To answer your first question and save you some scrolling: we are a semi-pro paying market with a rate of 1c USD per word, up to a maximum of $20 per short story.
We are open for submissions for Print Issue #2!
We will be accepting submissions for creative non-fiction flash, poetry, fiction flash and short stories up to 5k (varies by call). We accept reprints for Flash and Short Story. We will also have optional paid submissions for short stories up to 5k when free subs fill and our new “unhinged rat-jection feedback” option.
We publish a new microfiction or drabble piece Monday through Friday on the Rat Bag Lit substack. Stories are available for free for 4 weeks, before switching to a subscriber-only archive.
Our first print issue is currently in the works and is expected to be released on March 15, 2026 in both print and digital formats.
We will OPEN for unthemed micros (up to 300 words) and our monthly drabble themed call “Anti-Resolutions” on December 1st.
Keep an eye on our socials or joining our mailing list for exclusive surprise, unscheduled calls. Follow the submission manager link immediately below for our most up-to-date calls and payment information:
Fiction that crosses genres and blurs the lines between literary and genre. Work that keeps us up at night, stories that make us laugh, and the strangest dreams that pop out of your odd little noggin. Bold ideas, tight prose, snappy dialogue, speculative elements. Something we haven’t seen and, hell, maybe something we’ll wish we hadn’t. Mysterious, haunted mansions, crackling campfires, electric space stations, lonely abandoned farmhouses. That story that you hold close to your heart but has been rejected a billion times, but you keep sending it out because you believe in it, damnit? Yeah. Send us that one.
Yes to aliens, alternate worlds, apocalyptic game shows, bigfoot, blue collar, cats, cemeteries, coming-of-age, cosmic, cryptids, cults, cursed objects, dark, dating fails, dystopian, elder millennials, embarrassing moments, female narrators, food service, gen x, ghosts, girl power, gothic, grim reapers, grumpy unicorns, fairytale revamps, found family, haunted mansions, hidden worlds, horror, humor, liminal spaces, mermaids, modern-day wizards, mythology revamps, occult, ordinary people finding portals, paranormal, post-apocalyptic, sad robots, secret societies, squishy soft science fiction, shitty roommates, snark, social commentary, silly, steampunk, stoners, swapped gender roles, supernatural, talking animals with bad attitudes, teenagers, time travel, tongue-in-cheek, underdogs, unreliable narrators, urban fantasy, weirdos, witchcraft
Probably no to action / adventure, all vibes no story, boring stories, children’s stories, celebrities, cliches, cozy, dead wife/husband/parent/partner, emotional manipulation, espionage, excessively purple prose, hate of any kind, historical fiction, humor that denigrates, kids with cancer, military fiction, modern politics, mystery, political satire, rage bait, religious fanaticism, sappy romance, sword & sorcery, thriller, tired tropes, tragedy, werewolves, vampires, zombies (Have a story that you think we’ll like despite it being listed as a no? Try it anyway. We love being surprised and have accepted at least one story including one of these.)
We don’t want:
No AI-generated stories. If it didn’t come from the depths of your own weird brain, we don’t want to read it. We will not consider stories written, co-written, created, or assisted by AI and machine-learning languages such as ChatGPT. We do not use AI-generated images.
No hate speech. We aren’t interested in your bigotry, homophobia, racism, sexism, or transphobia, or anything along those lines. We are an inclusive publisher.
No fan fiction. We won’t publish anything that violates someone else’s copyright. We’d prefer you come up with your own characters and worlds. The exception to this being mythological fiction, in which case, make it modern and interesting as you breathe new life into old (public domain) tales.
No song lyrics. Song titles are usually fair game in fiction, but song lyrics require permissions that we rats aren’t able to obtain. We’d prefer not to have to reject a great story because of song lyrics.
No hard-core erotica. I mean, if you send us something hot, we’ll read it, but if you make Ratty blush, we probably can’t publish it. That being said, we are not prudes. If you can walk the line without crossing it, by all means, send it in if you think it fits our vibe. (To save you a rejection: we are very unlikely to publish your penis poetry, which we see far too much of in our queue.)
No hard-core violence and gore. We don’t want to read it, even with a trigger warning. Keep it off-page please. This includes violence directed at animals.
A NOTE ON CONTENT WARNINGS
Our first readers don’t necessarily need content warnings, but we would appreciate you including them if you feel like one might apply for a general reader. If you worry that a content warning might be a spoiler, you can include it either at the bottom of your manuscript or in your cover letter. This helps us as we decide which pieces should have a content warning for publication and has no impact on our submissions process. We plan to use the list in this article as a starting point.
don’t self reject
If you love your story and think it fits our vibes, why not take a shot and send it our way? Worst case, you’ll get another rejection to add to your pile, and maybe we’ll love it. We are an inclusive publisher and welcome submissions from writers of all demographics. We especially want to hear from underrepresented voices
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
We publish a new drabble or microfiction piece every weekday (Monday – Friday) on the Rat Bag Lit substack. (We know this platform is a bit problematic, but we hope you’ll forgive us until we find a better option that suits our needs and technical abilities.)
Our first print publication has a scheduled release date of March 15, 2026. Issue #2 is scheduled for October 15, 2026. We will post any updates to our publication schedule here and on our social media.
We accept unsolicited submissions written in English. Most submission categories are free, but we do have a paid option for longer short stories and/or when free short story submissions are full for the month. We also have a paid “rat-jection” feedback option. We appreciate your tip jar submissions.
We do not charge our authors any fees for publication beyond the optional fees listed above. If free submissions are closed and paying a submission fee presents a financial hardship to you, email us for assistance.
We accept fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry in the following categories:
Drabbles – monthly themes, exactly 100 words, no more, no less, with a maximum 15 word title. For digital publication – Pays $1. You can submit up to two at once. No reprints.
Micros – maximum 300 words. For digital publication – pays a penny a word up to $3. No reprints.
Flash – 1000 words maximum. Pays a penny a word for print/digital publication, up to a maximum of $10, Reprints half-rate, up to a maximum of $5.
Creative Non-Fiction – 1000 words maximum. Pays a penny a word for print/digital publication, up to a maximum of $10. No reprints.
Short Story – 1001 words up to a maximum of 5000* words. Print/digital publication, Pays a penny a word, up to a max of $20, Reprints half-rate, up to a maximum of $10. (*3.5k-5k stories are limited to the paid submissions category for originals and the reprints category for reprints).
Poetry – We’ll be honest, we aren’t super familiar with poetry, but we’re willing to take a look at what you’ve got. Experimental, speculative, non-rhyming, non-traditional… Sure, why not? We won’t know any better. Make it weird, keep it short, maximum 300 words. Pays a penny a word up to $3 for print/digital publication. You can submit up to 3 at once. No reprints.
More information and submission link here.
