Literary Journals and Money

In over thirty years of submitting short stories and essays to literary journals, I first found it impossible to get my work accepted at all, regardless of the issue of payment. My work slowly improved over the years, and I now find that I’ve acquired a modest reputation and can get my stuff accepted about one time in every ten submissions. The odds have improved from zero to 10 percent.

Regarding the question of money, I’ve learned that even when I get my work accepted, I almost always receive nothing in payment except copies of the journals in which my submissions appear. Even prestigious literary journals pay very little. If you want to publish something of literary merit, submit to literary journals. If you want to make money, go into public relations.