For your perusal: freelance writing jobs, competitions, and places to publish. 


Each month we scour the myriad opportunities out there and come up with a carefully selected list of competitions, fellowships, grants and jobs for you to browse. But this is just a slice of what's out there. Want more? Sign up to our Bloc Boost service, and have a personal, curated list of opportunities delivered to you. 

Otherwise, you can also check out writing jobs or writing opportunities pages which are updated daily.

   

Writing Awards and Competitions

Elle Australia Writing Competition

For this year's ELLE Writing Competition, in association with Hachette Australia, we're looking for modern, contemporary voices telling stories that are engaging and subversive. We want: fresh, modern, topical tales that may or may not riff on pop culture. Humour is encouraged but not essential. We don't want: stories that make us sad. The world is dark enough. While there's no specific theme, we want unpublished stories that capture the mood of the moment. Write a 4,000 word short story on the topic of your choice. The deadline for entries is October 26, so if you've got a tale to tell, what are you waiting for? The winning fiction will be published in the January/February issue of ELLE, and the author awarded a $5,000 prize. Two runners-up will receive a prize pack of recent releases from Hachette Australia worth $200.

CLOSING 26/10/2018

The Joyce Parkes Women's Writers' Prize

Joyce Parkes Women’s Writers’ Prize honours Joyce Parkes who is a well known poet living in WA. She is the patron of the prize, which aims at promoting and encouraging women writers in Australia. Limit of 1,000 to 2,000 words in prose, fact or fiction. Prize Money: $500. Topic: 'Freedom'.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

Positive Words Magazine End-of-Year Competition 2018

Open theme, short stories up to 500 words; poems up to 32 lines. Entry fee is $4.00. First prize is $100, second prize a twelve-month subscription to Positive Words Magazine. 

CLOSING 31/10/2018

2018 Sydney Writers’ Room Short Story Competition

Entries are open to writers of all ages that are resident in Australia. The prizes will be $500 for the overall winner and $250 for the runner up.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

WOW! Women On Writing Q1 2018 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest

Seeking creative nonfiction essays between 200 - 1000 words on any topic and in any style--from personal essay to lyric essay to hybrid and more! The mission of this contest is to reward bravery in real-life storytelling and create an understanding of our world through thoughtful, engaging narratives. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

The Carter Brown Mystery Writing Awards

The Carter Brown Foundation in conjunction with Brio Books and Stark House Press is delighted to announce a new award for mystery writing. The competition is open to all writers over the age of 18 writing novella-length adult crime/mystery fiction (around 20,000–50,000 words).

CLOSING 31/10/2018

The 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words) in English. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000. Translated entries are also eligible, as are stories written in the original Bengali, Chinese, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan and Tamil. The competition is free to enter.

CLOSING 1/11/2018

2019 KYD New Critic Award

In 2019, the New Critic Award is once again open to critics working in all fields of arts and culture (books, film, television, theatre, music, dance, performance, visual arts, etc). This year we’re particularly interested in writing that speaks to the changing nature of arts criticism – whether that be critiquing an underexamined art form, experimenting with prose style and structure, or highlighting new or underrepresented voices and perspectives.

CLOSING 2/11/2018

Odyssey House Short Story Competition

Odyssey House Victoria invites all writers to enter in our annual Short Story Competition. This years theme is “Reflection”, an essential process for transforming experiences into genuine learning . This competition is open to writers of all ages and experience and submissions are due by the 2nd of November. Happy writing!

CLOSING 2/11/2018

Judith Wright Poetry Prize

Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets seeks outstanding poetry by writers who have published no more than one collection of poems under their own name (i.e. writers who’ve had zero collections published, or one solo collection published). It remains one of the richest prizes for emerging poets, and is open to poets anywhere in the world. In 2018, the major prize is $6000, with a second prize of $2000 and a third prize of $1000. All three winners will be published in the first issue of Overland’s print magazine of 2019.

CLOSING 19/11/2018

Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize

Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, and named after the late Neilma Gantner, this prize seeks excellent short fiction of up to 3000 words themed around the notion of ‘travel’; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged. This competition is open to all writers, nationally and internationally, at any stage of their writing career. The winning story will receive a $4000 first prize and be published in Overland’s first print issue for 2019. Two runners-up will each receive $500 and be published at Overland online to coincide with the release of the print magazine.

CLOSING 19/11/2018

Blackened Billy Verse Competition 2019

Entries to be relevant to Australia or Australians and to be written with accurate rhyme and metre. First Prize: $400, Blackened Billy Trophy and certificate.

CLOSING 23/11/2018

Penguin Literary Prize

The Penguin Literary Prize endeavours to find, nurture and develop new Australian authors writing in the areas of literary fiction, and is a nod to Penguin Random House’s literary heritage as the great Australian house of literature.

CLOSING 25/11/2018

WOW! Women On Writing Fall 2018 Flash Fiction Contest

WOW! Women on Writing invites entries to its Fall 2018 Flash Fiction Contest. The honorable guest judge this season is Literary Agent Heather Flaherty with The Bent Agency. Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 - 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity and provide well-rewarded recognition to contestants. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally. 

CLOSING 30/11/2018

The Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition

The competition is open to original, unpublished poems in the English language of less than 40 lines. The poem can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. First place prize is €1000, a week's residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, paid travel expenses (up to €600) and 4 nights accomodation in Cork city during the Cork International Poetry Festival (March 27-30) and publication in Southword Journal.

CLOSING 30/11/2018

Jim Hamilton Award

The Jim Hamilton Award for an unpublished novel of more than 30,000 words is open and closes on 30 November 2018. This year the award carries a first prize of one thousand dollars ($1000) with one award for highly commended and two awards for commended manuscripts. Entry fee is $20. FAW members $15.

CLOSING 30/11/2018

Robyn Mathison Annual Poetry Prize 2018

The competition is open to all poets (see Rules set out below). FIRST PRIZE: $200.00, SECOND PRIZE: $50.00, HIGHLY COMMENDED CERTIFICATES. Theme: Freedom CLOSING DATE: 30th November 2018 For further information email the Competition Secretary at: wendylaing02@gmail.com

CLOSING 30/11/2018

Ink Tears Short Story Contest

There are six prizes which will be awarded by the InkTears judging panel: Winner: £1,000, Runner-up: £100, 6x Highly Commended: £25. All prize winners will get their story published to the InkTears Readership and their bio published on the InkTears site.

CLOSING 30/11/2018

Jennifer Burbidge Award for Unpublished Short story

Length: up to 3000 words. First place prize of $250.

CLOSING 30/11/2019

Jim Hamilton Award for an Unpublished Novel

Length: minimum of 30,000 words. First place prize: $1000.

CLOSING 30/11/2019

2019 Peter Porter Poetry Prize

Australian Book Review welcomes entries in the fifteenth Peter Porter Poetry Prize. The Porter Prize, which is worth a total of AU$8,500, is open until 3 December 2018. The Porter Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected awards for poetry. It honours the life and work of the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010), an honoured contributor to ABR for many years. All poets writing in English are eligible to enter. First Prize: AU$5,000 and Arthur Boyd’s etching and aquatint The lady and the unicorn, 1975.

CLOSING 3/12/2018

Hal Porter Short Story Competition

Australian writers are invited to enter a short story, written in any style for the first prize of $1000. Manuscripts must be original works, in English, and must not have been previously accepted for publication, which includes websites. Any style of story is acceptable. Shortlisted writers will receive UQP publications.

CLOSING 10/12/2018

F(r)iction‘s Winter 2018 Poetry Contest

F(r)iction is accepting previously unpublished works of short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry. We accept submissions from writers located anywhere in the world, as long as the work is in English. In addition to prizes, winners in each category will be published in a future issue of F(r)iction and discussed in our Untethered Podcast.

CLOSING 15/12/2018

F(r)iction‘s Winter 2018 Short Story Contest

F(r)iction is accepting previously unpublished works of short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry. We accept submissions from writers located anywhere in the world, as long as the work is in English. In addition to prizes, winners in each category will be published in a future issue of F(r)iction and discussed in our Untethered Podcast.

CLOSING 15/12/2018

Overton Poetry Prize

The first-placed entry will be published in chapbook form. 100 copies will be published, of which the winning poet will receive 50.

CLOSING 20/12/2018

Buzz Words Short Story Prize for 2018

The Buzz Words Short Story Prize is a new annual prize of $1,000 awarded to recognise excellence in short story writing for children. The story must be suitable for readers 8 to 11 years.

CLOSING 31/12/2018

The Calibre Essay Prize

The Calibre Essay Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new essay and it is now worth a total of $7,500. The Calibre Essay Prize, then known as the Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, was first presented in 2007 to Elisabeth Holdsworth for her essay 'An die Nachgeborenen: For Those Who Come After' as part of a joint initiative between ABR and Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund. Entry is now open for 2019 Calibre Essay Prize. Founded in 2007 and now worth a total of AU$7,500 the Calibre Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new non-fiction essay. Entry is open to all essayists writing in English. We are seeking essays of between 2,000 and 5,000 words on any subject. We welcome essays of all kinds: personal or political, literary or speculative, traditional or experimental.

CLOSING 14/1/2019

The Fantastica Prize

Fantastica invites Australian and New Zealand writers to submit science fiction manuscripts for consideration. Winners will have their manuscript carefully shepherded to publication by an editor and the Fantastica team. The winning novel will be professionally designed with our usual flair and unleashed in digital and printed form in bookshops, on our website and ebook retailers.

CLOSING 31/1/2019

2019 Newcastle Short Story Award

Submit a short story up to 2000 words. Open theme. 30 selected works will be published in the 2019 anthology.

CLOSING 8/2/2019

The WB Yeats Poetry Prize

First Prize AU $500. Two Second Prizes AU $75.

CLOSING 31/3/2019

Residencies, Festivals, Fellowships and Funds

KSP Writers' Centre Fellowship Program

The KSP Writers’ Centre is proud to host this annual Fellowship program for Australian adult authors providing two-week placements for dedicated aspiring and emerging writers looking to advance their career and develop a project at a professional level. Successful applicants are gifted with the time and space to work in an inspirational environment with special access to Katharine’s Cottage, where celebrated novelist Katharine Susannah Prichard wrote most of her life works.

CLOSING 28/10/2018

Varuna's Publisher Introduction Program 2019

Each year, our Varuna assessors select the work of 25 writers to be read by one of our participating publishers. From that pool, our publishers choose five writers to receive a PIP Development Residency, which includes a seven-day residency at Varuna, extended manuscript consultation and a half-day publishing workshop.

CLOSING 30/10/2018

Our Watch Fellowships

The Our Watch Fellowship Program is a prestigious leadership opportunity for 14 outstanding journalists. They’ll have the opportunity to build and refine their knowledge of best practice reporting on violence against women, and deepen their understanding of the complexities of the issue, through a series of three retreats around the country.

CLOSING 15/11/2018

Publications Seeking Submissions

Submit to The Lifted Brow

The Lifted Brow is accepting fiction, non-fiction, poetry and translated works for their first 2019 issue.

CLOSING 26/10/2018

Submit to Gorse

We are interested in the potential of literature, in literature where lines between fiction, memoir and history blur (Sebald, Cendrars, Bolaño, Joyce), in experimental writing, in fiction in translation, in the unconventional and the under recognised, in the personal essay (Sontag, Dyer). We are a literary journal equally interested in the arts (fine art, photography, architecture, film, music), in culture, in politics. We’re looking for smart writing, not academic.

CLOSING 28/10/2018

Submit to Stilts Journal

Stilts is now open for submissions for Issue 3! This issue will be released in December 2018. We are looking to read high quality, unpublished poems.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

Submit to Brevity Mag

Brevity publishes well-known and emerging writers working in the extremely brief (750 words or less) essay form. We have featured work from two Pulitzer prize finalists, many NEA fellows, Pushcart winners, Best American authors, and writers from India, Egypt, Ireland, Spain, Malaysia, Qatar, and Japan. We have also featured numerous previously-unpublished authors, and take a special joy in helping to launch a new literary career. Over the past year Brevity has averaged 10,000 unique visitors per month.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

Bloodhound Books submissions

Bloodhound Books are renowned in the industry for producing high quality crime and mystery thrillers. Our dedicated team of industry professionals have a real passion for working closely with our authors to create the very best books. Our unique and personal approach has helped debut and bestselling authors across the world achieve outstanding success.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

Lor Journal: Submissions Open

Lor is a Melbourne-based literary journal. Lor prioritises content by women and gender-diverse contributors. Lor celebrates collaboration and community both on- and offline via regular readings and events. Lor publishes essay, poetry, art, review, interview, and prose. We publish content that is short, compelling and experimental.

CLOSING 31/10/2018

Submit to Peach Mag

Send all submissions to peachmgzn@gmail.com. Choose one of the following for the subject line of your email: POETRY, PROSE, or VISUAL ART. 

CLOSING 31/10/2018

Call for Submissions: ABC Radio National Drama Series

The ABC is looking for radio and podcast drama series from experienced writers who are new to the audio medium. Submissions are for audio series of between four to eight episodes, of up to a maximum of 25 minutes duration for each episode. The call-out is open to writers of fiction, memoir, theatre or screen with little or no experience writing for the audio medium. You must be a published writer to submit a work. This includes works that have been professionally performed, but not self-published works. Please provide a bio and links to your previously published work.

CLOSING 4/11/2018

Submit to Cordite issue 89: Domestic

Poetry for Cordite 89: DOMESTIC is guest-edited by Natalie Harkin. Submit poems (prose, comics, visual, concrete) or works of micro-fiction (500 words maximum).

CLOSING 11/11/2018

Write for The Wheeler Centre's Notes: Full

Eight times a year, we publish Notes – a collection of new work, supported by writing and recordings from our archive, exploring a broad idea or theme. We’re accepting pitches for upcoming editions on the theme of Full, and the deadline for pitches is November 12th. We encourage first-person pieces, creative non-fiction, Q&A-style interviews and researched, feature-style culture pieces (ideally with an Australian angle). We’re more interested in thoughtful/reflective pieces than straight opinion pieces that just put forward one side of an argument.

CLOSING 12/11/2018

Djed Press: The Moment

Over twelve months, Djed Press will feature a mix of emerging and established poets for our new series The Moment. EOIs are now invited from emerging or established First Nations and/or other poets of colour. Please note this call-out is for Australian poets or poets based in Australia only. The set rate paid per piece is AUD$75.

CLOSING 15/11/2018

Coffin Bell submissions

Coffin Bell is an online journal of dark literature edited by Tamara Burross Grisanti and a staff of volunteer editors. Coffin Bell is looking for poetry, flash fiction, short stories, and creative nonfiction (see our guidelines for word counts). Send us your waking nightmares, dystopian flash, dark CNF, cursed verse. CURRENT CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: “MAGIC”–make us think in a new way about all things magical (or magickal). This includes magical realism. Give us your underhanded magicians, unscrupulous witches, devious wizards, and ways to think about magic that haven’t even occurred to us. Free submissions start July 1st, Tip Jar submissions open now!

CLOSING 31/12/2018

Submit to Rabbit Journal Issue 27: The Tense Issue

RABBIT is currently accepting submissions of nonfiction poetry for Issue 27: The TENSE Issue, to be guest co-edited by Brisbane-based poet Pascalle Burton and Northern Rivers-based poet David Stavanger.

CLOSING 4/1/2019

Skywriters Anthology 2019

The Skywriters Project‘s first anthology will be published in 2019 as a royalty title in print and eBook formats (pdf, ePub and Kindle versions). It will be distributed under a global license held by our publisher, Interactive Publications Pty Ltd (IP). Creative writers and aspiring writers are invited to submit skystories about their own or other people’s (or other beings?) relationships with celestial phenomena, as experienced from within the fuzzy borders of the region we’ve defined as the 700 Kilometre Array (700KA) of inland New South Wales.

CLOSING 31/1/2019

Submit to Griffith Review 65: Crimes and Punishments

Griffith Review 65: Crimes and Punishments invites stories that brush with the law: from felons to forensics, from true crime to social justice, from corruption and criminology to Koori courts and other revolutionary reforms. We seek essays, reportage, and stories – fiction and non-fiction – as well as memoir and poetry that delve into the narratives, the policies and the procedures of the myriad aspects of crime, justice and punishment in Australia today.

CLOSING 4/2/2019

The Australian Prose Poetry Anthology

In 2020 Melbourne University Press will be publishing an anthology of Australian prose poetry, edited by Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington, and entitled 'The Australian Prose Poetry Anthology'. This anthology will chart the trajectory of the Australian prose poetry from its beginnings to the present day, and will include about 150 works. Cassandra and Paul now invite submissions from contemporary Australian prose poets for consideration for publication in the anthology.

CLOSING 1/3/2019

Submit to Concrete Queers

The next two themes for CQ issues and their submission call end dates are: CQ13: Fairytales – November 25 CQ14: Speculative Fiction – March 15 We have a limit of 1000 words for written pieces. For visual art we mostly print in black and white. We do print the covers in colour, so if you have a colour piece that you think might be suitable, send it through!

CLOSING 15/3/2019

Passages North

Passages North is now open for submissions in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction/Hybrids, and Short-Shorts. Please see individual genre guidelines before submitting. Note that we are open for Fiction submissions from Sept 1-Oct 15 and Jan 1-Feb 15. All other genres remain open from Sept 1-Apr 15. Please note that your submission, especially if it is on the shorter side, may be considered for online publication.

CLOSING 15/4/2019

Sweaty City

SWEATY CITY is a youth journal of creative non-fiction, environmental journalism and science writing that aims to engage young people living in Sydney about environmental issues. We are currently seeking long-form journalism about urban ecologies, city-dwelling native species, stories of climate change and the intersection of cityscapes and nature for our first print edition.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Salt Hill Journal

Salt Hill publishes poetry, prose, translations, reviews, essays, interviews, and artwork. We read submissions for the magazine between August 1 and April 1 of each year and for the Philip Booth Poetry Award between May 15 and August 1.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Baby Teeth Journal

Baby Teeth Journal is a literary and multi-media arts publication based in Wollongong NSW. We have a focus on local, queer creators but accept submissions from across the globe. We welcome submissions from almost every artistic medium. Flat rate of $50.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Threepenny Review

The Threepenny Review is one of the most well renowned and respected literary journals in America. They publish authors from all over the world, and many famous writers, both poets and fiction writers have been published in The Threepenny Review. The Threepenny review also pays very well. They pay $400 per short story and $200 per poem. This is a good amount of money for even a print journal to offer its contributors. It is far more than most literary publications offer.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Renaissance Magazine

Renaissance Magazine accepts the following unsolicited content related to the Renaissance and Middle Ages for consideration: Articles related to history, travel, Renaissance Faires, the SCA and related reenactment groups; Interviews with artists, artisans, performers, reenactors, and scholars; Book reviews (historical fiction and nonfiction are acceptable); and Music CDs and CD reviews. The average feature article is approximately 1,500 words. Features pay 10 cents/word. Columns of 500 to 1,000 words pay $50. Columns of 200 to 400 words pay $25.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Story Seed Vault

The Vault is an online periodical that adheres to the limitation of Twitter publishing. We consider all types of fiction with one condition – your story must be based on science.

OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS FROM THE 10TH - 24TH OF EVERY MONTH

Submittable Eclectic Essays

We’re always on the lookout for short, engaging essays. We tend to favor work about the life, work, and process of writing, publishing, visual art, or any other creative pursuit. We’re also interested in the interplay of the arts and tech, whether drawn from your personal experience, or from observations of the world at large. Often, though, we don’t know what we’re looking for until we see it, so feel free to send something our way that we might find to be unexpectedly perfect for our blog and readership.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

ACMI

We commission writing about film, television, video games, moving image art and the internet, including critical analyses and fresh perspectives about specific works and makers, “How to do it” guides by experts to inspire other makers, historical explainers of movements and phenomena, personal responses to moving image works, and interviews with moving image makers. We don’t commission evaluative reviews (like a film or game review with a star rating, etc). The writing should illuminate the work and help the reader to connect with it more deeply.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Overland Literary Journal

Overland accepts pitches on any subject on an ongoing basis, but they are currently looking for articles on: universal basic income, bitcoin, university management, Netflix algorithms, and Goodreads.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

The Lifted Brow

TLB publishes work on its website that fits into two categories: TLB Review of Books or Commentary, and we welcome pitches for both.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Masters Review

Submissions for our New Voices category are open year round. New Voices is open to any new and emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length. You must not have a novel forthcoming at the time of submission. Published short-story collections do not count as a novel-length work and those authors are free to submit. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of stories from new authors each month.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Write for Archer

Archer publishes articles and images about sexuality, gender and identity from a diverse range of writers/artists, from all levels of experience.Archer is aimed at all individuals interested in sexuality, gender and equality. Archer promotes inclusivity, regardless of gender identity, geographical location, ethnic identity, sexual orientation or level of education.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Pitch to The Big Issue

We accept unsolicited material, if it is polished and fits the tone and style of the magazine, is clearly targeted at a particular section of the magazine and falls within the word counts relevant to a particular section. (For example 750 words for 'My Word' submissions or 1800 for a four-page feature; see the attached 'Word Counts' information box.)

Alternatively, writers can pitch story ideas by email first. To be considered, your pitch should explain which section of the magazine the story is intended for, be one paragraph long, contain a topic sentence, a sample introductory sentence and explain the story angle, writing tone, suggested word length, a list of possible interviewees (if appropriate) and whether or not photographs and/or illustrative material is available.

If your story is linked to a particular event (or date, or anniversary) you must pitch it at least two months before the event takes place. Important note: as a national publication, we are unlikely to accept stories that have a specifically local focus. If we like your idea, we will call or email you to discuss it further.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Earth Island Journal Submissions

Earth Island Journal is always looking for compelling and distinctive stories that anticipate environmental concerns before they become pressing problems, stories that scan the horizon for the next big issue. We want stories that will surprise, provoke, and entertain our readers and that explore new territory overlooked by other publications.

Our readership is international, so please don’t pitch stories on local issues unless they have broader (read: national or international) interest or implications. Please read through our magazine’s current and back issues (archives are available online) to get a better idea of the kind of stories we publish before you send a query.

We pay writers 25¢/word print stories. You can expect to earn about $750-$1000 for an in-depth feature story (about 4,000 words).

For online reports, the fee ranges from $50 to $100. Online reports are a great way to get into the Journal, especially if you are new to reporting and writing. We publish online five days a week and are always looking for fresh ideas.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Electric Athenaeum - Open Submissions

Electric Athenaeum is a Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine publishing short fiction, articles, poetry, and interviews. Each issue features an accompanying theme, and is available for free to readers. They are open to submissions for this issue’s theme, Future Generations, and consider any genre of speculative fiction. They pay £50 per story.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Forever Yours: Now Accepting Book Submissions

Forever is the romance imprint of Grand Central Publishing. Grand Central Publishing is an imprint of the Hachette Book Group, one of the big five publishers. Forever Yours is the digital sister of Forever, they focus on publishing unagented authors, and often publish authors without a publication history. They publish eBooks, but they an option to print on demand any book over 50,000 words in length.

Fairlight Books

Fairlight Books is currently open for literary submissions of short stories, novellas and novels. We are happy to accept submissions of longer fiction direct from authors.Fairlight Books is currently open for literary submissions of short stories, novellas and novels. We are happy to accept submissions of longer fiction direct from authors.

Walker Wednesday

Walker Wednesday allows budding authors to submit their manuscripts to Walker Books’ award-winning editorial team on the first Wednesday of each month. Walker Books is currently accepting submissions of middle grade and young adult fiction from Australian and New Zealand authors.

Monthly Catch at Penguin

Do you have a manuscript you would like Penguin to consider? Penguin Group have what’s known as the ‘Monthly Catch’. During the first week of every month, you can submit unsolicited manuscripts for their consideration.

Manuscript Monday - Pan Macmillan

On the first Monday of every month only, between 10am and 4pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, we accept electronic submissions that comply with the guidelines set out below.

Manuscript submissions sent on any other Mondays or day of the month will not be read so we advise you to wait until the next month if you miss the deadline.

We are looking for:

Commercial fiction – women’s fiction, romance, thriller, crime, historical, humour, paranormal, fantasy
Literary fiction and non-fiction – novels, short stories, and narrative non-fiction only
Children’s books and young adult – junior and middle grade fiction, young adult/crossover fiction; we are not accepting picture book submissions
Commercial non-fiction – history, memoir, mind body spirit, travel, health, diet, biography
Please familiarise yourself with what we publish. We do not publish scripts, plays or poetry in Australia and will not assess them.

Academic submissions are not accepted during Manuscript Monday.

Right Now

Right Now is committed to covering human rights issues in Australia through free, accessible, creative and engaging online, print and radio media. 

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Scum Mag

Scum is interested in publishing feminist-friendly work of any variety, but as a general rule your piece should be under 1000 words (50 lines for poetry) and able to be classified as “fiction”, “culture”, “memoir”, “column”, “poetry”, and/or “review”. They tend not to publish traditional reviews of books and films—to get a feel for the reviews they do publish, check the review tag. Feel free to pitch to them if you’re not sure if your piece is a good fit. (Please note that they don’t accept pitches for fiction or poetry.) 

Submissions to Scum are open the first week (from the 1st to the 7th) of every month. The rest of the month, submissions are closed. They pay $60 per piece of writing. 

Seizure - Flashers

At Seizure, short-form work is living large. Flashers is the online home of Australian flash fiction.

Each week we publish work between 50 and 500 words that could be written in an hour and read in a minute. We are looking for short, sharp snippets of prose. But flash fiction is so much more than a quick-fix for the time-hungry wordaholic. Flash fiction attracts writers and readers for its peculiar challenges – and authors have to make every word count.

Accepted pieces will have an accompanying illustration by a volunteer artist that matches and complements the writing. Thanks to the Australia Council, we are able to pay our Flasher contributors $50 for each published piece.

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING

Slice Magazine is open for submissions

SLICE magazine welcomes submissions for short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We’re looking for anyone with a fresh voice and a compelling story to share—basically any work that really knocks our socks off. At the core, Slice aims to bridge the gap between emerging and established authors by offering a space where both are published side-by-side. In each issue, a specific cultural theme becomes the catalyst for articles, interviews, stories, and poetry from renowned writers and lesser known voices alike. We offer all contributors to Slice a monetary award for their work ($250 for stories and essays and $75 for poems).

SUBMISSIONS ONGOING


 

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Catherine Bouris's picture

Catherine Bouris

Community Manager at Writers Bloc, Founder of Young Australian Writers, @catherinebouris on Twitter