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: The April issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 went out to subscribers last Friday. It’s packed with dozens of fee-free and paying opportunities, and it’s archived on Substack.
  • Per this weekend announcement, Orca is now open for poetry submissions and will remain so until August 15. (They have been previously and continue to be open for prose.) Each month they have 100 slots for free submissions; check back at the start of the next month if they’ve run out and the fee-charging submissions aren’t for you. They’ll pay $25 for poetry.
  • The Fabulist is open for submissions until April 8. “All fantastical fiction welcome. Special thematic interests: Ecology, solarpunk & anti-dystopianism.” No simultaneous submissions for 30 days following submission. Pays: “a flat $25 honorarium upon publication.”
  • Until April 15, Conium, “a boutique fiction publisher,” seeks book and chapbook submissions from BIPOC writers only. “Conium leans toward magical realist, surrealist, and experimental fiction.” Compensation: “If published, authors receive copies and a small honorarium (we’re talking about a few hundred bucks, so don’t quit your day job).”
  • Also until April 15: Nightboat Books “is excited to invite submissions for an anthology edited by writer, editor, artist, and Nightboat Editorial Fellow, Naima Yael Tokunow. Permanent Record, an experimental collection of poetry and poetics, will hold work that engages with the a/Archive. We are thinking of the a/Archive in two forms: the Archive, as the commodification of shared cultural recording (i.e. The Canon, The State, the Written Record, forms of documentation, and other ‘Legitimate’ ways of knowing), and the archive, as a counter-practice, the portals to the future, histories, and lineages that stem from our current moment. This anthology will be published by Nightboat Books in the Fall 2024/Winter 2025.” Check the guidelines for the frameworks they’ve delineated. “Each contributor will receive a payment of $50, as well as a complimentary copy of the anthology.”
  • The Malahat Review, which welcomes submissions of poetry and fiction from Canadian writers year-round, invites submissions from international writers at specified times (creative nonfiction is welcome from both Canadian and international writers year-round). Until the end of April, fiction is welcome from international writers. “We pay CAD$70 per published page plus a one-year print subscription and two copies of the issue in which your work appears.” Be sure to read through the very detailed guidelines page. (Thanks to Pamelyn Casto’s Flash Fiction Flash newsletter for reminding me of this one.)
  • Consequence Forum, which “addresses the human experiences, realities, and consequences of war and geopolitical violence through literature and art,” seeks a Guest Editor for its Fall 2024 issue (Consequence Volume 16.2). “This issue will have a focus on writers and artists who identify as part of the BIPOC community. The Guest Editor’s primary role will be to help select the pieces to be published in the volume (we publish in five genres: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translations, and visual arts).” Compensation for this remote position is listed as $4,500; hours expected/timeline are detailed in the announcement.
  • Over on Twitter, West Branch has posted two announcements for two remote gigs: one for a new Associate Poetry Editor; the other for an Associate Fiction Editor. Both positions begin in August, pay $4,000/year (with the possibility of renewal for a second year), and are receiving applications until May 1.
  • Open positions at The New Yorker include one for an Editorial Assistant (base pay range: $60,000-$68,000) and one for a Fact Checker (base pay range: $69,500 – $77,000; note that “for this posting, fluency in Spanish is preferred”).
  • The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma “seeks a tenure-track assistant professor in Professional Writing. The Professional Writing program teaches students to be successful commercial authors of fiction, nonfiction, film and television, video game and/or comicscripting, and other written media forms. Applicants will be required to have been successfully published in the commercial arena; i.e., a professional creative writer of fiction, nonfiction, or drama (including TV, screenplays, radio, and staged drama), who has received payment for his or her work, which was neither exclusively self-published nor exclusively cooperatively published (no monies were required of the writer by the publisher).”
  • “The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh welcomes applications for a non-tenure stream visiting lecturer teaching position. Position appointments may be renewable based on need, funding, and performance. It is a full-time position outside the tenure stream teaching three courses per term and does not include summer teaching.  Applicants must have completed all requirements for their terminal degree by Sept. 1, 2023. The Writing Program is specifically interested in candidates who can teach introductory classes, especially our Introduction to Creative Writing, which is a multi-genre class (poetry/fiction/nonfiction), as well as introductory and Intermediate classes in fiction or nonfiction. Candidates should also have experience and interest in teaching composition classes as needed by the department. The minimum basic qualification is an advanced degree (MFA or Ph.D.) in Creative Writing.”
  • “The English Department at Drew University invites applications for an Adjunct Instructor of Fiction Writing to teach one undergraduate Short Fiction Workshop in the Fall 2023 semester, with the possibility of reappointment in subsequent semesters. The class will meet in person in the fall, on Tuesdays, 4:05 – 6:35 p.m on Drew University campus in Madison, NJ. Minority candidates are encouraged to apply.” 
on a tabletop: a keyboard, a mug of coffee, and a wallet with cash, plus a text label announcing Markets and Jobs for Writers