Damn Fine Lit Mags with 10%+ Acceptance Rates Pt. 1
Deep Dives
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Literary magazine
10 min read
The article is entirely about submitting to literary magazines, and readers would benefit from understanding the rich history, editorial structures, and evolution of lit mags from 19th century origins to modern digital publications
We’ve all been there: submitting our work, refreshing [insert submission portal] to see if there’s an update, or checking our spam inboxes in the hopes that our dream acceptance (or hell, sometimes even just some response) might have slipped through…
And then, there’ll be days when rejections pile up. I remember last Thanksgiving, I got a total of 26 rejections. I do understand that editors probably have a bit more time during breaks (since editing a lit mag is seldom someone’s day job), but man is it brutal to be told “not this time” “not for us” “keep writing (but like again, not for us)” back to back during the holidays.
No one ever said trying to write and submit was easy business, but sometimes it just feels harder when you’re getting bombarded like this. So, I’ve decided to compile this list for folks who just need an easier win, mmkay? And that’s all of us sometimes!
Last month, for example I sent out this one below (and whether or not you’re emerging, it’s another one of those lists that’s a great yummy boost for our submittin’ selves), and it quickly became one of our most popular lists of all time:
This time around, whether or not your emerging, I've got 37 damn fine lit mags below with acceptance rates over 10%. What does this mean? Well, the “damn fine” part was a bit subjective, but here’s what you should know:
These are all lit mags with no obvious red flags that we could discern or were made aware of
They have been publishing and accepting submissions consistently
Their websites are up-to-date
They have a masthead and a clear editorial vision (as in, the editors are doing all of the above to ensure a quality lit mag)
Besides this, I’ve used my own understanding of the lit world to inform my choices. Being on all sides of this industry for some time now, it becomes a bit easier to tell when a lit mag is alive and thriving and, you know, likely has a loyal readership, as opposed to the other way around. Still, I feel like I’m always learning new things about the literary publishing industry, and often when I make these lists I discover some cool (or…erm…eyebrow-raising) stuff!
And as for the 10% acceptance rate—this comes straight from our community. We now have 260K+ tracked submissions on Chill
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