7 UK publications that will pay for your fiction

So you have written an amazing piece of fiction and would like to see it in print while making some money from your hard work. But a number of literary magazines do not offer payment, so where could you send it instead? Here are seven UK-based publications which will pay to publish your fiction.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but is just intended to inspire you! Information correct as of February 2020. The details or payment terms may change so please check website details for final confirmation of payment terms.

Also please see the publishing section for further info on publishers and organisations that may publish your work.

Gutter

Gutter is an award-winning, high quality, printed journal for fiction and poetry from writers born or living in Scotland and featuring literature from around the world.

Gutter says it is looking for ‘work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the status quo; that pushes at the boundaries of form and function; that is striking and beautiful.’

Payment: £25 for all work, regardless of length.

Find out more here.

Mslexia

Mslexia is the magazine for women who write. Published quarterly, the publication has no less than 14 open submission slots, including fiction, poetry and journalism.

Payment: £25 for most fiction pieces (excludes Pitch Perfect and First Page Surgery)

Find out more here.

New Welsh Review

Wales’s foremost literary magazine in English.

Short stories must be typed, single-sided and double-spaced, in the region of 2,500 to 3,000 words, although they do on occasion publish shorter stories and microfiction.

Payment: ‘In the region of’ £100

Find out more here.

The People’s Friend

The world’s longest-running women’s magazine (150 years and counting). Particularly popular with older women, The People’s Friend readers are traditionalists and enjoy uplifting stories, so steer clear of anything depressing or shocking.

Stories that contain any sex, drugs or violence will not be accepted.

Payment: £80 to start but payment can reach up to £300.

Find out more about submitting here

Shooter Literary Magazine

Shooter launched in January 2015 with the goal of supporting emerging writers of literary fiction, creative non-fiction, narrative journalism and poetry. Though based in the UK, Shooter publishes work in English by writers from anywhere in the world. It’s published bi-annually, in January and July.

The magazine will reopen for submissions in July 2020.

Payment: £25 for stories over 2,000 words.

Find out more here.

Shoreline of Infinity

Shoreline of Infinity is looking for engaging science fiction or fantasy stories, ‘something that gives reality a tweak on the nose’.

Payment: Up to £60 (£10 per 1,000 words, 6,000 words max)

Find out more here.

Have you had success with any of the above publications? Are there any others you feel we should mention? Please comment below!

The Fiction Desk:

General fiction stories, ghost stories or they post themes that they are looking for.

Payment Terms from the website:

£25 per thousand words for stories we publish (eg £100 for a 4,000 word story, or £150 for a 6,000 word story). Contributors also receive two complimentary paperback copies. The stories we publish are also eligible to enter the Writer’s Award, a cash prize of £100 for the best story in each volume, as judged by the contributors.

The Fiction Desk submission guidelines

Updates regarding – Previous Publications posted here on this post:

Ambit:

Sadly Ambit has closed. It appears the financial factors of this period in time and the death of a major contributor has caused it to close its doors. For more information, please see this page here: http://ambitmagazine.co.uk/

Reposting the note below from the website – incase it goes down completely:

Ambit was a quarterly literary periodical published in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 2023.

The magazine was founded by Martin Bax, a London-based novelist and consultant paediatrician. Uniting art, fiction, poetry and reviews, and distributed internationally, the magazine was in continuous publication until going on indefinite hiatus in April 2023.

During this time, Ambit was the proud publisher of thousands of poets, fiction writers and artists. Despite this, the magazine remained a small enterprise with many volunteers and sparse resources but with an intense commitment to the work.

Due to unwelcome financing factors including the loss of its archive sale and the death of a major patron, Ambit had to close its doors in April 2023.