Why Some Lit Journals Charge (and What That Means)
Published 5 days ago • 3 min read
There’s always a little reaction from me when I see a literary journal charge a submission fee. It’s annoyance. Or disappointment. Sometimes it's enough to stop me from submitting altogether, depending on the month and my budget. And I know that my reaction can sometimes be warranted, and other times I have to acknowledge that it’s just the price of doing business—and that lit journals largely don’t bring in much money to cover their own expenses.
Here’s what’s actually going on behind the curtain, why these fees exist, and why they seem to be getting higher.
What You’re Paying For
Most journals that charge a submission fee are using Submittable, which is a submission management system that lets editors read, tag, sort, and respond to work. It’s standard in the lit world because it saves everyone time: for journals, it cuts down on email chaos and lost files; for writers, it keeps your submissions organized and time-stamped. When it works well, it’s invisible.
But it’s not free.
As of now, Submittable charges journals $999/year for the basic plan. That gets them 100 GB of storage and up to 30 team members. The more staff they add, the more they pay. Want more storage or analytics? It costs extra. Submittable also limits how many submissions a journal can receive per month—so even if they want to be free and open to all, they might hit the ceiling on their plan quickly.
That’s where the $3 (or $4.50 or $5.00 that I am starting to see) submission fee often comes in. It helps offset that cost. And in most cases, that’s all it’s doing.
Not All Fees Mean the Same Thing
There’s a difference between a journal charging $3 to use Submittable and a journal asking you to pay $20 to “expedite” your submission, or $45 for “editorial feedback” you didn’t ask for.
If a journal is requiring a submission fee and also trying to sell you extra services or editions of the magazine, ask why. Some for-profit journals run as businesses first and publications second. That doesn’t automatically make them bad, but it does mean you should be clear on what you’re participating in.
On the other end are vanity publications—journals that will accept almost anything as long as the writer pays. These aren’t the same thing as Submittable journals, even though the fee might look similar. Pay-to-play journals often lack editorial standards and usually exist to profit off writer ambition. If you’re not sure whether something’s pay-to-play, look at their recent issues and ask: Would this journal still exist if no one paid to submit?
For-Profit vs Nonprofit
Most of the respected literary magazines you’ve heard of are nonprofits. That includes The Paris Review, One Story, Kenyon Review, and others. These journals often rely on grants, donations, fundraising campaigns, and occasionally institutional support (like being housed in a university) to stay afloat. Some charge small fees. Some waive them during certain submission periods. Some run contests to help cover the cost of running the free submissions.
There are also excellent journals that aren’t nonprofit. They might be independent. They might be volunteer-run. They might be one person’s labor for the past 10 years. Fee or no fee, you should judge the work by the work, not by the tax status of the org behind it.
So, Is a Fee a Red Flag?
No. And no, a free submission isn’t a green light either. Fees don’t tell the full story. But a journal that’s transparent about what they charge and why—they’re telling you they understand your time is valuable too.
Some journals will always stay free because it’s part of their mission. Others will charge because that’s the only way they can survive. Neither approach is inherently better. But if you’re submitting, you should know what you’re supporting—and why that support sometimes looks like $3.
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