Markets & 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.

  • Stanchion is open for submissions today (Monday, April 10) for 24 hours (that is to say, from the earliest hours of the morning to the very end of the day, U.S. Eastern time). They consider “short stories (3000-ish word max), flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, prose poems, stray thoughts, short screenplays, monologues, experimental work, interviews with inanimate objects, reviews of everyday items and moments, comic strips, black & white photography (vertical, portrait-oriented images are preferred), black & white drawings, black & white collage art, and other evocative images of mixed media artwork (you guessed it, also in black and white).” Payment: “$15 + each contributor receives one complimentary copy of their issue.”
  • Open for submissions until April 28 (for books published between June 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023): the Toronto Book Awards, which “honour books of literary merit that are inspired by the city. The annual awards offer $15,000 in prize money with shortlisted authors receiving $1,000 each and the winner taking home $10,000.” Note: “Submission must contain some clear Toronto content (this may be reflected in the themes, settings, subjects, etc.), but authors do not necessarily have to reside in Toronto.” Also: “There are no separate categories: novels, short story collections, books of poetry, books on history, politics and social issues, biographies, books about sports, children’s and young adult books, graphic novels and photographic collections are judged together.”
  • Struggle, “a DC-based quarterly print literary magazine publishing works by writers and artists with connection to the DMV area,” is open for submissions of “fiction, essays, poetry, drama and criticism” until May 1. Pays: $75.
  • At The Cincinnati Review, they’re reopened submissions for miCRo, their weekly online flash feature. “For fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid works, each piece should be 500 words maximum. For poetry, submit poems 32 lines or less. For drama, scripts should be about three minutes in performance.” Pays: $25.
  • In Boston, AGNI seeks a full-time Managing Editor.
  • In Illinois, Ninth Letter is also searching for a full-time Managing Editor.
  • And in Ohio, New Ohio Review is also advertising for a Managing Editor (in this instance, part-time).
  • At the University of Michigan, there’s a position open for a Program Manager, Helen Zell Writers’ Program.
  • In Ohio: “The Department of English and the MFA Program in Creative Writing at The Ohio State University seek a full-time, Post-MFA Fellow in fiction writing for a two-year appointment that will start on August 15, 2023….The MFA Program in Creative Writing invites applications from an emerging fiction writer who has earned an MFA within the past three years….The Post MFA Fellow will teach one course each semester for two years. This is a two-year appointment and includes an annual stipend of $50,000, benefits, some relocation costs, computing equipment and support, and a research fund. This fellowship is made possible by Ohio State’s Global Humanities and the Arts Discovery Theme…..”
  • Minnesota State University Moorhead is advertising an Assistant Professor position. “The incumbent would be expected to teach courses that would include but are not limited to English Composition, Introduction to Creative Writing, Scriptwriting, Science Fiction/Fantasy writing, and Publishing courses.”
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 & Jobs for Writers

  1. Constance H Gemson says:

    Dear Erika,

    I love your excellent newsletters. Do you have information about plays as well?

    Thank you for your creative work!

    1. Erika Dreifus says:

      Hi, Constance. Thanks for your kind words. I don’t follow opportunities in the playwriting world, alas, but I’d recommend that you check in with the resources described here: https://www.womenarts.org/funding-resources/index/.

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