Dark Markets – Where to Submit

Published on by twadmin

The most popular question I see asked on Twitter and other social media platforms is, “Where should I submit my work?” It’s something I struggled with when I first started out trying to sell my stories. If you’re a writer of horror or any dark speculative fiction, two great sites to check for open submissions are:

Dark Markets – https://www.darkmarkets.com – @darkmarkets

and,

Horror Tree – https://horrortree.com – @HorrorTree

The people who run these sites work hard to keep submission callouts up to date and have an extensive catalogue of places to submit, websites to check out, and anthologies to get involved in.

Before you submit:

  • Always, ALWAYS read submission guidelines carefully before you submit.
  • Submit work in standard manuscript format unless the guidelines say otherwise.
  • Check if you can submit via an online submission form such as Moshka or Hey Publisher etc.
  • Two services for finding places to submit to and tracking submissions are https://duotrope.com/ and https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/. Duotrope costs but is much easier to use.
  • Add a great cover letter and short bio including your contact details, email, website and social media links.

While this is in no way an exhaustive list, here are some of my top (usually) paying markets to submit to:

Allegory – https://www.allegoryezine.com – SF/F/H

Apex – https://www.apex-magazine.com – @apexmag – SF/F/H

Black Static – http://ttapress.com/blackstatic/ – @TTApress – H

Breach (NZ/Australian writers) – https://www.breachzine.com – @breachzine – SF/H/dark fantasy

Clarkesworld – http://clarkesworldmagazine.com – @clarkesworld – SF/F

Fireside – https://firesidefiction.com – @FiresideFiction – SF/F/H

Flametree – https://www.flametreepublishing.com – @flametreepress – F/Gothic

Nosleep – https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep – @NosleepPodcast – Realistic Horror

Pseudopod – http://pseudopod.org – @Pseudopod_org – Horror

Podcastle – http://podcastle.org – @PodCastle_org – Fantasy

Escapepod – http://escapepod.org – @escapepodcast – SF

Strange Horizons – http://strangehorizons.com – @strangehorizons – SF/F/H/fantastica

The Dark Magazine – http://thedarkmagazine.com – @thedarkmagazine – H/Dark Fantasy

Three Crows – https://threecrowsmagazine.com – @MagazineCrows – SF/F

Uncanny – https://uncannymagazine.com – @UncannyMagazine – SF/F

Unnerving – https://www.unnervingmagazine.com/ – @UnnervingMag – Horror & suspense