The story of Theseus and the Minotaur is one of the most famous and enduring myths of ancient Greece. Among other things, the tale helped to inspire the central premise of one of the most popular series of dystopian novels and films of the twenty-first century (of which more below). […]
You’ve written and revised your children’s and YA stories more than you can count. Only your trusted circle has witnessed the magical way you weave words together to create fictional and nonfictional worlds for tiny humans — yet, everyone tells you more people need to read your children’s and YA stories.
For most writers (or any artist), putting your work out there isn’t an easy step to take, no matter how celebrated you are.
But while it’s daunting to submit a story to a publication — hearing people’s opinions of your work, eek! — it’s also necessary for great practice for all aspiring authors who eventually want to figure out how to get a literary agent.
Whether you write short stories, personal essays, poems or stories for kids, there are tons of magazines that will help bring your story to life for the eager and excited eyes who can’t wait to dig into them.
Now, I warn you: These magazines pay for your stories, but the rates won’t keep the lights on in your house. But it’s a great way to begin earning money for your work, which one day will pay the bills.
Before you submit a story, always familiarize yourself with the magazine to understand the tone and style of the writing it features.
You probably know this already but it bears repeating: Plotting, story construction, character development and more are just as important in children’s and YA stories as they are in adult fiction or other genres — the standards of success aren’t any different.
After you craft a children’s short story that’s ready to be judged, here are 15 children’s magazines that want to read your compelling submission.
“We look for stories that will surprise, move and amuse both young and older imaginative minds,” writes Zizzle Literary magazine’s submission guidelines. An anthology book series that brings parents and kids together to foster a love of reading, Zizzle publishes literary fiction that fascinates kids from age 12 and up.
Your fiction story should have a strong voice and dive deep into themes of meaning and morality that evolve naturally. While Zizzle editors embrace “fresh perspectives on the nuanced joys and tensions in kids’ daily lives and imaginations,” they welcome untraditional storytelling plus tastefully humorous stories.
Flash fiction children’s stories should be 500 to 1,200 words and 2,000 to 4,500 words for short stories. Before you submit, note Zizzle requires a $3 submission fee.
Payment: $100 for flash stories; $250 for short stories.
Founded in 1999, Bumples (for ages 6 to 10) and Bumple Buds (for ages 3 to 5) each publish four issues per year. If you want to submit a story to this interactive online magazine, focus on mystery and adventure stories, as well as fantasy, holiday, sports and animal stories.
For the 3 to 5 age group, submit a story of no more than 800 words; for the 6 to 10 age group, stick to 2,000 words or less. As you write, keep this in mind: Bumples specializes in illustrated fiction, so the editors select stories and poems where they can animate the characters.
Read through the writer’s guidelines to learn more — when your story is ready to submit, email it to editor@bumples.com. Editors prefer Word format but they also accept PDFs.
Payment: $30 for stories; $20 for poems.
If you’re a young writer — or if you know one — award-winning literary quarterly One Teen Story is the perfect place to submit an original story.
Publishing four issues per year that each only contain one story, this magazine features the work of today’s best teen writers from ages 13 to 19. Submissions can fall into any genre of YA fiction (literary, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, horror and more), but they need to be well-written and between 2,000 and 4,500 words. Also, stories should be about the teen experience as well as have teens as the main characters.
Examples include stories that deal with coming-of-age issues, plus those of identity, friendship and family. Make sure you avoid excessive profanity, sex and drug use. To really get the vote of editors, write a story that is strong enough to stand alone, rather than an excerpt from a work-in-progress, for instance.
One Teen Story Teen submissions are now closed but are due to reopen in fall 2021.
Payment: $500 upon publication plus 25 copies of the magazine featuring your work.
Cricket Media publishes 11 award-winning magazines for children from 6 months to teens, so they have submission options for all kinds of writers of any experience level.
Across all its magazines, Cricket Media aims to publish the “finest quality writing and illustration for children of all ages.” Its readers are curious about the world around them and enjoy the artistic expression of these magazine’s crafty stories.
Its four literary magazines for children up to 9 (Babybug®, Ladybug®, Spider® and Cricket®) welcome stories in the genres of illustrated poetry, fiction and literary nonfiction.
Writers with expertise in science, technology, culture and social studies have five nonfiction magazines (for ages 3-14) to submit to: Click®, Ask®, Muse®, Cobblestone™ and FACES™ World Cultures and Geography.
Since these stories require more subject-matter knowledge, writers must also submit a resume and several writing samples. To learn more specifics about story length, desired (and undesired) story elements and more for each magazine, start with the general submission guidelines.
Also an illustrator? View the submission guidelines for artists to find out how to submit there, too.
Payment: For the literary magazines, $.25 per word for stories or articles; $3 per line for poems, or $25 max; $75 flat fee for activities and recipes. Rates for nonfiction magazines are negotiated.
Want to write broadly about health and fitness for kids up to 12 across the U.S.? Publisher of award-winning magazines Humpty Dumpty (ages 2-6) and Jack and Jill (ages 6-12), U.S. Kids Magazines seeks high-quality stories, articles and activities that demonstrate a healthy lifestyle.
Be humorous, playful and witty in a well-constructed story that starts at a basic reading comprehension level to support young readers — but also doesn’t neglect to sprinkle in advanced information. Editors also want a story that can “appeal to today’s children.” That means if you haven’t been around kids in a while, they suggest you doubly ensure your dialogue and characters are up-to-date and authentic.
Jack and Jill accepts full fiction manuscripts of up to 800 words and nonfiction up to 700 words. Humpty Dumpty, on the other hand, wants fiction shorts of 450 words or less, crafts of up to 250 words, poetry up to 12 lines, plus short mini-stories of 70-125 words.
Find details about mailing in your transcript in the submission guidelines, plus what kind of stories editors are especially interested in across accepted genres.
Payment: $25 and up for Jack and Jill magazine fiction and nonfiction stories; $25 and up for Humpty Dumpty poems, $30 and up for fiction stories, and $40 and up for crafts.
Graduate students of Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Writing and Publishing program created this magazine, which strives to amplify traditionally silenced voices and increase representation in literature.
Besides writing that explores, questions and challenges, editors also favor stories that demonstrate what it’s trying to do for others and the world. “We are here to champion writing that upsets systems of power and dominance,” explains the submission guidelines. “Our magazine isn’t going to destroy the cis-heteronormative, white-supremacist, ableist patriarchy, but we are going to try.”
Above all, Hunger Mountain seeks work that is self-aware and avoids the risk of harm. But don’t be afraid to be humorous, or even to surprise editors with romance (that isn’t cheesy), limericks or poems in the styles of ghazal and golden shovel.
Your YA or children’s story submission should be no longer than 8,000 words.
Submissions are currently closed, but they reopen from May 1, 2021, to October 15, 2022. (If you can’t wait, check out its Katherine Paterson Prize for YA and children’s literature!)
Payment: $50 for prose and $25 for poetry.
On the 21st of each month, Silver Pen Publishing publishes a new series with children’s and YA stories from these genres: fiction, modern, urban or classical fantasy, sci-fi, slipstream, literary, action-adventure and suspense.
If you’re a lengthy writer, you’ll love this word-limit: 20,000! For the short story category, submit a story of 1,000 to 8,000 words; no more than 999 for flash fiction. To make the cut, write a well-written story, and focus on technique, voice, characterization and language — that will all play a part in the editors’ decision to accept and publish your story.
“Amaze us with your writing, use of language, sense of story, and memorable characters,” writes the guidelines. The kind of story they won’t be amazed by, however, is fan fiction, or one that possesses cliche elements.
Submit your story via Submittable.
Payment: $15 per story.
Write a story that targets readers who are 10-18, whether it’s poetry (three to 100 lines), a short story or creative non-fiction (up to 12,000 words), or flash fiction (no more than 1,500 words).
Editors seek “excellent, polished writing” that creates an engaging story — one with no profanity, vulgarity, sex or violence. Plus, keep this in mind: “Submissions with the best chance of acceptance will be meaningful on some level to both older and younger readers without being condescending.”
What’s neat about this magazine is it offers feedback on your story once you’ve submitted it, even if it hasn’t been selected for publishing. (Although, it’s optional.)
Payment: $.02 per word, or $20 per work, whichever is more.
Most of all, this print magazine created by speculative fiction-focused Hiraeth Publishing wants your story to have one element: adventure.
Published three times per year in February, June and October, Spaceports & Spidersilk wants fantasy, sci-fi and shadow stories (“spooky, but not terrifying”) aimed at readers ages 8-14. It prefers stories with young protagonists, plus those that don’t harp on an overarching lesson. Instead, editors want a good story that “entertains and connects with emotions.”
Submit genre stories between 1,000 and 3,000 words, flash fiction that’s less than 1,000 words, essays up to 800 words and poetry with no more than 25 lines. Whatever you submit, be sure to follow the magazine’s cardinal rules: No swearing, sex, drugs or sexist language.
Check out the writer guidelines to learn how to submit.
Payment: $6 for each accepted story; $3 for flash fiction.
Interested in writing YA sci-fi or fantasy? Cast of Wonders is the leading voice in young adult speculative short fiction, and it wants stories that “evoke a sense of wonder, have deep emotional resonance and have something unreal about them.”
Stories should be no more than 6,000 words in length and aimed at teens from 12-17. Since the Cast of Wonders podcast sometimes presents stories in audio format, your submission needs to pack a punch: strong pacing, well-defined characters, compelling dialogue and more.
Editors want fiction that makes them think; however, they’ll reject stories with graphic depictions of sexual assault, cannibalism or non-consensual sex and/or drug use.
Submit your thrilling story to the address found in the writer guidelines.
Payment: $.08 per word for original fiction of any length and a $20 flat rate for flash fiction.
Created for kids ages 6 to 13 — although the 8-10 range is the specific target — Fun For Kidz magazine publishes six issues per year and focuses on the perspective that all children deserve the right to be a child for as long as possible.
That’s why it publishes timeless topics like pets, nature, hobbies, science, games, sports, careers, and anything else that might capture a younger audience.
To be published in this magazine, submit a fiction or nonfiction story up to 650 words with lively writing and includes an activity that’s both wholesome and unusual. Feel free to submit more than one story, but be sure to note it on your manuscript. Plus, here’s a pro-tip: to strengthen your chance of selection, attach several high-resolution photos with your submission.
Fun For Kidz no longer accepts email submissions, so read the submission guidelines to learn where to mail your story.
Payment: A minimum of $.05 per word for fiction and nonfiction, plus $5 per high-resolution photo; $10 per poem or puzzle.
Accepting of submissions year-round, Balloons Lit. Journal (BLJ) wants to publish quality, unconventional stories for children ages 12 and up from writers of any age.
In its biannual issues, BLJ welcomes three to five pieces of poetry in any style and fiction stories up to 2,000 words. However, “If you also have fantastic art and/or photographic work” submit that, too, for extra brownie points. According to the submission guidelines, the editors love pleasant surprises.
When deciding which piece to submit, ensure your story, no matter how complex and philosophical, can enlighten and amaze young minds. BLJ isn’t a theme-based journal, so focus on penning a submission that is surprising, humorous, bold, unique, layered, educational and more.
Include a cover letter with a brief bio introducing yourself and your background. All submissions to BLJ must be emailed to editorblj@yahoo.com.
Payment: One print copy.
Smarty Pants Magazine for Kids is a publication that “strives to delight, educate and entertain children from every walk-of-life.”
There’s no specified age range in the submission guidelines, but writers should submit a children’s story that’s kid-friendly, violence-free, fun and clever and up to 800 words. If your story’s theme is seasonal, remember to submit your story three months before the occasion.
Once you’ve edited and perfected your children’s story, email smartypantsmag@gmail.com and paste it in the body of the email or a Word or Google Doc.
Payment: $15 for short stories.
Australia’s The School Magazine publishes short stories, articles, plays, poems and activities that have literary and academic merit for kids between 8 and 12. Submit to any of its magazines: Countdown, Blast Off, Orbit or Touchdown.
Its writer guidelines say readers “respond well to texts that delight, intrigue, challenge and inspire them.” Since The School Magazine’s target audience is exploring their identities and craves insights into the world around them, you’ll do well with a story that reflects the multicultural, diverse society the magazines try to exhibit.
No matter if you submit a fiction story, poetry, an article or a play, writing should be energetic and suspenseful with credible characters. Word counts for accepted categories range from 800 to 2,000 words — be sure to use those words on a fresh angle rather than a preachy theme.
To submit, scroll up on the Contribute page, then click ‘Contribute’ and fill out the generated fields.
Payment: The School Magazine pays on publication, plus a repeat fee if a piece is reused in a print version of the magazine.
Focus on the Family Clubhouse magazine (Clubhouse for short) reaches more than 80,000 young readers and parents around the world — all of who turn to the magazine to read adventurous and humorous stories that offer “Scriptural or moral insight.”
For kids ages 8-12, write fiction (500 to 2,000 words) or nonfiction (400-500 or 800-1,000 words) fast-paced stories that are exciting yet wholesome, plus fresh and creative and feature well-developed characters the same age as the magazine’s target audience.
Your fiction stories should be descriptive and engaging, or unique and interesting for nonfiction stories, articles and other materials. If you submit a nonfiction article, keep in mind it must have a Christian angle, though not an overbearing one. As for fiction stories, “they should be built on a foundation of Christian beliefs and family values.”
Read the submission guidelines to learn the kind of stories Clubhouse seeks, like mystery or sci-fi, and what will get you axed from the shortlist.
Payment: Between $.15 and $.25 per word; $200 and up for feature-length fiction stories; $150 and up for nonfiction pieces.
We wish you the best as you submit your children’s and YA stories! It might feel uncomfortable at first — or always — but it’s all part of the journey of being a better, stronger writer.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
The post 15 Magazines That Will Publish (And Pay For) Your YA and Children’s Stories appeared first on The Write Life.
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle introduces his own venture into the world of poetry At the beginning of 2020 I had little faith in this Government, but it turns out I was stupidly optimistic. Johnson (‘agent of chaos’, as I like to call him, […]
‘Dark House, by Which Once More I Stand’ is one canto (the seventh) from a much longer work of poetry, In Memoriam A. H. H. by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92). The poem shows Tennyson revisiting the home of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, whose untimely death in 1833 inspired the […]
Whatever you write, you want to get your thoughts across in a clear and effective way — that’s the first thing you need to know about how to improve writing skills.
If you’re a novelist, you don’t want awkward word choices or repetitive sentence structures to distract your readers from the story.
As a freelancer, you don’t want your work to seem sloppy or poorly edited.
When you blog, you don’t want readers to switch off because you’re far too wordy.
Want the good news? Even if your writing skills aren’t as strong as you’d like, there are plenty of straightforward techniques you can use to improve them.
Here are some suggestions on how to write better.
No matter how much of an expert you are, all writers can stand to pick up a few tips to learn how to write better. The same way a piece of writing is never “done” being edited (there’s always something), the work to improve your skills doesn’t end.
Whether you write articles, blogs, social media copy or research papers, here are 10 techniques to use to help you write anything well.
Here are two paragraphs that say the same thing. Which one is stronger?
Example 1: In my opinion, the majority of freelancers should probably avoid working for free (or for a nominal sum) unless they are at a very early stage of their career and as yet have no pieces for their portfolio at all.
Example 2: Freelancers shouldn’t work for free unless they’re just starting out and don’t have any pieces for their portfolio.
The second clearly states a stronger case, especially since it reaches the main point with fewer unnecessary words you don’t need in a sentence.
If you write a blog post, most readers will assume it gives your opinion, so you don’t have to state that. Mastering brevity is an easy way to improve writing skills. Simply be clear, firm and direct.
Some phrases are so familiar they’ve lost their impact: they’ve become clichés.
For instance, “In my opinion,” from the previous example is a phrase you can always cut. Here are a few others:
It can be tricky to spot these in your own writing, so take a quick look through this huge list of clichés to avoid here on the Be a Better Writer site.
When you edit, you don’t need to cut every cliché…but check whether it might work better to rephrase.
In dialogue, or in a first-person narrative, clichés can be a helpful way to characterize someone’s speech or thought patterns — but if you want to improve your writing skills, make sure you’re careful and deliberate.
Although this isn’t appropriate for every form of nonfiction, bloggers and freelancers often write directly to the reader as “you.”
This is a great way to make your writing better, direct, conversational and stronger.
Blog posts and articles quite often use “you” or “your” very early on, in the title and/or introduction. For instance, this post on The Write Life:
Freelance or Full Time: Which Journalism Path is Right for You?
Want to work in the media industry as a writer?
You generally have two options: You can seek employment as a staff member of a publication, or look for freelance writing opportunities.
(Emphasis mine.)
Or this one about book formatting:
How to Format a Book: 10 Tips Your Editor Wants You To Know
Unless you prefer your friends to be story nerds or those who lean toward obsessive-compulsive tendencies when it comes to grammar, you shouldn’t necessarily seek to befriend your editor.
Similar to these examples, use the singular “you” and avoid phrases like, “Some of you may know”. Yes, you (hopefully!) have more than one reader, but each reader experiences your piece individually.
You can also use “I” where appropriate (e.g. to give an example from your own life) — though, usually, it’s best to keep the focus of your piece on the reader.
What’s wrong with this paragraph?
You should write regularly (not necessarily daily). You should aim to write at least once or twice a week (I recommend a total of 3 – 4 hours per week). You may find it difficult to keep this up at first (especially if you’ve not written much before).
There’s no question the advice it shares is sound and reasonable. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with the actual words used. Still, the structure of each of the three sentences is very similar: each one starts with “You” then a modal verb (“should”/“may”), and each one ends with a phrase in parentheses.
When you have several sentences in a row that follow the same pattern, they stand out…in a bad way.
Sometimes, it’s appropriate to structure your sentences like this — e.g. in a bullet-pointed list — but in regular paragraphs, it’s often unintentional on the author’s part, and it seems artless and poorly edited to the reader.
For more help with sentence structure, check out, “It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences,” by June Casagrande.
If you write blog posts, articles or sales copy, subheadings are crucial.
They break up long pieces and help readers stay focused; they also offer “signposts” to readers who may skim for specific information.
When you craft your subheadings, think about how to:
It’s rare that you’ll want to write something deliberately indirect! That would be the opposite of better writing. Instead, you’ll want your words to come across clear and strong to the reader.
This means avoid the passive voice like the plague — advice most writers have heard before as they learn to improve their writing skills. In case you need a recap, here’s a quick rundown:
Active voice: John threw the ball. ➜ Succinct and clear.
Passive voice: The ball was thrown by John. ➜ Wordier and less direct.
The passive voice omits the agent (the person who performs the action) from the sentence altogether: The ball was thrown. See?
This small detail can be useful in many ways to make your writing better; for instance, you might write about something where the agent is unimportant, or where you want to conceal the agent. (“Mistakes were made” is a classic example here.)
A good rule of thumb is to always write in a direct, straightforward way.
Make it as easy as possible for readers to engage with your ideas or your story.
No one’s first draft is perfect, and the above six suggestions should help you rework yours.
Often, it helps to go through your piece at a slow and methodical — many writers find it helps to read aloud since it highlights the cadence of your words.
If you prefer not to read aloud (or if your colleagues, family or cat would give you funny looks if you tried it), then print out your draft so you can edit it on paper.
Use a different format to make it easier to spot typos and repetitive phrasings.
At times when it isn’t practical to print, I’ve also found it helpful to convert my draft digitally: that might mean I turn a Word document into a .pdf, put a novel manuscript onto my Kindle or preview a blog post so I can get closer to the reader’s experience.
Confident, powerful writing will help your message (or your story) have its full impact on your reader.
If you have a serious desire to learn how to write better and don’t have access to an in-person editor, consider using a grammar checker tool.
It’ll help you fix grammar and replace common words with more unique options. Some tools even tell you why you should make a certain change, which is an added bonus because it helps you further learn and improve your writing skills.
(But remember, don’t write and edit at the same time!)
Adverbs are the pesky parts of speech that can be tough to eliminate from your writing.
Because they’re descriptive words that modify verbs, adverbs that end with -ly constantly find their way back into sentences. Since people use them so commonly, they sneakily manage to influence our vocabulary.
Did you notice all the unnecessary adverbs? Here’s another way I could’ve written that sentence:
… adverbs that end with -ly always find their way back into sentences. They’re easy to use in conversation, so adverbs are sly in how they influence our vocabulary.
To improve your writing skills, tighten your copy and clear your blog, novel or article of -ly adverbs you can replace with more descriptive verbs. The first way I wrote the sentence isn’t incorrect, but the second version is less wordy and complex in comparison. Plus, it contains less fluff.
Rather than write, “She drove quickly down the street,” focus on the action to help your reader: What’s the driver doing? Speeding, so you could write, “She raced down the street at lightning speed.”
It’s a small change to swap out adverbs, but the impact is huge when you do so to better your writing with powerful verbs and less fluff.
Your amazing story won’t reach your readers if it’s not composed with sentences that pace well, have proper punctuation and vivid details to enhance the reader experience.
If someone has to read your sentences more than once to grasp the main idea, that means your writing lacks flow.
To improve your writing and create more flow, incorporate this checklist of sentence structure elements in your writing routine:
Besides these 10 effective tips to use to be a better writer and improve your skills, the one thing you have to do is write. (Then, don’t stop.)
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.
Photo via Alissa Kumarova/ Shutterstock
The post How to Write Better: 10 Straightforward Techniques to Try Today appeared first on The Write Life.
We love writing; we love dogs; so why not enjoy nine bones of writing advice with dogs? If you need some great writing advice and fun images of dogs, you’ve found your online destination. Enjoy!
Last week, we shared 9 lines of writing advice with cats. It was pretty amazing, but we also love dogs on the Writer’s Digest team. So yeah, we’ve collected nine bones of writing advice paired with fun images of dogs.
(Yes, Virginia, you are a writer.)
It’s helpful if you’re a writer, comforting if you’re a dog lover, and nearly perfect if you fall into both categories. Enjoy!
*****
Enter Writer’s Digest’s 90th Annual Writing Competition!
There are many reasons to enter the Writer’s Digest annual writing competition, including more than 40 total cash prizes spread across nine different writing categories, including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. But the top reason is the Grand Prize of $5,000 cash, an interview in Writer’s Digest magazine, and more!
*****
From “7 Steps to Creating a Flexible Outline for Any Story,” by K.M. Weiland
From “6 Tips to Choosing the Right Point of View,” by Nancy Kress
From “The 5 C’s of Writing a Great Thriller Novel,” by James Scott Bell
From “The 7 Rules of Picking Fictional Names for Characters,” by Elizabeth Sims
From “6 Secrets to Creating and Sustaining Suspense,” by Steven James
From “The 9 Ingredients of Character Development,” by Tom Pawlik
From “7 Ways to Perfect Your Writing Tone,” by Adair Lara
From “Ian Haydn Smith: Be Distracted By Your Subject,” by Robert Lee Brewer
From “10 Ways to Hook Your Readers (& Reel Them in for Good),” by Ann Garvin
*****
Of course, you can just click on the Free Downloads button at the top of the page to check out all our free downloads for writers. But here are a few of our favorites: