As promised two weeks ago, I’ve compiled what I am calling here a guide to journals and magazines that publish flash nonfiction/micro-essays.
Before I present the list, I need to issue a few clarifications and caveats. First, this list by no means includes *every* journal or magazine that might publish your piece of flash nonfiction. For the most part, I’ve omitted publications that specify only that submitted essays should run “no longer than” or “up to” 5,000 or 8,000 words. It’s entirely possible that the editors of these publications will welcome something more along the lines of 500 or 800 words. But unless I’ve discerned a *specific* editorial interest in shorter-form nonfiction–whether through my own research into guidelines and past issues or through sources listed at the end of the post–I haven’t included them here.
I’ve also had to break my usual blog-and-newsletter-rule about limiting listings to paying journals only (and only publications that don’t require reading fees). But I’ve done my best to signal to you which journals state outright on their sites that they’ll pay for your work–look for the $–and which ones are equally upfront about charging fees.
If you know of a journal or magazine that’s specifically interested in flash nonfiction and micro-essays that should be added to the list, please share your knowledge (bonus points for links, too) in comments. Thank you!
Without further ado…
- 5X5
- 20X20
- 100 Word Story
- 400 Words (“short-short memoir for a busy world”)
- 751 Magazine (“We are especially interested in work that is grounded in place & offers new methods of interacting with our surroundings.”)
- Alimentum: The Literature of Food (“We are currently seeking short form fiction and nonfiction for our new online journal.”)
- American Journal of Nursing “Reflections” section ($; “a forum for previously unpublished personal essays exploring any aspect of nursing, health, or health care. While most are insightful first-person accounts of memorable nursing experiences, we don’t restrict the form or content.”)
- Baltimore Review
- Blip
- The Boiler Journal (includes a “500 Word Challenge” feature for short memoir & fiction)
- Brevity ($; charges reading fee)
- Catholic Digest “Last Word” essays ($; “Back page, personal, inspirational, reflective essay where we feature high quality writing from a variety of Catholic writers. Approximately 550-700 words.”)
- The Christian Science Monitor’s “Home Forum” section ($)
- The Collagist
- Defunct (“a literary repository for the ages”; charges reading fee)
- Diagram
- flashquake
- Fringe
- Hippocampus
- (The) Journal of Compressed Creative Arts ($)
- Marco Polo Arts Magazine (scroll down for special call through December 2012)
- Mslexia ($; “for women who write”)
- Postcard Press
- Sweet
- The Sun’s “Readers Write” section
- TriQuarterly Online ($; “We also welcome short-short prose pieces.”)
- Underwired Magazine ($; “Essays should somehow relate to the chosen theme for the month and be on topics of interest to women.”)
Sources/Further Resources
- “Flash Fiction: A List of Resources” (The Review Review–includes several publications that also publish flash nonfiction)
- FlashFictionFlash (“a free newsletter devoted to flash literature 1,500 words or fewer”)
- “Flash Nonfiction: An Interview with Dinty Moore” (River Teeth blog)
- Literary Magazines and Journals Database (from Poets & Writers; filter by “creative nonfiction”)
- Coming soon: Duotrope recently announced that it will be adding CNF listings (and presumably search functionality) to its site.
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Thank you for this – great resource, and right at the time I was thinking about this very topic!
I’ve had flash nonfiction pieces published online with PANK and in print with Gargoyle.
There’s also the NY Times “Modern Love” column.
This is a great resource for Flash enthusiasts. Thanks for thinking of us at Flashquake. We’d love love love to be a paying market again, but for now, we issue a beautiful, multi-media PDF of the issue to all contributors.
Erika,
Thanks so much for this! I’ll add a few recommendations as well. The Boston Globe’s Perspective column and its Couplings space are both good venues to consider for creative nonfiction.
The Perspective word limit is typically 700-750 words. They take the piece based on a short pitch that typically includes the suggested top of the story. The Perspective space often wants something connected to a current event or at least a time hook. My “Jewish Mom’s Dilemma” piece worked simply because it had the Hanukkah/Christmas hook. It pays roughly $1/word. Coupling – very competitive like Modern Love – has a similar word length restriction, and as the title suggests, it must have to do with relationships. Coupling’s editor typically wants to see the whole piece before considering it. (Neither of these editors would use the term “flash non-fiction,” but the word lengths fit the bill.)
Linda
Ps. And of course, there’s always the super-competitive New York Times Lives column to consider as well. (850 words)
@Peggy: So glad–thank you for the comment.
@Cindy: Thanks for chiming in as an editor.
@Irene & @Linda: Thank you both for sharing your experiences and expertise. I’m going to revisit the opportunities you’ve mentioned, and if I can find links to guidelines and info about payment online, I’ll add them to the list (some I’d chosen not to link to because I didn’t immediately find that info available). (Is it my imagination, or has the Globe become increasingly possessive of its behind-the-paywall content? I miss it! Wish I could get credit for years of subscribing in the past!) In the meantime, I’m very glad that you have mentioned the additional venues in these comments for others to look into as they choose. Thank you again.
Erika,
Thanks for listing all the places to submit micro-essays. A friend and I just started a little online journal called ShortStoryNation.com. We accept all genres, but the stories need to be under 300 words.
Thanks again,
DTW
Thanks for the info, DTW, and good luck with the journal.
This is great. Thanks. BTW I had a piece of flash non fiction published in a journal called longshortstory.com. Also literarymama occassionally takes short pieces. Check them out too.
Carol, do you have a link to your piece on “longshortstory.com”? I can’t seem to find the site, your specifying “longshortstory.com” notwithstanding.
Hi, Erika. Thank you, this is a handy list. Prime Number Magazine is also looking for flash nonfiction. In our updates between quarterly issues we publish flash fiction and non-fiction as well as shorter poems. Submission guidelines here: http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Submit.html