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.

  • For its blog, Ploughshares is “currently accepting pitches for critical essays, personal essays, blended longform essays, interviews, and book reviews. Please review the guidelines here: https://pshr.us/2jvsDIN.” (Pay rates begin at $35 or $55; book reviews appear to pay a flat $25 for 800 words.)
  • From Yi Shun Lai: “Folks! I’m ISO emerging marginalized writers for future issues of Reads&Eats, my illustrated newsletter about food….Pay is $100+subscrip to publication.”
  • Submissions close at matchbook on December 8. The publication looks “for works of short fiction and indeterminate prose. Like our name suggests, we are interested in literary art that manages brevity without sacrificing fullness. We like narrative, but we also like work that uses form to express something about the time in which we live. We are most interested in works fewer than 1,000 words, but we will publish works with higher word counts if they are exceptional.” Pays: $20.
  • From Huellas: “We are still accepting pitches for our second issue until December 15th. Are you a Latinx author with a great idea for a non-fiction piece? Pitches can be made in Spanish or English.” Pays: “250 USD per piece.”
  • This year’s Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award, which confers $1,000 and an invitation to Washburn University’s Mabee Library in 2021 for a reading and presentation ceremony, “is for Best Work of Literary Nonfiction, and will be judged by Louise Krug.” Nominations can come from publishers, authors, or anyone interested in seeing a book considered. To be eligible, “author must establish a connection to Kansas by birth, education, employment, residence or other significant claim.” The book “must have an original publication date (copyright notice) within three calendar years immediately preceding the year of the competition deadline. For example, to be eligible for the 2021 Literary Nonfiction deadline, the nominee’s book must have a publication date of 2018, 2019 or 2020.” Deadline: December 15.
  • Attention, UK writers: “Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre is inviting established writers to apply for the Jessie Kesson Fellowship in 2021. This award was established in 2009 by Moniack Mhor to honour Jessie Kesson’s inspirational life and work. The successful candidate will receive time and space to develop their work, as well as opportunities to expand their practice. This includes a stipend of £350 per week, plus accommodation” (the residency is evidently to take place from Sunday 14 March to Sunday 4 April, 2021). Deadline: 5pm on Wednesday 16 December, 2020.
  • “CBC Montreal and the Quebec Writers’ Federation are now taking submissions for the 2021 Digital Writers-in-Residence program. This opportunity is open to all residents of Quebec. We are looking for a broad range of perspectives, including those from new voices. We will be selecting three writers with diverse backgrounds and experiences. If you have a unique point of view and a fresh way of presenting it, we invite you to apply. You do not have to be a published writer.” Application requires “a 600 word non-fiction personal essay (in English) based on the theme of ‘light and dark.'” Essays must be previously unpublished.” Award includes $250 and other benefits. Deadline: December 22.
  • “Quill & Quire is currently looking to fill the freelance part-time position of Books for Young People editor. This is an ideal position for a content-creation specialist with good editing and writing skills looking to contribute to a small team. The successful applicant will have passion for Canadian children’s literature, and be energized by the evolving opportunities and storytelling potential of print and online journalism. They will be responsible for the kids’ book review section for 10 print issues a year as well as contributing related news stories for quillandquire.com. The position will commence with working remotely from home until normal operations at our Toronto office can resume safely. Outside of production demands (approximately two weeks on a six-week cycle), hours are flexible. Approximately 19 hours a week for 10 issues annually, $2,000 per issue.” Act fast if this one interests you: Applications close December 10. (Thanks to Sonia Weiser for the tip about this one.)
  • Youth Communication (YC), which “helps teens write stories about important personal and social issues. is seeking a Permanent Part-Time Editor.” Note: “Our office is located in midtown Manhattan but until further notice, we are working remotely.” 
  • Aspen Words’s Poetry Project has issued a call for teaching artists. “This is a limited-basis contract position with no benefits. Teaching artist honorarium is $3,000-$5,000, depending on the number of workshops scheduled, with no more than 50 workshops over 5 months.”
  • “The University of Montana Environmental Studies Program (EVST) invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in environmental writing to commence autumn, 2021.” Qualifications include “demonstrated ability to mentor students with an interest in creative, nonfiction environmental writing.”
  • “The Department of English at the University of Central Oklahoma seeks to appoint a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor of English with specialization in Creative Writing (Poetry). The department seeks a poet whose work significantly engages with issues of race/ethnicity, identity, and culture and who has a strong commitment to antiracist and social justice pedagogy.” 
  • “The Cedarville University Department of English, Literature, and Modern Languages invites applications for a tenure-track eligible Assistant Professor faculty position with a specialization in English, Composition, and/or Rhetoric or Creative Writing for the 2021-22 academic year. Course load will include courses in Creative Writing, Fiction and Poetry, as well as first-year composition, writing studio, and general education literature.”
  • “The Department of English at Old Dominion University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Creative Writing/Nonfiction, with an expected start date of July 25, 2021.” 
on a tabletop: a keyboard, a mug of coffee, and a wallet with cash, plus a text label announcing Markets and Jobs for Writers

2 thoughts on “Markets and Jobs for Writers

  1. Alexa says:

    This one appears to be closed:

    Aspen Words’s Poetry Project has issued a call for teaching artists. “This is a limited-basis contract position with no benefits. Teaching artist honorarium is $3,000-$5,000, depending on the number of workshops scheduled, with no more than 50 workshops over 5 months. “

    1. Erika Dreifus says:

      Thanks for the update.

Comments are closed.