Best Medium publications for Short Story writers
42 publications that publish Short Story stories. Publications marked open to new writers regularly publish people with fewer than 100 followers — the best place to submit your first stories.
Updated Oct 20, 2026
Where new Short Story writers get published
| # | Publication | Followers | Stories (14d) | Median claps | By small writers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fiction Shorts open to new writers guidelines ↗ | 32 | 251 | 34% | |
| 2 | About Me Stories open to new writers | 5 | 163 | 80% | |
| 3 | Microcosm open to new writers guidelines ↗ | 11 | 321 | 36% | |
| 4 | Türkiye Yayını open to new writers | 7 | 103 | 43% | |
| 5 | The Quiet Chapter open to new writers | 12 | 147 | 75% | |
| 6 | Challenge and Chaos open to new writers | 3 | 122 | 100% | |
| 7 | NEW LITERARY SOCIETY OPEN open to new writers | 6 | 70 | 100% | |
| 8 | Alex in Japan open to new writers | 7 | 0 | 100% |
All Short Story publications
| # | Publication | Followers | Stories (14d) | Median claps | By small writers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fiction Shorts open to new writers guidelines ↗ | 32 | 251 | 34% | |
| 2 | About Me Stories open to new writers | 5 | 163 | 80% | |
| 3 | Microcosm open to new writers guidelines ↗ | 11 | 321 | 36% | |
| 4 | Türkiye Yayını open to new writers | 7 | 103 | 43% | |
| 5 | The Quiet Chapter open to new writers | 12 | 147 | 75% | |
| 6 | Challenge and Chaos open to new writers | 3 | 122 | 100% | |
| 7 | NEW LITERARY SOCIETY OPEN open to new writers | 6 | 70 | 100% | |
| 8 | Alex in Japan open to new writers | 7 | 0 | 100% | |
| 9 | 3 | 255 | 33% | ||
| 10 | 9 | 52 | 11% | ||
| 11 | 6 | 351 | 0% | ||
| 12 | 24 | 171 | 13% | ||
| 13 | 17 | 138 | 24% | ||
| 14 | 12 | 0 | 0% | ||
| 15 | “Are you okay?” | 2 | 387 | 0% | |
| 16 | Scuzzbucket | 2 | 0 | 0% | |
| 17 | Promptly Written | 2 | 25 | 0% | |
| 18 | Catness guidelines ↗ | 2 | 101 | 50% | |
| 19 | 8 | 199 | 0% | ||
| 20 | 6 | 183 | 17% | ||
| 21 | 9 | 150 | 0% | ||
| 22 | 4 | 170 | 0% | ||
| 23 | 25 | 200 | 8% | ||
| 24 | No Air | 2 | 1.9K | 0% | |
| 25 | 16 | 150 | 6% | ||
| 26 | 7 | 390 | 0% | ||
| 27 | 20 | 310 | 10% | ||
| 28 | 4 | 50 | 25% | ||
| 29 | Writelicious | 2 | 1.7K | 0% | |
| 30 | 14 | 50 | 29% | ||
| 31 | Weave It Together guidelines ↗ | 2 | 177 | 0% | |
| 32 | 7 | 101 | 29% | ||
| 33 | Furrend | 3 | 0 | 0% | |
| 34 | Heart Sanctum | 3 | 130 | 33% | |
| 35 | GRIND | 3 | 101 | 0% | |
| 36 | SongPub | 2 | 10 | 0% | |
| 37 | A Cozy Room | 4 | 361 | 0% | |
| 38 | Zen Words: Japanese Proverbs | 2 | 0 | 100% | |
| 39 | Eva’s Café | 6 | 250 | 0% | |
| 40 | 5-Minute Feel-Good Fiction | 3 | 10 | 0% | |
| 41 | Victoria Thorn | 2 | 0 | 0% | |
| 42 | Things We Leave Behind | 2 | 3 | 0% |
How to choose a publication
Bigger is not always better. A publication with 39K followers can bury your story among dozens of daily posts, while a smaller, active publication that features new writers often brings more reads per story. Look at three numbers above: followers (potential reach), median claps (how much readers actually engage) and the share of small writers (your chances of being accepted).
For context, Short Story sees about 70 new stories a day and 53% of them get no claps at all. Getting into a publication is one of the few reliable ways out of that pile. See the full Short Story tag statistics.