Smart Search List of the Day Fee-Free Horror Fiction Smart Search is one of several search options for our members. It enables you to search for publishers and agents using the most common options and provides a short list of results that's curated and updated daily. This helps you find that gold nugget in the stream with as little effort as possible. Although you aren't a member yet, we are giving you a free preview of our Smart Search below. Read our Guide to Smart Search for more information about this feature.Note: These are the results of a previous Smart Search List of the Day. Today's Smart Search is Essays. Instructions: Select at least one bolded (asterisk) option below and click Search. To include some lesser-known publishers, select "Include Wildcards." Piece: Clear Poetry Form:* Topic:* Include Scholarly publications Genre:* Any Genre General Action-Adventure Erotica Fantasy Horror Mystery/Crime Romance Science Fiction Suspense/Thriller Western Style:* Any Style Absurdist Dark Experimental Humorous Literary Mainstream Minimalist Pulp Quirky Realist Satirical Surrealist Transgressive Medium:* Length:* Any Length Flash Fiction (<1000) Short Story (1000-7500) Novelette (7500-15k) Novella (15k-40k) Novel Excerpt Fiction Collection Novel (>40k) Include literary agents as well as publishers Max. Results: 10 20 30 40 50 Fees: Include Fee-Based Submissions Pay: Paying Projects Only Include 'Unknown' Payscale Refinements: Include Wildcards Wildcards are listings that are lesser-known and don't have enough data yet for complete statistics. Exact Matches Only Sort By: Acceptance Pct (high to low) Acceptance Pct (low to high) Avg Response Time (low to high) Number of Submitters (reporting to Duotrope) Title Today's Smart Search List of the Day is: Fee-Free Horror Fiction. Check back tomorrow for a new list.Color Coding: Purple indicates a Wildcard, Green indicates a paying publication, and Blue is everything else. Black Hare Press Patreon Monthly Challenge Wildcard No description available.Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Suspense/Thriller.Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story.Winner's Prize: to Pays occasionally, up to Semi-pro. Free copy(ies). Details: Payment will be either USD $0.04/word for the first 100 and $0.01 for each additional word OR a free copy of the paperback.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 48.0 days. Crooked Spine A small horror magazine out of nowhere in particular. Four issues a year (or more), in paperback and on Kindle. Themed reading periods. We publish what scares us.Genres: Horror.Lengths: Short Story.Payment: to Token to Semi-pro. Free copy(ies). Details: USD $20.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 9.4 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 5.6% of fiction submissions accepted. The Dark Magazine No description available.Genres: Fantasy, Horror.Lengths: Short Story.Payment: Professional. Details: USD $0.05/word for originals; $0.01/word for reprints.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 1.9 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 0.5% of fiction submissions accepted. The Dread Literary Review The Dread Literary Review is an independent online literary magazine focused on displaying poems and fictions crafted around the themes of horror, mystery, and speculation.Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery/Crime, Science Fiction.Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Average responder. 72.3 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 6.0% of fiction submissions accepted. ergot. ergot. is a literary website interested in furthering the innovatative and experimental tradition in horror.Genres: Horror.Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story, Novelette.Payment: to Token to Professional. Details: USD $25.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 17.6 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 4.8% of fiction submissions accepted. Horrific Scribes Mature Horrific Scribes is an expanding online archive of dark short fiction (and some poetry) by various authors who share the Horrific Scribblings imprint’s dedication to the provocative, scary, and strange. Most of the stories will have elements of horror, ranging from bloodless slow burns to raucous extreme romps, but related genres–dark fantasy, dark sci-fi, surrealist and other experimental writing with dark tendencies–are likely to appear…Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction.Lengths: Short Story.Payment: to Token to Semi-pro. Details: USD $25 per story.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 8.9 days.Acceptances: Average. 8.7% of fiction submissions accepted. Jersey Devil Press The Jersey Devil is a creature of legend, lurking in the shadows of the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, revealing itself only to wreak havoc on some small town, snack on some poor, unsuspecting chicken or goat, and, occasionally, if it’s feeling a little randy, to hit on mermaids down the Jersey shore…Genres: Open to all/most genres, including: General, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction.Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Average responder. 81.6 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 5.2% of fiction submissions accepted. MENACE Magazine Mature M E N A C E publishes work that encapsulates the dark, the transgressive, and the gross. While not strictly a space for the speculative, M E N A C E seeks the “literary weird”—work that would be rejected from big literary magazines for being too genre…Genres: General, Fantasy, Horror.Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story, Novelette.Payment: to Token to Professional. Details: USD $50.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 8.5 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 1.5% of fiction submissions accepted. The Rumpus The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper…Genres: General, Horror.Lengths: Flash Fiction, Short Story.Payment: Professional. Details: USD $500.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 45.6 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 2.9% of fiction submissions accepted. Velox Books At Velox Books, we’re passionate about bringing the most chilling, weird, and captivating horror tales to readers who crave the extraordinary. With over a decade of independent publishing experience, we’re a small press with an enormous appetite for horror, specializing in collections of horror, weird fiction, and intriguing tales that push the boundaries of the imagination. Our roster includes Amazon bestsellers and top-voted authors from Reddit’s horror story community, NoSleep.Genres: Horror, Science Fiction.Lengths: Fiction Collection, Novel.Payment: + Unknown advance. Unknown royalties.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 29.9 days.Acceptances: Average. 5.3% of fiction submissions accepted. Bulk Actions: Select all | Deselect all Jump to Top Add selected to Favorites Add selected to Ignore List (Ignored listings will be hidden from you across the site.) Cookie Consent: This site uses secure first-party cookies for essential, preference-setting, and statistical purposes. We do not use any marketing, advertising, or third-party cookies. Read our full cookie policy. Accept All Cookies Allow Essential Cookies Only