Submit Short Stories for Money: The Honest Economics
Quick answer: To submit short stories for money you have two routes: magazines that pay every accepted story, and contests that charge a fee and pay a prize to a few. Writory is the second kind, at $8 a story with a $100 top prize, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100, which no magazine gives.
A contest is not a paying market, and this page says so. Writory charges $8 a story, pays a $100 top prize, closes on 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and gives every entrant a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026.
Two different transactions
A paying magazine buys a story. It pays a rate, often per word or a flat fee, in exchange for first publication rights and sometimes more, and it accepts a small fraction of what it receives; the rest get a form rejection and nothing else. A contest sells a reading. The writer pays a fee, a few writers receive a prize, and what everyone else gets depends entirely on the contest. Most give nothing. Writory gives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100.
Neither route is the better one in general. A writer with a finished, polished story that fits a specific magazine should send it there first, because acceptance pays and costs nothing. A writer who wants to know how a story reads to a blind panel, with a number attached, and who wants a dated record of that reading, is buying something a magazine does not sell. Writers keep all rights here, so the two routes do not conflict. A story can be entered and submitted in the same week.
What the fee buys, and what the prize is
Entry is $8 for one story of 100 to 3,000 words, $14 for two, $25 for five. Each story is judged blind against the published rubric: Storytelling & Structure 25, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20, Impact & Resonance 10. The top prize is $100, paid to international winners in dollars by PayPal, and winners also enter the next round free. Free entry is never open; it is earned by winning.
Be clear-eyed about the arithmetic. Most entrants in any contest do not win, so the fee should be judged by what a non-winner receives. Here that is a digital certificate carrying your name and the contest month, a score out of 100 split into the five marks, and a place on the same list the winners came from. Optional written feedback exists as an add-on for writers who want the reasons behind the marks. Nobody is paid for entering, and this page will not suggest otherwise.
Where Writory sits, plainly
Writory is not a market and does not pay for stories. It runs a judged contest with a fee and a prize, and its distinguishing feature is disclosure: the rubric is published at /short-story-judging-criteria, results appear on a dated page each round, and every entrant is told their score. Entries close on 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. IST is Indian Standard Time, five and a half hours ahead of UTC, so that deadline falls in the afternoon for the Americas and the evening for Europe and Africa.
Writory has paid contest winners in India, the United States, Ireland, Kenya and Slovenia in earlier rounds, so the prize is real and the route is proven. The story contest itself has not yet named a winner; the first list arrives on 30 November 2026. If you want money for a story, send it to markets that pay. If you want a scored, certificated reading and a chance at $100, this is what that costs and what it returns.
Using both routes together
A workable rhythm: enter a story here, read the scorecard on 30 November 2026, revise against the weakest dimension, then submit the revised draft to paying markets. The certificate documents the contest reading; the acceptance, when it comes, pays. Because Writory takes no rights and asks for no exclusivity, nothing about the entry needs clearing with an editor later, unless the story wins and the editor's own rules ask about prior recognition.
The first contest runs from 1 September to 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 30 November 2026. From December the contest is monthly: entries close on the 25th, results on the 30th, and the next round opens the moment they land. The free Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft is there for the revision step, and it costs nothing, which on a page about money deserves stating in plain words.
The published rubric, 100 points
- Storytelling & Structure (25 points): Does every scene cause the next, and does the ending pay off the opening?
- Character & Emotional Impact (25 points): Do we want something with your character, and does the story make us feel it?
- Language & Craft (20 points): Clean, deliberate prose: rhythm, precision, and nothing wasted.
- Originality & Voice (20 points): The angle only you could write, told in a voice that sounds like nobody else.
- Impact & Resonance (10 points): What the story leaves behind after the last line.
How it works
Submit an original story of 100 to 3,000 words by 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Every story is judged blind against the rubric above, and results arrive on 30 November 2026: every entrant receives a certificate with their name and a score out of 100. Writers keep all rights. Monthly winners earn free entry to the next round. Enter at https://writoryofficial.com/submit-story.
Common questions
Does Writory pay writers for the stories they submit?
No. Writory is a contest, not a market. Entrants pay $8 a story, the top prize is $100, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100. If you want to be paid for a story regardless of placing, send it to a magazine or anthology that pays on acceptance.
Can I enter a story here and also sell it to a magazine?
Yes. Writory takes no rights and asks for no exclusivity, so the same story can be under consideration at a paying market while it is judged here. Check the magazine's own rules about prior contest recognition, since a few withdraw eligibility from stories that have won elsewhere.
How much can a writer win?
The top prize is $100, paid in dollars by PayPal to international winners after results on 30 November 2026, plus free entry to the next round. That is the only money on offer. Writers keep all rights, so a winning story can still be sold to a market afterwards.
What does a non-winning entrant receive for the fee?
A blind reading against the published rubric, a digital certificate carrying their name and the contest month, and a score out of 100 split into five marks showing where the story held and where it leaked. That scorecard is the thing a paying market never gives, whether it accepts or rejects.
How can I tell a fee-charging contest is legitimate?
Look for a stated fee, a published rubric, results on dated pages naming winners, plain rights terms and a clear account of what non-winners receive. Writory shows all five. A contest that offers a large prize and none of those is asking for trust it has not yet earned.
Is the prize taxed?
Any tax is the winner's affair. Writory pays the stated $100 and does not withhold or prepare tax paperwork; what is owed depends on the winner's country and circumstances. The same is true of money from paying markets, so the two routes do not differ on this point.
More story contest pages
About Writory
Writory (writoryofficial.com) is an international monthly poetry contest founded in 2025 by Shivay Mehra. Poets from 31 countries have entered, readers come from over 150 countries, and every submitted poem is judged and scored out of 100 across five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance. Every entrant receives a certificate; winners receive cash prizes and are published by name. Entries close on the 25th of each month and results are announced on the 30th. Writory is listed by Duotrope, Poetry Kit, Christopher Fielden's competition list and Creative Writing NZ, among other organisations. Past results are public at past winners and the leaderboard.