The Top 30 Places to Publish Flash Fiction

The first time I saw a copy of Writers’ Market, I was 16 years old. For those who weren’t writing before the creation of Submission Grinder, Duotrope, and similar sites, the book basically was a print version of those: a collection of listings with contact names, addresses, and guidelines for thousands of literary journals. In other words, everything you needed for the how of short story submissions.

Where to send stories, though, has always been more complex. At 16, my answer was anywhere they’d take me. That was a long time ago. Today, I consider multiple factors: Is the journal one I’d be proud to tell friends I’m published in? Is it one agents are known to read? Does it pay? How widely is it read?

The reason I share this isn’t to talk about myself; it’s to caution you to take the list below with a grain of salt. In the past, writers like Clifford Garstang and Erika Krouse have published literary magazine rankings that many—myself included—have used to determine where to send stories. A mathematical analysis of Pushcart Prize winners, Clifford’s list is particularly helpful for the ambitious: By breaking down which publications have had more winners over time, writers who’d like their own Pushcart can use it as a methodology for targeting submissions.