Articles

6 Paying Niche Short Story Markets for Writers – by Avery Springwood

April 23, 2021

6 Paying Niche Short Story Markets for Writers – by Avery Springwood
Print Friendly

If articles and informational pieces aren’t your thing, writing short stories can be a great way to earn income as a freelance writer. And, there are tons of very specific genres and niches where you can submit your work. Here are six paying markets looking for short stories in very specific subgenres:

Zooscape is an e-zine looking for animal stories. They want stories up to 10,000 words, and pay $0.08/word up to 1000 words, and a flat rate of $80 for longer stories. “All stories must be furry. That means an anthropomorphic animal figure should be significantly featured in your story — it could be anthropomorphic in body or only intelligence. We’ll consider any type of furry fiction from secret life of animals to fox in Starbucks. We love science-fiction with animal-like aliens and fantasy with talking dragons, unicorns, or witch familiars.” Guidelines: https://zooscape-zine.com/guidelines/

Mermaids Monthly is a new market for merfolk fiction. They pay $0.10/word for fiction up to 5000 words, and $0.10/word for nonfiction up to 2000 words. “Everything should in some way relate to merfolk. We are loose about how you want to define that, and we will consider other aquatic fantastical creatures to be on theme. Yes, kelpies and selkies and kappas and nagas are all okay! We would love to see creative interpretations of the theme, and we’re also extremely interested in seeing work from writers of many backgrounds. We are interested in happy and sad, light and dark, funny and serious.” Guidelines: https://mermaidsmonthly.com/submissions/

Love Letters to Poe is a market for gothic short stories up to 1500 words, paying $0.05/word. They want ‘stories that evoke wonder and terror, romance and horror.’ Guidelines: https://loveletterstopoe.com/submit-a-story/

Vastarien is a literary horror journal that pays $0.05/word for prose fiction and nonfiction. Stories should be 750-6000 words, and should be ‘inspired by Ligottian and/or related themes and authors.’ Nonfiction should be ‘scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors,’ and should be 2000-7500 words. Their website lists the authors who are of special interest to them, such as Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, Angela Carter, William S. Burroughs, Vladimir Nabokov, etc. Guidelines: https://grimscribepress.com/submission-guidelines/

Grimdark is a grimdark fantasy and sci-fi market, paying (AUS) $0.07/word for stories up to 4000 words. ‘Working in a sub-genre means we are after a very specific style of story or image. We want dark settings, grey characters, morally ambiguous decisions, and plenty of grit. Joe Abercrombie, Anna Smith-Spark, George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Anna Stephens, Mark Lawrence, Scott Lynch, Graham McNeill, Deborah A. Wolf, Dan Abnett, and R. Scott Bakker are our favourite authors.’ Guidelines: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/submissions/

Curiosities is a market for retrofiction stories up to 7500 words. They pay $0.05/word. They ‘want to be taken on an adventure in a time that never was, be it weird tales, steampunk, retro-futurism, vintage horror, mad science, amazing cities, monsters, impossible machines, clockworks, alt-history adventures, unexpected surprises, weird westerns, and things that shouldn’t work.’ They are not interested in stories set in space or themes relating to space travel.
Guidelines: https://gallerycurious.com/p/submissions-1599834174/

RELATED

Avery Springwood is a science fiction writer and photographer living in the UK. When she’s not working, she can be found spending time with her family and their beloved cockapoo, or trying to find time to read speculative fiction stories.

 

>>>Read More WritersWeekly Feature Articles<<<

 





QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments



Peek over the shoulders of highly successful freelance writers to see how they earn thousands per article! The query letter is the key!
In these pages, you'll find real query letters that landed real assignments for national magazines, websites, and corporations.

Also includes:

  • Abbi Perrets' form letter that brings in $30,000-$45,000 annually
  • Sample phone query from Christine Greeley
  • The Six Golden Rules of Queries and Submissions...and How I Broke Them! by Bob Freiday
  • Your Rights As a "Freelancer"
  • and ANGELA HOY'S SECRET for finding ongoing freelance work from companies that have a stable of freelancers, yet never run ads for them!

 



BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - by Angela Hoy



Peek over the shoulders of highly successful, published authors to see how they landed publishing contracts worth $10,000 to $100,000! An enticing yet professional book proposal is the key!

BONUS! Successful ghostwriter, Anton Marco, shares his secret for landing ghostwriting clients. Don’t miss Anton’s real ghostwriting contract at the end of this book! It provides an example of what he charges and the payment terms he requires from each client.

 



90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy

Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.

We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!

Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor, which makes it fun for creative folks like you!

Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!