Do you have a knack for rhymes? You don’t need to be a Shakespeare or Poe to make money writing poems. There are markets out there that pay, if you know where to look. Some offer lucrative amounts, and others — well, it’s more about putting your poetry out there for the whole world to see your original creations. For most poetry writers, persistence is the name of the game.
Small journals are typically slower to respond, if they ever do. It’s common to receive scores of rejections before your first acceptance. So don’t hold your breath if The New York Times doesn’t get back to you. Just keep your poetry submissions going and eventually you will end up in a prestigious poetry magazine.
Places To Submit Poetry For Poetry Writers
Send your poetry submissions everywhere. The more you submit your poetry, the higher the chance you will get paid to write poetry. It’s as simple as that. But first, most importantly, be sure your poem making efforts are genuine and engaging. Then, generate all the poetry magazine submissions you can muster. You have nothing to lose, if they are free poetry submissions.
To keep the volume of poetry submissions manageable, some poetry publications and competitions charge submission fees. But the ones we vetted do not. At the very least, we believe your sonnets and rhymes shouldn’t have you dropping cash.
20 Places To Publish A Poem Online And Get Paid
The process of writing poetry, submitting and having your poetry submissions published may vary from one website to another. Here are 20 poetry publications that allow you to write poems and earn money:
1. Poetry Foundation
This is a lucrative service that allows you to have your poetry work published in Poetry Magazine and earn up to $10 per line. You can also earn at least $150 per page. The minimum payment amount is $30. Not only do they accept poems for submission. But, you can also submit video and audio recordings. As well as visual or graphic poetry.
2. Blue Mountain Arts
Blue Mountain Arts was founded by Susan and Stephen Shutz, in 1971. It was originally created as a greeting card company. For its biannual poetry contest, Blue Mountain Arts awards cash prizes, $350 for first place, $200 for second place, and $100 for third place. It also displays winning submissions on its website. Entries should preferably be non-rhyming. And emphasize real emotions and feelings while having some special person or occasion in mind as you write.
Blue Mountain Arts also accepts regular submissions for its popular greeting cards, but payment information is not available. The company advises against sending in humorous, religious, and poetry that rhymes. In your submission email to editorial@sps.com, include as many poems as you like, but don’t link to poems on your website and do not send any attachments.
3. The Sun Magazine
The Sun Magazine is a reader-supported ad-free magazine. For every poetry submission approved you can earn between $100 and $200. Thousands of poems are submitted every month by other poetry writers. So, it may take some time for your poems and poetry to be approved.
4. Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor accepts poetry for its culture section called “The Home Forum.” They accept upbeat, personal essays from 400 to 800 words. They also welcome short poems. All material must be original. Thematically, your poetry should celebrate life and should be uplifting to the soul! Avoid topics such as death, darkness, and despair or sounding overtly religious.
Submit only one poem per email as a Microsoft Word document or directly in the text, and only submit a maximum of five poems at one time. Also include your contact information (phone number, email and mailing address) with each of your poetry submissions.
5. Crazyhorse
Do you love writing fictional kinds of poetry? If so, then this poetry magazine is the place for you. You can earn $20-$200 per poem on Crazyhorse. They welcome general submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry pages. They request that for poetry, to submit a set of 3-5 poems.
6. Rattle
Rattle gives poem making artists a chance to earn $50 per poem on every poem that is accepted. Also, you can earn up to $100 for each poem that is published in the next Rattle print edition. Rattle is a quarterly nonprofit poetry journal, publishes poetry only and runs a weekly contest called Poets Respond.
This competition challenges writers to craft a poem based on a news event within the last week and submit it by midnight Friday, Pacific time, for a chance to win $100. Early poetry magazine submissions could help your chances.
7. Three Penny Review
Unlike other sites where you can submit poetry online, this one allows you to also send your poems through the mail. You can earn up to $200 for each poem that you submit. Getting poetry published here can be a lucrative calling.
As of now the Three Penny Review is paying $400 per story or article and $200 per poem or Table Talk piece. The payment buys first serial rights in their print and digital editions. Then, the copyright reverts to the author immediately upon publication.
8. Alaska Quarterly Review
The Alaska Quarterly Review is a poetry journal. Their primary focus is on contemporary literary art, publishing fiction, short plays, poetry, photo essays, and literary non-fiction in traditional and experimental styles. This poetry journal is published by the University of Alaska Anchorage in partnership with the Center for the Narrative and Lyric Arts.
Their editors encourage new and engaging writers, while continuing to publish award-winning and established poetry writers. You can earn between $10 and $50 for each of your published poems.
9. Poetry Nation
Here you will find free poetry competitions. You can join their global community of amateur poets! Poetry Nation is an ecosystem of all things related to daily poetry. This poet magazine offers monthly challenges, poetry prizes, resources, and publishing as well as interactions with other poetry writers through comments, ratings, and more!
You can win $25 to $2,000 plus a wall plaque in one of their biannual poetry contests. The poetry competition is free to enter. The main poetry contest is held twice a year. Contest dates are set from January 1 to June 30 and July 1 to December 31. For each contest, they receive between 20,000 and 25,000 poetry submissions.
10. Poetry Nook
A poem website of the latest poetry news and discussion, Poetry Nook is known to publish poetry of great budding and veteran poets alike. Every Monday at midnight, it hosts a weekly poetry contest, which ends Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. Contests are for members only, but you can create an account for free.
There are no theme, style or length restrictions that apply for poetry submissions. Each week’s Winner will receive a $20 cash prize, sent to PayPal to the user’s registered e-mail address. There may occasionally be one or more poems that receive an Honorable Mention.
This will not necessarily be awarded every week, but when awarded, the poet(s) will receive a $10 cash prize, sent to the winner’s registered PayPal account. All Winners and Honorable Mentions will be eligible to be included in future print anthologies on the poem website.
Every year they also nominate up to six published poems from among our winners and honorable mentions for the Pushcart Prize.
11. EPOCH Magazine
Epoch is one of the poetry publications that is by far where some of the best talents in poetry and fiction are rewarded. If any of your free poetry submissions you make is approved, you can earn a minimum of $50. The poetry magazine publishes selected submissions of fiction, screenplays, poetry pages, cartoons, essays, graphic art, and graphic fiction.
In continuous publication since 1947, the poetry magazine is edited by the faculty in the Department of English Program of Creative Writing at the Cornell University. EPOCH appears three times per year: in the months of September, January, and May.
12. The Arc Poetry Magazine
For over 40 years, Arc has been publishing the best in contemporary poetry. They invite poetry submissions from poets at all stages of their writing careers. Every year, Arc Poetry Magazine awards prizes for the winners of several contests. Follow them on Twitter or Facebook to see the latest news about contest deadlines, winners, etc.
Arc Poetry Magazine Contests include:
- Poem of the Year Contest
- Arc Award of Awesomeness
- Archibald Lampman Award
- Diana Brebner Prize
- Confederation Poets Prize
- Critics’ Desk Award
13. AGNI
The AGNI poem website looks for writing that catches experience before the crusts of habit form. Poetry and prose that resist ideas about what a specific kind of writing “should do.” You can get paid $20 per page. The poetry magazine seeks out writers who tell their truths in their own words.
14. Fun For Kidz
Every magazine issue of Fun For Kidz is written and developed to keep the most reluctant readers engaged and interested. As children read every ad-free page and experience each hands-on activity. Fun For Kidz encourages positive growth through its educational and fun content written especially for 6- to 12-year-olds. From DIY science experiments to kids comics. When they begin reading this bi-monthly kids magazine, their fascination keeps them learning. This poetry magazine pays $10 per poem.
15. Chicken Soup For The Soul
Chicken Soup for the Soul has been a socially conscious company since 1993. They combine storytelling with making the world a much better place. They began by being as inclusive as possible in the pages of their books, publishing stories by people of all faiths, nationalities, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Poem making here can be highly rewarding, publish a poem here and you can get paid $200 per poem!
16. PLOUGHSHARES
Ploughshares has been publishing quality literature since 1971. The award-winning literary journal is published four times a year; The lively literary blog publishes new writing daily. Since 1989, PloughShares has been based at Emerson College in downtown Boston. Write poetry online here and get paid up to $45 for each poetry submission.
17. NewMyths.com
NewMyths.Com is one of only a few online poetry magazines that continues to highly reward writers, poets and artists for their contributions. Each quarterly publication are a balance between science fiction and fantasy, dark and light, serious and humorous, hard and soft science, and longer and shorter works. Write poems for money here and get paid $30 for each poetry submission.
18. The Southern Review
The Southern Review welcomes unsolicited work during their submissions period. They will consider only work that has not been published in print or appeared online previously in English. They accept unsolicited fiction from September 1 through December 1 and unsolicited poetry submissions, translation and nonfiction in all genres from September 1 through January 1.
19. U.S. Kids Magazine
Studies show that kids who love to read do overwhelmingly better in life than kids who don’t. At U.S. Kids Magazines (Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill), providing fun, entertaining reading material is the top priority. The poetry magazine accepts humorous, playful, and witty stories that kids would love to read. As part of the Children’s Better Health Institute, they are always in need of high-quality stories, articles, and activities with a broad health and focus on fitness. You can get paid $25 or more per page.
20. Boulevard Magazine
Boulevard strives to publish only the finest in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and prose. While they frequently publish accredited poetry writers, they are very interested in less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise.
If you have practiced your craft and your work is the best that it can be. Go ahead and send it to Boulevard. They are one of the best places to submit poetry. Boulevard Magazine pays between $25 and $250 for poetry submissions that they publish.
