The Ultimate List of Lit Mags for Emerging Writers Pt. 1
Want more publications under your literary belt? | Start here →
Unless you’re one of the lucky ones, there’s often a strange stretch of time between wanting to be a writer and actually feeling like one. You’re writing, sure—editing, submitting, overthinking, deleting—but everything still feels like rehearsal. You send work out into the world and it disappears into the void, or so it seems. You start to wonder, where does one go from here…?
This list is for that version of you. The in-between writer. The one who’s still figuring out where their work belongs, and trying not to take the rejections personally. Friends, here be lit mags that do not flinch at a debut bio, that fling open their sub doors with curiosity and eagerness, not a pair of proverbial binoculars trying to search for fancy credentials
Some are old favorites who’ve been quietly publishing first-timers for years; others are new, scrappy, and hungry for voices that don’t sound like anyone else. Some pay money, others offer you their very best in promotion and community. But all of them are worth your best shot.
So if you’ve been hovering over the “submit” button, waiting for a sign…consider this yours! Below, I present you 45 lit mags perfect for emerging writers!





