Submissions

Our submissions are currently closed.

We intend on reopening submissions early next year, so keep an eye on our website and social media outlets for the latest information on submitting to Heathen Magazine. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know when submissions reopen!

We’re looking for stories no more than 7,500 words in length, with preference given to stories that have less than 5,000 words. Heathen pays writers a HWA-qualifying $0.05 per word.

At this time, we are not looking for poetry, non-fiction, or art-only submissions.

The submissions process is as follows:

  • Submit your story through our Moksha portal
  • Our first-level readers will read your story and decide if it should move onto the next round. If your story won’t be moving onto the next round, you’ll receive a form letter informing you of such.
  • Stories that pass the first round of our readers will be sent to one of our second-level readers, who will decide whether to send stories onto a third and final round of reading. Form letters will be sent to those who don’t make it past this round as well.
  • Stories that pass the first two rounds will then be sent to the desk of our Managing Editor and Publisher. They’ll make the decision on which stories will be published by Heathen. At this point, personal e-mails will be sent by our Publisher informing you of our decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Heathen accept multiple submissions?

Yes, we allow authors to submit as many stories as they like. That said, please submit responsibly.

Our readers have many, many stories to get through and it’d be appreciate if you kept submissions to just a few.

Yes, simultaneous submissions—or submissions submitted to multiple outlets—are allowed.

If you submit a story to Heathen, however, and find it’s accepted by our editorial team and a publishing agreement is signed, we won’t be willing to cancel the agreement should you want to put the story elsewhere.

For the first 12 months of our agreement, Heathen will retain exclusive print and audio rights to your short story.

After that, we ask authors to grant us perpetual nonexclusive rights to your story in print and audio formats so long as we continue to maintain our website, social media platforms, and podcast distribution networks.

We do! Reprints will be paid at a rate of $0.02 per word and must not be under an exclusive contract with another publisher. We will, however, require exclusivity for our regular 12-month period should you want a reprint published in Heathen.

To be frank, we’re not picky. Submit your manuscript in a standard format akin to what other publishers require. While our readers will read pretty much anything we throw to them, they’ve informed us they’ll walk out if some submit in Comic Sans.

No, no, no, and no. Under no circumstance will Heathen knowingly publish stories or artwork created by artificial intelligence. While we would like to think AI has its rightful spot in the technological pantheon, we feel creative writing is not a place the technology should reside.

As such, any submitted story will be run against multiple AI detectors, and anyone caught submitting stories generated by AI will no longer be welcome to submit further stories for inclusion in our magazine.

Yes! We pay out an initial, HWA-qualifying fee of $0.05 per word when your story is published in a digital issue of Heathen. Our contract also states that you’ll receive a pro-rata share of ad sales from your story’s podcast episode, and a pro-rata share of any sales made should your story be included in the annual Heathen physical copy.