Top 20 best marketplaces to sell short stories for money from home

Don’t you want some extra money in your pocket?

By writing and selling short stories, you will make $100 to $500 per story.

It gives an awesome feeling to make some additional income just to sell short stories for money as a side hustle.

That’s additional income is known as passive income.

And there are many streams where you can make a nice amount of passive income.

And selling short stories is one of them. It is the easiest way to make a supplementary source of income. And for that, you need to write a short story which is another easy task.

All you have to do is get an idea create a character and use proper plots and themes, your story will get ready.

And it would be an additional benefit if you know a great overview and get paid to write short stories.

So, let me ask you, isn’t it good to make some income in your free time to support your family or yourself financially?

And for that shake sell short stories for money to magazines and websites.

There are several platforms to sell short stories for money and many ways to make money writing short stories.

Up to here, it is good making money to sell your short stories.

But now the question that comes to mind is-

Why should you write a short story?

What are the means to sell short stories?

How much will I get paid for one short story?

Where to sell short stories for money ( list of apps, websites, and magazines?

So, here I am going to cover these topics step by step to give you a deep thorough knowledge about selling short stories for money.

Let’s start the guide-

Why should you write a short story?

The simplest answer to the question is passive or supplementary income.

But never you should keep your eyes only on making money. It won’t work. Yes, making money is a part of that process but you should always focus on creating an amazing story.

Because when anyone reads your story, he/she reads to get a specific emotional feeling and experience.

So, keep providing amazing and valuable content in your stories and money will automatically follow you. A better story is equal to better money.

And it can help you to pay your electricity, water bill, your apartment rent, and your expenses like gifts, dinner, and drinks.

How’s that if all your side expenses are cut off from your main income streams? Only this will allows you to save more and invest more.

Achieve your financial freedom and getting early retirement, will help you to grow.

And if you have good knowledge of grammar and the English language then why don’t you write your own stories to make something extra?

If you don’t feel confident about grammar and punctuation, you can use Grammarly for spelling and grammar checks.

Now the thing is why you should choose Grammarly as a writer?

I am personally using Grammarly since day 1 when I started my writing career.

Here are the benefits of Grammarly that you will require as a writer.

1. Clarity-focused sentence rewriter
2. Tone adjustments
3. Inclusive language
4. Word choice
5. Formality level
6. Fluency
7. Additional Suggestions

I believe this tool will enhance your writing skill more amazingly. You can also add a free extension to your chrome browser.

It is free. So, choose Grammarly to make your writing career skyrocket.

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Now another query is-

What is the mean by selling short stories?

Here, it is clear enough that selling means you give your items, and products to another one charging them currency, for other items, or products.

But presently, it is a transactional method where the seller charges an amount of money.

Likewise selling short stories means you will write a short story and another guy will buy your short story giving you a specific amount.

After that, you don’t have any copywriting control or any other type of control over it. This is a great source of income.

Why, because a short story is only 2% of a novel in terms of words, characters, events, and plots.

It takes a shorter period to write a short story. And then you can sell short stories online and offline.

Also, most people don’t like to read too much. They prefer a short book or story.

There are many types of short stories like fiction and non-fiction.

Your story may be a crime story, romance story, emotional story, or religious story. And for each type of short story, you can get paid.

There are apps and websites and magazines available where you can sell short stories for money.

Now I hope you are clear up here. Now the other biggest curiosity that comes to mind is-

How much will I get paid for one short story?

Well, it depends on the apps, websites, or magazines where you sell your short story. Every platform or marketplace hair own parameters to decide how much you will be making.

But, yes you can figure out a rough figure for each marketplace.

But on lums, um you will make around $100 to $500 at least.

And most things depend on your story. Things matter like the category of the story ( romance, crime, emotional ), word count, pages, etc.

So, there is not any single factor that decides the price of the short story.

Now, you have an idea about how much you can make just to sell short stories online.

Let’s move further toward the biggest question when it comes to making money by writing short stories.

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Where to sell short stories for money ( list of apps, websites, and magazines?

There are plenty of apps, websites, and magazines where you can sell short stories for money.

Here, I listed some of the best options for you where you will get the maximum price for your stories. So, let’s start one by one.

AMAZON-

Yes, amazon is the biggest e-commerce website and marketplace out there. And Amazon also buys short stories as an ebook.

You can use the amazon direct kindle publishing tool to publish your short story ebook. You get more than 70% of the royalty on each sale. Amazon provides the facility to keep your copyrights and manage your sales dashboard.

Look at our full in-depth guide on-

How can you sell short stories on Amazon?

AGNI MAGZINE-

Agni is a literacy magazine situated at Boston university where you can sell your stories, poems, essays, interviews, and reviews.

Agni is quite famous across the globe for new writers. And this is how its homepage looks.

They publish their magazine twice a year once in April last and the second edition in October last.

You can submit your writings by electronic method or by postal.

But they may take 3 to 4 months to respond.

AGNI team only responded and read the submissions mail which arrives from September 1 to May 31.

This magazine only considers work in the English language or translated into English.

Also, they don’t publish the material which is already available in online communities or any app or website.

They also don’t publish mystery, romance, and science fiction yet you can take characters from these categories.

And to submit your work via a free online portal and postal.

AGNI postal address-

AGNI Magazine
Boston University
236 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215

How much will you get paid? Whatever you submit is considered to print on magazines and online portals.

Here, you will get paid $10 per printed page with validation and $20 per page on poetry, and a maximum of up to 150.

Also, you will get a one-year free subscription which is worth close to $23 per year.

For more guidance about AGNI, you can check here.

CARVE MAGZINE-

It is another magazine where you can sell your short story online. Here, you can read the print, digital, and online stories under the menu.

While under the write menu, you can take writing classes and writing workshops.

Carve hosts two types of contested contests. The first one is the Raymond contest where you can win $2000 in the prize.

And the second one is the pros & poetry contest where you can win $1000 in prize money. Carve accepts only short story, poetry, and nonfiction submissions.

Here, you can submit fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Also, you can submit your writing work by online portal or postal address.

Here, for fiction, you will get paid $100 an additional 5 to 10% offer feedback on declined submissions.

And for poetry, Agni magazine pays $50 per printed piece and offers an additional 5 to 10% on declined submissions. And the rates for non-fiction are the same as for poetry.

You can also withdraw your submissions work at any time just by login into your submittable account.

I recommend you check Agni magazine guidelines before proceeding to submit your short story to sell online.

BOULEVARD MAGZINE-

THE SUN MAGZINE-

The sun is also a famous ad-free and independent magazine where you can sell your short stories.

This magazine is trusted having the last forty years of presence and more than 70000 subscribers.

Here, you can sell essays, fiction stories, poetry, and interviews.

Here, they publish issues we face in real life. And with this magazine, there is no word barrier.

You can send your work online and by postal. But to send from the online method, first, you need to create an account on Sun. And the postal address is as below-

The Sun
107 N. Roberson St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Now the main interesting question is-

How much The sun magazine pays writers?

This depends on the category to category. Price rates for each category are different.

1. For Fiction- For fiction $300 to $2000 per fiction story.
2. For Poetry- For poetry $100 to $250 per poet.
3. For essays- For essays, they pay $300 to $2000 per essay.

This magazine also buys rights for one time and after your story publication, all rights are reverted to the author.

It means the magazine can’t publish your story twice. If that will then they have to pay you again.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE-

This magazine doesn’t approve of unpleasant talks and non-fiction stories. But, yes you can submit fiction stories, poetry, and cartoons.

You can also submit daily routines and babble talks.

To submit your short story online to new yorker magazine you can use a submittable online portal and for fiction, you can use fiction@newyorker.com online mail.

Otherwise, you can use a portal to sell your short story to this magazine which is as mentioned below-

• Fiction Editor,
• The New Yorker,
• 1 World Trade Center, 
• New York, NY 10007

Here, the magazine team will read your short story within 90 days and will contact you if they will be interested in your story to publish.

If they don’t contact you within 90 days then you can assume that your work is not going to publish.

And for poems, you can send only twice a year and six poems in one submission as one document.

This magazine is also interested in fresh work which has not been published anywhere else on websites or publications.

And the maximum time to respond is six months. And cartoon you can send up to 10 at once which are checked on a rolling basis.

Pays- As per the latest published report you can earn up to $200 for each category.

ONE STORY-

One story is also a great platform to sell your short story online. But this has a submission period only from January 15th – May 31st and September 7th – November 14th.

They only publish science fiction stories and accepts stories having 3000 words to 8000 words yet the word count may be longer depending on your story.

Once, your story is published then your rights will revert to you.

But here is a great option you have if your story is published outside North America, your story would be considered.

If your story is previously published on any blog or website then your work won’t be accepted.

Here, you can submit your story in TXT or PDF format including the story title and author contact information.

To submit your story you need to create a one-story account first. And the response time is close to 3 months.

And the status of your story submission you can check after logging in to your one-story account.

I recommend you check one story guideline to submit your story first.

Does one story pay for your short story submissions?

Yes, one story pays $500 per short story.

THE SCIENCE & FICTION MAGAZINE–

This magazine prefers mostly character-oriented short stories. It may be fantasy, humor, horror, etc.

But they have a word count limit of 25000 words in a fiction story.

Magazines staff recommends reading a print magazine before submitting your short story to sell.

They accept one short story at a time from one writer. And the average time to respond is 8 weeks.

They buy North American and foreign serial rights and an option on anthology rights.

You can check science & fiction magazine guidelines here.

How much does this magazine pay for one short story?

Science & fiction pays 8 to 12 cents per word in your story. And the accepted word length is 25000 so, you can calculate.

Which is approx $2500 to $3000 per short story.

 CICADA MAGZINE-

This magazine publishes and allows for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and literature in translation.

Here, you can submit only one story at a time. They don’t accept previously published short stories.

They purchase only one-time rights for electronic publication. Their average response time is 60 days.

If you get a rejection mail then stay and suggest you wait at least 14 days before submitting again.

You can submit your short story in .docx or .doc format attached to your mail.

And don’t forget to submit your information in up to 150 words. You can also add translator notes as well up to 300 words.

For more details, you can check their guidelines as well.

How much cicada magazine pays for each short story?

This magazine pays 0.25 cents per word up to 9000 words.

And They pay up to $2500. For fiction, they accept words up to 5000 while for non-fiction 3500 words.

And for poetry not more than 10 pages and you can submit only five poems at a time.

FIRESIDE MAGZINE-

Fireside is another magazine that publishes short stories, artwork, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Here, you can sell your short stories for money easily. This magazine was founded in 2012 and its goal is to find great short stories.

They also pay well to their writers. The fireside magazine pays 12.5 cents per word.

And presently 8 cents per word is considered a good amount. For poems, fireside pays flat $100 while for illustrations they pay $400. Which is a good amount.

To know when submission is open that you can subscribe to their newsletter. They accept short stories with a word limit of 3000 words to 7000 words.

But they have certain conditions to sell short stories online the story should be previously unpublished, the language should be English, word count report.

Globally, people can submit short stories to a fireside magazine. Your short story should not contain or promote fascism, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, etc.

For more guidance check fireside magazine guidelines.

CRICKET MAGZINE-

Cricket magazine is an e-learning platform for children.

And their readers are young children are within the age group 9 to 14 years old.

So, cricket seeks the highest quality of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, puzzles, crafts, activities, and short stories for its enthusiastic readers.

This magazine only receives via an online portal, not a hard copy. To submit your short story you need to create a cricket account on submittable.

Cricket purchased publication rights for the first time publication and also purchase rights for the previously published story right.

But the price may vary a second time. Cricket publish fiction story in approx 1200 to 1600 words but they can consider your work up to 6000 words.

Cricket magazine also needs a short story having a word count of 600 to 900 words.

While for non-fiction they demand 1200 to 1800 words story and poem minimum line 3 and up to 35 lines.

Most cricket poems contain 8 to 12 lines. The response time taken by the magazine is approx 60 days. Check for more cricket magazine guidelines.

How much does cricket magazine pay? This magazine pays 25 cents per word and for poems $3 per line to $25 minimum for a poem.

And for activities and recipes, they pay $75.

CLARKESWORLD MAGZINE-

Clarkesworld Magazine is a hogo, world fantasy, and British fantasy award-winning science and fiction magazine.

This magazine publishes short stories, interviews, articles and audio fiction, non-fiction, and artwork also.

This magazine pays 10 cents per word and the word limit they defined is 1000- 22000 words.

You can receive your amount via Paypal or cheque to your bank account. They accept only English language work and translation is also welcomed.

This magazine demands short stories well written, comfortable on-screen, and suitable for audio.

You can submit a fiction story via an online submittable account. For non-fiction, their word limit is 2500 words only and 10 cents per word.

So, you can write subject-oriented and thoughtful articles for that. For more guidance, you should look at their guideline.

APEX MAGAZINE-

Apex Magazine is a science fiction, horror, and fantasy featuring magazine. Apex magazine publishes fiction and short stories.

Apex only allows a word limit of 7500 words.

More than that will automatically be rejected.

This magazine pays $0.8 per word and if your story is included in their podcast then you will get an additional $0.1 per word.

They accept or want writers from all regions, colors, gender, and racism.

They encourage all kinds of writers. You can use this link to submit your short story online to apex.

Also, I recommend you check their publication guidelines first.

ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE-

Asimov magazine is well known for science fiction stories.

This magazine pays 8-10 cents per word up to 7500 words while 8 cents for each word over 7500 words.

This magazine rarely buys short stories of less than 1000 words and over 20000 words. They pay $1 for each line in poetry not exceeding 40 lines.

They buy the English language and non-exclusive rights first. Asimov mentioned all the rights in their contract.

This magazine doesn’t allow previously published work. They look for character-oriented stories.

The average response time from magazine staff is 5 weeks. However, if you don’t hear from them then after 45 days you can send them a quarry as well.

It was just a quick overview.

For more depth in detail look for Asimov’s guidelines.

ANALOG MAGZINE-

Analog magazine has a reputation of over 80 years with 39 Hugo, 23 nebula, and 7 Hugo awards for best magazine and 7 Hugo awards for best editor awards.

Analog magazine is known for publishing science fiction and fact stories and loom for realistic short stories.

This magazine pays 8-10 cents per word for up to 20000 words approximately and 6 cents for serial stories with a word count between 20000- 80000 words and $1 for each line for poetry and 9 cents for each word for fact articles.

And they pay $1200 for color cover art and $125 for black and white art.

It also buys English language rights and non-exclusive rights which are deeply explained in its contract.

I look for science fiction plots in your story that can be physical, technical, and psychological related.

But you should have a realistic view so that people can trust your short story. You can write fact articles related to future and current issues. Analog magazine does not accept mail.

To submit your short article you can use their online submission platform. You can also submit your computer printer’s story.

The average time to respond taken is two to three months. After that, you can send them a query as well.

I recommend you to see their guidelines before starting with this magazine.

LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE-

This is another Hugo award-winning magazine.

Mainly the submission on this magazine is operated in February and March. And the response time is three to four months.

This magazine asks writers to submit their fiction work using their moksha online submission.

They mainly focus to publish fiction and fantasy stories.

Here, you can submit one story at a time. Here, they ask to submit stories.RTX, DOCX, or. DOC format.

They publish stories having 1500 to 10000 words. But they prefer stories with 5000 words in length.

And they pay 8 cents per word.

For deeper knowledge, you can visit their guideline page to know more about submission.

THE THREEPENNY REVIEW-

This magazine does not consider any submission by mail-in off-season.

They open their submission portal in January. Threepenny review buys your serial rights for print and digital editions.

And after publication, all rights reverted to the author immediately. They demand to stamp and write your address on the envelope if you send your work by postal.

And if you send them online then make them in one single document. DOC or. DOCX format.

And the response time is two days to two months.

They also give you a word barrier for short stories and article is 1200 to 2500 words, table talk items of 1000 words, poems of 100 lines or less and historical things of 4000 words.

And I recommend you check the threepenny guidelines before submitting your short story.

Pay rates- The threepenny review pays $400 for each short story or article.

And $200 for each poem or talk piece.

PULP LITERATURE-

Pulp literature magazine looks for short stories, comics, literature, poetry, and illustrations.

This magazine does not publish non-fiction, historical, or children’s stories. This magazine also considers previously printed stories.

This magazine wants entertaining and accessible stories having emotional balance to give readers a challenge with freshness.

They advised keeping short stories under 5000 words making more chances for publication.

They accept only one story per author. It may take three months to respond to you.

They buy the first English rights for 120 days from the publishing date and after that, all rights reverted to the author immediately.

This magazine also organizes a contest where you can win prize money of $500.

I recommend you check the pulp literature magazine guidelines yourself.

Pay rates-

Pulp literature magazine pays $0.05 to $0.08 per word for short stories up to 7000 words and $0.03 to $0.06 per word between 7000 words to 10000 words and $0.02 to $0.04 per word over 10000 words.

And for poetry and illustration, they pay $25 to $50, and for graphic novels and cartoons $50 to $75.

BLACK WARRIOR REVIEW-

Black warrior review magazine was established in 1974 and publishes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphics, art, translation, online issues, and comics twice a year.

This magazine charges $3 for general category submission which is always open while the poetry and fiction submission date is December 1 to March 1 and June 1 to September 1.

This magazine offers royalty payments and $100 to $250 depending upon the length of your story.

This magazine allows 7000 words for fiction and non-fiction stories and poems 10 pages maximum.

But remember they do not consider previously published work.

I recommend you go through the black warrior review guidelines before submitting your short story.

Black warrior pays you a one-year free subscription if your work is published.

This magazine organized a contest from April 1 – September 1st where you can win $1000 as prize money.

CRAZY HORSE MAGZINE-

Crazyhorse magazine publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

This magazine only allows submissions from September 1 to May 31 only.

Crazyhorse has defined the word count length for fiction and non-fiction as between 2500 to 8500 words.

This magazine may take 16 to 36 weeks to respond to your submission.

This magazine acquires the first North American serial right for publishing work which means your all rights will be back to you after your story is published.

I suggest you check crazy horse guidelines before starting work with this magazine.

Pay rates- Crazyhorse pays $20 per page with a maximum amount of $200.

KENYON REVIEW MAGZINE-

This magazine publishes fiction and non-fiction short stories. And their submission period is from September 1 to September 30.

They accept one submission per author.

They accept short fiction and easily up to 7500 words and poetry ( 6 poems ) as one document and plays up to 30 pages.

And this magazine pays you after your work is published and your rights will be reverted to you.

I recommend you go through Kenyon’s guidelines before submitting your short story.

CONCLUSION-

Now I hope you have a very crystal clear vision of making a passive income just to sell short stories for money.

All you have to do is get an idea, build a character around it, make a perfect plot and settings and your story is ready.

I mentioned here 20 magazines and websites where you can easily sell short stories for money which can help you to reduce your financial stress.

All websites and magazines have their guideline.

I recommend you once again visit their guideline page first, then submit your short story.

SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS-