Welcome to Zebulon's Guide to Flash Fiction Submissions , the 2015 year-end version.

Submitting flash fiction to magazines you sometimes feel like a little octopus in a big car: out of place.

F lash Fiction, Sudden Fiction, Micro Fiction, Hint Fiction, Short-Shorts, Flashes, whatever you want to call them—the highly compressed story has quickly become a much sought after commodity. The problem that many writers of flash fiction have encountered is that flash is often treated the same as regular fiction when it comes to prose submissions, despite the length being 1/10 that of other stories. There is hope though. Many journals have seen the light and have separate guidelines for flash, some are very actively seeking it and some only publish flash fiction. lash Fiction, Sudden Fiction, Micro Fiction, Hint Fiction, Short-Shorts, Flashes, whatever you want to call them—the highly compressed story has quickly become a much sought after commodity. The problem that many writers of flash fiction have encountered is that flash is often treated the same as regular fiction when it comes to prose submissions, despite the length being 1/10 that of other stories. There is hope though. Many journals have seen the light and have separate guidelines for flash, some are very actively seeking it and somepublish flash fiction.





T here are a few lists of places to submit short-short stories out there, I'll be linking to them at the bottom, but those of us obsessed with the hyper short story are probably familiar with the main three or four that always come up when searching for flash fiction submissions. Those articles seemed to largely focus on online magazines, and while it definitely seemed like online journals were more likely to have accepted the genre as being somewhere between poetry and short stories, I'd also come across a number of traditional print journals that sought flash fiction in my regular submission quest. But the internet is a fickle mistress, and a large number of listings were no longer updating. They'd have a burst of posts for a year or two, steady issues then a drop off. Sometimes a trickle out, but usually the drop off was precipitous. here are a few lists of places to submit short-short stories out there, I'll be linking to them at the bottom, but those of us obsessed with the hyper short story are probably familiar with the main three or four that always come up when searching for flash fiction submissions. Those articles seemed to largely focus on online magazines, and while it definitely seemed like online journals were more likely to have accepted the genre as being somewhere between poetry and short stories, I'd also come across a number of traditional print journals that sought flash fiction in my regular submission quest. But the internet is a fickle mistress, and a large number of listings were no longer updating. They'd have a burst of posts for a year or two, steady issues then a drop off. Sometimes a trickle out, but usually the drop off was precipitous.





F or my methodology I ruled out journals that had that sudden drop if they stayed gone for over a full year without any notice of temporary hiatus. I also ruled out a large number of 'journals' that were just very simple blog layouts posting irregularly or indiscriminately (that either had or appeared to have near 100% acceptance rates). These are often hard to distinguish from online magazines on the awesome list sites like New Pages, or my methodology I ruled out journals that had that sudden drop if they stayed gone for over a full year without any notice of temporary hiatus. I also ruled out a large number of 'journals' that were just very simple blog layouts posting irregularly or indiscriminately (that either had or appeared to have near 100% acceptance rates). These are often hard to distinguish from online magazines on the awesome list sites like Poets and Writers The Review Review or Duotrope (also, there were well over 1300 'markets' that come up when searching for >1000 words that accept electronic submissions on Duotrope alone). You can dig deeper and find those if that's what you're looking for, but what I was looking for was serious (though often fun) magazines or literary journals or reviews or whatever you want to call them seeking flash fiction. If the submission guidelines weren't specific about word lengths I've included the verbiage they use in the guidelines, but of course, check the actual guidelines yourself to be sure you're submitting something applicable.

A s with any list, use it wisely. Don't just click through and send the same stories to all the journals, don't be a dickwriter. That's what a dickwriter does. Please take at least half an hour and read a few pieces, ideally read at least two pieces from the newest issue and one more from another issue. Also be sure to read the short 'About' section and submission guidelines that are pertinent to your submission, often times specific formatting or other items are requested and it is disrespectful to the editors to not abide by their guidelines. Sometimes there are very helpful clues in there too. One journal says they love Russel Edson and Charles Simic, so knowing that you wouldn't send your space pirate romance story, but instead your magic realism story about a slug race. It's really not that hard, and I've heard multiple editors say that submissions not following guidelines are immediately disqualified and returned. Complain about it being stupid or awful or whatever, it is how it is, and most magazines receive so many submissions that they can afford to be extremely choosy about the hundreds of submissions that do respect their guidelines.





Submission Terminology / Contests / Main List / Honorable Mention-Temporarily Closed / Print Journals / Charges Submissions Fee / Accepts 3 or more flash stories / Featured in Wigleaf50-2015 / Shorter than 800 word limit / Shorter than 300 word limit / Lists consulted





