I love publishing my poems and stories in magazines around the world. In fact, it has become a goal in itself: to add as many countries and continents as possible to my virtual world tour. There are many opportunities, from magazines published by a prestigious university over horror magazines with thousands of readers to a loving project of a handful of hip editors who diligently cobble together a beautiful publication. But how do you find these magazines?
Where’s me pot of gold?
A quick Google search will lead you to blogs with enticing titles that give the impression that you can make a living publishing fictional writing in magazines. These blogs almost always include names like The New Yorker, The Sun Magazine, or VQR, who indeed pay hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars if they publish your work. But of course, it’s not that simple.
Who doesn’t dare, doesn’t win, I thought, as I – an unknown writer from Belgium – embarked on my international adventure in early 2022. So I sent my work to the best-paying magazines in the world. What followed was … total silence. Grasshoppers chirping. Tumbleweeds.
Look, there are indeed very well-known magazines that pay big bucks for your work. But the competition is fierce, the bar is set sky-high, and you sometimes find yourself waiting more than a year for a standard rejection. Pretty frustrating.
Fortunately, I found a lot of cool publications along the way, with a nice vibe and a large readership, many of them paying a pretty penny. There are a lot of websites and online databases listing writing opportunities. Unfortunately, they’re often not very organized: it’s just lists and lists of publications. Sometimes I would spend 15 minutes reading everything about a particular magazine, including some reading excerpts to see what they publish, only to find that you’re only allowed to submit if you live in Canada.
And then I discovered Sub Club
The tool that changed everything for me, is Sub Club.
Sub Club aims to make our writing life easier with a paid newsletter and a database. In the database you can search by genre (poetry, short story, flash fiction, non-fiction), subgenre, and length to find the perfect home for your specific work. You can also search for journals that pay or are currently open for submissions.
Each week, I get about three emails from them, including one titled “Where to submit this week,” with a list of magazines currently accepting submissions. The emails are so clear, giving the essential info in a nutshell, that I can see in the blink of an eye which opportunities are suitable for me. That alone saves me hours of searching in vain.
Paid subscribers can also attend webinars for free. Those webinars are given by writers and editors of magazines, on how to increase your changes of getting published. Very interesting to hear them talk about the reasons why they select certain pieces.
You can send in questions in advance which are then answered. You can follow along live, but you also get the recording afterwards. And you get a handy little document with a summary of the main points from the webinar.
Here are a few examples of emails I received from Sub Club since I have an annual subscription (and which you can still read online after you subscribe). You’ll notice that humor is no stranger to them. Besides names and info on publications, they also share tons of practical information on all aspects of journal publishing, including answers to subscribers’ questions.
- 18 magazines that will make agents notice you
- 63 lit mags that give feedback on submissions (free and paid)
- 200 dollar + payouts for all you greedy sellouts
- The 23 fastest response times
- 75 most competitive flash fiction magazines in the known universe
- 22 lit mags for people trapped on the toilet
- 11 indie presses that will boost your writing career
- 22 lit mags for the tortured poets department
- 14 top-tier magazines that want to watch you crawl out of a rhino’s butthole
- 95 European literary magazines and journals
- 22 awesome lit mags with 5-10% acceptance rate
- 17 African literary magazines and journals
Aren’t you itching to get started? I know I do. And that’s another benefit I get from Sub Club: every time one of those emails arrives in my inbox, I’m so excited to select at least one of those magazines and send them a couple of poems or my newest story!
Leen writes 
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