10 Literary Magazines You Should Be Submitting Your Work To Right Now

It's Open Submission Season, and you know you're ready to be read!

Some writers have a few favorite literary magazines, they know the editorial schedules by heart, and they submit their work the first day of the reading period. Other writers scramble to find lit mags in their field, dig to discover deadlines, and find themselves doing more searching than actual writing. Since Open Submission Season is upon us, we thought we'd give you a short list of a few of our favorite magazines with current and/or upcoming reading periods.

East Coast Ink - ecimagazine.tumblr.com

East Coast Ink is a home for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, book reviews, artwork, photography and East Coast writer spotlights and events. This lit mag has a simple goal: supporting and showcasing writers and artists who are relevant and passionate, producing their lifeblood and seeking their audience.

Reading Period: CURRENTLY ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS for “Portraiture.” Submit artwork, photography, and writing to [e-mail] by midnight on JUNE 1.

Ploughshares - pshares.org

Ploughshares is one of the highest ranked university non-commercial literary magazines. It’s more honored by national anthologies than any other magazine except the New Yorker! They’ll be reading for their next release until January 15th, so you’ve got plenty of time to submit.

Reading Period: June 1 to January 15

Triquarterly - triquarterly.org

This one is perfect for those of you who may be struggling with a bit of writer’s block. Their reading period doesn’t actually start until October, so you’ve still got some time to polish your piece(s) before submitting.

Reading Period: October 15 - July 15

Glimmer Train - glimmertrain.com

Glimmer Train does things a little bit differently. Open submissions vary by category and by month, so depending on what you’re working on, deadlines may be different (check the writing guidelines). But this is an incredible publication and you should absolutely be submitting your work to it right now.

Fence - fenceportal.org

Reading for Fence ends July 31, so wrap up your editing process as soon as you can and get that baby submitted ASAP! Submit early so you have the whole summer to soak up some sun instead of trying to finish your piece(s).

Tin House - tinhouse.com/magazine

Tin House is now reading for their Spring 2015 issue (boy, are they productive!). The deadline for submitting to this one is September 15, so go ahead and take the summer to round out your dialogues, backstories, and/or stanzas.

The New England Review - nereview.com

The New England Review is one of the best known and best loved literary magazines in the country. This publication encourages artistic exchange and thought-provoking innovation, providing publishing opportunities for writers at all stages in their careers.

Reading Period: September 1 - May 31

The Southern Review - thesouthernreview.org

This review is hailed by the Times as “superior to any other journal in the English language,” so you clearly want to be in on it. There are no online submissions for this one, so you’d better get to licking stamps and sealing envelopes.

Reading Period: September 1 - December 1

Crazy Horse - crazyhorse.cofc.edu

In addition to general submissions, Crazy Horse will be accepting Crazyshorts from July 1 to July 31. The first place winner will make a well-deserved $1,000 and get published, so get your short story juices flowing.

Reading Period: September 1 - May 31

Epoch - english.arts.cornell.edu/publications/epoch/

Publishing fiction, poetry, essays, cartoons, screenplays, graphic art, and graphic fiction, Epoch iis edited by faculty in the Department of English Program in Creative Writing at Cornell University. Stock up on stamps for this one and get ready to submit in September.

Reading Period: September 15 - April 15