How to become a "prestigious" top-ranked literary magazine
And all that entails.
Lately we've turned our attention to practicing what we preach. Yes, screaming at birds. Also, managing a couple literary magazines. Our main one, of course, is Write or Die. We want to turn it into one of the best magazines out there. We have some incredible editors like Kailey & Shelby, for nonfiction, and Tamar & Suzanne for our recently opened fiction submissions.
I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out what makes a "good magazine." By "good," I mean the type of magazine that will last. The type that will be well-known and well-respected in an industry of deeply entrenched favorites. Personally, I'm drawn to a lot of smaller magazines with interesting and diverse missions. But those are not generally listed in "top markets."
If you're curious about the real truth of it, well, money. Whenever I've dug into these sorts of magazines, it often comes back to money. They have some huge contest, a large grant, or patron. Sometimes all three. Add a university affiliation and it's not much of a mystery why these magazines continue to dominate.
But lit mag rankings never say, "Well, this magazine is great because it got $150,000 in pandemic aid money to solicit famous writers to submit!" or "This magazine is great because they have contests pulling in $100,000 each year with a $10,000 marketing budget!"
So, what do they say?
Well, there is Book Fox's 100+ Literary Magazines for Fiction:
The list below arranges literary journals in order of how many times they’ve had a short story or special mention in the last eleven years in the Best American Short Stories (BASS). I award a certain number of points for the winners and a lesser number of points for every special mention. Every October I’ll update the page to reflect the new year."
And, then we have Clifford Garstang's:
"Methodology. To create the rankings, I considered looking at the various annual anthologies (Best American Short Stories, O. Henry, and Pushcart) to see what the editors of those volumes considered the best magazines to be. Ultimately, for several reasons, I settled on using only the annual Pushcart Prize anthology. For one thing, it excluded the “slicks”—magazines like The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and Harpers—whose prestige is well-known."
And then Erika Krouse, who goes a bit deeper with her fiction list:
Score, calculated according to prizes won in recent years. Circulation. Who doesn’t want more readers?, then Money. Coolness.
But when you look at the data, there is only circulation info for 25/500 magazines, and the web visit info for 45/500. Payment info for 139/500. So I'd love to say that "coolness" is pulling it's weight here but then, when you look at the list, the ranking is mostly by "score."
Then we have the list: TOP 1000 LITERARY MAGAZINES from BRECHT DE POORTERE. Here is their methodology:
The ranking is based primarily on prizes/anthologies and gives greatest weight to the Best American Short Stories, topped up with Pushcart winners and honourable mentions...
There are loads of factors they give, but 96% of the weight is given to Best American Short Stories (90%) and Pushcart (6%)
So, OK. It's pretty obvious. We base rankings of literary magazines off of prizes/anthologies. Cool. So why wouldn't every magazine nominate for prizes? Every possible damn prize there is. Like, if I were to give you a recipe for making the best damn breakfast out there, I'd say, "OK, first, get some eggs." If you don't get eggs, well, that's on you.
Side note: when you look at those folks published in these anthologies, lots of them are agented writers from magazines that take fewer submissions from their slush piles. But, hell, that's a whole other hornets nest I'm not going to poke right now.
So, let’s get into where you can buy some eggs.
Side-side note: Okay, I really want to pick some bones with all of this but I'm holding back...but just one more. I mean, does anyone else find it a little fucked that many #1 ranking systems are based on “American” magazines? No...just me? OK, sorry. Hey, back to it.
Alright, let's take a look at these prizes and how to submit to them.
Side-Side-side Note: OK, just one more. Nearly all of the stories in O. Henry's Anthology this year were from magazines based in anglo/euro-centric countries.1 It seems like maybe (sometimes) indie lit has the same motto as New England: "It's not racist if you don't think about it."
So, let’s take a look at those prizes!
Major Awards
Best American...stuff
The qualifications for selection are (1) original publication in nationally distributed American or Canadian periodicals; (2) publication in English by writers who are from, live in, or have made North America their home; (3) original publication as short stories (excerpts of novels are not considered). Editors who wish their short fiction to be considered for next year's edition should send their publications to Heidi Pitlor, c/o The Best American Short Stories, P.O. Box 60, Natick, MA, 01760.
Oh hey, they're based in New England. Neat.
side-side-side-side note: Okay, I just want to point out that it is (at best) insensitive to refer to “America” only as The United States, when there is also South and Central America. To go a step further and include Canada in “American” Short stories is…woof. But also, yikes.
The Best Short Stories: O Henry Prize Anthology -
The guest editor chooses the twenty O. Henry Prize winners from a large pool of stories passed to her by the series editor. Stories published in magazines and online are eligible for inclusion. Stories may be written in English or translated into English. Stories will be considered from September 1 to August 31 of the following year. For more complete submission guidelines and to submit PDF files, please email jenny@ohenryprizewinners.com.
Oh, just to get the guidelines you have to email a person in…Connecticut. Hm, well, uh...nope. OK, moving on.
Pushcart Prizes:
We welcome up to six nominations (print or online) from little magazine and small book press editors throughout the world. We also accept nominations from our staff of distinguished Contributing Editors. The nominations may be any combination of poetry, short stories, essays, memoirs or stand-alone excerpts from novels. We welcome translations, reprints and both traditional and experimental writing. Nominations are accepted between October 1 - December 1 (postmarked) for next year's Pushcart edition. We do not accept nominations via email. Please send one copy of each work. Please do not send entire books or journals. No nominations can be returned. Nominations must have been published (or scheduled to be published) in the current calendar year. Mail to Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 380, Wainscott, NY 11975. Phone: 631.324.9300.
New York is beautiful. Foliage, y'know.
The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
Recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website, and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers. The 12 winning stories are selected by a committee of three judges who are well-respected experts in the art of the short story. The winning writers each receive a $2,000 cash prize and will be published by Catapult in their annual anthology, Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize. Submissions will close November 1, 2023.
Headquartered in New York City? Love New York City. Seasons.
And some smaller awards:
Best of the Net
Submissions must come from the editor of the publication (journal, chapbook, online press, etc), or, if the work is self-published, it may be sent by the author. Submissions must have originally appeared online, though later print versions are acceptable. The poem, story, or essay must have been first published or appeared on the web between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. For journals and presses, each entry may include up to: -six poems, -two stories, -two works of creative nonfiction, -and three works of art.
Submissions closed for 2023
Best Small Fictions
Editors are encouraged to send their five best works of flash and microfiction, haibun stories, and prose poems published in the previous year. Submissions for the 2024 edition will open on November 15, 2023, and run until January 31, 2024, and will consider pieces published in the 2023 calendar year. A submission portal will be available here when submissions open.
Best Micro Fiction Submissions
Editor's nominations (up to 6). 400 words or under. Open Oct 15th, 2022 - Dec. 1, 2022
Simple enough.
Alrighty, so that’s how you submit to prizes and become a prestigious literary magazine!
Gosh, well. I don't know how I feel about all this. Literary magazines based in the U.S. have an extreme advantage here. Like, I don’t want to come right out and say “screw that,” but…well, yeah.
The U.S.’s nonprofit structure means only a few magazines with time, money, and staff, have the time, money, and staff, to get funding for more time, money, and staff. Then, on top of it all, we’re ranking magazines based on prizes mostly limited to…The U.S. and/or organizations based in…The U.S.
So, yeah. This is how it’s done right now. I think it’s messed up, but I doubt anyone at Best “American” Short Stories gives a fuck what I think. And if you’re a magazine trying to make a name for yourself it is your only option.
I’m going to start working on our own ranking system, and start exploring more indie lit communities outside of America to write about. With things like The Gettysburg Review getting shuttered by the flick of an administrative wrist, and loads of other prominent magazines losing funding in recent years, it’s pretty clear that the U.S.-centric, institutionally-funded, prize-obsessed approach isn’t working all that well.
Side-side-side-side-side note: …just humor me with a last look at the major prizes in indie lit. Pushcart created by a person named Bill. There’s ‘Best American’ where you email a person named Heidi. Jenny, for O. Henry. And a prize from Robert. I want you to close your eyes and picture a Jenny, Heidi, Bill, and Robert reading your work. That’s what everyone sees.
…Oh, but in 2022, they opened up for African magazines too. Well...all good then. (I don’t want to be unfair here, but there is only so much chewing gum you can use to fill holes before it’s worth asking what’s being saved. I mean…2022?)