Got some spare time on your hands? Are you eager to prove yourself as a writer? Do you want to get your book published but it wouldn’t hurt you to make money writing in the meanwhile? Am I asking a lot of questions? If your answers were yes, get comfortable because this was written for you.
Earning money writing short stories is completely possible. In fact, this year has been the perfect proof. Working from home has become not only common but also necessary. As if that’s not enough, there’s been a significant boom in ebook sales during this year. It doesn’t mean this is a piece of cake, or that you will be accepted every time. However, it does mean that if you put all your efforts into it and stick to a writing routine, you can make a living out of it.
So, if you have the writing and the wish of getting paid for doing what you really love, put your imagination to work because this could change your life.
How much money can I earn writing short stories?
The truth is there are many ways of earning money writing short stories. In this article, though, I focus particularly in one: working for someone else. Your stories can be published in websites or magazines that are seeking novel writers. There are several career opportunities and the pay is significantly good (from 8 to 12.5 cents per word).
You have to take into account that your pay will depend pretty much on your audience, for that reason the best advice is to diversify your writing options. This way you can work writing for different kind of readers and increase your earnings.
Before getting started…
If you are new to this (submitting your work to an editor, a magazine or a website), you should get some first-hand advice on pitching that can guide you through the whole process.
First things first, editors like when you are familiar with their magazine or website. For that reason, my first advice is to read the latest published stories, know who you are going to write for, and try to find out what your readers would like the most. When you get familiar with what they publish and the content they look for, you can have a clearer idea of what to write that would stand out. This can be an advantage your editor may notice. It can also show you that it’s not what you are looking for, or that the kind of content you can offer wouldn’t fit in.
Another important thing is to carefully read their guidelines for writers. Every website or magazine will usually provide you the general rules for submitting your work. Generally it has to do with the extension of the story, how to contact them and what they look for in a writer. But sometimes they also include things they do not like and of course they don’t want to see in a story. If you want your work to be published there, reading their guidelines is a must!
Last but not least, make sure your work is genuine, different and outstanding. Try to be creative with your characters and your plots. Forget about clichés! And of course, don’t submit stories that have already been published on your own blog, another website or book (at least the website’s guidelines state the opposite).
Now that I’ve already given you some of the best tips to make a perfect pitch we can go straight to what’s truly important.
Websites that pay for your stories
Agni (contemporary literature)
Agni is a literary magazine of the University of Boston. It specializes in publishing emergent authors, writers who have something original and unique to tell. It looks for short stories, critical essays, and poetry. If you think you have what it takes, you could give it a go.
It will be open for submissions from January 31st, 2021 to February and reopening again from March 1st to May 31st. In order to submit your work you need to create an account in the Agni Submission Manager and of course, have your story on time. You can find the guidelines on its website.
The pay varies, but it’s usually $10 per printed page for fiction and $20 per printed page for poetry. They also offer you a year’s subscription to the magazine and several copies of the issue.
Travelers’ Tale
If you like to travel and you love writing, let me tell you this one’s for you. Travelers’ Tales pays you for writing your best travel experiences. They look for the kind of story that comes up after a few drinks in a bar, fresh and humorous content, stories that inspire and teach. They want living stories, anecdotes. What brought you to wander? Can you offer that kind of experiential primer that we can’t find in the guidebooks?
If you feel lucky, you can also submit your story to one of the 21 categories of the Annual Solas Awards, an annual award ran by the website. There are 3 prizes; gold, silver, and bronze of $1,000, $750, and 500$ respectively. The deadline is September 21st, but the stories submitted after that date will be entered in the next year’s contest.
Christian Science Monitor
This site pays you for writing stories about Science from a Christian perspective, motivational stories about people making a difference, etc. The content varies depending on the section. However, your work is accepted ‘on spec’ only. This means you have to submit your full story to the editors and if they like it, they’ll pay you for publishing it. The good news is that you can earn from $200 to $225 per story, and longer stories pay significantly more.
Flash fiction online
Flash fiction is a fictional story characterized by its brevity and uniqueness implying larger stories. If your strong point is creating original, fascinating, and exciting stories in a few words, then you have to give it a try!
They look for stories that are 500 to 1,000 words, with clearly resolved plots and characters people can relate to. Only submit if your story hasn’t been published before.
As for the pay, you can earn $80 dollars per story and you can send multiple submissions. What are you waiting for?
Vestal review
This magazine is exclusively devoted to flash fiction stories. They need them to be dynamic and no longer than 500 words. They’re open for submissions in December and June, and their turnaround time is two months at the most. In their own words: “Most stories are rejected not because they’re bad, but because other stories are better.” Vestal Review charges $2 for your submission and pays $25 per published story.
The Arcanist
The Arcanist is a digital literary magazine that focuses on sci-fi and fantasy flash fiction. They want original stories that are no more than 1,000 words. The magazine looks for great characters and they claim to be open-minded when it comes to stories. They pay $50 for your flash fiction, and they use PayPal to process the payments.
One Story
One Story seeks literary fiction. They only accept stories with no more than 8,000 words and no less than 3,000. They’re open for submissions from January 15th to May 31st and from September 8th to November 14th. They pay $500 per published story.
This organization is also running ‘The One Teen Story’ Teen Writing Contest. Writers from 13 to 19 years old can submit their stories from September 8th, 2020 to November 20th, 2020. The contest winners will be awarded $500 and 25 copies of the magazine featuring their work. For the complete guidelines, click here.
Reader’s Digest
Everybody has a story to tell, right? Well, this renowned magazine poses a real challenge. Can you write a true story about you in no more than 100 words? If the answer is yes, and your story has that point of uniqueness they’re looking for, I strongly recommend you to submit it. You can make serious money since the pay is $100, a dollar per word!
Asimov’s
This prestigious science fiction magazine focuses on character-oriented sci-fi. They want writers to “examine or illuminate some aspect of human existence”. They usually look for serious, thoughtful, yet accessible fiction between 1,000 and 20,000 words. As for how much money you can make writing for them, let me tell you that they pay 10 cents per word for short stories up to 7,500 words and 8 cents for each word over 7,500. That means, that potentially speaking, you can earn up to $1,750 with your story. Not that bad, right? For further information, you can read their guidelines.
Fireside Fiction
This magazine has the goal of finding and publishing great fiction stories regardless of genre. They welcome original, unpublished work in English and Spanish. Fireside fiction is also seeking work from LGBTQIA people, disabled people, and members of religious minorities. They want to give these people the opportunity that maybe they have never had.
Fireside Fiction believes that creative people should earn fair pay, and on that thought, they pay 12.5 cents per word, more than the average. They will be open for submission from November 30th, 2020 to December 4th, 2020; and the short stories selected will be published in the Autumn 2021 Issue.
Carve
This magazine accepts short stories and nonfiction submissions. If published, the magazine pays $100 per story. They are very selective and they look for honest fiction or narrative nonfiction that reflects personal perspectives engaging the world around us. One of its distinctive features is that it offers feedback on 5 to 10 percent of declined submissions. If you are interested and you want the complete guidelines, click here.
Bella Magazine
This British magazine pays for printing your personal story. They only ask for a brief outline of your story. This doesn’t mean you can’t include more if you wish. They will read it and someone of their team will call you to check the details. Their advice is to include as much information as possible. This is only for true, exclusive stories. Sounds like being a celeb! Did I say that you can earn up to £1,000? Talking about how to make money writing… am I right?
Chicken Soup for the Soul
This company is known for the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. If you want to check their full submission guidelines check this link. They have books in development and they offer the topics they want to include in these books. If your story fits in any of those categories you can pitch them. They clearly state that they are not looking for fiction or creative writing. They want true stories of 1200 word or less; heartwarming stories that move their readers. You can send multiple submissions and their response time is 60 days top. Once published, they pay is $200 per story and ten printed copies of the book your story appears in.
Summing up…
As you could see, there are many opportunities to make money writing short stories on the Internet. You can do it to earn some extra money or you can even take it more seriously and make it your main source of income. The only thing you need is love for writing and enough braveness to take the leap.
Besides, this will give you the chance of getting your name out there, which is also very impotant for building your reputation as an author.
Writing is an amazing way of expressing your emotions and getting your thoughts and feelings down on paper. However, that doesn’t mean that working as a writer for a website is going to be as easy as it sounds. This work, as well as many others, requires a lot of time, effort, and patience. So before engaging in any project, set your goals and ask yourself what you want to get out of that.
Making money writing can be a real challenge. No one can guarantee your success, but if you don’t try you will never know. Don’t you think so?
Have you submitted any of your stories before? Did you get to be published in any online magazine? Do you know any other website, we didn’t include on the list? We would love to read you in the comments.
