Places to Submit Original Fiction and Poetry

I've been a writer for a long while now, and I've been through the process of searching for a place to submit a piece two or three times in the past decade. It's a pain. It's complicated. And a lot of the time it's disheartening, not only because it's a pain in the ass, but also because there is always that chance of rejection. That's a subject for another journal, though. For now, I'm going to talk about places (on the Internet) I've found (and submitted to [some of them]) over the years.

I'll update when I have more. Happy submitting!

http://poeticpower.com/
If you live in the U.S. or Canada and are in grades K-12, you can submit to one of Creative Communications' contests. They have one for poetry (this one I've been in a few times; the anthologies are worth the $30 or so that they cost, they're really nice) and one for very short essays. It's a great way to get a foot in the door, something to add to your writer's resume. In my opinion, being accepted for publication in CC's poetry competition is almost a sure bet, besides one time I disqualified myself by sending multiple entries, I was published all four times that I submitted.

http://www.glimmertrain.com
The Glimmer Train is a 260 page quarterly issue of literary fiction. They have contests every month (with reading fees of $1,0 $15, and $20), and four months of the year they accept Standard submissions, which have no reading fees. Each contest (and the Standard) has a monetary reward for selection (as 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place winners), as well as contributor's copies. There are word maximums to most of these contests, and they have an automated system (so you don't have to send any SASEs).

http://www.one-story.com
One Story publishes one story every three weeks. Authors published by One Story receive $100 and contributor's copies, but are not eligible to be published as the One Story again. Entries have to be between 3,000 and 8,000 words. They also have an automated system.

http://www.writersofthefuture.com/rules.htm
This is a science fiction/fantasy/dark fantasy contest for prose up to 17,000 words. Entry is free, except for the cost of a #10 SASE. Winners of the Writers of the Future contest are also ineligible to enter again.

http://www.failbetter.com/Submit.php?docheck=yes
This is a poetry publication. They do not accept pieces that have been previously published, or posted on the Internet. It is non-paying, and works they accept are archived on FailBetter's website.

http://aprweb.org/about
The American Poetry Review accepts SASE submissions of "original poetry, prose, essays and social commentary." Their reporting time is three months. Their website used to say not to send more than five poems at a time, but apparently they don't feel that way anymore. They want unpublished materials, and the website doesn't seem to say whether they pay for submissions or not.

http://myweb.nmu.edu/~passages/guidelines.html
Passages North also doesn't accept electronic submissions. They read submissions between Sept 1 and April 15. Story or essay should be a maximum of 7500 words, you can submit up to six poems, or two short-shorts. Their payment is two contributor's copies (but remember, agents aren't only looking for talent, they tend to want to see a publication history attached to you).

http://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/category/guidelines/
Cemetery Dance Publications takes submissions for review, comics, books, and stories, artwork, and non-fiction for its magazine. As of this writing, they're currently closed for fiction submissions and are not reading unsolicited manuscripts for books. Obviously they publish dark/horror material.

http://snakenationpress.org/guidelines.html
Snake Nation Press awards: Violet Reed Haas prize for poetry, Serena McDonald Kennedy Award for fiction (short stories). The deadline is July 30, 2010, and they accept submissions via snail mail.

http://www.studentbylines.com/guidelines.html
Student Bylines publishes writing (poetry and prose up to 1,500 words) and artwork. If your writing or artwork is chosen for the website it may or may not end up in their printed edition. They pay for pieces printed, but not for ones accepted for online only. They prefer snail mail submissions, though they do accept e-mail subs. Also, SB offers free critiques of your work. Information here:
http://www.studentbylines.com/critique.html.