Slice is a literary journal that publishes fiction, non-fiction essays, and poetry. They were created by two book editors who wanted to "create a space where new voices were just as important as famous voices." They pay $250 for stories and essays. They have funding from Amazon. To learn more read their submissions guidelines.
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine publishes all kinds of mystery short stories. The preferred length of their stories is 2,500 to 8,000 words. However, they sometimes use stories of up to 12,000 words and feature one or two short novels (of up to 20,000 words) every year. They also consider shorter stories that are as little as 250 words. They pay 5 to 8 cents per word and at times more to established writers. To find out more, read their writer's guidelines.
The Dark is an online magazine published every month. They publish horror and dark fantasy pieces of 2,000 to 6,000 words. They ask their writers to not “be afraid to experiment or to deviate from the ordinary.” It is important to remember that despite its name, The Dark is not a magazine for “graphic, violent horror.” They pay 6 cents per word for original fiction of up to 6,000 words and 1 cent per word for reprint fiction of up to 6,000 words. For further information, read their submission guidelines.
Consequence is a literary magazine that focuses on the “culture and consequences of war.” They publish fiction, non-fiction, poetry, reviews, and translations. Fiction and non-fiction should not be longer than 5,000 words. Poems can be of any length. Translations are also accepted if the permission has been granted by the author. They pay $25 (1-4 pps), $50 (5-10 pps), and $75 (10+ pps) for print prose and $100/piece for online prose. They pay $25/piece for print poetry and $50/piece for online poetry. They pay $50/piece for reviews. To find out more, refer to their submission guidelines.
Pedestal Magazine is a bi-monthly magazine which features poetry, fiction and non-fiction. They also accept reviews of full-length poetry collections. According to their website, they pay $40 per poem. To learn more, refer to their submission guidelines
Highlights Magazine is a general interest magazine for kids ages 6 to 12. It is published monthly and has a circulation of approximately 1.2 million. They do not accept work from writers who are younger than 16. For fiction and nonfiction, they pay $175 and up. While, for verse, they pay $40 and up. To learn more, refer to this page.
The Puritan is a literary journal that publishes interviews, essays, reviews, fiction, and poetry. They pay $100 for essays. Submissions are free, but they do charge for submissions to their contest. To learn more, read their submission guidelines. You'll need to scroll past the contest guidelines to get to the regular submission guidelines.
Choice of Games is another unique publisher. They create interactive text-based games that allow the reader to choose their own path throughout the narrative arc. Authors can either host a game or publish under the Choice of Games label. Authors who host receive 25% of royalties, while authors who publish under the CoG have two payment options to choose from. To learn more, read our write-up on Choice of Games as well as their submission guidelines.
Drabblecast is an award-winning podcast that publishes stories “at the far side of weird.” They accept submissions for short stories via email and have specific guidelines for submitting. They pay 3 cents per word, and stories must be 500 to 4,000 words long. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Nightmare magazine is an online horror and dark fantasy magazine edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams. They accept “all types of horror and dark fantasy” and pay 6 cents per word for original fiction (or 1 cent a word for reprints), up to 7,500 words. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.