Win money with your short fiction
We buy the best stories at professional rates and publish them in our magazine.
Our Mission:
Help new talent go pro, award life-changing prize money, and promote fiction writers worldwide.
How it works
Each month we hold a contest based on a short fiction prompt. You write a wonderful story and enter the contest. We choose the winner who receives the grand prize.
We also choose the best stories, pay the authors above-professional rates, and publish them in our magazine.
Who can enter?
Anyone can submit work to the magazine for free, but you must be an Elegant+ Member to enter the contests and win prizes. Membership is $10/month and includes over $250 in exclusive discounts from our partners like Scrivener, ProWritingAid, Novel Factory, and more.
what are the odds?
The odds depend on the number of members who enter the contest, and the strength of their work. Don’t worry though, each month we increase the prize fund based on current membership, and will open more contest categories so the odds never get diluted.
Also, as our mission is to promote aspiring writers, we ask Pros not to enter.
for writers, by writers.
Professional Pay
Professional pay for short fiction is 8 cents per word. We pay 10.
Private Submissions
Unlike some contests that publish all entries on their website, we keep them private, unless you choose to share them in the members-only area that functions as a critique group. If we don't purchase your work you are free to sell it elsewhere.
Write In Any Genre
We care about storycraft above all. The monthly prompt may affect what you write about, but feel free to genre bend. In fact, the best work often blurs the line.
Amazing Response Time
Unlike other magazines who take unreasonable amounts of time, you will always know if your submission was accepted by the end of the month.
Community Workshop
Members can get feedback from other writers and improve their work before submitting to the contest.
Streamlined Submissions
Gone are the days of query letters and risky contracts. We have simplified everything, making sure all terms are favorable for the author.
WHY PUBLISH WITH ELEGANT LITERATURE?
Have you ever waited months for a rejection letter, or published on profit-sharing sites and earned pennies? Let’s not even discuss writing contests with two-thousand dollar prizes that charge 75 bucks to enter. You put up with a lot as a writer, wherever you choose to publish. At Elegant Literature, we’ve combined the best bits and tossed the rest.
Your membership allows you unlimited entries into all our contests. Even if you don’t win, we may still buy your work to publish in our magazine for rates that qualify you as a professional. You’ll never have to wait more than a month after a competition closes to know whether we accepted you or not.
Submissions are kept private and aren’t considered published, so even if we don’t buy your story, you can still sell it to another magazine or post it on a profit-share site. You own all the rights.
Our prize-fund and ability to purchase fiction grows with our membership, so you always have a good chance at publication.
Finally, we can’t stand the idea of “rights-grabbing” or shady contracts, and negotiating is a hassle for everyone. We believe in rewarding excellent work, not penny-pinching. Our streamlined submission process removes irritating aspects such as query letters and submission limits and heavily favors the author. Learn more about it here.
