG or YA Novel (Fall). October 8  - November 12, 2025. Online.  Join novelists Jennifer Gennari and Lisa Moore Ramée for a six-week online deep dive into revision, where you’ll learn to enhance emotion, sharpen action, and refine your novel’s impact. Through live sessions, structured assignments, community support, and personalized feedback, you’ll build the skills needed to enrich your novel.

Just Do It! Your Collaborative Support Group for Finishing Your Draft (Fall). October 8 - December 3, 2025: Online. This supportive program takes all creatives (nonfiction or fiction, picture books, novels, essays, and more) from goal-stating to finished drafts. Together, we’ll move through live sessions, writing prompts, studio dates, daily inspirations, check-ins, feedback, and more. 50 participants max.

Whole Novel Genre: An Online Course for Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, & Beyond. October 8 - December 10, 2025. Online. Apply for this transformative opportunity to have your entire draft (up to 80,000 words) of a novel read by faculty, with detailed written feedback and a private consultation provided. This online program in particular is for writers of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and similar genre-specific novels. Apply by August 27, 2025.

Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference. October 9 - 11, 2025: Tempe, AZ. "The Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference creates a unique and intimate creative writing experience where writers of all backgrounds, genres, and skill levels gather together and connect through the celebration and study of literary craft, culture, and community. Featuring over 25 faculty members teaching more than 50 sessions, we seek to create a warm and welcoming environment that meets people wherever they are, where writers can learn from and support each other as they work toward their goals. Beyond regular programming, we also feature advanced pre-conference workshops, an exhibitor fair, scholarships, and fellowships. We also offer opportunities to advertise with or sponsor the conference as well."

Ozark Creative Writers Conference. October 9 - 11, 2025: Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Workshops by published authors, editors and agents; Publishers Row, independent publishers available to hear about your next project.

Vermillion Writing and Literature Conference. October 9  - 11, 2025: Vermillion, South Dakota. How does your creative work and/or scholarship engage with boundaries? Which boundaries mark its edges? How extensive are its stakes? What limits—aesthetic, geographical, social, political, ethical—does your work challenge, secure, or redraw? What spaces do you seek to preserve? What spaces need creating—and for whom? And how porous will their boundaries be? Join us 9-11 October 2025 for the second biennial Vermillion Writing and Literature Conference at University of South Dakota (Vermillion, SD). The 2025 theme: "Boundaries: Preserving and Creating Space," encourages creative and/or scholarly submissions that engage with questions like those above (by no means exhaustive) from a variety of perspectives (a few listed below).We look forward to readings, presentations, and discussions that test boundaries while also remaining open to what boundaries might be necessary—even if they haven’t yet been drawn. We invite proposals for creative and/or scholarly panels, roundtables, or workshops as well as individual submissions engaging with the exploration of our conference theme. Biennial conference.

New York Comicon. October 9 - 12, 2025. "New York Comic Con is your event. Where you can feel unafraid to geek out. Where you’re accepted and embraced for being yourself. Where you can experience the best in pop culture because no matter what fandom you’re passionate about, we have it waiting here for you. Be inspired by award-winning comic artists and Japanese anime creators. Get star struck over your favorite TV and film idols. Treat yourself to exclusive fandom gear and unique artwork. But most importantly, create all of those memories with the people you care about the most. Because this event is for you. To embrace your inner hero or root for the villain. To geek out as a family. To celebrate a weekend together you’ll never forget."

Colrain Classic. October 10 - 13, 2025: Online. "The Colrain Manuscript Classic is a highly focused, 3.5 day conference designed for poets with manuscripts in progress. The Classic features in-depth pre-conference work and candid, realistic evaluation and feedback from nationally-known poets, editors and publishers. In preparation, participants work at home on pre-conference assignments and then, in the workshop, review, arrange, and winnow their work based on the pre-conference work. In addition to the manuscript preparation workshop and editor sessions, there will be an editorial Q&A, and an after-conference strategy session." Will be conducted online.

Annual Maryland Writer’s Conference. October 11 - 12, 2025: Baltimore, MD. The Brain to Bookshelf Annual Conference offers over 20 workshops and agent panels. Agent pitches and critiques are available, but agent slots are limited, so register early. Keynote each day from Reed Farrel Coleman.

Publishing Trends, Market Shifts & Opportunities: A Two-Night Mini. October 14 - 16, 2025: Online. In this comprehensive but digestible workshop, Editor Harold Underdown will guide you through the different kinds of change in the publishing world, and help you best position yourself to respond to them.


Women Writing the West Conference. October 16 – 18, 2025: Online. Twelve Workshops and Panels will be presented during the conference. Our guest Editors and Agents will present a panel on the state of the publishing industry, and be available for Pitch Appointments. 

Youngstown Fall Literary Festival. October 16 - 18, 2025: Youngstown, Ohio. This year's festival will feature 145 accomplished presenters from California to Maryland and Rhode Island to Florida, presenting on understanding, writing, teaching, translating, editing and publishing literature. Discover your new favorite writer; peruse the dozens of bookfair tables; get a jump on a new piece of writing; join a discussion on writing programs in the community college, publishing as a small press, nature and eco writing, coming to writing late in life, and so much more.

Steamboat Springs Writers Conference. October 17 - 18, 2025: Steamboat Springs, CO. Two instructors, seminar-type workshops for all levels, beginning to professional. Topics change each year. Limited enrollment. 

Annual Florida Writers Conference. October 17 - 19, 2025: Altamonte Springs, Florida. Over 75 workshops, major speakers, agent interviews, professional manuscript critiques, lively social events, and much more.

Ossabaw Weekend Writer’s Retreat. October 17 - 20, 2025: Ossabaw Island, GA. Ossabaw Writers’ Retreat offers a variety of programs to address the needs of writers hoping to expand their craft and improve their work-in-progress. We hope you will join us in this great literary tradition by taking part in one or more of the various programs offered by the Ossabaw Writers’ Retreat. Where loggerhead sea turtles and endangered wood storks nest, and photographers, writers, painters, and musicians listen, watch, reflect, and create. Application deadline: September 15.

WriteAngles. October 18, 2025: Greenfield, Massachusetts. Panels and workshops, a limited number of agent meetings. Continental breakfast, and buffet lunch included. 

Craft of Writing Conference. October 18, 2025: Tulsa, Oklahoma. "Are you a detective at heart? If so, the Tulsa NightWriters need your help! We’ve heard rumors that one of our board members may be in mortal danger*, and it’ll be up to you to solve the case! Collect clues, interview suspects, and put the pieces together for a chance to win fabulous prizes at this year’s Craft of Writing Conference, THE THRILL OF WRITING!"

The Rochester Writers Fall Conference. October 18, 2025: Rochester, MI. Lectures, Workshops, and Panel Discussions. Open to new writers, working journalists, and published authors. Professional development to move writers to the next level. 

Letters & Lines Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Conference. October 18 - 19, 2025: Arvada, CO. This conference offers you opportunities to learn your craft, boost your career, and get feedback on your work. The schedule includes keynotes; a industry professionals panel; breakout sessions on writing, illustrating and professional development; intensives on picture books, novels and illustration; as well as critiques, portfolio reviews and showcase, a virtual bookstore of faculty titles, and more. 

Viable Paradise Science Fiction Writers' Workshop. Oct 19 - 24, 2025: Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Viable Paradise is a unique one-week residential workshop in writing and selling commercial science fiction and fantasy. The workshop is intimate, intense, and features extensive time spent with best-selling and award-winning authors and professional editors currently working in the field. VP concentrates on the art of writing fiction people want to read, and this concentration is reflected in post-workshop professional sales by our alumni. Application deadline May 15. 

WRITING THE MORE THAN HUMAN WORLD with Pam Houston - Part 2. October 20 - November 10, 2025: Online.This offering is open to anyone who took the 4-week More Than Human World Class in the spring and felt, as I did, that we ran out of time and there was so much more to talk about. We barely scratched the surface of trees and rocks and rivers and oceans and underworlds and overworlds and of course there will always be more to say about animals. This is also open to anyone signing up for The More Than Human World Part One in the Fall. If you would like to go on an 8 week journey rather than a 4-week journey. There will be additional reading, additional writing and additional conversation, exercises and opportunities to read your work aloud and possibly even a special guest. I hope to see some of you back for more.

Thrills, Chills, & Mystery: A Two-Part Mini on Genre Tales for MG Readers. October 21 - 23, 2025: Online. Learn how to tap into young readers' curiosities in this thrilling short course on writing horror, sci-fi, mystery, and other types of genre fiction with Edgar Award winner Adrianna Cuevas.


Kwame Alexander Writers’ Lab & Conference. October 23 - 25, 2025: Washington, DC. In addition to opportunities to take two Master Classes with well-known faculty writers in a selected genre track, attendees can also experience an opening and closing keynote address, featured speaker events, mix and mingle events with publishers and agents, and panel conversations. All these features are included in the cost of Standard Registration. 

Jackson Hole Writers Conference. October 23 - 25, 2025: Jackson Hole, WY. You will have ample opportunity to share your work with a distinguished faculty as well as writers from Massachusetts to Florida, from Texas to Washington. Serious writers pour into Jackson Hole each year looking for a fresh, but critical eye on their work. This event usually has at least 4 agents to pitch. 

From Story to Script: An Introduction to Writing Graphic Novels. October 23 - November 13, 2025: Online. Turn your story into a compelling graphic novel—whether you're an author, an illustrator, or both! In this four-week course, you'll learn how to shape your story ideas into a dynamic visual narrative alongside award-winning graphic novelists.

Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. October 24 - 25, 2025: Dallas, Texas. The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference is a forum for journalists, writers, readers, students, educators and the general public to listen to, be inspired by and practice their craft at the highest possible level. Every year, the Mayborn Conference gathers some of the most talented storytellers in the country to share their stories, life-changing experiences and expertise with aspiring writers through three days of lectures, panels, one-on-one sessions, and student classes. In addition, the conference includes a variety of writing contests for anyone from high school students to Pulitzer prize winning professionals, who receive hand-made trophies, more than $26,000 in cash awards and have their work published in Mayborn's journal, Ten Spurs, or anthology, Best American Newspaper Narratives.

Atlanta Writers Conference. October 24 - 25, 2025: Atlanta, Georgia. The goals of this conference are to give you access to eighteen top publishing acquisitions editors and literary agents actively seeking new clients (see their profiles on our Editors and Agents page), help you get your work ready for them, and educate you with a workshop and talks by experienced authors and other industry professionals. The Conference Activities page details each activity you can register for: select them all, only one, or some number in between–it’s entirely up to you, so you can craft the conference experience that will be best for your growth, interests, and budget. Virtual option for critique and pitch meetings with the agents and editors.

Clockwork Alchemy. October 24 - 26, 2025: Redwood City, California. Our theme for 2025 takes advantage of the upcoming Halloween season. Gaslight Fantasy is Steampunk’s more magically-inclined cousin. It’s a subgenre of Historical Fantasy with a setting that is clearly recognizable as the real-world 19th or very early 20th century. It may be a full-on Alternate History where magic exists openly and has affected the course of events or combined with traditional steampunk alternate developments in technology. Gaslight Fantasy often draws on gothic horror tropes, so grab your cape, fangs, occult symbols, fae wings, and dancing shoes!

Whole Novel Workshop: An In-Person Retreat for Novelists (October). October 26 - 31, 2025: Boyds Mills, PA. This intensive, transformative Whole Novel Workshop offers writers the rare opportunity to have the entire draft (up to 80,000 words) of a novel read by faculty, with detailed written feedback and two private consultations provided. Attention in an intimate setting makes this program one that guarantees significant progress in preparation for submission. Application deadline August 6, 2025. 

Successful School Visits for Authors and Illustrators: An Online Course. October 28, 2025 - February 6, 2026: Online. Join George Jreije and guests to develop your virtual school visit, and put your plan into action with a scheduled school visit! You’ll blend who you are as a storyteller with engaging content and materials to create genuine connections with kids or teens, educators, administrators, and librarians. School Visits will take place during World Read Aloud Week! The course includes presentations, generative peer-to-peer discussions, 30-minute school visits with students, and post-course 1:1 consultations.

Writing By Writers Manuscript Boot Camp. October 30 - November 2, 2025: Sundance Mountain Resort, Utah. The Writing By Writers Manuscript Boot Camp is for the writer who has a full, book-length manuscript (novel, memoir, short story or essay collection) and would like to engage with a small group for a serious and productive response. The extended weekend will include an intimate manuscript workshop, craft panels, readings, and individual meetings – the perfect pre-publication boot camp for any manuscript. Classes are limited to 5 participants.

EVENTS WITH DEADLINES IN OCTOBER

All Write, Columbia – Writers Conference. November 6 - 9, 2025: Spencertown, NY. A five day intensive writing conference focused on nonfiction and memoir. The conference is open to all levels of writers, from beginners to more advanced writers with a manuscript or publications. Open to writers who are at least 18 years old. Just 20 writers will be accepted. Application deadline October 2, 2025.

Abigail Fenton Here are eleven new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.

All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.
Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 

NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Abigail Fenton of The Ampersand Agency (UK)


Abigail Fenton joined Ampersand in September 2025. Prior to that she spent over a decade in editorial at Hachette and HarperCollins, latterly as Editorial Director for HQ Digital, and worked as a freelance editor and book coach.

What she is seeking: Abigail is looking for adult fiction across genres, including book-club reads, crime and thrillers, and women’s fiction and romance of all stripes. She loves high-concept hooks, page-turning plots, and books that pose big, juicy questions. Books she has read and enjoyed recently include Happy Place, Lessons in Chemistry, So Thrilled for You, Wrong Place Wrong Time and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Please do not send her children’s, SFF, or short stories.

How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.

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Jess Gilbert of D4EO Literary Agency

Jess Gilbert grew up in the heart of the Midwest and is passionate about helping authors bring their creative visions to life. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University and joined the agency in the spring of 2025. When she’s not reading, she enjoys traveling, exploring the outdoors, and binge-watching Supernatural. She is open to working with both debut and established authors.

What she is seeking: Jess is actively seeking compelling literary and commercial fiction, most genre fiction, and will consider select YA.


How to submit: Send a query letter and the first ten pages of your manuscript to jess@d4eo.com.

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Rachel Estep of D4EO Literary Agency

Rachel lives on a small, chaotically charming homestead in Ohio with her husband, their two boys, several dogs, a handful of cats, a few ducks, and one extremely dramatic turkey. A lifelong book lover, she found her way into the publishing world through BookTok during the pandemic. There, she became known as "Rae of Sunshine" and built a community around books that she fell in love with.

That hobby turned career when she joined the team at her local indie bookstore, where she built a reputation for author advocacy, community engagement, and always knowing which romance or thriller will ruin your sleep schedule. Now, as a literary associate at D4EO, she brings that same passion and instinct to championing unforgettable books and the voices behind them.

When not reading, Rachel can be found gardening, screaming Taylor Swift songs, or watching baking shows (she can't bake ANYTHING that looks like that--go on, ask how she knows.)

What she is seeking: She is seeking: literary fiction; mainstream fiction; all types of middle grade and young adult (especially that centers underrepresented voices); voicey, high-stakes psychological thrillers; stories that mess with your head in the best way; gothic fiction that blends deep senses of foreboding with modern themes; true crime projects that dig deeper than the headlines and center empathy alongside the horror; queer romcoms that bring the banter, the swoon, the spice, and a whole lot of heart; historical fiction driven by complex, unforgettable women in the style of Marie Benedict.

How to submit: Rachel is accepting queries in the first and last week of each month via Query Tracker

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Ms. Katie Bircher of Sara Crowe Literary

Katie spent nine years as an editor and staff reviewer for The Horn Book’s publications and served as chair for the 2018 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award committee. She also has more than seven years of experience as an indie bookseller specializing in children’s and YA literature. She can most often be found lost in a good book with a fluffy cat in her lap.

What she is seeking: Katie is on the lookout for books with heart, spark, and strong narrative voice! While she specializes in children’s and teen books, she will also consider adult genre fiction (speculative/fantasy, horror, and romance). 

How to submit: Katie opens to queries through Query Manager during the first week of each month.


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Katie Blagden of The Ampersand Agency (UK)

Katie Blagden trained as a Literary Agent under Arabella Stein at the Bright Agency before joining Ampersand in 2025. Her previous experience includes marketing, bookselling and advertising. She also appeared as a contributor on the Graham Norton Book Club for six seasons.

What she is seeking: Katie represents authors and author-illustrators across various genres and age ranges. In adult fiction, she is particularly drawn to SFF, speculative fiction and horror, while in children’s she specialises in middle grade, YA and crossover fiction, and Graphic Novels across all age ranges. She is an advocate for centring traditionally underrepresented voices, and actively works to discover authors and author-illustrators from diverse backgrounds.

How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.

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Victoria Harris of The Caldwell Agency

I just started at The Caldwell Agency, but I’ve worked in the publishing industry for over 6 years on the editorial side of things. In my downtime, I like to write fiction (currently working on a novel about queer love) and perform with my band (Late Stage Dirtbags). I live in Southern California with my chosen family: my wife, one of my best friends, and my 5-pound chihuahua, Bug.

What they are seeking: I’m primarily seeking adult literary and upmarket fiction, particularly stories that feature LGBTQ+ and BIPOC characters. I’m also open to queer romance, soft sci-fi, historical fiction set in the recent past, and memoirs.

How to submit: Use the querytracker HERE.


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Darryl Oliver of The Caldwell Agency

Previously, I served as editorial assistant with Random House. At Random House, I worked with numerous award-winning and best-selling authors. As a former Random House editor, my expertise goes beyond the page. Prior to my editorial career, I was an educator, teaching 9th and 10th grade English. I hold my BA in English and MA in the humanities with an emphasis in history.


What he is seeking: I’m primarily looking for sci-fi/fantasy manuscripts; however, I’m also interested in historical fiction and select literary fiction.

How to submit: Use his querytracker HERE.

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Frannie Dove of The Caldwell Agency

Previously, Frannie represented historians and historical fiction authors as a co-agent at a boutique literary agency. She also interned with Creative Media Agency, Inc.. while pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing Fiction. Frannie also supported programming and operations for public health professionals and scientists at a university.

What she is seeking: Frannie is currently seeking fiction and nonfiction for adult readership and selected young adult and middle grade titles. In all genres, queries are especially welcome from historically marginalized writers, including disabled, queer, and BIPOC authors. ​Frannie would like to see your historical fiction, historical fiction blended with other genres, upmarket and commercial, mystery, essays and memoirs, cooking and food ... and more!


How to submit: Use her querytracker HERE.

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Ms. Sarah Brooks of Darley Anderson Literary  (UK)

Sarah began her publishing career in rights and licensing, starting as a Rights Assistant at Hachette in 2010. After relocating to Sydney, she became Head of Rights, Contracts and International Sales for Hachette Australia and New Zealand. She held the role for nine years, working from both Australia and the UK, and was responsible for licensing rights for Hachette’s Australasian authors across the UK, US, film and TV, and translation markets.

In 2024, seeking a more creative and hands-on role, Sarah joined Darley Anderson & Associates as Acting Head of Rights, covering Georgia Fuller’s maternity leave. It quickly became clear that agenting was the next step in her publishing journey, and she is now thrilled to be building her own list of book club and reading group authors at Darley Anderson & Associates.

What she is seeking: I’m looking for bold, voice-driven fiction for the book club market and women’s fiction.  I love to read strong, character-led stories which are well written but also plot-driven, with broad commercial appeal. I’m drawn to both contemporary and historical narratives, especially those with high-concept hooks or deep emotional resonance. 

How to submit: Use the agency form HERE.

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Ms. Gracie Rittenberg of Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency

I hold a B.A. in Theatre from Reed College. During my time at Reed, I directed a production of The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco. I have been an avid reader my entire life, finding plenty of time to finish books at the dinner table. I previously interned at DeFiore and Company. My favorite authors include Ernest Hemingway, Madeline Miller, and Nora Ephron.

What she is seeking: As of 2025, I am accepting queries! I am looking for enemies to lovers romance novels, light fantasy or romantasy, leftist political non-fiction and/or biographies, and fiction set around characters in the global south.

How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.

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Nikki Carrero of The Rights Factory

Nikki Carrero (she/her) has a background in both education and in publishing and loves to see people fall in love with stories. Her love for the written word began when her grandmother brought her to the bookstore as a kid to pick out new books. She hasn’t stopped reading since and is currently building her own personal home library. While she started out reading mystery novels, her tastes have expanded to include a variety of genres.

What she is seeking: Nikki is currently looking for adult or young adult fiction in the following genres: mystery, thriller, romance, romantic suspense, magical realism, women’s fiction, and contemporary fiction. She has a passion for stories that feature characters who have disabilities, chronic illnesses, mental illnesses, are neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, or are a part of other marginalized communities.


How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.

Pickpik This September there are more than six dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.

I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

Happy submitting!
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Bourbon Penn. Genre: "We are looking for highly imaginative stories with a healthy dose of the odd. Odd characters, odd experiences, odd realities. We’re looking for genre / speculative stories and are quite partial to slipstream, cross-genre, magic realism, absurdist, and the surreal." Length: 2000 - 7500 words. Payment: 4 cents/word. Deadline: Opens September 1, 2025.

IHRAM Publishes. Genre: Poetry, fiction, esssays, art. Theme: Enduring Voices: Life with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses. Payment: $50 for writing, $25 for art. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Bog Matter. Genre: Fiction, poetry, and graphic shorts that could be described as science fiction, horror, fantasy, magical realism, slipstream, New Weird, utopian, dystopian, satirical, cross-genre, experimental, or exuding a general air of oddness. Payment: 2 cents/word. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Affirm Press. Restrictions: Open to Australians only. Genre: All literary and genre fiction. For non-fiction, they are interested in most subjects that have a connection to Australia. authors or authors based in Australia, and only manuscripts that haven’t been previously published. They only accept submissions on the first Monday of each month. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

The Forge Literary Magazine. Genre: Prose. They prefer stories under 3,000 words but will consider up to 5,000 words. Payment: $100. Deadline: Opens September 1, 2025. Free submissions open on the 1st of each month and close when cap is reached.

Solstitia. Genre: All genres and forms. Payment: $50. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Philadelphia Stories. Restrictions: Open to authors living in, or originally from, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or New Jersey. Genre: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art. Payment: $50. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Fourteen Poems Genre: Poems. "We want to represent all that's thrilling about the new wave of LGBT+ poets. If you’re a poet, even if you’ve never been published before, we want to read your work. Every issue we publish 14 of the best queer poems we’ve found, and we want to include you! We publish 4 times a year, but take submissions all year round. To be considered, email up to 5 poems, preferably in a pdf format, with a small paragraph about yourself." Payment: £30 for each poem published. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Teach. Write. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction, poetry, CNF. "I prefer writing that is either written by composition teachers and writing students or about teaching and learning." Payment: $15. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Ricochet Editions. Genre: Hybrid/Experimental work between 40 and 200 pages. "We are looking for purposeful experimentation with language and form that challenges or plays with convention." Payment: $500 and 50 copies of the perfect-bound book. Deadline: September 1, 2025. No submission fee for POC and Indigenous writers and writers facing financial hardship.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: September 1, 2025. See themes.

Variety Pack. Genre: Fiction, flash fiction, poetry, CNF, art. Payment: $10 for poetry and visual art; $20 for prose. Deadline: Opens  September 1, 2025.

Red Wolf Editions. Genre: Poems on theme: “Recovering Greenness.” Payment: Royalties? Deadline: September 1, 2025. (?)

Toronto Journal. Genre: Short stories from anywhere in the world. No word limit. "We will also consider non-fiction pieces that are either set locally or explore some local history (Toronto, GTA, and surrounding)." Payment: $50 CAD per piece. All published writers will also receive two printed copies of the issue in which they appear. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Phi Kappa Phi Forum. Genre: Poetry. See theme. Payment: $4/ line. Deadline: September 2, 2025.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: September 2, 2025. Opens September 1.

Tyche Books. Genre: Speculative fiction. See theme. Payment: $20 CAD for poems, $50 CAD for short stories. Deadline: September 3, 2025.

Stone's Throw. Genre: Noir, dark fiction, crime short stories. Length: between 1,000 and 2,000 words. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: September 4, 2025. Note: This is a monthly call.

University of Queensland Press. Restrictions: Open to Australian citizens or permanent residents. Genre: Nonfiction manuscripts. UQP is currently seeking adult non-fiction submissions that address environmental sustainability and the climate crisis. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 7, 2025.

Raconteur Press. Genre: Stories about monsters with a retro feel. Tales in the vein of Roger Corman, Harry Harryhausen, Christopher Lee, Bob Wilkins, and so on. Giant killer kaijus! Genetic experiments! A creature feature of tentacles, gill-men, and were-beasts! Are those skeletons walking around? Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 7, 2025.

Black Inc. Restrictions: Open to Australians. Genre: Full-length general, literary and commercial non-fiction – including history, current affairs, memoir and biography. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 7, 2025. This is a monthly call.

Trans Survivors Zine. Genre: Trans and nonbinary art. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: September 8, 2025.

Uncanny Magazine. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: 10 cents/word. Deadline: September 8, 2025.

Samjoko Magazine. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, play, screenplay. Payment: $20. Deadline: September 10, 2025.

Vellum Mortis. Genre: Horror. Length: 1000 words max. See theme. Payment: $5. Deadline: September 10, 2025.

Shenandoah. Genre: Fiction. Payment: $80 per 1000 words of prose up to $400. Deadline: Opens September 10, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.

Book Worms. Genre: Horror: fiction, poetry, and essays. See theme. Length: Up to 1,500 words. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: September 10, 2025.

Quarter Press: Quarter(ly). Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art. See themes. Payment: $5. Deadline: September 14, 2025. Closes when cap is reached.

Cast of Wonders. Genre: YA Speculative fiction. Podcast. See themes. Payment: $.08/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words. For reprints, a $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, and a $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. Deadline: September 14, 2025.

Tin House. Genre: Debut Short Story Collections. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September14, 2025. Opens September 13.

Plott Hound. Genre: Speculative fiction starring animals. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Sublimation. Genre: Speculative poetry and art. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Rat Bag. Genre: Fiction that crosses genres and blurs the lines between literary and genre. Payment: $1 - $10. Deadline: September 15, 2025. Closes when cap is reached.

Eye to the Telescope: Cyberpunk. Genre: Speculative poetry. Theme: Cyberpunk. Payment: $0.05/word (up to $25). Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Novellum. Genre: Short stories, poetry, novellas, art. Payment: "Competitive rates." Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Lonely Cryptid: Trans/Port: Trans Speculative Fiction for a Queer Future. Genre: Speculative fiction. "The title of this anthology is intentionally open to interpretation. Give us trans like transporting, transforming, translating, transmitting, transcendental, transistor (radio? Sure!), and of course transgender! Give us port like any port in a storm, jacking in, porting software, and like we’ve opened a portal to another (better?) world!" Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Kopi Break. Restrictions: Open to those affiliated with Singapore and the Singaporean diaspora. Genre: Poetry. Payment: $10. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Philly Poetry Chapbook Review. Genre: Reviews of chapbooks coming soon or published in the past three years, essays on the crafts of poetry and chapbook making or publishing, and features about authors or publishers of chapbooks. Payment: $10. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Penumbric. Genre: Speculative fiction, poetry, art, animation, and music. Payment: $10. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Three-Lobed Burning Eye. Genre: Horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Payment: $0.08/word. Deadline: September 16, 2025.

Westerly. Genre: Short stories, poetry, memoir and creative non-fiction, essays and literary criticism. Payment: Poems: $250 for one poem or $300 for two or more poems; Prose: $500; Visual art/Intro essay: $620; Online Publication: $250. Deadline: September 17, 2025.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: September 19, 2025.

Raconteur Press. Genre: Stories about mercenaries and their adventures. Think Black Company, Hammer’s Slammers, Strange Company, Jon Sable, Phule’s Company, some cranially-iffy guy named Roland, and so on. Mercenaries aren’t obligated to maintain the same moral/ethical standards a soldier is expected to. They may also be the only ones able to pull off a mission when the uniformed military is unable to do so. Not limited to a specific timeframe or setting. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 21, 2025.

Reckoning. Genre: Art, poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction up to 15,000 words in length. See theme. Payment: 10 cents per word (US) for prose, $50 per page for poetry and art. Deadline: September 22, 2025.

Tiny Ghost Press is looking for young adult novels written from a queer perspective. That is, stories featuring a queer protagonist or from a queer author. "We're interested in everything from contemporary romance, to dystopian adventures, and if your story dabbles in the spooky, the supernatural, or the paranormal, or has a speculative element even better! We're especially looking for stories featuring trans, BIPOC, and neurodivergent characters in lead roles written by authors from these communities."  Read submission guidelines  HERE. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 23, 2025.

The Ex-Puritan. Genres: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. Payment: $100 per nonfiction piece, $50 fiction, $15 per poem. Deadline: September 25, 2025.

The Book of Cardiff. Genre: Stories set in Cardiff. Payment: "Standard author fees." Deadline: September 26, 2025.

Gap Riot. Genre: Experimental, visual, innovative, and genre-blurring feminist poetry by primarily Canadian poets. Length: Short short chapbooks (absolute max 20 pages). Payment: Royalties, after first 20 copies have sold. Deadline: September 26, 2025.

Story Unlikely. Genre: Fiction and nonfiction up to 10,000 words. Payment: 8 cents a word for stories up to 2,500 words. Stories longer than this are capped at $200 payment. $75 max for reprints. Deadline: September 29, 2025. Accepts reprints.

Split Lip Magazine. Genre: Fiction (flash and short stories), memoirs, and poetry. with a pop-culture twist. Payment: $75 for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, and art, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews web issues. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Closes when they reach capacity, so submit early.

Toad Shade Zine. Genre: Horror on theme "We're all going to die." Payment: $20 for stories, $20 for art. Deadline: September 30th, 2025. 

Kenyon Review. Genre: Prose, drama, poetry, translations, excerpts. See theme. Payment: $0.08 per published word of prose (minimum $80, maximum $450) and $0.16 per published word of poetry (minimum $40, maximum $200). Deadline: September 30th, 2025. 

Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. Genre: Short stories and poetry. See themes. Payment: $50.00 USD for featured authors, or $20.00 USD for stories published on their &More page and $10.00 USD for poems. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Hearth Stories. Genre: Speculative fiction. "We publish fiction and poetry that explore connection, family, relationships, comfort, and the natural world. The stories often fall into a fantasy, science-fiction, or magical realism sort of “slice of life.” No non-vegan stories. Payment: 1¢ per word for accepted stories (with a minimum of $20 regardless of length. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Fifth Wheel Press: effervscent. Genre: Poetry, prose poetry, short prose (<1500 words), and other experimental writing by queer, trans, and gender variant writers. Visual components and hybrid formats are welcome. Payment: $5. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Inkd Publishing: Hidden Villains: Duos. Genre: Speculative Fiction, including Sci-Fi or Fantasy. See theme. Word Limit: 2,000 to 7,000 words. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Black Hare Press. Genre: Dark stories, in any genre. Length: 5,000 - 50,000 words. Payment: $20 - $50, depending on length. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Harbor Review. Genre: Chapbook. Length: Chapbooks should be between 20-40 pages of poetry or 20-50 pages of prose. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2025. No submission fee for BIPOC writers.

Freefall. Restrictions: Open to Canadians. Genre: Short story and novel excerpts; non-fiction, writing-related or general-audience topics; creative non-fiction; plays; and postcard stories. Payment: $10 per page in the magazine (to a maximum of $100) and one copy of the issue your piece is published in. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Small Harbor Publishing. Genre: Chapbooks. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2025. All fees are waived for BIPOC identifying writers.

Midnight and Indigo. Genre: Personal essays. Payment: $150. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

University of Alberta Press. Genre: Poetry by Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Manawaker Studio: 100 Word Project. Genre: Speculative fiction of exactly 100 words. See theme. Payment: $1. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Thalia Press: Cat Anthology. Genre: Stories that feature cats. Payment: $25. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Haven Speculative. Restrictions: Open to submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 8¢ per word for fiction and $20 for poetry. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Chestnut Review. Genre: Poetry, flash fiction, short fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, visual media (art/photography). Payment: $120. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Submit early in the month to avoid submission fee.

Aurealis. Restrictions: Australian and New Zealand writers. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories between 2000 and 8000 words. Payment: A$20 and A$60 per 1000 words. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

The Cincinnati Review. Genre: Literary nonfiction (up to 20 pages), fiction (up to 40 pages), poetry, poetry translations, drama, and art. Payment: $25/page for prose in the journal, $30/page for poetry, $25 for miCRo posts or special features. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Note: Opens on the first day of the month and closes once they hit the submissions cap.

Heartlines Spec. Restrictions: "Since Heartlines Spec is primarily a Canadian magazine, we're looking to feature writers identifying as being from Canada/Turtle Island. This includes expats, new immigrants, and people who refuse/resist Canadian Identity. Our goal for each issue is to publish at least 50% Canadian content." Genre: Short fiction and poetry focused on long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial. "We want stories and poetry with strong, confident relationships amid all the sci-fi/fantasy. We are especially interested in stories featuring queer platonic relationships, ace/aro love stories, and polycules." Payment: $0.08 CAD per word for short fiction and $80 CAD flat for poetry. Deadline: September 30, 2025. 

Black Hare Press. Genre: Dark stories, in any genre. Payment: 5,000 to 10,000 words  – $20 USD, 10,000 to 17,000 words– $30 USD. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Home Constellations. Genre: Speculative fiction. Theme: Stories about the future which feature non-traditional families. Payment: Prose and poetry: 5$ + 1c/word over 500 (up to 5k) words + .2c/word over 5k words. Graphic Narrative Fiction: 5$/page. Cover Illustration: $100. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Reprints accepted.

Dragon Soul Press: Holiday Spirit. Genre: All Christmas-themed stories are welcome. All genres accepted.  Payment: Royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

In the Words of a Flower. Genre: Fantasy stories that incorporate an aspect of floriography, the language of flowers. Payment: $50. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

The Bombay Literary Magazine. Genre: Fiction, poetry, translated fiction/poetry and graphic fiction. Payment: Indian rupees 5,000 (approx. $61) per contribution. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

The Big Book of Quantum Fiction. Genre: Short stories, poetry, art within one or more standard genres, but containing one or more “quantum” elements. See theme. Payment: $24. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

AND A FEW MORE...

IHRAM Press: Art, Action, Impact: Voices of 21st-century Activism. Genre: "This anthology will explore interventions that have sparked widespread change, highlighting protests and acts of resistance expressed through art, storytelling, and personal activism." Payment: $50. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Gordon Square Review. Genre: Poetry, short stories, personal essays, and hybrid prose works. Payment: $25 per prose piece and $10 per poem. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

The Last Line. Genre: Fiction that ends with the last line provided. Payment: $20-$40. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

The Paris Review. Genres: Fiction, poetry. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.
​
Sundog. Genre: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art. Payment: $50. Deadline: Opens October 1, 2025, and closes when they reach capacity.

Humour Me. Genre: Funny short stories with the theme ‘Autumn.’ Payment: £7.50. Deadline: October 1, 2025.

Pixnio This September there are more than three dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range from $25,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Many of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.

Good luck! 

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2025 QTBIPOC Book Prize. Restrictions: Open to QTBIPOC-identified, feminist, innovative writers/poets. Genre: Full-length manuscript. Prize: Publication along with $1,000.00.  Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Morioka International Haiku Contest. Genre: Haiku. Prize: Not specified. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

The Jacki and Jeff Karsh Journalism Fellowship. Genre: Journalism. The Karsh Fellowship convenes journalists for immersive learning, mentorship, and collaboration, empowering them to produce original work of exceptional depth and authority on Jewish issues. Prize: $4000. Deadline: September 1, 2025. 

The SETI Institute: Cosmic Chronicles Literary Prize. Restrictions: Open to emerging writers. Genre: literature, speculative fiction/sci-fi, experimental poetry, and philosophy that reflects and expands on the SETI Institute’s “Intelligence and Consciousness” research area. Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 1, 2025. 

Coppercoat Brian Black Memorial Award 2025. Genre: Images and stories that answer the questions: How have you witnessed the changing marine environment and weather patterns through your sailing and along the coast? What was driving this change? and How do we respond to it? In the main article competition, we are looking for a story about sailing that you have done and that reveals something about our changing seas. Prize: £2,000. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award. Restrictions: Open to writers who have not previously published any works of fiction for young readers. This includes self-published as well as commercially published work. Genre: Full-length work of fiction in English with universal appeal of Jewish content for readers aged 8-13 years, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It should reveal positive aspects of Jewish life. Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

AILACT Essay Prize. Genre: Papers related to the teaching or theory of informal logic or critical thinking, and papers on argumentation theory. Prize: $700 top prize. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction. Restrictions: The writer must be a resident of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, or have been a resident in the UK or ROI for the past three years. Genre: Nonfiction book. Prize: Two awards – one of £10,000, one of £5,000 – are offered to support writers to complete their first commissioned works of non-fiction. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

The Hinternet Essay Prize. Genre: Essay on topic: “How might current and emerging technologies best be mobilized to secure perpetual peace?” Essays must be of 2,000-10,000 words, and can be written in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Polish, or Turkish. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: September 1, 2025.
Hadassah-Brandeis Research Awards. Genre: Research or artistic projects in Jewish women’s and gender studies across a range of disciplines. Awards are made to graduate students, early career, and established researchers. Prize: $2000 - $5000. Deadline: September 2, 2025.

Maine Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowships. Restrictions: Open to writers who have lived in the state of Maine for at least one year. Genre: Fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction. Prize: $5,000. Deadline: September 3, 2025.

Young Lions Fiction Award. Restrictions: Open to US citizens 35 years of age or younger. Genre: Novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members, writers, editors, and librarians. Submissions by publisher only. Authors may not submit their own work. Prize: $10,000.00. Deadline: September 5, 2025.

Stories Out of School. Genre: Flash fiction. The story’s protagonist, or its narrator, must be a K-12 teacher. Stories must be between 6 and 749 words and previously unpublished. Prize: First-prize winners receive $1000; second-prize winners, $500. Deadline: September 7, 2025.

Mavis Batey Essay Prize. Restrictions: Open to any student, worldwide, registered in a bona-fide university or institute of higher education, or who has recently graduated from such an institution. Genre: Nonfiction. Scholarly essay on gardening history. Prize: £250, free membership of the Gardens Trust for a year and consideration for publication. Deadline: September 7, 2025.

Only Poems Poem of the Month. Genre: Poetry. See theme. Prize: $33.  Deadline: September 7, 2025.

Undiscovered Voices. Restrictions: Current members of SCBWI who live in the UK or one of the current countries of the EU or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. Genre: Opening of an already completed novel for children, aimed at any age from 5 years through to Young Adult. You may submit up to 4,000 words – choosing a suitable place to stop your extract. Prize: Publication. Deadline: September 8, 2025.

Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. Restrictions: Open to authors aged 18-35 as of December 31 of the deadline year. Books must have been first published in the UK and/or the Republic of Ireland, in the English language. Authors must be UK or Irish citizens, or residents for the three years preceding the award. Genre: Published or self-published book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Prize: £10,000. Deadline: September 8, 2025.

Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing. Genre: Book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers and has the potential to shape or influence thinking on contemporary Canadian political life. Book must be published in Canada. Prize: CAN $25,000.  Deadline: September 10, 2025. (For books published between January 1, 2025 and August 31, 2025)

Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing. Genre: Scholarly essay. All work submitted must have been written or published within the last year. Prize: $3,000. Deadline: September 14, 2025.

Washington State Book Awards. Restrictions: Open to Washington State writers. Genre: Published book, fiction, nonfiction, poetry: adults or children. Prize: Recognition (?) Deadline: September 15, 2025. (For books published June 1-Aug.15, 2025.)

American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prizes. Genre: English translations of poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose originally written in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, or Swedish by a Scandinavian author born after 1800. Prize: $2,500. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

53-Word Story Contest. Genre: Flash fiction of exactly 53 words based on monthly theme. Prize: Publication and a free book. Deadline: September 15, 2025. 

Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize. Restrictions: Free entry for marginalized groups only. Genre: Micro, flash, and sudden fiction stories from 100-1,500 words. "For this contest, we want writers to show us the forgotten, the hidden, the otherworldly. We want your stories to take us on journeys and adventures in the worlds only you can create; whether you make the familiar strange or the strange familiar, we know you will take us elsewhere." Prize: $3,000. Deadline: September 15, 2026. 

Ambroggio Prize. Restrictions: Poet must be a U.S. Citizen; Resident of the United States for the ten-year period prior to the submission deadline, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Legal Permanent Status (LPS), or any subsequent categories designated by the U.S. authorities as conferring similar enhanced status upon non-citizens living in the United States. Genre: Book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation. Prize: $1000 and publication. Deadline: September 15, 2025.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for one story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: September 19, 2025.

Savage Science Fiction/Fantasy Writing Contest. Genre: Science fiction or fantasy short story. Prize: Winning stories are published in Toasted Cheese. If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card. If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card. Deadline: September 21, 2025. Opens September 19, 2025.

Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awards. Restrictions: Scottish writers over 18 years of age. Genres: The awards are divided into three different categories.: Fiction and Narrative Non-fiction in English and Scots, Poetry in English and Scots, Children’s and Young Adult Fiction in English and Scots. Prize: £2,500 and personal development opportunities, which can include mentoring from writers and industry professionals. Training in PR, performance and presentation training, and the opportunity to showcase work to publishers and agents. Deadline: September 24, 2025.

International Booker Prize. The International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English is awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the author of the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible novel or collection of short stories. The work must be published by a UK or Ireland publishing house. Authors are not permitted to enter their own works. Prize: £50,000 divided equally between the author and the translator. There will be a prize of £2,000 each of the shortlisted titles divided equally between the author and the translator. Deadline: For books published between 1 December 2025 and 30 April 2026 the deadline is September 25, 2025.

Cullman Center Fellowships. The Cullman Center’s Selection Committee awards up to 15 fellowships a year to outstanding scholars and writers—academics, independent scholars, journalists, and creative writers. Foreign nationals conversant in English are welcome to apply. Award: A stipend of up to $90,000, an office, a computer, and full access to the Library's physical and electronic resources. Deadline: September 26, 2025.

Kari Ann Flickinger Biennial Memorial Literary Prize. Genre: Poetry chapbook. Prize: $1500 plus publication with Rare Swan Press; four finalists will receive $250 along with a Literati Magazine Portfolio. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Biennial prize.

Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Writing 2026. Restrictions: All entrants must be Australian residents as of the closing date. Local entrants must live, work or study in the Shire of Nillumbik. Youth writers must be aged 11–21 years as of the closing date. Youth categories are free to enter. Genre: Poetry and fiction. Prize: Up to $5000. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is held four times a year. Restrictions: The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits. Genre: Short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. Prizes: $1,000, $750, $500, Annual Grand Prize: $5,000. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Don't Text and Drive Scholarship. Restrictions: You must be a high school freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior or a current or entering college or graduate school student of any level. Home schooled students are also eligible. There is no age limit. You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident. Genre: 500- to 1,000-word essay about texting while driving. Prize: $1000 scholarship. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

SUSPECT Flash Fiction Contest. Genre: Flash fiction. See theme. Prize: USD300, 200, and 100. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Fiction and Nonfiction. Genre: Novels and nonfiction books published in 2022. Book has to be set in one of the original eleven states in the Confederacy. (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.) Prize: $2,500.00. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry. Genre: Poem that evokes the South. Prize: $2,500 and expenses-paid trip to award ceremony in Oxford, Mississippi. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Sejong International Sijo Competition. Genre: Sijo poem. Prize: $500. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: $150. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Rhonda Gail Williford Award for Poetry. Genre: Poetry that incorporates themes of justice, dignity, and resistance. Prize: First Prize: $150; Second Prize: $100; Third Prize: $50. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Shoreline of Infinity Flash Fiction Contest. Genre: Science fiction story about Peace. 1000 words max. See theme. Prize: £50. Deadline: September 30, 2025.

Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: September 30, 2025. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

Aspen: Raw Pixel This September there are more than two dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but most will be held in person or use a hybrid format.These writing events offer everything a writer might want: intensive workshops, pitch sessions with agents, how to market your books, discussions - there is something for everyone.

I have included conferences with deadlines that have already passed on this list to give you advance notice. If you miss an application deadline, put it on your calendar for next year. Quite a few conferences offer scholarships, so apply early. Plan ahead!

For a full list of conferences held throughout the year see Writing Conferences.

Be sure to check out Highlights list of workshops. They offer many throughout the year. 

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Star Island Writing Retreat. September 1 - 5, 2025: Star Island, Portsmouth, NH. During our four and one-half days together, we write from prompts designed to awaken creativity you didn’t even know you had. We write by candlelight in a stone chapel. We write in rattan rockers on a wraparound porch. We write with a view of the ocean in all directions. We gather on the porch for magnificent sunsets. We write with the sound of waves and gulls. We pick up writing techniques from other writers, from the collection of articles prepared by the presenter, and from the presenter’s personal experience.

Expressing Your Voice: A Two-Night Workshop for YA & MG Novelists. September 8 - 10, 2025: Online. Join editor Kat Brzozowski and author Anna-Marie McLemore to explore creating distinct and engaging voice and authentic dialogue on the page. While a strong voice in MG & YA novels is a must, getting it right is often elusive. Kat and Anna-Marie will explore where voice comes from—inner conflicts, outside pressures, personal values, experiences, identity—and how to make sure it lands convincingly in dialogue.

Writing and Publishing Books for Young Readers. September 9 - October 7, 2025: Online. We’ll read and discuss excerpts from impactful children’s books, both classic and current, and analyze why they work so well. Weekly generative prompts will inspire you whether you’re just beginning your kidlit adventure, or you’re already working on a piece and want to hone it further. Bring your desire to write for children and/or young adults, an open mind and a childlike sense of adventure!

Middle Grade Writers: A Generative Retreat. September 10 - 13, 2025: Boyds Mills, PA. Immerse yourself in the generative writing process and try new, hands-on techniques to spark creativity, connect, unwind, and generate new pages (or revive old ones). Waitlisted.

Art as Inspiration: An Ekphrasitic Poetry Workshop. September 10 – October 8, 2025: Online. When everyday life doesn’t inspire us, we can turn to other art forms to move us. Learn how to build a friendship between verse and art by using the energy of music, paintings, films and more to create exciting ekphrastic poems. This encouraging workshop will help you collect inspirations and engage with structures, themes and motifs of other artists. You will read published examples of ekphrastic poetry, complete generative exercises and share drafts with fellow writers. Come empty-handed to write something new, or bring some works-in progress to revise. Limited to 12 participants.


Inkubator Writing Conference. September 11 - 13, 2025: Cleveland, OH. Literary Cleveland's Inkubator Writing Conference is one of the largest free writing conferences in the country, providing workshops, craft talks, panel discussions, readings, and more to empower writers, celebrate literary excellence, and amplify diverse voices. 

Futurescapes. September 11 - 14, 2025: Online. Futurescapes is an intensive, exclusive workshop, offering writers an unparalleled chance to work with top authors and agents in speculative fiction (science fiction, horror, fantasy, paranormal). This summer, we’ll be exploring the first 100 pages of your manuscript. The workshop sessions will require work outside of meeting times as there is a generative nature to it. This workshop is smaller and more competitive than our regular workshop. In addition to workshopping a larger portion of your manuscript (25,000 words), we’ll have plenty of unstructured and semi-structured time to network with fellow students and faculty.

PNWA Conference. September 11 - 14, 2025: Seattle, Washington. Sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. More than 50 seminars, editor/agent forums & appointments, practice pitching, keynote and featured speakers, reception, awards ceremony. Many agents and editors attending. Will be held in person.

A Public Space's 2025 Weekend Writers' Retreat. September 11 - 14: Tivoli, New York. The APS Weekend Writers' Retreat is an opportunity to nurture new work and expand and explore technique. The retreat will include morning workshops with limited participants (5 to 7 per workshop); afternoon literary talks; and an array of evening events, including readings and a Saturday BBQ. There will also be opportunities for informal conversations with authors and editors and independent generative exercises, as well as complimentary tickets to events at Kaatsbaan's Annual Festival. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. There is no fee to apply. Applicants must be 21 years of age by September 1, 2025, to apply. Capacity is limited, and applying early is recommended.

The Alabama Writers' Conclave. September 12 - 14, 2025: Orange Beach, Alabama. The Conclave is today one of the oldest continuing writers' organization in the United States. Writers, aspiring writers and supporters of the writing arts may join. Sharing information, developing ideas, honing skills, and receiving practical advice are hallmarks of the annual meeting. 

Picture Book Authors and Illustrators: Working Retreat. September 13 - 16, 2025: Boyds Mills, PA. Picture book writers and illustrators: set aside time to focus on your picture book project! Here is a special retreat just for you. Join fiction and nonfiction author Darcy Pattison, author/illustrator Leslie Helakoski, and their guests including Aram Kim and Matt Phipps to immerse yourself in all things picture books. You’ll enjoy presentations, read alouds, small group discussions of your work, and so much more. In addition to the support from your faculty and fellow creatives, you’ll have ample time to work on your stories. We recommend bringing several stories at various parts of the drafting and revision processes. Waitlisted.

Brooklyn Book Festival. September 14 - 22, 2025: Brooklyn, NY. The mission of the Brooklyn Book Festival (BKBF) is to celebrate published literature and nurture a literary cultural community through programming that cultivates and connects readers of diverse ages and backgrounds with local, national and international authors, publishers and booksellers. To this end the Brooklyn Book Festival develops original programming that is hip, smart, diverse, and inclusive and presents free, literary, cultural events at the Brooklyn Book Festival Day & Literary Marketplace, Virtual Festival Day, and the family friendly Children’s Day. Additionally, BKBF presents Bookend events in venues across NYC and on-line, which are overwhelmingly presented free to the public.

Hold Space Retreat for Artists of Color. September 15 - 23, 2025: Saugatuck, Michigan. Participants who qualify for a Hold Space Retreat can enjoy communal living, making, and opportunities to organize on Ox-Bow’s campus in Saugatuck, Michigan. Lodging, three meals per day, and access to Ox-Bow studios and spaces are provided. People of color across the creative spectrum including artists of any discipline, writers, curators, teachers, and Ox-Bow Alumni are encouraged to apply. The retreat supports individuals or groups of up to twenty for any length from one to seven nights. Application deadline: July 6, 2025.

WRITING THE MORE THAN HUMAN WORLD with Pam Houston - Part 1. September 15 - October 6, 2025: Online. In this workshop, we will focus on writing about animals, domesticated and wild; trees, individuals and entire forests, oceans, mountains, clouds, weather. They will become more than landscape, more than easy emotion. They will become characters, we will let them be, if they want to be, the reason the story exists at all. And if we dare we might even explore an underworld, a future world, or another world all together Workshop is open to writers in all genres. It will be mostly generative in nature, but we will share what we are working on from time to time during class.
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Monsters & Mayhem: A Two-Night Mini for Young Adult Horror Writers. September 16 - 18, 2025: Online. Horror novels for young adult readers don’t just scare – they give voice to all the fears and anxieties readers experience and can offer safe spaces to explore complex emotions in a difficult world. Join young adult author Rob Costello for this short course for writers looking to create engaging and compelling horror narratives for young adult readers. This program will draw on current and classic horror examples.

The Algonkian Writer Retreat and Novel Workshop. September 17 - 21, 2025: Algonkian Park, Virginia. "You can show us your manuscript, improve your skills, clear your head, have your work read by our writer mentors, whatever works for you, whatever helps you grow and discover your vision as a writer. You discuss with us ahead of time via the Algonkian Writer Retreat Application the goals you wish to accomplish, and we'll work with you to make it happen. Do you desire a review? A line edit? Do you wish to discuss the reality of the current fiction market, your novel project, plot and characters, or perhaps get feedback on the opening hook or a few sample chapters? Or would you simply like a relaxed and productive dialogue about your goals as a writer?"

Writing On The Door: Washington Island Literary Festival. September 18 - 20, 2025: Washington Island, Wisconsin. "The Washington Island Literary Festival is a moveable feast of writing, reading, discussion, and thought about the written word. Writers’ workshops, author panels and presentations, readings and parties are scheduled at various quaint, historic and beautiful venues around the Island. Participants have a unique opportunity to share time with prominent authors and dedicated readers in the intimate, friendly setting of Washington Island, a half-hour by ferry from the Door County mainland, in September’s color and warmth." 

Creatures, Crimes & Creativity. September 19 - 21, 2025: Columbia, MD. A writer's and fan's conference for genre fiction covering mystery, suspense, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk & horror.

Hedgebrook Writers Conference 2025. September 18 - 21, 2025: Seattle, WA. "Hedgebrook is a community of visionary women writers whose stories and ideas have shaped our culture in the past, now, and for generations to come. We have tapped into this community to collectively build Hedgebrook’s Writers Conference – a three-day intensive for writers across the globe. If you aspire to improve your craft, come learn from seasoned writers that are equipped to challenge, engage, and inform.  Our illustrious alumnae instructors craft and guide participants through interconnected lessons over the course of three days, proving “No Writer Is An Island.” 

10th Annual Broadleaf Writers Conference. September 20 - 21, 2025: Decatur, Georgia. "With one of the strongest list of authors you will ever find at a conference, we’ve added even more agents, editors and publisher representatives than ever before! Combined with educational sessions and workshops, the Annual Broadleaf Writers Conference will offer you all that you need to refine and improve your craft." 

Travel & Words: Northwest Travel Writers Conference. September 21 - 23, 2025: Medford, Oregon. TRAVEL & WORDS offers a multi-faceted conference for travel journalists interested in exploring Northwest destinations. The primary focus of the conference is to connect journalists with destinations throughout the Northwest. Attendees will have one-on-one meetings with destination marketers to learn about their destination and lay a foundation for productive working relationships. In addition, attendees will enjoy expert presentations about current topics in travel content publishing and have plenty of opportunities for networking and exploring the host destination. In more than a decade of conferences, Travel & Words has become an important force in the Northwest travel industry. Travel & Words is by invitation only. There is no registration fee for journalists. 

Haiku North America Conference. September 24 - 28, 2025: San Francisco, CA. "Haiku North America is designed for, and open to, everyone—beginners and seasoned specialists alike. Haiku North America (HNA) is a biennial conference in celebration of haiku poetry. Every two years we offer five stimulating days of papers, panels, workshops, readings, performances, book sales, cultural outings, and much socialization with fellow poets, translators, scholars, editors, and publishers. Our first conference was in 1991 and subsequent conferences have taken place in the United States and Canada, focusing on North American poets, their haiku, and related arts. Everyone is welcome to attend HNA, the largest and oldest gathering of haiku poets outside Japan." Biennial.

Georgia Romance Writers: Moonlight and Magnolias. September 25 - 27, 2025: Atlanta, Georgia. Includes keynote speakers, workshops, editor/agent appointments, autographing & bookfair, awards banquet.

Algonkian Writer Conference–New York City Write to Pitch. September 25 - 28, 2025: Ripley-Grier Studios in New York City. The New York Pitch Conference and writers workshop is held four times a year and features publishing house editors from major houses such as Penguin, Random House, St. Martins, Harper Collins, Tor and Del Rey, Kensington Books and many more who are looking for new novels in a variety of genres, as well as narrative non-fiction. The event focuses on the art of the novel pitch as the best method not only for communicating your work, but for having you and your work taken seriously by industry professionals.

Central Coast Writers' Conference. September 26 - 27, 2025: San Luis Obispo, CA. "Unlike other Writers' conferences, this year's conference has been expanded to encompass the wider 'Content Creator Community.' Our goal is to amplify the connection of content creators on the Central Coast and beyond including bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, influencers, authors, narrators, journalists, artists, screenwriters, musicians, and of course - writers of all genres! As the medium for literary work has expanded beyond the book, content creators from all walks of life are encouraged to attend. There will be 16+ expert panels, featuring 50+ experts & thought leaders." 

Colorado Gold Writers Conference. September 26 - 28, 2025: Aurora, CO. An intensive three days of workshops, presenters, agents, master classes, intensives, and more!

The 2025 Aspen Literary Festival. September 26 - 28, 2025: Aspen, Colorado. The Aspen Literary Festival is a three-day celebration of books and ideas taking place September 26-September 28, 2025, in the beautiful mountain town of Aspen, Colorado. The festival features author talks and panel discussions, book signings, food trucks, parties and other attractions for book lovers. Most events are free with registration. Marquee events at the Wheeler Opera House are ticketed and require advance purchase.  

49 Writers Tutka Bay Retreat. September 26 - 29, 2025: Tutka Bay, Alaska. Join us for a one-of-a-kind writing retreat set against the stunning backdrop of remote coastal Alaska. The Tutka Bay Writers Retreat allows writers of all genres, backgrounds, and experience levels to take a break from their day-to-day lives, reconnect with their creative selves, and dive deeper into their writing practice. At this generative writers retreat, you and a small group of other writers will enjoy craft talks, in-class writing exercises, readings, and discussions led by Ramona Ausubel, acclaimed author and teacher. In between instructional sessions, you and other retreat participants will have plenty of unstructured time to write, rest, dream, and socialize. The retreat is limited to 12 participants.

Write on the Sound Writers' Conference and Pre-Conference. Preconference, September 27, 2025. Conference: Oct 3 - 5, 2025: Edmonds, WA. Founded in 1985, Write on the Sound writers’ conference (WOTS) is a small, affordable conference focused on the craft of writing. A variety of sessions, workshops and panel discussions are available for all levels and interests, including valuable information regarding today’s writing and publishing industry. 

Okoboji Writers' Retreat. September 28 - October 1, 2025: West Lake, IA. The annual Okoboji Writers’ Retreat, founded in 2021, is open to all skill levels. Columnist Julie Gammack is the producer. Over 30 faculty resources will be on hand to work with participants in small-group settings. Whether you come to find out how to get started or land a book deal, this retreat is a welcoming event for all.

Six Bridges Book Festival. September 28 - October 5, 2025: Little Rock, Arkansas. "Prestigious award-winners, screenwriters, comedians, an expert witness, artists, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet are among the diverse roster of presenters who will be providing sessions." Free. 

The Wild We Speak: Lyrical Essays from Our Shared Ground. An Invitation to Craft Lyrical Nature Essays with CMarie Fuhrman. September 29 -30, 2025: Online. This three-hour generative workshop invites you into a focused examination of the lyrical nature essay, where the elements of the natural world become guides for crafting prose. We'll discover how your unique ways of seeing and knowing can give craft to your experiences within our shared environment. This class is for all writers who feel a genuine connection to the natural world and wish to translate that connection into prose that resonates with truth and artistry. If you're drawn to the various gifts of poetry, or if music, image, and nonlinearity already inform your expression, this workshop offers you the opportunity to bring those techniques to prose.


From Idea & Sketch to Dummy & Submission: An Author/Illustrator Online Course. September 30 - November 4, 2025: Online. If you are illustrating AND writing your own book, and wondering how to prepare your submission, this is the course for you. You will focus on the craft of writing and illustrating a picture book with an intense level of feedback from faculty Courtney Pippin-Mathur and special guests, Natasha Khan Kazi and Aram Kim. Participants who complete all assignments should be able to finish or revise a working dummy (mocked up book) in its entirety during the course, preparing for submission to editors, agents, or art directors. 24 participants max. 

Events with application deadlines in September:

Ossabaw Weekend Writer’s Retreat. October 17 - 20, 2025: Ossabaw Island, GA. Ossabaw Writers’ Retreat offers a variety of programs to address the needs of writers hoping to expand their craft and improve their work-in-progress. We hope you will join us in this great literary tradition by taking part in one or more of the various programs offered by the Ossabaw Writers’ Retreat. Where loggerhead sea turtles and endangered wood storks nest, and photographers, writers, painters, and musicians listen, watch, reflect, and create. Application deadline: September 15.

Julie Romeis Sanders Here are seven new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.

All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.
Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 

NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")
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You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.

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Geffen Semach of Westwood Creative Artists (CANADA)

Prior to joining Westwood Creative Artists in 2025, I spent five years at Penguin Random House Canada, and two years at Aitken Alexander Associates as an assistant. Before that, I started my publishing career interning at Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Profile Books. I have edited for Hazlitt, and am on the editorial board of ROOM Magazine. I am interested in a wide range of writing and represent both fiction and non-fiction.


What she is seeking: Fiction: I am looking for general upmarket fiction; horror, thriller and suspense; sci fi, speculative, fantasy and romantasy; as well as select concept-driven romance and literary novels. I am drawn to genre-blending novels that tackle human complexity, thoughtful world-building, strong emotional resonance, and bold voices and concepts. I love novels with teeth that make me feel viscerally—either grounded or unsettled—and nuanced characters that feel both fresh and challenging. Some of my favourite contemporary fiction writers include Torrey Peters, Asako Yazuki, Akwaeke Emezi, Mona Awad, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Michael Bennett, Sarah Pearse, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Marisha Pessl, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Terry Miles, Pierce Brown, Andy Weir, Grace D. Li, Ali Hazelwood, Laura R. Samotin, Danielle L. Jensen, Sara Peters, Daisy Johnson, and Yaa Gyasi.

Non-fiction: I am interested in journalism in the vein of social commentary, pop culture, politics, art and media; expert-driven writing relating to medicine and mental health, sex and relationships, and money; as well as exceptional memoir. For me it is the balance of an authoritative voice with accessibility. Particularly books that explore complex, often systemic issues—from politics to psychology to culture—told from a personal or human-centered lens. Please connect with me if you are an expert with a strong voice and an idea to share. I am happy to chat with writers who are at the beginning stages of forming an idea to craft a proposal together. Non-fiction contemporary writers I love include Elizabeth Miki Brina, Sonia Faleiro, Sheila Heti, Jia Tolentino, Ian Williams, Chris Hedges, Timothy Snyder, Jonathan Haidt, Kieran Setiya, Daniel J. Levitin, Oliver Burkeman, Daniel Barbarisi, Jessica Fern, Javier Zamora, and Bethany Joy Lenz.

I encourage submissions from underrepresented writers including 2SLGBTQI+, BIPOC, and/or disabled.

How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.
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Grace Demyan of Harvey Klinger, Inc.

Grace joined the Harvey Klinger Literary Agency in 2025, where she is thrilled to begin building a list as an Associate Agent. A graduate of Tufts University and the Tulane University School of Law, Grace currently lives outside of Washington, DC.


What she is seeking: She is interested in a wide range of fiction and always on the lookout for underrepresented authors. In general, she loves quirky-off beat storytelling that can deliver heartfelt and thoughtful messaging, characters with richly developed relationships, and stories that center around a fantastical or often-overlooked setting. She is actively seeking fiction: LiteraryCommercialThrillerRomanceFantasySci-FiHorrorHistoricalWomen's FictionYoung Adult

How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.

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Michael Taeckens of Massie & McQuilkin

Michael Taeckens received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has been working in publishing since 1995. He co-founded Broadside PR in 2015, and his clients in that time have been awarded and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Booker Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN America Literary Award, Whiting Award, International Dublin Award, Windham-Campbell Prize, Women’s Prize, Story Prize, L.A. Times Book Prize, Young Lions Award, Lambda Literary Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and have been featured regularly in national media, including eight of his projects on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. 


What he is seeking: He’s interested in literary fiction and a wide variety of narrative nonfiction (including biography, cultural studies, history/current events, hybrid work, memoir, popular culture, and science).

How to submit: Please send queries directly to michael@mmqalit.com with the subject line “query” and include a synopsis of your project, your publication history, and a brief bio. Please also include an excerpt of up to 10 pages pasted within the body of the email (not as an attachment, please). If you haven’t heard from him in 4-6 weeks, your project is not a good fit for him.

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Tara Contreras of D4EO Literary Agency


What I Look For in an Author:

I’m excited to find not only exceptional stories, but driven storytellers as well. 

If you are an author with big visions both on and off the page who is looking
for a collaborative partnership with an agency to bring your voice and goals to
life, I want to know you.

I am especially interested in working with authors who are willing to learn
from us how to market via social media. I believe creating a marketing plan is
essential - especially for debut authors and I love helping authors build out a
strategic plan for getting the word out about their work!

What she is seeking: Romantasy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, New Adult, Young Adult, Romance & Dark Romance

Things I Love:Fierce female characters who embrace their femininityStrong female friendshipsChallenging stereotypesSharp opinionsEmotional, deep & dynamic relationships (platonic & romantic)New takes on standard tropesUnique magic systemsEmotional turmoil that rips me apart then sews me back togetherMorally grey characters
How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.

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Ms. Ruth Gila Berger of Red Sofa Literary

Ruth Gila Berger (she/her) spent twenty-four years at Consortium Book Sales & Distribution where she worked with a wide variety of independent presses, sales reps and independent booksellers. She has a MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University, and was in the first cohort who built Water~Stone Review.

In prehistory, Ruth left suburban New York for the University of Iowa, where she got a BA in Theater Arts and Psychology. She never got over the culture shock. She current resides in  Minneapolis where she lives with her wife and animals.

What she is seeking: Narrative nonfiction with a story - especially if it marries two seemly disparate fields like art and mathematics, physics and cooking, birds and language, etc. I want to read experts who can charm and surprise me, make me laugh and never take a tone of intellectual superiority.Memoir is where why heart lives but you have to knock my socks off and be connected to something in the larger world. Memoirists must have a platform to sell.Essay collections that show up in the wrong outfit, take a circuitous or unexpected route to writing, and question assumptions, yes please.Fiction that has a hook, nuance and heart. Characters should to haunt me. Any dialogue needs to kill it and plot rules.Same for YA Fiction.Graphic Novels, only if they are original, beautiful and funny.How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.

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Dylan Haston of Donald Maass Literary Agency

Dylan Haston joined the Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2024 as a Reader and Assistant to Cameron McClure, and in 2025 transitioned to their current role as Assistant Literary Agent. They continue to assist Cameron McClure.

What they are seeking: They specialize in fiction and are interested in projects that engage in any way with science-fictional, fantastical, speculative, weird, queer, poetic, folkloric, and leftist literary traditions.

For fantasy, think books like Metal From Heaven, Three Parts Dead, Fire Logic, The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Saint Death’s Daughter, The Devourers, A Stranger in Olondria, The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, and The Changeling Sea.

For sci-fi, think Terra Ignota, Growing Up Weightless, This is How You Lose the Time War, The Hainish Cycle, The Fortunate Fall, Ring of Swords, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, and The Vorkosigan Saga.

For the numinous, slipstream, weird, and intergenre, think My Real Children, The Siege of Burning Grass, The Passion, Gideon the Ninth, Black Wine, Fire in the Unnameable Country, From A Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate, and Rakesfall.

Other than that, don’t self reject! I love stories of all kinds, and I’ll be hooked by anything with a strong voice. Although many of my favorite stories have a speculative edge to them, quite a few of them can also be viewed as romances, mysteries, or literary, so send those over as well!

How to submit: Use their querytracker HERE.

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Julie Romeis Sanders of SteelWorks Literary

Julie first fell in love with reading while hiding under the covers with a book and a flashlight. She later rediscovered the magic of children’s books working at an independent book and toy store in her Texas hometown, leading to the Columbia Publishing Course and a dream job helping launch Bloomsbury USA in New York City. There, she edited award-winning books for all ages including a PW Best Children’s Book, two titles which became feature films, and acquired numerous debut authors who went on to best-selling careers. Next, she headed west and joined Chronicle Books to spearhead their middle grade and YA program as well as develop unforgettable picture books such as Caldecott Honor Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle. Since 2012, Julie has worked as a freelance editor, bookseller, teacher, and international workshop leader. All of these experiences come together to inform Julie’s outlook as a literary agent—where connection, co-creation, and evolution are key.

With a steady guiding hand in editorial development, a heart for collaborative partnership, and a feel for making connections, Julie brings books into the world that will make lasting contributions to the lives of readers. The right fit client for Julie brings stories that spark joy, tears, and laughter as well as characters who leap off the page, unexpected twists, and new perspectives.

Julie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two children, and young dog, Ripley. She spends her free time volunteering in equine rescue, paddle boarding, and of course, curling up with a good book (flashlight no longer required).

What she is seeking: Currently I am looking to partner with picture book authors and author/illustrators, graphic novel author/illustrators, and middle grade writers. Fiction is my primary focus and I am open to non-fiction in picture books and graphic novels, especially narrative non-fiction.

How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.  

Pixabay This August there are more than five dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.

I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

Happy submitting!

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Celestial Glossary. Genre: Fiction and creative nonfiction: up to 7,000 words; Comic strips: up to 10 pages; Visual art submissions: up to 2 per submission; Poetry: up to 5 poems per submission. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: Opens August 1, 2025. No fee for submissions until cap is reached.

The Forge Literary Magazine. Genre: Prose. They prefer stories under 3,000 words but will consider up to 5,000 words. Payment: $100. Deadline: Opens August 1, 2025 Free submissions open on the 1st of each month and close when cap is reached.

ryga. Genre: Poetry, prose and short plays. Payment: $50. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: August 1, 2025. See themes.

The First Line Journal. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry using the line provided. (See theme) Payment: $25-50 for fiction, $25 for nonfiction, $10 for poetry. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

We'Moon Lunar Calendar. Restrictions: Open to women only. Genre: Art, poetry and prose, 350 words maximum. Payment: Small honorarium; art up to $500. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Lucky Jefferson: Awake. Restrictions: Open to Black Writers and Artists. Genre: Poetry, prose, essays, art on theme. Payment: $15 - $50. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Geist. Restrictions: Canadian connection required. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art. Payment: $100 - $1000. Deadline: August 1, 2025. Geist offers no-fee general submissions for Black writers, Indigenous writers, and writers of color.

BOA Editions — Blessing the Boats Selections. Genre: Book of poetry by Women of Color. Payment: $1500 + Publication. Deadline: August 1, 2025.


Dark Waters. Genre: Dark fiction up to 7,000 words. See theme. Payment: Up to $25. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Fearmoji: Queer Emoji Horror. Genre: Adult queer horror. Word Count: 4000–7500. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Burial Books: Science Fiction Short Stories. Genre: Science fiction short stories between 2000 and 8,000 words in length. Payment: $10. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Burial Books: Sword and Sorcery Short Stories. Genre: Sword and sorcery fantasy short stories between 2000 and 8,000 words in length. Payment: $10. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Howdy Dude. Genre: Western stories between 2,000 and 8,000 words. Payment: $10. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror: short stories and poems - see themes. Payment: Fiction, 1.5 cents/word. Poetry, $10. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Saddlebag Dispatches. Genre: Short stories, poetry, and non-fiction articles about the West. Payment: $10 - $20. Deadline: August 1, 2025.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: August 2, 2025. Opens August 1.


Splinter. Restrictions: Open to First Nations people. Genre: Fiction, poetry, poetry collections, profiles, CNF, etc. "We’re interested in the fractures and the fight, the moments of stillness, the ridiculous. What does it mean to carry culture, to carry knowledge in a world that wants us to forget? What does survival feel like today — and what does joy look like in the cracks?" Payment: $250 - $900. Deadline: August 3, 2025.

Witch House. Genre: Cosmic horror. Payment: $10. Deadline: August 3, 2025.

The Suburban Review. Genre: Prose, art, poetry. See theme. Payment: $300 - $500. Deadline: August 3, 2025.

Stone's Throw. Genre: Noir, dark fiction, crime short stories. Length: between 1,000 and 2,000 words. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: August 4, 2025. Note: This is a monthly call.

Affirm Press. Restrictions: Open to Australians only. Genre: All literary and genre fiction. For non-fiction, they are interested in most subjects that have a connection to Australia. authors or authors based in Australia, and only manuscripts that haven’t been previously published. They only accept submissions on the first Monday of each month. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 4, 2025.


Abyss and Apex. Genre: Speculative fiction. No horror. Payment: USD $.08/word (eight cents a word) up to 1,000 words, and a flat payment of $80.00 for longer stories. Deadline: August 7, 2025.

Old Moon. Genre: Weird sword-and-sorcery. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: August 7, 2025.

For What It's Worth. Genre: Creative nonfiction that has some pop-cultural "thing" at their center and combine elements of memoir and cultural criticism. Length: 25-30K words. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 9, 2025.


Vellum Mortis. Genre: Horror. Length: 1000 words max. See theme. Payment: $5. Deadline: August 10, 2025.

Big Score Lit. Genre: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction, CNF. Payment: $400 per accepted prose piece; $100 per accepted poem; up to $800 for critical essays (pitch first).  Deadline: August 10, 2025, or until they reach 200 submissions.

Luna Station Quarterly. Restrictions: Open to women writers only. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $10. Deadline: August 15, 2025. 

Subterrain. Genre: Creative nonfiction, commentary, fiction and poetry. See theme. Payment: Poetry: $50 per poem; Prose: $.10 per word (to a maximum of $500). Deadline: August 15, 2025. Fee if submitted online. No fee if submitted by mail. Journal is located in Canada.


Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: August 15, 2025. 

Crimson Quill Quarterly. Genre: Dark fantasy, sword & sorcery, and ​grimdark ​subgenres of fantasy. Payment: $35. Deadline: August 15, 2025.

Mmemory Anthology. Genre: Speculative stories of memory manipulation. Length: Up to 2000 words. Payment: $0.08/word. Deadline: August 15, 2025.

The Lorelei Signal. Genre: Fantasy short stories, flash fiction, and poetry with strong female characters. Payment: $15 for short stories, $5 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces, $5 for reprints. Deadline: August 15, 2025. Accepts reprints.

Lonely Cryptid: Trans/Port: Trans Speculative Fiction for a Queer Future. Genre: Speculative fiction. "The title of this anthology is intentionally open to interpretation. Give us trans like transporting, transforming, translating, transmitting, transcendental, transistor (radio? Sure!), and of course transgender! Give us port like any port in a storm, jacking in, porting software, and like we’ve opened a portal to another (better?) world!" Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: August 1 - August 15, 2025 priority window for folks historically marginalized or excluded from the publishing world due to race, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, class, or other structural inequity.


Tales from the Moonlit Path. Genre: Dark, eerie speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: $10 for fiction. Deadline: August 20, 2025.

The Fairy Tale Magazine. Genre: Fairy-tale inspired stories/poems. See theme. Payment: $25. Deadline: August 21, 2025.

Carte Blanche (Canada). Genre: Poetry, fiction, CNF, translations. comics, photography. Payment: $75 CAD. Deadline: August 21, 2025.

The Deadlands. Genre: Fiction. "The Deadlands exists in liminal spaces between life, death, and elsewhere. We are looking for fiction that concerns itself with death—but also everything death may involve." Payment: 10 cents/word for fiction. Deadline: August 21, 2025. Accepts reprints. 

Farmer-ish. Genre: Nonfiction, CNF, poetry related to farming (including recipes). Payment: $25 for print journal. Deadline: August 22, 2025. See themes.

Flame Tree: Odysseus. Genre: Speculative fiction. "Stories that echo Odysseus' trials: voyages of wit, endurance, longing, and the winding path home." Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: August 24, 2025.

Flame Tree: The Valkyries. Genre: Speculative fiction. "This submission theme offers an exciting opportunity to explore and expand on existing stories associated with Valkyries (not simply retell classic tales) or imagine completely new names and narratives for those who have never seen the limelight.." Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: August 24, 2025.

Flame Tree: Dreams Divine and Of Swords & Roses. Genre: Romantic Fantasy. Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: August 24, 2025.

Griffith Review. Genre: Fiction and nonfiction. Theme: On the Money. Payment: AUD$0.75 per word. Deadline: August 24, 2025.

Search for the Any Key. Genre: Action/adventure, but can be placed in any time period, on other planets or any type of setting. All genres accepted and may contain humor, drama, romance, etc. Diverse characters welcome, human or otherwise. Payment: $15 plus royalties. Deadline: August 29, 2025.

Augur Press. Genre: Speculative literature that breaks down walls between literary and sci-fi/fantasy spaces. We seek work across genres: poignant dark fantasy, crisp science fiction, lush secondary world adventures, contemporary gothic, quiet myth-building, and dreamy realism. Length: Novellas and novelettes. Payment: Advance and royalties. Deadline: August 30, 2025.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Funny stories. Genre: Nonfiction. We are looking for stories about something that happened to you in your life - in your relationship with a partner or spouse, a parent or child, a family member or friend, at work or at home that made you and the people around you laugh out loud. Did you mean for it to be funny? Payment: $200. Deadline: August 30, 2025.

Gwyllion. Restrictions: Writers living in Wales and writers who identify (fully, in part, or by ancestry) as Welsh. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Welsh themes. Payment: £15 per accepted story or poem. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Midnight and Indigo. Genre: Speculative Fiction. Payment: 7 cents/word. Deadline: August 31, 2025.


Sundress. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscripts. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 31, 2025. Submission fee is waived for all BIPOC writers.
 
Orion's Belt. Genre: Speculative fiction, poetry, art. Length: 1200 words max. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Time After Time. Genre: Mystery short stories set in specific historical eras. Payment: $25. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Hellbound Books: Road Trip Terror. Genre: HellBound Books is seeking short horror stories for an anthology on the theme of bad trips. Payment: $15. Deadline: Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Broken Sleep Books. Genre: Non-fiction prose pamphets (up to 150 pages). Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Dragon Soul Press: Poisons and Potions. Genre: All horror stories are welcome. All genres accepted. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Haven Speculative. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 8¢ per word for fiction and $20 for poetry. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Nashville Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, art, and nonfiction. Payment: $25 per poem & song selection; $100 per selection for all other categories, including featured artwork. Translators receive $25 per poem & $100 for prose selections. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Cast of Wonders. Restrictions: Open to young authors. Genre: YA Speculative fiction. Podcast. See themes. Payment: $.08/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words. For reprints, a $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, and a $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

After Happy Hour. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, comics. Payment: $2.50 per printed page, with a minimum of $15 and a maximum of $50, on publication ($25 for the cover artist). Deadline: August 31, 2025. Free submissions are capped at 300, so submit early.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Bannister Press: Other Anthology series. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $0.08 CAD per word. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Dark Holme. Genre: Genre: Horror—specifically psychological, supernatural, speculative, or cosmic horror with emotional or philosophical undercurrents.​ Length: 30,000 to 50,000 words.​ See theme. Payment: £100.00. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Heartlines Spec. Restrictions: "Since Heartlines Spec is primarily a Canadian magazine, we're looking to feature writers identifying as being from Canada/Turtle Island. This includes expats, new immigrants, and people who refuse/resist Canadian Identity. Our goal for each issue is to publish at least 50% Canadian content." Genre: Short fiction and poetry focused on long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial. "We want stories and poetry with strong, confident relationships amid all the sci-fi/fantasy. We are especially interested in stories featuring queer platonic relationships, ace/aro love stories, and polycules." Payment: $0.08 CAD per word for short fiction and $80 CAD flat for poetry. Deadline: Early submission period for equity-deserving groups August 24-31.

Split Lip Magazine. Genre: Fiction (flash and short stories), memoirs, and poetry. with a pop-culture twist. Payment: $75 for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, and art, $50 for interviews/reviews, and $25 for mini-reviews web issues. Deadline: August 31, 2025. Closes when they reach capacity, so submit early.

Watertower Hill Publishing accepts full-length manuscripts in the following genres:Adult FictionAdult MemoirAdult Non-Fiction (including True Crime)HorrorChristian Fiction/Non-FictionAdult Fantasy & Sci-FiNew Adult FictionNew Adult Fantasy & Sci-FiRomance (non-erotica)PoetryYA Fantasy and Sci-FiMiddle Grade Children'sNovella CollectionsShort Story and Anthological Collections (Must adhere to editing requirements)
See submission details HERE. Deadline: August 31, 2025.

AND A FEW MORE...

IHRAM Publishes. Genre: Poetry, fiction, esssays, art. Theme: Enduring Voices: Life with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses. Payment: $50 for writing, $25 for art. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Teach. Write. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction, poetry, CNF. "I prefer writing that is either written by composition teachers and writing students or about teaching and learning." Payment: $15. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Ricochet Editions. Genre: Hybrid/Experimental work between 40 and 200 pages. "We are looking for purposeful experimentation with language and form that challenges or plays with convention." Payment: $500 and 50 copies of the perfect-bound book. Deadline: September 1, 2025. No submission fee for POC and Indigenous writers and writers facing financial hardship.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: September 1, 2025. See themes.

Variety Pack. Genre: Fiction, flash fiction, poetry, CNF, art. Payment: $10 for poetry and visual art; $20 for prose. Deadline: Opens  September 1, 2025.

Red Wolf Editions. Genre: Poems on theme: “Recovering Greenness.” Payment: Royalties? Deadline: September 1, 2025. (?)

Toronto Journal. Genre: Short stories from anywhere in the world. No word limit. "We will also consider non-fiction pieces that are either set locally or explore some local history (Toronto, GTA, and surrounding)." Payment: $50 CAD per piece. All published writers will also receive two printed copies of the issue in which they appear. Deadline: September 1, 2025.

Eva Oakes Here are twelve new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.

All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.
Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 

NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.
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Eva Oakes of Transatlantic Literary Agency

Originally from Colorado, Eva earned her BA from McGill University and now resides in Toronto. Eva has been with the Transatlantic Agency for nearly three years, first as an Editorial and Agent Assistant to Samantha Haywood, President & Literary Agent, and as an Associate Agent since 2024.

What she is seeking: Eva is building a list that includes a wide range of upmarket and literary fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction. She doesn’t represent YA, Middle-Grade or Children’s books.

How to submit: Queries can be sent to eva@transatlanticagency.com, and please put “Query: …” in the subject line. Authors are encouraged to email a cover letter with a sample/excerpt of the book in question. Please submit a maximum of 20 pages. Embed the sample/excerpt into the email after the cover letter.

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GiannaMarie Dobson of Neighborhood Literary

GiannaMarie Dobson (she/her) is a neurodivergent and disabled associate agent excited to build a list prioritizing disabled voices. 

She has interned and freelanced in publishing since 2021 and has sensitivity read manuscripts for publishers such as Ballantine Books at PRH, PRH UK, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Andrews McMeel, Faber Children's, and Image Comics. 

What she is seeking: She is currently looking for MG and YA fiction as well as adult SFF. I am prioritizing stories written by disabled authors or featuring disabled characters. She has a significant interest in queer stories, and stories by and about people who experience other marginalizations.

How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.
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Tianna Kelly of Neighborhood Literary

With over three years of experience in publishing marketing, Tianna Kelly brings a sharp eye for positioning, audience, and platform development to every project.

What she is seeking. Tianna is building a list that reflects her love of dark romance, sharp romantic comedies, genre-bending romantasy, and bold speculative fiction.

She’s especially drawn to Queer and own voices, stories with complex emotions, unforgettable relationships, and high-stakes worldbuilding—and she’s always looking for projects that blur the line between love and disaster (in the best way).

How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE. 


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Des Salazar of Metamorphosis Literary Agency

A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Des Salazar holds an MFA in Fiction having completed a thesis containing translations of stories and poems from an archived journal and reflection essays. Des has a passion for writing and working with other writers. All it took was a Sandra Bullock movie to make them want to read stories, and later, they realized that their nerdy editing could get them there (just not like Sandra Bullock level of editor). Their experience includes associate editing at Allium Literary Journal and their current position as a fiction editor at MASKS Literary Magazine.

What they are seeking: RomanceFantasyHorrorLGBTQ+LiteraryThrillerMysteryNew AdultScience FictionYoung AdultHow to submit: Use her querymanager HERE. Open July and January.

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Tommy Dean of Rosecliff Literary


An award-winning writer and editor, Tommy Dean is the editor of Fractured Lit and Uncharted Magazine and the author of multiple flash fiction collections. His work has been recognized in Best Microfiction, Best Small Fiction, and The Lascaux Prize. With years of experience spotting standout stories, refining them, and championing their success, he brings a keen editorial eye and a deep understanding of what makes fiction compelling.

As an agent, Tommy is focused on building careers, amplifying unforgettable voices, and getting page-turning stories into the right hands.

What he is seeking: Tommy Dean specializes in mystery, suspense, thrillers, crime fiction, and upmarket fiction with a sharp edge. He is drawn to high-stakes narratives, complex characters, and stories that refuse to be put down.

Crime novels with anti-hero main characters will always get him, as will mystery novels that keep him guessing. He’s always interested in clear stakes, surprise endings, and stories that make him forget the outside world. Plus points for supercharged sensory experiences, characters yearning to understand their pasts and find a glimmer of hope. Give him your characters with secrets, past loves, past crimes, and past mistakes that lead to unique stories.

How to submit: Uses his querytracker form HERE.

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Jael Morrill of Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency

Jael Morrill joined The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in July 2025 after a year-long internship with the agency. She graduated from Pikes Peak State College in 2021 with a degree in history. Before interning with the agency, she had previously worked as a research assistant for a historian.
When not reading, she can be found drawing, painting, tangled up in all manner of fiber and textile art projects, and working on writing stories with her spouse. 

What she is seeking: Jael represents adult and young adult fiction and nonfiction. 

NONFICTION: I would love to see books that focus on rarely told history, have a focus on cultural anthropology, or have to do with the arts. Memoirs from marginalized voices are especially welcome. Topics covering disability, queer experiences, and those hurt by fundamentalist movements are especially close to my heart, though I always welcome learning something new.

ADULT AND YOUNG-ADULT FICTION: I am eager to represent richly immersive science fiction and fantasy. I love seeing fresh takes on noir thrillers, horror with hope at the core of the story, and campy mysteries— especially if they contain speculative elements. Stories that contain queer characters, whimsical world-building, and witty but grounded dialogue are often my favorite things to read. 

NOT FOR ME: Please do not send me children's lit or genre romance (romantic elements within the story are fine!).

How to submit: Please direct queries to queryjmorrill@gmail.com

Nonfiction: please send me your query, a 1-2 page synopsis, table of contents, and sample chapter. For history, please additionally send me a sample bibliography.

Fiction: please send me your query, a 1-2 page synopsis, and the first 25 pages of your project.

I endeavor to respond to queries within 6 weeks.

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Rhian MacGillivray of Birch Literary


Before joining Birch Literary, Rhian worked for more than a decade as a Spanish-English translator, editor, and proofreader.

What she is seeking: Rhian is looking for adult commercial or upmarket fiction that can be classed as women’s, book club, historical, romance, or fantasy or romantasy fiction. Ultimately, she wants fiction that will make her feel something, keep her up late at night, and have her still thinking about it months down the line. She's a sucker for coming-of-age stories and those told with multiple POVs, whatever the genre.

Women’s fiction: strong female characters facing difficult choices and complex relationships, like Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, or anything in the vein of Taylor Jenkins Reid or Kristin Hannah.

Book club fiction: emotional depth and human connections, or ones that will open up a new world to her, like video games in Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, and hockey culture in Beartown by Fredrik Backman, while exploring different themes.

Historical fiction: fiction that's well-researched and that immerses the reader in another time and place. If it’s got a bit of romance thrown in, all the better, like the incredible In Memoriam by Alice Winn.

Romance: strong characters, big emotions, complicated relationships, and more. Not a good fit for the fake dating trope. Spice is okay, but it shouldn’t feel gratuitous.

Fantasy/romantasy: romantic fantasy where the romance is not necessarily front and center, but rather the plot shines and the romance is secondary. Anything that involves high stakes, political intrigue and dynamics, scheming, and unlikely heroes, such as Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley.

Rhian is not seeking any YA, children’s fiction, or non-fiction books at this time.

How to submit: Please send a short query letter along with the first three chapters or 10,000 words of your manuscript, and a 1-2 page synopsis, all in one Word document to rhian@birchliterary.com.

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Lauren Khan of FinePrint Literary

Lauren Khan joined FinePrint Literary in 2025 as an Associate Agent following an internship at Triada US Literary Agency. She first entered the publishing world as an author. Prior to transitioning to agenting, she worked for over seven years as a corporate lawyer in New York City. Lauren brings both editorial and transactional expertise to her clients.

Lauren lives with her family in her small beach hometown in Florida. She wrote her first novel while pregnant with her son and began agenting while pregnant with her daughter. A graduate of Duke University and Fordham University School of Law, she loves podcasts, long walks with her dog, and all things Nora Ephron. As a former theatre kid, Lauren is a lifelong champion of storytelling, subjecting her loved ones to her songs, stories, and plays from the moment she could talk.
​
What she is seeking: An avid reader across genres, Lauren is particularly interested in adult and YA commercial fiction, especially women’s fiction, romance, mysteries, and thrillers, as well as select non-fiction titles. She is an editorial agent with a strong interest in developing fulfilling and long-lasting careers for her authors.


How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.

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Amanda Elliott of Movable Type Management

Due to her lifelong desire to connect with people through their art, Amanda Elliott went back to school to obtain her MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Publishing from Rosemont College. Previously, she interned at Grosvenor Literary Agency and worked as a developmental editor, where she committed herself to helping authors achieve their most effective and authentic writing. Before making the transition to publishing, Amanda was a social worker for nearly a decade, where she developed an ear for understanding the diverse yet universal stories we all carry with us. She has worked as a foster care social worker and most recently as a homelessness advocate, and is mom to one precocious, dinosaur-loving three-year-old.

What she is seeking: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult.High-concept dystopian with a great hook and voiceCharacter driven cozy romantasyFantasies that feel fun, fresh and light, but don’t shy away from serious themesAnything with Christmassy magicObsessive-compulsive representationBooks that mix puzzles and riddles with magicMagical settings as charactersUnique boarding schools for young adult readersHow to submit: Submissions should be emailed to aelliott@movabletm.com. Please email your query and first three chapters.

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Ginger Hutchinson of Movable Type Management

After graduating with a degree in Film Studies, Ginger Hutchinson went on to become Wesleyan University’s Kim Frank Fellow of Creative Writing, building upon years of experience as an editor in publication, workshop and teaching environments. As an educator, most recently with the Free Library of Philadelphia, Ginger has been committed to nurturing creativity and embracing the power of storytelling to connect each of us with a sense of purpose, community and appreciation of one another’s unique way of navigating the world. Ginger grew up in rural Florida amidst a large, rambunctious family and massive system of natural springs; all its pre-historic creatures and people who often seem odd to outsiders are regular characters in the story she carries through life.

What she is seeking: Fiction: Bookclub, Commercial, Crime, Domestic Thriller, Family Saga, Historical, Horror, LGBTQ, Literary, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Speculative, Thriller, Women’s Fiction. Non-Fiction: Fashion, History, LGBTQ, Pop Culture, Psychology, Science, Self-help, True Crime

How to submit: Please send a query letter, first chapter, comparable titles and a short bio to ghutchinson@movabletm.com.

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Milan Wilson-Robinson of Red Sofa Literary

Milan Wilson-Robinson’s career in the book industry spans bookselling, event coordinating, and publishing. Prior to joining Red Sofa Literary, she served as Marketing and Publicity Associate at Milkweed Editions. She studied literature at the University of London - City Campus, and holds a BA in English and Music minor from Saint Catherine University.


What she is seeking: Fiction: marginalized voices, unreliable and morally ambiguous characters, dark comedy, writing that shifts plot and characters in tandem when it serves the story

Non-Fiction: Cooking and Baking, Food/Wine writing, music, art, and performance arts, anything about Amrita Sher-Gil, Francesca Woodman, or Dorothy Dandridge, film analysis, memoirs about artists, travel writing (especially from a BIPOC lense).

Writers I enjoy: Zadie Smith, Kiley Reid, Ottessa Moshfegh, Melissa Broder, Raven Leilani, Issa Rae, Michaela Coel, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Donald Glover, Jordan Peele, Candice Carty-Williams, Julie Powell, Hanif Abdurraqib, Julie Powell, Samantha Irby, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Toni Morrison, Danez Smith, Sterlin Harjo, and Quinta Brunson.

How to submit: Send your query to milan [at] redsofaliterary [dot] com

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Aashna Avachat of Neighborhood Literary

Aashna Avachat is an author of YA books and has interned and assisted at various agencies. Previously, she was an assistant at Andrea Brown Literary Agency for over three years.

What she is seeking: She is currently building a list focused on authors of color and is looking for kidlit, commercial adult fiction, select non-fiction, and illustrators.


How to submit: Use her querymanager form HERE.