1000+ Literary Journals: Have You Tried Any of These?

Increase Your Pub Cred by Submitting to Journals

Today’s guest post by Norman Cristofoli offers a free spreadsheet containing more than 1000 sites to which writers can submit prose and poetry.

NORMAN CRISTOFOLI: For over 25 years, I published a literary journal called Labour of Love. I had a distribution network and used to do a magazine exchange with a number of other international zines. This also meant that I had a significant list of journals that I could submit my own work to. Over the years, many of those zines fell by the wayside, and Labour of Love folded five years ago. The happenings in my life diverted my energies to seek new places to submit.

About two years ago, I came across a newsletter called Author’s Publish and signed up to receive their e-mails. They listed one or two publications seeking submissions with each newsletter. I checked out some of the journals and found most of them to be of professional quality. After the first couple of newsletters, I decided to create an Excel file, listing the name of the journal/magazine, the link to their submission page, whether they paid the author for their work (or not), and some information about what they published (poetry, short stories, flash fiction, etc.). I even included information when they specifically expressed interest in a particular genre of material (fantasy, sci-fi, romance, horror, specific themes, etc.).

After a few months, my Excel file grew to include over one hundred journals. With my interest piqued, I did more research and found a number of other websites that offered writers links to magazines and writing resources, like BookFox, Poets & Writers, League of Canadian Poets and many other community-based sites. My Excel file began to grow exponentially. It now lists over one thousand publications, both print and online.

When the pandemic spread and the lockdowns began, I found my list to be a valuable tool to help stave off insanity. I used the time to submit work to a number of journals, and had some success in getting published. This inspired me to write more, submit more, and generally feel better.

I thought about how much work went into creating this file and realized that I was lucky to have both the time and the resources to compile the listing. Many of my artistic friends were having difficulty with the lockdowns (emotionally, mentally, and financially) and I offered my friends who were writers the file in hopes that this would help them through these “interesting times.” In a few cases, it actually did help as it gave them a resource to turn to, and the fact that someone reached out to show they cared. (At least that’s what some told me.)

I have always been a supporter of the arts community, one time co-founding and managing the Coffeehouse Network of Artists, producing weekly cabaret shows, and holding monthly saloons in my home.

With the global lockdowns, all of those activities came to an abrupt end, for everybody. Many of my musician friends are performing live concerts online and trying to lend their support to their communities. There are Zoom poetry events, and people are trying to manage their creativity as best they can.

In view of this global crisis, I decided to also show support to my community of friends and started offering the Excel file to all of my Facebook friends. If you would like a copy of the file, then friend me on Facebook, and send me a message:

https://www.facebook.com/norman.cristofoli/

Or, you can check out my website and send me a message through the contact page:

https://normancristofoli.com/

© Norman Cristofoli

Norman Cristofoli

Norman Cristofoli has published several chapbooks of poetry/prose plus two audio compilations of spoken word performances. He published Labour of Love literary magazine for twenty-five years and was the co-founder of the Coffeehouse artist networking site. His play The Pub and a new book of poetry Relinquishing the Past were both published in 2020.


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20 thoughts on “1000+ Literary Journals: Have You Tried Any of These?

  1. Great post! And great of Norman to share his list, Kathy. Funny, I subscribe to Authors Publish, and they really do offer a lot of goodies for writers. I usually add those links to my Evernote file but Norman’s already prepared Excel sounds wonderful. I’ll visit his page. Thanks to both! 🙂

  2. Okay, just did that, please check and let me know. cheers to Kathy for providing a platform where I could get to know you,

  3. Hey Kathy, I wanted to ask wether there is an eligibility for that resources or anyone could get it, I submitted my name but have not received it yet.

    • Hello Chirag:

      I didn’t see any request to get a copy of the file. I only send it by email so if you go to my website, there is a contact page and you can make a request for the file, or befriend me on Facebook and then send me a request.

      Peace within,

      Norman

  4. Hi Norman, What a generous offer, sir. I’m as ancient as Methusaleh, but not as wise…and just love the written word. There is a BUT….I’m on a mean British pension and would love to earn some money….In 1983/4 I had two factual books published by a mainstream company, was paid FAIRLY, and went on to win a few poetry prizes and run a group. Fast-forward to 2000 (family and business happened), ‘Im indoors and i retired to Spain and I won a major Short Story comp, became a Judge for a while and continued writing. I’ve just finished my ninth book, and some did OK, but.as they were not published by mainstream publishers, made pathetic financial returns. I chair for a group Writers’ Ink, write a column for our local newspaper Costa Blanca News and write occasional blogs: https: joylennick.wordpress.com/. The trouble is I’m not technical, so my eldest son assists..I’m searching for a mainstream publisher for my current m/s…I’d be most interested in seeing the Excel File. Thank you so much. My email address is *****. Sincerely Joy Lennick

    • Hello Joy.

      I sent the list to your email. I hope you find it useful.

      Good luck,

  5. Hey Kathy, It is great to see your support I myself have felt sometimes the difficulty of finding journals and platforms.

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