Where to Submit Your Work in February/March of 2025

29 Carefully Curated Small and Mid-Size Publications for Aspiring and Established Writers

Well, if it isn’t nearing the month of love. Ooh la la!

I’m thrilled to bring you my February/March round-ups. This collection is carefully curated to offer a wide array of opportunities at small to mid-size literary magazines and journals and a few exciting contests. Most of the places on this list will not charge you a submission fee AND many of them pay too. A win-win! There are a few repeats from last month in here because they are still open to submissions.

I’d also like to note that most of these opportunities are of a literary nature as opposed to journalistic. I dabble in both, so at some point, I may do a separate newsletter for the journo junkies. Stay tuned!

This is a robust offering, so bite into it slowly…or, if you’re feeling gluttonous, devour it all at once.

Bon Appétit!

Romance-Themed Work

In honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s begin on a lovestruck note, shall we?

1). Cupids Arrow Publishing: Dalliances Anthologies
Romance fiction anthologies, anyone? “Dalliances is our short fiction program for when a novel just won’t do. A Dalliance can be a standalone short story or a collection of short romantic tales around a general theme. …

Current anthology open calls: Second Chances (second-chance romances), Good Sports (sports-related romances), and For the Uniform (military romances).”

Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction

1). Space and Time Magazine accepts fiction and poetry.

They say, “If you can combine horror, science fiction and fantasy into one compelling plot, you’ve caught our attention. If your story has the power to shake some perspectives, we are interested.” Since their submissions close 31 January, you may miss their deadline, but keep them on your backburner for their next open window!

2). Baltimore Science Fiction Society Poetry Contest wants your sci-fi/horror/science poetry! Winners will receive a cash prize ($100, $75, $50) and convention membership. Also, you’ll be invited to read your winning entry at Balticon. The deadline is March 1, 2025.

3). The Genre Society is dedicated to “stories that are out-of-this-world, leave us on the edge of our seats, sweating, laughing, crying.” Think, Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells.

Focusing on fiction and poetry, they seek to provide a space for new, unread writers to publish their weird, creepy, fantastical stories. Open for submissions now!

Women-Themed & Military-Families

1). Mslexia is geared towards women, and there are many interesting opportunities for submissions this year. I highly recommend checking this one out—it looks promising!

2). Her View From Home publishes heartfelt content year-round, including motherhood but not limited to it! They pay for the amount of views a piece receives, starting at $10 for 0-1000. This is my go-to place to send womanhood-themed essays because they are always looking to meet the voracious appetite of their large following! *

I continue to include them each round because they are a great starting point for any woman new to publishing work!

3). Legacy Magazine is dedicated to families in the military service. It’s beautifully curated and a great resource.

Faith-based Magazines/Anthologies

1). Voice and Virtue Literary is a brand-new Catholic literary magazine that aims to publish themed issues a few times a year.

2). Calla Press is now open for their spring 2025 journal with the theme “living in wonder.” They encourage poets and essayists to look at the mundane things of life through the lens of wonder… submit now until March 1st, 2025.

3) The Way Back To Ourselves has a Spring 2025 open call for submissions on the theme “In His Garden.”

“Dear writer, bring us your poetry, miracles, meditations, and stories from the garden of life and faith. Let them be everything the garden is—beautiful and brutal, gorgeous and gritty, blooming and barren… because God’s hand is in it all.” Submissions run from February 1-March 1st.

4). in (courage) accepts submissions four times a year for devotions, which they say “should be story-driven and have a strong takeaway (what you want the reader to reflect on or learn).” Their next window opens March 1.

5). The Truly Co seeks blogs, micro-blogs (Instagram content) and print articles. They’re only open twice a year for print submissions and all the time for blogs. You’ll have the chance to submit to the print magazine this month, so don’t dawdle on this one!

6). Grit and Virtue calls themselves “a personal development company for the modern woman.” They appear to be like a faith-based version of SUCCESS Magazine.

7). Vessels of Light Literary Journal presents their Spring 2025 literary journal theme, Resurgam: From Dark Graves to Garden Light. Resurgam is Latin for “ I Shall Rise Again.” Submissions open February 1 through April 1st.

Creative Fiction and Poetry/Prose

Dust off the poetry, creative essays, prose, and fiction. These presses are small but mighty—great places to try your luck!

1). Brawlit has a fun vibe that favors “groovy, snappy, sound work, and musical language.” They like inventive/experimental forms that support and enhance the content and surprising/unexpected language, imagery, and ideas. Submissions open Feb. 1st.

2). Deep Overstock was started by booksellers who wanted to see their coworkers achieve their writing dreams too. Each theme of their quarterly journal is based on a category that can be found in a bookstore. Writers and artists can interpret the theme as they see fit.

Submissions for Issue 27: Staff Picks are now open. Their editors chose the following themes:

Fairy Tales
Paranormal Romance
Dreams
Horror
Structures
Animals
Beekeeping
Hacking
Classics

Submit your piece(s) by February 28th, 2025 with the theme you are submitting for.

3). The NOMAD is a nonprofit literary magazine “dedicated to writers, and to building a community enthralled by what can be conveyed through words.”

For 2025, they want to see writing that engages with "breakthroughs," be they literal, spiritual, symbolic, personal, public, or something else. If you'd like to participate, “please send two pieces, a previously published work and an unpublished piece, and include a short commentary for each about why or how these were breakthroughs, to nomadlitmag at gmail dot com, with a brief bio (ideally under 20 words) by April 30, 2025.”

4). Sunlight Press is a no-fee, paying press open for submissions now. On their site they state: “We want to hear the ways people turn toward light and hope, whether it is through the arts, culture, spirituality, or humor, and also how they respond to darkness and navigate unknown spaces.”

5). Sky Island Journal is a respected, established press with a low acceptance rate that charges a submission fee—not the normal kind of presses I like to share with you! However, their voice and mission to support their artists AND quick response time (a rarity among bigger presses) garnered my enthusiasm, so here they are!

6). Apple Valley Review considers short stories, flash fiction, personal essays/creative nonfiction, poetry, and prose poetry. Submissions are read year-round.

7). Two Hawks Quarterly wants exquisitely crafted work that will astonish, surprise, challenge, and delight us. I didn’t see a submission deadline—I think they read year-round?

8). Sheep Head Review is a student-run publication that accepts poetry, fiction, nonfiction, visual arts pieces. Their submission window runs until February’s end.

9). Viridine Literary prefers work that’s “innovative, character-led. Pieces that dip into the bizarre, surreal, or absurd. A diverse representation that subverts stereotypes and offers fresh perspectives. Make us laugh. Make us fume. Make us grateful. Make us cry. Make us feel.”

10). Wildscape is a brand-new online literary journal accepting poetry/prose, flash fiction and nonfiction with submissions open until February 15th. Can I just say that I love their website?

11). Alex Dawson Creates is determined to make poetry more accessible for all with her forthcoming "Upon Learning That" Poetry Anthology. Each poem must start with the line “Upon learning that” and share an interesting fact about the world. Selected poems will be featured in a poetry anthology to be published in the summer of 2025. Reading period is January 1st-April 1st, 2025.

Short Story & Other Creative Writing Contests

While some of the above presses also accept short stories, these two opportunities are specifically geared towards them, so send off that short you’ve polished and perfected.

1). ShortStory Substack this Substack-based project accepts short stories of 6 words to 10,000 words. They publish one short story a month!

The deets? Send them a story by the month’s end, and the winner will be announced by the 15^th of next month. They pay $100 + 50% of the subscription revenue!

2). Jim Baen Fantasy Adventure Award wants your stories of 8,000 words or less in all fantasy genres by end of April 2025. Head to their website for more information!

3). Uncharted Magazine Cinematic Short Story Contest from January 05 to March 09, 2025. This award is for all of our genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller/Horror, Mystery/Crime, Young Adult, and Historical Fiction.

4). Lunch Ticket: Diana Woods Award in Creative Nonfiction is an award for a creative non-fiction piece of up to 3,500 words on any subject. The contest is open in February and August.

There you have it! If you have a success story from any of these publications, please let me know! I’d love to share it with out readership to encourage and inspire them.

Speaking of a little success, I submitted a short story to Twenty Hills publication and am excited to announce it was accepted for their forthcoming mermaid myth anthology for middle-graders (how’s that for alliteration?!).

I also had an essay about my father-in-law and I accepted for Rhizomag’s inaugural issue, a near-miss with a kind note from the editor at a sci-fi magazine, and a request to revise and resubmit for a publication I love. Fingers crossed on that one!

What if we all committed to submitting to at least two publications from this list? Are you in? I envision a space where we can all share our triumphs and woes because both are to be had in this blessed literary world.

Keep writing and submitting, fellow writers! I’m rooting for you. There’s room for all of us at the table.

Warmly,