50 Best Flash Fiction Publishers (Submission Guide)

Flash fiction gives you very little room and nowhere to hide. Once your story is ready, the real challenge is finding a journal that suits its length, style, and current reading window.

The publishers below cover everything from 100-word stories to pieces around 1,500 words. Some pay professional or fixed rates, while others offer publication only, so I have made the distinction clear whenever the journal publishes firm terms. You may also like my guides to magazines that publish personal essays and inspiring fiction books.

Submission policies change without notice, so check the publisher’s own page before you send anything, and never pay a reading fee. Last verified: September 6, 2026.

Best flash fiction publishers and journals

1. New Flash Fiction Review

This journal specializes in flash fiction and pairs publication with interviews, craft features, contests, and mentoring. It is currently closed to submissions, so check the site for the next reading period before preparing your work.

Working on a book of your own? You can publish it yourself with PublishDrive (affiliate link).

2. Lunch Ticket

Antioch University’s literary journal publishes fiction, flash prose, creative nonfiction, poetry, translation, young adult writing, and visual art. It is currently closed to submissions between its scheduled reading periods.

3. SmokeLong Quarterly

SmokeLong is one of the best-known journals devoted to flash fiction. It accepts submissions through its current portal and pays $100 for a story, or $150 when the writer also provides an audio recording.

4. Fractured Lit

Fractured Lit accepts submissions of microfiction and flash fiction, including work from emerging writers. Its regular rate is $50 for original microfiction and $75 for original flash fiction, while reprints are unpaid.

5. Cease, Cows

Cease, Cows publishes unusual short work with a taste for the strange and memorable. It is currently closed to submissions during a hiatus, and its official guidelines say the volunteer-run journal does not pay contributors.

6. Ghost Parachute

Ghost Parachute accepts submissions of flash fiction with a bold, surprising edge. The journal does not offer monetary payment, but it remains a possible home for writers seeking an established online publication.

7. Milk Candy Review

Milk Candy Review accepts submissions of lyrical flash fiction through a simple email-based process. Send one story at a time and follow the requested document format and brief-biography instructions on its guidelines page.

8. Fabula Argentea

Fabula Argentea accepts submissions of fiction across several lengths and styles. Its published rates start at $5 for work up to 1,000 words, making it a modest but clearly stated paying market for flash.

9. Drunken Boat

Drunken Boat built its reputation on literature and art designed for the web, including multimedia work. Its submission portal currently shows no open calls, so treat the archive as inspiration and verify whether a new call has appeared.

10. The Southern Review

This long-running literary review accepts submissions of prose and poetry and is known for substantial, carefully edited work. Flash writers should study recent issues closely because the journal is broader than a flash-only publication.

11. Hobart

Hobart accepts submissions of fiction, nonfiction, essays, book reviews, and sports writing. Its energetic online style makes it a natural place to consider for concise work with a distinctive voice.

12. Electric Literature

Electric Literature publishes fiction, flash prose, poetry, graphic narratives, and essays. General public categories are currently closed to submissions, although members receive broader year-round access, so read the current eligibility rules carefully.

13. Pithead Chapel

Pithead Chapel accepts submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and prose poetry, including flash-length work. The journal’s current guidelines state that contributors are not paid.

14. Lost Balloon

Lost Balloon publishes flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and prose poetry of 1,000 words or fewer. It is currently closed to submissions, and its guidelines say the journal cannot pay writers at present.

15. The Paris Review

The Paris Review accepts submissions of prose, poetry, and translations. Postal prose submissions are available year-round, while online windows are seasonal and close at capacity; flash competes within the wider prose category.

16. The Offing

The Offing accepts submissions for its Micro department and other literary categories during active windows. Contributor payments generally range from $25 to $100 depending on the department and the length or number of works.

17. 3Elements Review

Every issue of 3Elements Review asks writers and artists to use three announced elements in their work. It accepts submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, and photography, but the journal does not pay contributors.

18. 100-Word Story

This journal focuses on stories told in exactly 100 words. It accepts submissions during short scheduled windows and currently charges a $2 submission fee, with a free option for eligible underrepresented writers; no contributor payment is stated.

19. Every Day Fiction

Every Day Fiction accepts submissions of flash fiction for a broad general audience. It publishes across genres and pays $3 CAD for each accepted story.

20. McSweeney’s Quarterly

McSweeney’s accepts submissions of short stories, flash fiction, translations, and letters. The publication pays contributors, although rates vary by format, so confirm the current terms for flash before submitting.

21. PANK

PANK has long published adventurous fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Its submission portal currently has no open calls, and the main site does not provide enough current information to promise when reading will resume.

22. Apple Valley Review

Apple Valley Review accepts submissions of short fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and prose poetry. Its guidelines describe it as a non-paying market, with selected work considered separately for an annual editor’s prize.

23. A-minor

A-minor accepts submissions of flash fiction, flash nonfiction, and poetry. Its taste leans toward compact literary work with an offbeat or experimental quality, and its current guidelines do not state a contributor rate.

24. trampset

trampset accepts submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including short and micro work. It pays $30 for published pieces and asks prose writers to stay within the limits listed for the current category.

25. The New Yorker

The New Yorker accepts submissions of fiction through its official contact route. The competition is formidable and the category is not limited to flash, but an exceptional very short story can still fit its editorial tradition.

26. The Temz Review

The Temz Review accepts submissions of fiction, poetry, and other literary work during its reading periods. It pays $20 for a published story or batch of poems.

27. Literally Stories

Literally Stories accepts submissions of short fiction from writers around the world, including compact stories suited to online reading. The publication offers editorial attention and exposure but explicitly provides no monetary payment.

28. The Citron Review

The Citron Review accepts submissions of flash fiction and other concise literary forms. Its official guidelines state that the journal does not pay contributors.

29. The Cincinnati Review

The Cincinnati Review accepts submissions for its print journal and online flash feature. Flash writers may send work within the category’s current length and bundling rules, which are published on the journal’s guidelines page.

30. Azure: A Journal of Literary Thought

Azure accepts submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, philosophy, drama, and experimental writing. Its broad literary brief can suit flash that takes conceptual or formal risks.

31. X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine

X-R-A-Y accepts submissions of short stories, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, and micros. Categories open on a monthly schedule and may close when their caps are reached.

32. American Short Fiction

American Short Fiction accepts submissions from established and emerging writers. Its online work includes shorter pieces, while the print journal provides another route for polished literary fiction.

33. No Contact

No Contact publishes short-form prose, poetry, and hybrid work. General submissions are currently closed to submissions, but its stated contributor payment is $50 per publication when reading resumes.

34. CHEAP POP

CHEAP POP is known for very short fiction with immediacy and emotional force. It is closed to submissions until further notice and says it cannot pay authors at present.

35. Flash Fiction Online

Flash Fiction Online accepts submissions of speculative and literary flash fiction, including selected reprints. It pays $80 for original fiction with an eight-cents-per-word minimum and two cents per word for reprints.

36. HAD

HAD publishes very short work and opens brief submission windows designed for fast editorial decisions. Follow the journal directly because those windows appear without a fixed year-round schedule.

37. Okay Donkey

Okay Donkey accepts submissions of flash fiction and poetry, with free categories opening until their monthly caps are reached. It pays a $25 honorarium for each flash piece or poem published on the site.

38. Flash Frontier

Flash Frontier accepts submissions of flash fiction for themed issues and showcases writers from New Zealand and around the world. Its guidelines do not publish a standard contributor payment.

39. Wigleaf

Wigleaf publishes fiction under 1,000 words and is well known for its annual Top 50 list. It is currently closed to submissions outside its brief scheduled reading windows.

40. The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts

This Matter Press journal focuses on compressed fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid forms. It is currently closed to submissions until its next announced window and pays $100 for accepted work.

41. CRAFT

CRAFT accepts submissions of flash fiction, short fiction, creative nonfiction, craft essays, and interviews. Its regular rate includes $100 for original flash fiction and $200 for original short fiction or creative nonfiction.

42. 3:AM Magazine

3:AM Magazine publishes fiction, prose, interviews, reviews, and cultural writing with an experimental streak. Its public fiction calls are intermittent, so confirm that a current window exists before sending work.

43. The Molotov Cocktail

The Molotov Cocktail accepts submissions of flash fiction through themed contests and regular calls. Its official guidelines state that regular contributors are not paid, although contests may offer prizes.

44. Five on the Fifth

Five on the Fifth accepts submissions of flash fiction, longer fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reviews, and experimental work. The magazine does not offer monetary compensation.

45. Passages North

Passages North accepts submissions of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, hybrid work, and short-shorts. Its official guidelines say the journal does not pay contributors.

46. Ploughshares

Ploughshares accepts submissions of fiction and nonfiction, and its guidelines allow flash even though the journal says it publishes the form rarely. Prose payment is $45 per printed page, with a $90 minimum and $450 maximum.

47. Atticus Review

Atticus Review publishes literary prose, including work that experiments with form and genre. It is closed to submissions through the remainder of 2026, so wait for an official reopening notice.

48. Brevity

Brevity accepts submissions of flash creative nonfiction and concise literary essays under its current word limit. It pays a $45 honorarium for featured essays.

49. Kenyon Review

Kenyon Review accepts submissions of fiction, flash fiction, essays, poetry, translations, and excerpts. Prose pays eight cents per word, with an $80 minimum and $450 maximum.

50. Flash Fiction Magazine

Flash Fiction Magazine accepts submissions through its current online form and publishes new short work for a broad readership. Review the live guidelines carefully because its submission options and any associated terms can change.

Names you may be looking for

Atlas & Alice ended publication after its final issue.

DecomP is closed and no longer reading submissions.

Dime Show Review stopped accepting work ahead of its final journal.

Fiction Southeast no longer has an active publication site or open calls.

Jellyfish Review ceased publication and now remains online as an archive.

Nanoism is an archived Twitter-era nanofiction project.

Ruminate closed as a magazine; its archive is maintained separately.

After the Pause has no accessible current publication or submission information.

Into the Void no longer controls the domain previously used by the magazine.

upstreet no longer controls the domain previously used by the literary journal.

Before you submit your flash fiction

Read several recent pieces before choosing a market. A 100-word story, a lyrical 750-word scene, and a 1,500-word narrative may all be called flash, but editors approach them differently. If you want more models, browse these short stories about forgiveness and this collection of the best essays.

Keep a simple submission log, follow each journal’s formatting rules, and withdraw promptly if simultaneous work is accepted elsewhere. You can also explore more sites that pay writers or search my larger publishing companies database.