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.

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

Ambit

Ambit is a 96-page quarterly literary and art magazine. It is created in London, published in the UK, and read internationally. It’s available through subscription, in selected bookshops, and in libraries worldwide.

The magazine is put together entirely from unsolicited submissions and Ambit’s website claims the team looks at everything that is sent to them.

Payment: £30 for UK story writers, £10 for flash fiction.

Find out more here.

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 publishes fiction and non-fiction penned by female writers

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 and payment rates 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.