Markets and Jobs for Writers

Background of a keyboard, mug of coffee, and wallet on a tabletop; text label indicating "Markets and Jobs for Writers: No fees to submit work/apply. Paying gigs only."

Each week in this space, Practicing Writing shares no-fee, paying markets for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction: competitions, contests, and calls for submissions. These weekly posts complement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter, where you’ll always find more listings, none of them limiting eligibility to residents of a single municipality, state, or province. (But this blog does share those more localized opportunities, including jobs.)

As always, if you’d like to share a specific opportunity listed here, please credit the blog for the find. Thanks for respecting the time and effort that I put into researching, curating, and posting this information! I do notice, and I appreciate the courtesy.

  • ICYMI: Friday’s Jewish Literary Links post on the My Machberet blog included a thread from Rebecca Long that opens as follows: “I’m the Digital Content Editor at @jwaonline. Our mission is to amplify the voices of Jewish women, and I want to do a better job of uplifting the voices of Jewish women of color, now and always. We accept opinion pieces, reviews, essays, etc. & pay all of our writers.” The post also cited a thread started by Laura E. Adkins, Opinion Editor for JTA: “If you’re a Jew of color with a first person piece on our present moment, or a person of color with a message you’d like to share with the Jewish community, my inbox is open. We don’t pay a lot, state of the industry being what it is, but we certainly do pay.”
  • The Five Cowries Initiative, “with the support of the U.S. Consulate General, Lagos and Goethe-Institut Nigeria,” is inviting a U.S.-based poet “to work with us remotely between July–September 2020” as a Poet-in-Residence. “We are looking for someone with a strong vision and proven interest in Africa.” Compensation: “The Poet-In-Residence will receive an award of $2,000 (incl. all taxes) plus full credit for their work.” Note: “We welcome applications from poets at any stage in their career, but especially keen to support early and mid-career poets.” Application deadline: June 14, 2020.
  • For a special climate-themed issue of The Bare Life Review, editors are open for submissions “not only from immigrants and asylum-seekers, but also from non-immigrant artists who have experienced displacement as a result of climate disaster.” They’ll consider fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and will pay $750 for “full-length prose” and $300 for poems and “shorter prose.” Submissions, via Submittable, end June 15.
  • England-based writers: GRAIN is offering two bursaries (£250 each) for text projects that have “a photographic theme” in keeping with a current initiative that is “aimed at exploring, responding to and documenting the current historical and significant time we are experiencing.” Apply by June 15.
  • “The North Carolina Humanities Council invites original, unpublished entries of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for the Linda Flowers Literary Award. The award is given to exceptional North Carolina authors whose work celebrates the North Carolina experience and conveys excellence in writing. The Linda Flowers Literary Award was inaugurated in 2001 in memory of former Council Trustee Linda Flowers (1944-2000) who believed that the humanities are ‘equipment for living.'” The award includes “a cash prize of $1,500 and a stipend for a writer’s residency at Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines, North Carolina.” Deadline: June 20, 2020.
  • Split Lip magazine welcomes reviews and interviews. Per this Twitter thread, pay is $25 (that information was not yet posted on the website when I last checked—but do be sure to check the website because there’s important info there about what they are and are not looking for).
  • Remember: The month is still relatively young, and most of the opportunities listed in the latest issue of The Practicing Writer remain open for entries/submissions.
  • “California Poets in the Schools (CalPoets) seeks a virtual tech moderator for a virtual poetry event occurring late June 2020, and spanning three days. Candidates should have experience moderating large zoom meetings over 100 people. We especially encourage individuals from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds to get involved.”
  • In Philadelphia, Mighty Writers is advertising for a Bilingual Program Manager (Spanish/English). “This is a part-time position, 20-29 hours/week” with an indicated salary range of $19,000-$35,000.
  • “Based in South Carolina, The Watering Hole is a young poetry nonprofit (since 2013) that builds poetry education resources. Our goal is to equalize inequalities related to literary arts education and resources, with a particular focus on Southern writers and readers of color.” They’re seeking a (remote) Grant Writer. Pays: “Wages will be hourly, plus commissions based on each grant won. The starting rates are commensurate with experience. The time commitment needed will depend for example on upcoming deadlines. We expect it to average 5 to 20 hours per week.”
  • In Seattle, Shelf Awareness, “publisher of two much beloved book-related online newsletters, is seeking a Publishing Assistant. This is a great opportunity for a highly motivated, detail-oriented person to join a team that is passionate about independent bookselling, the publishing industry and who knows books are a lifestyle, not a pastime, and on occasion a bloodsport.” Note: “This is a full-time position in our downtown Seattle office (no relocation support). Compensation will be commensurate with experience. Free books, however, will be unlimited.”
  • Based in Minneapolis, The Loft Literary Center welcomes proposals for fall courses (for adults) until June 22. NB: All fall classes will be online.
  • At the University of North Carolina Wilmington, “the Department of Creative Writing is seeking a Visiting Associate Professor specializing in Creative Nonfiction for a three year appointment beginning in the academic year 2020-21. Responsibilities will include teaching undergraduate and graduate-level courses in Creative Nonfiction and serving as reader on a limited number of MFA thesis committees, as well as university and/or department committees.”
on a tabletop: a keyboard, a mug of coffee, and a wallet with cash, plus a text label announcing Markets and Jobs for Writers