Data report
The State of Paid Writing, 2026 edition.
What 304 real, currently-listed literary and journalism markets actually pay, what they accept, and what they do not tell you. Every figure on this page is computed from the BRYME opportunities database at build time — 304 publication records, each human-verified against its official guidelines page between 2026-08-19 to 2026-10-09. No figure is estimated, and "not stated" is reported as a finding.
The window right now
231 of 304 markets are open or rolling as of this build; 2 carry a fixed deadline, 31 open later, 31 are closed, and 9 could not be confirmed. Statuses flip record by record in today's list, which recomputes on every deploy.
What markets pay, where they say
Rates below are the stated minimums on official guidelines pages — the floor of what an accepted piece earns, in the currency the market itself quotes. We do not convert currencies and we do not average across them.
- US-dollar markets (140): stated minimums run $3 to $2,500, with a median of $30 per accepted piece.
- Nigerian-naira markets (5): stated minimums run ₦5,000 to ₦150,000, median ₦50,000.
- 159 records quote other currencies, pay per word, or do not publish a number at all.
The honest caveat: a stated rate is what the guidelines promise on the day we checked. The window above is the verification range — reopen the official page before you pitch.
The AI question, answered by the markets themselves
151 of 304 publications state an AI policy on their guidelines page, and 138 of those 151 prohibit AI-generated submissions outright; 8 require disclosure and 5 allow limited use. The largest single group — 153 — says nothing yet, which is itself the finding: most literary markets have not published an AI policy, and silence is not permission.
What the guidelines do not tell you
- Rights: 86 of 304 records state clearly that copyright stays with the author — as "copyright remains with the author", "all rights revert to the author on publication" or "authors retain". A further 76 address rights but say only what the publication acquires, never who ends up owning the work. The remaining 142 do not address rights at all. Ask before you sign anything.
- Response times: 146 markets do not publicly state a response window. Where they do, it lives on each record.
What they are looking for
Across the 304 records, the most-requested forms are: fiction (195), poetry (164), creative nonfiction (113), essays (110), reviews (44), journalism (31). Submissions run through 96 Submittable portals; the rest split between email pitches, online forms and other routes — each record shows its own method.
How to read this report
It describes the 304 publications BRYME tracks, not the whole market. It counts what official guidelines state, not what contributors anecdotally report. Where a market states a rate for one format only, that is what we counted. The full method — and every record behind every number here — is open: the database, opportunities by country, and the editorial policy that governs all of it.