Submission Word Limits for Literary Journals

Sometimes it can be difficult to find literary magazines where you can submit your longform prose. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of several well-known and highly regarded journals according to their maximum length allowance for fiction and creative nonfiction submissions.

Take a look below for recommendations where to submit your prose (and keep in mind that some of these journals may periodically update their length requirements, so always double-check the requirements before you submit!). I’ve linked to each literary journal’s submission guidelines.

Word limits 3k-4.5k

Atticus Review (up to 4K)
Phoebe (4k)
LitMag Online (4k)

Word limits 5k-6.5k

Baltimore Review (up to 5k)
CRAFT (6k)
Cream City Review (up to 20 pages double-spaced)
Granta: The Magazine of New Writing (3k-6k)
Gulf Stream (up to 5k)
Iron Horse Literary Review (up to 5.5k)
Longreads (CNF 2k-6k)
New Letters–Short Stories (up to 5k)
The Pinch (up to 5k)
Prime Number Magazine (up to 5.3k)
Puerto del Sol (up to 6k)
Redivider (up to 6k)
Ruminate Mag (up to 5.5k–word count recently removed)

Word limits 7k-8.5k

Bayou Magazine (up to 7.5k)
Bennington Review (up to 30 double-spaced pages)
Black Warrior Review (up to 7k)
Boulevard (up to 8k)
Cimarron Review (no limit, most work <25 pages)
Cola Literary Review (1k-5k preferred, 8k max)
Conjunctions (no limit, but most published work is <8k)
Crazy Horse (up to 8.5k)
Epiphany: A Literary Journal (1k-7.5k)
Greensboro Review (up to 7.5k)
Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts (up to 7k)
Guernica: 15 Years of Global Arts and Politics (2k-7k)
Gulf Coast (up to 7k)
Harvard Review (up to 7k)
The Massachusetts Review–Print (up to 7.5k)
Moon City Review (up to 8k)
New South (up to 7.5k)
North Dakota Quarterly (no limit, most work <7k)
One Story (3k-8k)
Passages North (up to 8k)
Ploughshares (up to 7.5k)
Raleigh Review (prefer 4k-5k, 7k max)
Southeast Review (up to 7.5k)
West Branch (up to 7.5k)

Word limits 9k-10k

The Adroit Journal (up to 9k)
Carve Magazine: Honest Fiction (up to 10k)
The Common: A Modern Sense of Place (up to 10k)
The Ex-Puritan (up to 10k)
Georgia Review (up to 9k)
Gettysburg Review (up to 10k)
Joyland Magazine (up to 10k)
The Sewanee Review (up to 10k)

Word limits over 10k

AGNI (no limit)
EPOCH (up to novella length ~40k)
Juked (no limit)
LitMag print (up to 15k)
The Massachusetts Review–Working Titles (7.5k-25k)
New England Review (up to 20k, though most published work is <10k)
New Letters–Novellas (up to 30k)
The Paris Review (no limit)
Ploughshares solos (7.5k-20k)
Story (up to 25k)
Subtropics (no limit)
ZYZZYVA (no limit, recommended that you review recent issues)

There are obviously a ton more reputable magazines out there, but these are simply the ones I have compiled so far. If you know of one that you think I should add, please send me a message through my contact form here.