Erika Dreifus

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.

• Reminder: “EastOver Press will open to full-length poetry manuscripts between 45 and 65 pages for one day on July 12, 2022, from 12AM to 11:59PM, via Submittable. Publication from EastOver Press includes a standard publishing contract and an honorarium of $2,000. There are no restrictions in theme or style.” (If you’re just running across this information now, know that you could have found it earlier if you subscribed to our free monthly Substack newsletter.)
• Also as first mentioned in the July newsletter: Fee-free submissions will be in place for one day only, July 15, for the Iron Horse Prize, “awarded annually to a first book of collected prose. The author of the winning entry will receive $1000, and their collection will be published in the summer of 2023 by Texas Tech University Press. We are looking for emerging writers who have yet to publish collections of their own prose, either short fiction or nonfiction.” Judge: Katie Cortese.
• At Mouthfeel Press, the Clash! e-chapbook imprint is open for manuscript submissions until July 15. “Our mission is to celebrate the clash of identities, cultures, and beliefs that live within each of us. We seek to do so by providing a platform for emerging writers and artists of diverse backgrounds whose work negotiates and praises the inherent strangeness of identity in our shifting social landscape. In the spirit of Gloria Anzaldúa, we are committed to publishing work that offers a refuge to those who find themselves adrift in liminality.” They welcome “manuscripts of poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, microgenres, lyric essays, hybrid genres, and visual art” and pay a 25% royalty.
• From A Public Space: “In connection with the Editorial Fellowship program at A Public Space, we are pleased to announce an open call for a special portfolio in the magazine to be edited by Ruby Wang.” Details from Wang: “I am looking for creative nonfiction submissions that contend with the unspeakable by doing something new. I hope to read pieces that highlight personal relationships with the unspeakable—purposely forgotten memories, unknown histories, language barriers—and that experiment with language, form, genre. I am particularly interested in work that explores the unspeakable in the context of translation, or translated works.” Deadline: July 31. Pays: “honorarium.” NB: “Only writers who have not yet published a book or been contracted to write a book-length work in English are eligible.”
• Outlook Springs has re-opened for submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry “tinged with the strange.” Pays: “$10 per poem, $10 per flash piece (under 1,000 words), $25 for short fiction and essays (over 1,000 words). Payment via PayPal or Venmo.” NB: “If we hit our Submittable limit, submissions will close until the first of the next month.”
• The Nightboat Books fall 2022 internship program is open for applications through July 12. The internship “is based in Brooklyn, NY; all applicants are expected to be in the office once a week during the internship period. The program is designed to engage interns in all aspects of literary publishing: editorial, marketing, publicity, direct sales, online and community engagement, fundraising and development, and other aspects of the publishing industry. This program is designed to be a dynamic experience, offering the intern a valuable overview of publishing, while also getting opportunities to focus on assignments that interest them. Interns are expected to work 10 hours per week and are paid $15 an hour, receive free books, mentorship, professional recommendations & a jumping off point for a career in independent, literary publishing.”
• Astra House “is seeking a publicity/marketing intern for the fall 2022 season. This position offers an opportunity to learn about and execute publicity campaigns and marketing strategies for adult literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The intern will be responsible for managing publicity systems, conducting research to build out media lists, submitting to literary awards and festivals, rolling out marketing campaigns, and helping draft publicity and marketing materials.” Position will be “part-time, 10-15 hours/week, from August-January,” and remote “(with optional use of our NYC office if applicable).” Compensation: $15/hour. Apply by July 22.
• The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is hiring a part-time Program Administrator. “Global children’s literature organization is looking for a person to work one day a week, either remotely or from our Los Angeles base, as administrator for our charitable and social impact programs. If you’re interested in children’s books, freedom to read, literacy and creativity, you’ll have the opportunity to make impactful contributions in administering programs, writing grants, judging grants, organizing meetings and communications, creating social media postings, keeping records and handling logistical details. Requires excellent organizational and writing skills, facility with communication and social media programs and platforms, interest in promoting diversity and inclusion, and attention to detail. Background/interest in writing, literature or children’s books a plus. Flexible hours, great to supplement your income, with pay range $40 to $50 per hour.”
• The Lighthouse | Black Girl Projects seeks a Managing Editor who will serve “as the planner and manager of daily operations for the McGee Project, the organization’s storytelling and news platforms.” Location: “Remote and/or where other TL|BGP staff are preferred (Jackson, Mississippi-metro area, Raleigh-Durham, Austin, Chicago Metroland).” Compensation: “$20-$30/hour, based on experience; part-time (potential for full time).”
• Poets & Writers magazine is advertising for a Production Editor (“a full-time position in our New York City office, requiring flexibility to work both at home and in the office”), and for a Development and Marketing Associate (also FT as just mentioned above, “plus occasional evenings and weekends for special events.”).
• In New York, “the Writing Program of Columbia University School of the Arts seeks to fill a tenure-track/tenured position at the rank of Assistant/Associate Professor of Writing in the field of Nonfiction to begin fall 2023. The Program offers the MFA in Writing and an undergraduate major in Creative Writing.”