Smart Search List of the Day Essays 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 Fee-Free Literary Nonfiction. 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:* Any Topic Agriculture/Agricultural Sciences Anthropology Architecture and Planning Astronomy/Astrophysics Business/Finance Chemistry Children/Family Communications Demography Earth Sciences Economics Education/Pedagogy Ethics Film/Television Folklore/Mythology Geography Health/Medicine History Humanities Language/Linguistics Law/Juridical Science Life Sciences Lifestyle Literature/Books Logic Mathematics Memoir Music Nature/Environment Performing Arts Philosophy Physics Place/Regions Politics/Political Science Psychology Religion/Spirituality Science Seasons/Holidays Sexuality/Gender Social Sciences Society/Culture Sociology Sports/Recreation Style/Beauty Technology Travel Visual Arts Other Include Scholarly publications Genre:* Style:* Any Style Academic Critical Experimental Humorous Literary Mainstream Minimalist Personal Quirky Satirical Technical Medium:* Type/Length:* Any Type/Length Interview Review Article Essay Narrative Nonfiction Book Excerpt Nonfiction Collection Book 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: Essays. Check back tomorrow for a new list.Color Coding: Purple indicates a Wildcard, Green indicates a paying publication, and Blue is everything else. The Ammonite Review Wildcard Established in 2025, The Ammonite Review is an online literary magazine publishing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and criticism/reviews from both emerging and established writers. Inspired by the fossils that line the shores of the Bay of Fundy, we approach the editorial process like fossil hunters—patiently searching, unearthing, and holding space for what endures…Topics: Open to all/most topics.Lengths: Review, Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: No monetary payment. The Ex-Puritan The Ex-Puritan began in 2007 as The Puritan Literary Magazine, an independently funded print journal dedicated to publishing fiction, essays, and interviews in Ottawa, Ontario, and was sold in bookstores across the city. In its early years, The Puritan was Ottawa’s only quarterly prose journal. After a brief hiatus, the magazine returned to publishing, now in the form of an online magazine run from Toronto…Topics: Open to all/most topics.Lengths: Essay.Payment: to Semi-pro to Professional. Details: CAD $100 per interview; $200 per essay; $100 per review.Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 124.6 days.Acceptances: Challenging. 5.3% of nonfiction submissions accepted. Headlight Anthology Headlight Anthology is an annual, student-run journal published out of Concordia University, Canada. Our mission is to amplify new & exciting voices, strengthen our local community of writers & readers, & represent Concordia & Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) within the Turtle Island writing & publishing scene. Since 1998, we have published (almost) annually, & the journal operates out of Concordia’s graduate English Literature & Creative Writing department, the students of which compose its staff…Topics: Open to all/most topics.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 96.1 days.Acceptances: Unknown. None reported yet in nonfiction. Months to Years We strive to publish creative nonfiction (as well as poetry, photography and art) that explores the human experience as it relates to mortality. Why dedicate a journal to writing about death? Contemplating mortality – be it by a terminally ill patient, a hospice nurse, a bereaved person, a recovering cancer patient – sparks profound and compelling writing rich in insights about the human condition. It seems it is nearly impossible to contemplate dying without also reflecting on how to live well.Topics: Health/Medicine, Memoir, Psychology, Other.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Average responder. 56.6 days.Acceptances: Unknown. None reported yet in nonfiction. Pangyrus Pangyrus is a literary magazine that is dedicated to art, ideas, and making culture thrive. Our name is a portmanteau of pangea (the world continent) and gyrus (the folds on the cerebral cortex of the brain). Pangyrus is about connection. We bring readers to make unexpected connections across a wide range of ideas, genres, and geographies. All that is worthy of thought and consideration, you’ll find here…Topics: Open to all/most topics, including: Politics/Political Science, Society/Culture, Other.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: to Token to Professional. Details: USD $30.Avg. Response: Average responder. 72.8 days.Acceptances: Approachable. 20.7% of nonfiction submissions accepted. Superpresent Magazine The name Superpresent conveys multiple meanings. It could be something very much in the here and now, or something beyond the present state of being or thinking, or something surreal, or it could simply be a great and wonderful gift. In this sense, we seek to present poetry, essays, short stories, and visual arts that are compelling and in someway represent an aspect of the super present.Topics: Open to all/most topics, including: Other.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 30.2 days.Acceptances: Average. 8.3% of nonfiction submissions accepted. Vast Chasm Magazine Vast strives to be an engaged literary press that explores the expansive human experience and celebrates complex, diverse voices. Our mission is to publish bold work, champion distinct artists, and cultivate literary community.Topics: Open to all/most topics.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: to Semi-pro to Professional. Details: USD $50.Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 100.6 days.Acceptances: Unknown. None reported yet in nonfiction. WayWords Literary Journal We designed this literary journal to welcome the self-willed writers who dare to break the mold. With so many varied options for writers around the world, The Writer's Workout wants this literary journal to inspire fresh ideas for pieces new and old with our chosen themes and tributes at the heart. We're excited to publish first-time writers, seasoned authors, and everything in between. WayWords welcomes everyone using words as a way forward.Topics: Society/Culture, Other.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Average responder. 63.1 days.Acceptances: Approachable. 25.0% of nonfiction submissions accepted. Wildness The journal has featured work from Kazim Ali, Ruth Awad, Zeina Hashem Beck, Chen Chen, Bhanu Kapil, Salena Godden, Carl Phillips, Mary Ruefle, Richard Siken, Clint Smith, Maggie Smith, and Brandon Taylor, among others. We were honoured when Poets & Writers featured wildness in the "Nine New Lit Mags You Need to Read" feature, mentioning that "wildness features formally inventive work by both established and emerging writers that embraces the mysteries of the self and the outside world…Topics: Open to all/most topics.Lengths: Essay, Narrative Nonfiction.Payment: No monetary payment.Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 9.3 days.Acceptances: Unknown. None reported yet in nonfiction. The Yale Review Fees Join a conversation 200 years in the making. At The Yale Review, we believe in the power of connecting great minds across disciplines, backgrounds, and generations. As a renowned journal of literature and ideas, TYR has been privileged to publish both established names and rising literary talent, including Virginia Woolf, Robert Lowell, Thomas Mann, Bayard Rustin, Louise Glück, Adrienne Rich, José Ortega y Gassett, Joyce Carol Oates, James Merrill, Cathy Park Hong, Sheila Heti, Garth…Topics: Open to all/most topics.Lengths: Review, Essay.Payment: to Semi-pro to Professional. Details: USD $500-$1,500 for print publication; $200-$500 for online publicaiton.Avg. Response: Average responder. 53.7 days.Acceptances: Average. 7.7% of nonfiction submissions accepted. 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