The Best Lit Mags of 2025
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
-
Little magazine
12 min read
Provides historical context for the literary magazine tradition that these 'lit mags' are part of, tracing back to modernist publications like The Little Review and Poetry magazine that shaped how independent literary journals operate today
-
Flash fiction
15 min read
Several top-ranked magazines specialize in flash fiction (Flash Fiction Magazine, Flash Fiction Online, 101 Words), and understanding the form's origins, constraints, and literary significance enriches appreciation of why this genre has its own dedicated publications
Hello friends,
That’s what subscriber means, friend. No take backs.
Remember last year when we did this:
Well, this year we did it again, but differently, and betterly (better-er?). In case you missed the announcements on our Chill Subs newsletter or socials, here’s a quick breakdown along with the top 10 in each category.
And, if you’re into deeper stats and want to learn more about how we designed this year’s Best Lit Mags Community Awards, pop over to our blog here.
In brief, though—for our winners, we took the tag each magazine was awarded the most, and ranked them within that category. This way, the resulting winners would be those who most represent that core aspect of the community we want to support and see more of. Since 8,160 people voted for 2,299 magazines 13,884 times(!!), we ended up with roughly 36,173 tags awarded to lit mags. So we feel pretty confident that the folks who landed at the top of these categories deserve to be there.
Out of 4,357 votes, The Pinch came out on top in 2025 as the best lit mag for exceptional reading.
The Pinch → Closed | Fee: $4.95 | Pay: $1000-$2000 | Publishes Nonfiction, Multimedia, Poetry, Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 180 days | A: 9.99% | 15K+ followers | United States | 1980 — “The Pinch was founded in 1980 as the Memphis State Review by William Page. The Pinch is a bi-annual literary journal produced entirely by the students of the University of Memphis MFA Program and English Department.”
Blackbird → Closed | Fee: $2 | Pay: Yes (varies) | Publishes Nonfiction, Multimedia, Poetry, Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 180 days | A: 1.82% | 7K+ followers | United States | 2002 — “An online journal of literature and the arts offers visitors from around the world outstanding fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and reviews, as well as plays, visual art, new media, and video essays.”
Rattle | Theme: Ekphrastic Challenge → Deadline: Dec 31 | Fee: Some fee | Pay: $50-$200 | Open for Poetry, Multimedia | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 180 days | A: 1% | 60K+ followers | United States | 1995 — “Our mission is to promote the practice of poetry,”
Brevity | Fee: $3 | Pay: $45 | Open for Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim
This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.