Nick Guthrie

author of crime fiction

creator of DI Bolam

Crime fiction: short story markets

Note: This is a list compiled to suit my own needs, and shared because it might be useful to other writers. I try to keep it up to date, but please don’t blame me if markets change or if I’ve missed anything – always check and confirm the details for yourself! Also, while trying to be reasonably comprehensive, I’m far less interested in markets that require reading fees or that don’t pay authors at least something for their work, and unless there’s good reason, won’t list them here. Response times are included as a very rough guide, and are mainly based on my own experience; sites like Submission Grinder base response times on far more data. Any updates and/or corrections to this listing are welcome at nick (at) nickguthrie.co.uk

Other guides:

• The Submission Grinder is a lot of people’s go-to for market listings.
• Some of the online submission platforms are also searchable for open markets: Submittable has a Discover option; Moksha has an Open Publications listing; and there’s Duotrope, if you’re a member (which I’m not).
• If you’re a member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society (which you really should be if you write short crime fiction), they have market listings in their Files area.
• The Authors’ Guild lists various calls for submissions on a monthly basis.
• Publishing… and Other Forms of Insanity has another good monthly listing.
• International Writers’ Collective: where to submit mystery thriller and crime stories.
• Sub Club - a Substack newsletter listing submission calls etc. Most of the useful info is hidden behind a paywall, though, and the newsletter is mostly teasers, with no way of assessing the value of the information without paying...
• Authors Publish - another newsletter listing submission calls.
• International Thriller Writers has lots of useful info for members; membership is free if you qualify as an active author.

Short fiction markets, professionalish rates:

• Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine: a bucket-list market for me, and I’m thrilled to have sold to them. Bi-monthly, any length up to 12k words. Pays 5-8c a word; response time approximately 12-15 months.
• Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine: the other bucket-list market for me, and again I’m delighted to have sold to them. Bi-monthly, any length up to 20k words. Pays 5-8c a word; response time approximately 1-3 months.
• Body Shots: literary fiction journal, open to genre work; keen on transgressive, counter-cultural, etc, but not exclusively (or even primarily) so; up to 7,500 words; pays $35 to $150, depending on length.
• Cold Caller: a new crime/mystery magazine. Length 2k-6k is the sweet spot, although they will consider up to 10k words. Pays $125; target response time 3 to 6 months.
• Gumshoe Review: up to 1000 words; story should have an investigator protagonist and result in some form of justice; pays 5c/word.
• Mystery Tribune: generally 3000-6000 words; pays, but amount unspecified; response time said to be within 3 months.
• People's Friend for cosy, uplifting tales, including crime; 2k & 3k are the sweet-spot wordcounts; pays £80 per story, rising for regular contributors.
• Pulp Literature: open to any genre, not just pulp; pays well, rates varying by word-count, but starting at 5-8c per word up to 5k words; open to longer stories.
• Pulphouse Fiction Magazine: open to any genre. Always an impressive contributors' list; invitation-only, apart from the occasional open call.
• Rock and a Hard Place (and Stone's Throw magazine): the magazine takes short-shorts (1k-2k words; pays $25), and they also publish anthologies.
• Sherlock Holmes' Mystery Magazine: now an annual publication, focused on Sherlock Holmes articles and stories. Pays 3c per word.
• Spotify Audiobooks are open to novelettes of 10-20k words written for audio. Genres: romance, mystery/thriller, or sci-fi/fantasy (cross-genre appeal encouraged, such as romantasy, dark romance thriller, mystery sci-fi, or psychological thriller).
• Story Unlikely: open to most genres. Word limit 3500 words. Pays 8c per word; 2c per word for reprints.
• Strand: classic, long-established short fiction market; open to crime fiction. Generally, they don't respond unless it's an acceptance, which can take a long time, so writers often submit, leave it 2-3 months, and then assume rejection and submit elsewhere; if Strand later accepts the story, that’s not a bad problem to have to unravel.
• Uncharted: 1000-5000 words; pays $200 per story; response time approximately 2-3 months.
• Vautrin: higher brow than some, and classy, but has been closed to submissions for a while now.
• White Cat Publications: 2.5k word limit; mystery, romance, thrillers, suspense, ghost stories and horror stories (no slasher stories, please), westerns, steampunk and fantasy; pays 2c/word.
• You might see Mystery Weekly or, as it later became, Mystery Magazine, on market listings. Sadly, this fabulous magazine ceased publication in 2024.

Other paying short fiction markets:

• Black Cat Weekly: prefer 1500-15k words; pays 1c per word, up to $50. Response time within a month.
• Fiction on the web: 1-20k words; pays £15 per story.
• Misti Media regularly publish excellent themed anthologies, particularly music-themed; authors are paid small fees.
• Mythaxis: up to 5000 words, pays €0.01 per word, with a €20 minimum. One issue a year is devoted to crime fiction.
• Noir Nation: pays at least a small amount; check their site for specific requirements.
• Pulp Asylum: 3000 words max; pays $15 flat fee. Traditional genres/styles: "horror, mystery, crime, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, western, and just plain weird".
• Saturday Evening Post: 1000-5k words; pays $25; their estimated response time 90 days.
• Scribble magazine: check their site for specific requirements.
• Shotgun Honey: 300-700 word short-shorts; pays $15 per story.
• Tough: prefer 1500-7500 words; pays $50 per story; like rural settings.

Nick Guthrie

author of crime fiction

Short stories in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (Nov/Dec 2024) and forthcoming in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly

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