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.

  • Attention, Pacific Northwest (US) Puget Sound area poets: “City of Edmonds Arts Commission seeks submissions for short poems to be displayed in temporary outdoor poetry installations at two City locations. The goal is to surprise and delight the public with thoughtful short pieces of poetry, creating a literary link that connects with a sense of place of our area….Poetry topics might reference, but are not restricted to, connections to environment, habitat, nature, sustainability, history, or other cultural aspects of our Puget Sound community. Content must be deemed appropriate for diverse audiences and for public display.” Payment: “Poems selected for display will be awarded a $100 honorarium. Each poet may only receive one award.” Deadline: February 24.
  • This call for submissions from Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) and Texas Tech University Press remains open until February 28. “For this reading cycle, we will be reviewing poetry in English, from the Vietnamese-American and broader Southeast Asian community.” (Found this one via Galleyway; confirmed with the organizers that a standard book contract, with royalties, will be offered.)
  • “The annual NC State Poetry Contest is a free literary competition open to all North Carolina residents (including out-of-state and international students who are enrolled in North Carolina universities). It remains one of the largest free-to-enter poetry contests in the South. This year’s guest judge is Michael Prior. The grand prize winner will receive $500, and NC State University undergraduate students are eligible for a $100 Undergraduate Prize.” Deadline: March 1. Note eligibility restrictions as detailed within the guidelines. (Hat tip: WinningWriters.com.)
  • New (and growing) resource: introducing Chill Subs, the creation of Karina Kupp. Extended tagline: “Find the right home for your writing (without wasting too much energy, losing your sh*t and hating yourself for being unproductive).” Allows you to filter browsing for paying/no-fee opportunities.
  • This time next week, the March edition of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will be going out to subscribers. It’s never too late to join us (free newsletter!). And it’s still not too late to take advantage of listings in the February issue.
  • “Zibby Books, a newly-launched book publishing company, seeks an enthusiastic, collaborative and meticulous Editorial Assistant to join our team.”
  • Poets & Writers magazine is hiring an Associate Editor: “This is a full-time position in our New York City office. Annual salary: $50,000; good benefits package including health insurance and ample paid time-off. (Please note that we are currently working remotely but expect to return to the office in spring 2022.)”
  • “Inprint, a leading literary arts nonprofit organization in Houston, Texas, seeks a conscientious and energetic full-time Program Manager to join its hard-working, committed, friendly, and efficient staff.” 
  • The Montana Book Festival seeks a Festival Director. “The successful candidate should have the energy and passion to embrace the Festival’s mission: to foster interest in literature for people of all ages, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provide a vibrant, compelling forum for the literary arts that celebrates diversity in and around Montana. The ideal candidate should also be invested in the future and the growth of the Montana Book Festival—both the annual, singular event and the organization as a whole.” Compensation: “$17.00 per hour, subject to all normal payroll taxes and deductions. Note: This is a contract position, renewed annually at the discretion of the Festival’s Board of Directors. Due to the nature of the position, hours are flexible through July, with hours increasing to full-time in August through the completion of the Festival in September. Duties can be shared by two individuals or assumed by one strong candidate.” 
  • “The English Program of the University of the District of Columbia seeks applications for a full-time tenure-track position in Creative Writing at the level of assistant or associate professor. The faculty member will teach Creative Writing courses at the beginning and advanced levels, utilizing both workshop and lecture strategies in face-to-face, online, and hybrid formats….Significant publication track record, including free-lance creative non-fiction work, is preferred.”
  • “BGSU (Bowling Green State University, Ohio) English Department is hiring an Assistant Professor, Creative Writing (Fiction), f/t tenure-track, to begin Fall 2022.”
  • “The Department of English at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, invites applications for two one-year Visiting Assistant Professor positions (non-tenure track sabbatical replacements) beginning in Fall of 2022. The creative writing position requires teaching introduction to creative writing (in multiple genres), fiction writing, and expository writing. The literary studies position requires teaching introduction to literary studies, a literary history survey, upper-level literature (specialties in British and/or global Anglophone literature preferred), and expository writing. The teaching load for each position is 3-3.”
  • “The Department of English at Mount Holyoke College invites applications for a three-year, full-time visiting lecturer in Creative Writing. We seek a creative writer with a strong record of publication and teaching in creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry whose work explores race, ethnicity, diaspora, and/or queer/trans identities, particularly in relation to African American, Asian American, Native American and Indigenous, and/or Latinx literary lineages. Desirable additional qualifications include record of publication and teaching in a second genre (such as playwrighting or hybrid-genre writing), translation, graphic narrative, performative or digital arts, and/or literary criticism, as well as experience organizing writers’ events. MFA or equivalent required.”
on a tabletop: a keyboard, a mug of coffee, and a wallet with cash, plus a text label announcing Markets and Jobs for Writers