I have often been told that "there are no romance markets for short stories" so there is no point in writing them. That simply is not true. What I have found is that there are markets but the ones that pay well are difficult to break into. There are many that don't pay professional rates (higher that 6 cents a word) and many are based on royalty only. In my research, the following list shows magazines, anthologies and online websites to submit to. These are all paying markets, either x cents a word or a flat fee.
If you find any are no longer active or you want to add one to the list, please let me know.
Woman’s World
Must be true to life stories:
800 words, $800 for romance; 700 words, $500 mystery—mail to address below.
300 word other kinds of
short, cute, anecdotes accepted for less—email Kathy Fitzpatrick:
kfitzpatrick@bauerpublishing.com
Woman's World
Editorial Department: Romance
270 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 (INCLUDE SASE)
680 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60611
Contact: Fiction Editor. Query first
Length: 7500 words maximum
East of the Web
5 cents, romance division, 7000 words minimum, CURRENTLY SEEKING ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/index.php?p=submissions/20131_2
Silkwords
romance and erotica: choose your own adventure romance style, 20,000 word minimum, flat fee advance is paid
https://www.silkwords.com/submissions
Shades of Romance
seeking multicultural literature, flash fiction formats, see website for details, pay ranges between $15-25
http://www.sormag.com/guidelines.htm
Insatiable: White Cat Publications
Paranormal/weird romance up to 5000 words, 3 cents a word
http://www.whitecatpublications.com/guidelines/insatiable/
True
Confessions
True to life stories about
working class women and their families and realistic issues women face in our
society. First person, evoke some sort of emotion, be it happiness or sadness,
but in the end there needs to be some sort of moral or lessoned learned.
3 cents a word, 1000-1500
mini stories, 3-7000 for longer, rhyming poetry ok, Woman to Woman 2-300 words
$65,
Email submissions preferred.
See guidelines at link below.
True
Story, 233 Park Ave. S., New York NY
10003. Tel: (212)979-4825. Monthly magazine for young, blue-collar women, age
20-35. Stories can range from hot romance to tear jerkers. Pays 3 cents word
one month after publication for nonfiction stories of 3,000-7,000 words. Features
$50-100.
Email submissions preferred.
See guidelines at link below.
Penthouse
(query
first by email, then submit by mail)
Erotic fiction, 1,500 to
2,500 words in length, $500, original and unpublished. First person, male or
female, all characters over the age of 19, Stories cannot include incest, blood
arts, minors (even reflections on childhood or any age under 19),
non-consensual sex, or bestiality. Do not submit graphics or poetry.
All stories should be sent to
the mailing address below.
Penthouse Editorial Department:
Erotic fiction editor
20 Broad Street, 14th
Floor, New York, N.Y. 10005
Playboy Magazine
Insatiable
Romance + paranormal, 1000-5000 words, 3
cents, 1 cent for reprints
Broadlit
Magazine
(Bought out True Love and True Romance formerly owned by
Dorchester Media) Occasional contests with story requests.
info@trulovestories.com
Sounds of the Night
sensual
speculative
$12, $4 flash
fiction
Romance
Flash
$3, under 1000 words, all romance except
Erotica accepted
Ravenous Romance
Wants steamy romance, many
categories: short stories, novels and novellas. Royalties and sometimes an
advance,
Stony Meadow Publishing
monthly contest, (2-6000
words, $20 + contest winner, must be romance, 2 stories entered maximum a
month, 30 day response from the first of the month deadline)
hasn’t updated
website since 2010—are they still around?
