Should Literary Journals Charge Writers for Submissions? - The Atlantic

If this seems like a reasonable practice, it's worth noting that this model is nonexistent in the rest of publishing, where it's always been free for writers to send their work to editors. In fact, literary agents who charge reading fees are usually considered shady, and writers are warned to stay away. But over the last few years, more and more literary journals have started charging fees, including well-known publications such as Ploughshares, New England Review, American Short Fiction, The Southern Review, and The Iowa Review. While most journals are still free, every few months, a new journal seems to announce that it's going to start charging writers to submit their work - a trend that's slowly threatening the inclusivity of literature when it comes to new, diverse voices. A $3 fee might not sound like much, but the average short story might receive around 20 rejections before it's published, meaning writers can be us much as $60 in the hole per story. Ideally, a writer is producing more than one story a year. If you're trying to build a career - and yes, that's still possible - you're investing a lot just to get started, with no expectation of financial return.