Paying Markets for Writers: Essays and Erotica
These calls for essays and erotic stories will be closing soon!
I don’t have much free time lately so newsletters and social media postings will probably be sparse for the rest of the year, but I wanted to make sure you saw that I have two paying markets for writers and am aiming to fill both projects ASAP. If you know any writers who might have a great piece of writing to submit, please pass the details on to them. Both projects are open to writers anywhere in the world. All the details on how to submit and how to contact me about each project are in the guidelines. Due to time constraints, I will only be answering questions via email that aren’t already answered in the guidelines.
I shouldn’t need to add this disclaimer but I will: Not every call for writing is right for every writer. We live in a time when publishing is wide open to anyone who can access the internet so there’s nothing stopping anyone else from creating their own publications or books that match their needs and desires.
I’ve created guidelines that work for me as an editor, and while I hope to work with as many authors as I can, I’m fully aware that these guidelines won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you want to see what some of the 700+ contributors to my erotica anthologies have had to say about working with me, you can read their testimonials here.
I take a lot of care and time to explicitly state exactly what I’m looking for in my writing guidelines and while spots are limited for each, both projects are wide open right now to submissions that are a great fit. If you’re not sure what my tastes are, I recommend reading either past essays in Open Secrets or past stories I’ve edited to get a sense of what I gravitate toward.
My biggest focus is growing Open Secrets so I can build up enough of a following there to get the chance to edit an Open Secrets anthology someday, so if you want to help me do that, please consider becoming a free subscriber, which also means you’ll get each week’s essay in your inbox.
Call for unpublished 1,000-1,500 word personal essays for
- topics include accessing abortion care post-Roe in states where it’s now illegal, 9/11, hoarding/minimalism/our relationship with our stuff, witches/Wicca, being a veteran, , gratitude/thankfulness, work/career (especially looking for a personal take by a striking member of WGA or SAG-AFTRA), dating/relationships, and anything not previously covered by Open Secrets. Authors may use pseudonyms as long as that’s made clear with the submission. Each part of this call will close once slots are filled and the call will close when all slots are filled. Pays $100/essay.Call for unpublished 1,000-,1200 word erotic flash fiction stories - final deadline is September 1, 2023 but this book is filling up fast so earlier submissions are welcome. This will be the last erotica anthology I edit for a while (maybe ever, but probably just for a few years) so I can focus on other work, so if you’ve always wanted to be published in one of my anthologies, please submit a story. I especially welcome and will be prioritizing authors I’ve never worked with before, but all who follow the guidelines are welcome to submit work. The erotic short story deadline is next Friday, September 1, and while that’s only a week away, the word count is only 1,000-1,200 words. Pays $30/story and a PDF copy of the book.
What I’m up to next:
September 9, 1-3 pm ET, Erotica Writing 101 Zoom Class. $25/person. Limited to 50 people.
September 11, 6:30-8 pm ET, FREE with registration
My Privates: A conversation about public sexual discourses with Tristan Taormino (online)