David C. Rompf, Creative Nonfiction teacher, suggested I consider these magazines to submit to. I have links and comments below.
The Bellevue Literary Review (external link)
After two months the Bellevue turned down my nonfiction essay (internal link) with a standard e-mail rejection notice. They consider works broadly related related to “health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body.”
The Sun (external link)
Noted literary magazine. Takes submissions in hardcopy and on-line. Pays well. Gets a thousand submissions a month.
Creative Nonfiction (external link)
A leader in the creative nonfiction genre (internal link). Calls for submissions based on topics they are building future issues around. Good page on the history of creative nonfiction. Like many magazines they take submissions through Submittable.com, which collects a small fee. Usually three dollars.
Fourth Genre (external link)
“Published twice annually by Michigan State University Press, Fourth Genre is a literary journal that explores the boundaries of contemporary and creative nonfiction. Personal essays are welcome—including nature, environmental, and travel essays—as well as memoirs, personal critical essays, and literary journalism.”
Third Coast (external link)
“Founded in 1995 by graduate students of the Western Michigan University English departmentt,Third Coast is one of the nation’s premier literary magazines—and one of only a handful of nationally distributed literary magazines to regularly include four genres; Third Coastconsistently publishes excellent and often award-winning fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and drama.”
Missouri Review (external link)
“The Missouri Review, founded in 1978, is one of the most highly-regarded literary magazines in the United States and for the past thirty-four years we’ve upheld a reputation for finding and publishing the very best writers first.”
Newpages.com (external link)
Not a literary review but a writer’s hub, Rompf says Newpages.com “is one of the most comprehensive sites listing literary magazine submissions, special themed issues, deadlines, etc. They also have excellent reviews of hundreds of lit mags, so you if you browse through those, you get a sense for which ones to submit to.”
After visiting Newpages I sent my essay to the magazine just below. They, too, rejected it, but they did so after only two weeks, an entirely reasonable waiting time.
The Forge Literary Magazine (external link)
A smaller review. Might not get as many submissions at the more noted publishers, many of whom get 12,000 to 15,000 submissions a year.
