Wallstrait A Literary Journal of Hard-to-Define Fiction

About

Wallstrait is all about publishing quality, hard-to-define fiction and treating writers right.
We don't have any demands on style or genre. If we love it, we'll publish it.
We love discovering and championing great prose across all genres, especially bold stories that don't quite fit the aesthetic of other journals. We don't solicit stories from established authors. Everything we publish comes from general submissions.
Our mission is simple: to find and publish great prose. Along the way, we plan to remain one of the fastest-responding journals in the industry, pay our contributors well, actively nominate our writers for every award we can find, and offer editorial feedback as time permits.
Every writer we publish submits to us the same way. We don't solicit writing from authors, agents, friends, etc. We lose money doing this. When even one of these statements is no longer true, we'll stop doing this.

Fees Notice: This project charges fees (or requires purchases) for some submissions. They charge fees for some submission periods.
The fee is USD $3 (average for magazines that charge).

Country of Publication & Year Established

United States

Established in 2024

Publication Medium & Frequency

Electronic Publication Electronic Publication: Published 17 x per year

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed

194 members set this magazine as a Favorite.

Statistics Synopsis

Faster: Wallstrait's overall average response time is faster than most magazines.
More Challenging: Wallstrait's overall acceptance rate is lower than most magazines.
More Responsive: Wallstrait's overall rate of non-response is lower than most magazines.

Learn more about our statistics

Collapse section Fiction Open Fee-based

Dates:

Open to fee-based fiction submissions through 30 September 2026 11:59 PM CDT (in 15 days).

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Genres:

Open to all/most Genres, including:
General

Lengths:

Flash Fiction: 500 - 1,000 words.
Short Story: 1,000 - 5,000 words.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Experimental, Literary, Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Payment:

Semi-pro payment (1-4.9 US cents per word) to Professional payment (5 or more US cents per word) Pay ranges from Semi-pro payment to Professional payment. Details: USD $100 per story.

Submissions:

Method: Submittable submission manager.
Reprints: Reprints are NOT allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.
Media: Text.

Expand section Nonfiction Closed

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

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Bluesky @wallstrait.bsky.social
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For the Editor(s):
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Wallstrait Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the publication's editors/staff or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

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Accuracy

We have received 246 reports from 162 different members within the past 12 months, not including pending responses (see below). The more responses reported, the more accurate the information.

Days Reported

0 min | 20.4 mean avg | 17.0 median | 100 max days (18.8 std dev)

Responses

96.34 %

Acceptances:

0.81 % of submissions accepted (58.5 avg. days per acceptance) | 1.23 % of submitters accepted

Rejections:

95.53 % (19.9 avg. days per rejection) | 16.6 % personal, 67.2 % form, 16.2 % unspecified | 6.5 % shortlisted

Non-Responses

0.00 %

Lost/Returned:

Never Responded:

Withdrawals

3.66 % (32.6 avg. days per withdrawal)

Pending

22 responses are pending (2 min | 9.9 mean avg | 11.5 median | 14 max days waiting | 131.7 std dev) from 22 different members

Other Information

The editors will try to make a decision within 60 days. (4.1 % of the responses reported to us for this listing have taken longer than 60 days.)
Do not query on the status of your submission before 60 days have passed.
The most common submission fee paid: USD $3.00. (50.2 % of reports specified whether they paid a fee; of those, 93.5 % paid fees.)
Most submissions are acknowledged within one day.
Most recent response reported was received on 15 Sep 2026.
Responses have been received for submissions sent as recently as 02 Sep 2026.
Date compiled: 15 Sep 2026 08:06 UTC (1 hour, 41 minutes ago).
View report of recent responses from this project

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Before Submitting

We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is correct. It is not unusual for publications to evolve or close without notice. We do our best to keep up, but it isn't always possible. Duotrope listings do not imply endorsement or recommendation of the project being listed. Before submitting, you should use your own judgment to determine whether the project meets your standards.

Always read the full guidelines provided by the publisher.
Try to read at least one previous publication to get a better idea of what the editor would like to see.
Unless the publisher's guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
Be professional, patient, and persistent.

Dates

Last Updated: 31 Aug 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.