On my last post friend of the blog Dusty asked about pro paying markets for crime fiction and sad to say but there are very few. While the pros are far and few between there are quite a number of straight up crime markets that do pay so I thought I'd put together a list of those paying markets for you. The links are all over to the right along with other markets that publish crime fiction in other genres such as horror and spec-fiction. Just because you've written a crime story doesn't mean you have to look at only crime markets. And here's your list:
1. Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - pro rates though the payment scale is not listed in their guidelines.
2. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - pro rates from the same publisher as AHMM.
3. The Strand - pays $25 to $150 be advised they're their response can take up to a year or longer.
4. Woman's World - If I remember correctly they're paying $500. Their stories are very specific and they have no online presence. You can pick up a copy at your local supermarket. Their stories are 700 word "solve it yourself" mysteries.
5. Gum Shoe Review - pays 5cents a word for stories up to 1000 words. Their guidelines are listed under the Just the Facts editorial each month.
6. The Big Click - pays $100 but you have to query the editor first or be invited to submit.
7. ThugLit - ebook and print magazine pays $25
8. Spinetinger - online zine pays $25 but their response is sometimes slow and they publish on an irregular basis.
8.5. Plan B - sneaking this in because I forgot it yesterday. ebook and print pays $25.
9. Big Pulp - this is a print magazine and payment is 1cent a word with a max of $25
10. All Due Respect - print magazine and ebook pays $25
11. Over My Dead Body - online zine pays 1cent a word.
12. One Eye Press - publishes a yearly anthology called Both Barrels (currently open) pays $25.
13. Comet Press - publishes dark crime novellas and pays royalties.
14. Dutton Guilt Edge - publishes novellas and pays an advance of 5cents a word against royalties.
15. One Eye Press - publishes novella singles and payment is royalties.
While that list is for paying markets there are plenty of non-paying markets that are worth getting published in just because of the great company you'll find yourself in like the print magazine Needle (some of their stories have been selected for Otto Penzler's "Best American Mystery Stories") and Beat to Pulp which has published some of the past masters of the Pulp genre.
If I've missed a paying market please feel free to add them in the comments.
6 comments:
Thanks for doing this Sandra. Though, it's a little depressing. I can name at least a dozen SF/F zines that pay $.05/wd or more just off the top of my head.
One market you missed, but probably didn't know they accept crime stories, is Phobos. They're known for SF/F but are really a pulp market that pays $.05/wd. They do prefer Philadelphians, but will read fiction from anywhere.
That's where I submitted the story in question. They called it, "a fine piece of prose" but said it did not fit that quarter's theme. (BTW, they're themed)
I knew about the next Both Barrels anthology but thought I'd have time to try another pro market before deadline. But once I started searching I found there were no pro-paying crime markets. Ellery Queen and Hitchcock seem more interested in mysteries and my story isn't really a mystery. So I guess I'll just submit to Both Barrells.
For all the criticisms of the SFWA, I think it's safe to say that the pay rates for SF zines have been positively influenced by that organization.
Another one for your list, though it's not limited to mystery/crime:
DarkFuse launched a dark fiction antho series this year. Any dark fiction including “thriller, suspense, crime” stories. 2k to 5k words, $50 plus 5% royalties. They’ve already published the first volume. (They also publish lots of dark fiction novels each year.)
Yes, Dusty, the SF community has a much richer market for short stories. I don't understand why the crime market is so sparse as they both have their roots in the Pulps and a strong history of short story writers.
I've posted about Phobos here before,but I missed the submission dates this year. Good luck with your BB submission!
Thanks, Peter, I have DarkFuse over on the side, but I didn't consider it a straight up crime market.
The truth is you can put a crime story in just about every market from Literary to Spec-Fiction depending on how you spin your story. Horror, though, is like a kissing cousin to the crime genre :)
One other that I forgot was Plan B which pays $25.
Hey Sandra,
Thanks so much for compiling this.
(And thus once more I try to get through the Google process....)
Stephen
You're welcome, Stephen. Google can be such a pain at times.
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