Submission

Fiction submissions

Clarkesworld Magazine

Open. No closing date published. No fee to apply Last checked 19 Oct

At a glance

Deadline: Open. No closing date published.
Fee: No fee to apply
Who may apply: an original unpublished science fiction or fantasy story of 1,000 to 22,000 words, in English
Where: submitted online from anywhere

Not a contest: a magazine pays you if it buys your story. Fourteen US cents a word for science fiction or fantasy of 1,000 to 22,000 words. On a 5,000 word story that is 700 US dollars. They answer in about two days, which is unusual, so you find out quickly and can send it elsewhere.

The facts

What you get: 14 US cents per word, paid by PayPal or cheque
Where: submitted online from anywhere
How long: average response under two days
Share of the prize or equity they take: You keep the story. They buy first world electronic rights in text and audio, first print rights, and non-exclusive anthology rights.

Where you stand

This one is free. There is no fee to apply, and nobody should ask you for money at any point.

What they ask for

an original unpublished science fiction or fantasy story of 1,000 to 22,000 words, in English
no AI written work, no simultaneous submissions, online submission only

Get ready to apply

Built only from what this listing states.

A short application, by our reading.

1. What to get ready

It asks for something outside the usual documents; read it below.

In their words: “one unpublished story of 1,000 to 22,000 words”

2. Dates

No closing date is stated.
Openings with no closing date can close once they have enough people, so sooner is safer. Our advice
On the date, the listing says: open on 8 September 2026. Clarkesworld closes for short periods when the queue fills, so check the page before you send.

Download checklist (.txt) Send to WhatsApp

The download is a small text file. You can read it later without data. It also lists each condition they set, so you can tick yourself against them. WhatsApp sends the same list to you, or to somebody helping you.

No CV yet? Make a plain one from your answers. Nothing you type is kept.

Tips for applying for a submission

General advice from us, the same for every submission. It is not what this organisation says; that is above.

Read the guidelines first: length, format, language and theme.
Check who owns your work after you send it. The rules usually say.
Send it a day early. Upload pages are often slow near a deadline.

All our tips and messages to copy. Practise answering, with nothing kept. Received an offer? Check whether it is real, then read before you say yes.

How to apply

Several listings link to this page. Look for "Fiction submissions" from Clarkesworld Magazine.

You apply on Clarkesworld Magazine's own website, not here. We never send an application for anybody and we never ask you for anything to pass on. Check their page for anything not shown here.

Go to the application

How we checked this

This was opened and verified at Clarkesworld Magazine's own website on 19 October 2026: it was real, still open, and open to people from African countries. If anything here is wrong, tell us.