Niche Markets: Mystery

Since August is all about fiction, and as part of that, I want to help you find ways to make money with the fiction that you write. So, during the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a series called “niche markets.” Each will focus on one kind of fiction and include links to writer’s guidelines for places that publish short fiction and novels. You can see all of the niche market posts here, in case today’s niche isn’t your cup of tea!

Image: sxc.hu

Today’s markets are all for mystery and detective fiction writers.

• Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

This magazine buys almost every kind of mystery fiction, including private eye tales, espionage stories, suspense, and more. They also purchase supernatural stories from time to time, but only if they’re related to crime. Read Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine guidelines here.

• Strand Magazine

This magazine is interested in all kinds of stories relating to mystery, detectives, terror, and the supernatural. The are most interested in stories that are 2000 to 6000 words long, but consider all lengths. Payment is $25 – $150. Read Strand Magazine guidelines here.

• ThrillerUK

This is a non-paying market, but they purchase stories that are detective, science fiction, fantasy, spy, adventure, horror, or any mixture thereof. They also purchase non-fiction mystery-related articles. Read ThrillerUK guidelines here.

• flashquake

Published online, flashquake accepts flash fiction – stories that are less than 1000 words. They publish almost every genre, including mystery, but prefer no romance, hard sci-fi, goth vampire tales, or religious work. Read flashquake guidelines here.

• Over My Dead Body

According to their site, “Over My Dead Body! The Mystery Magazine publishes a wide variety of mystery-related manuscripts, from cozy to hardboiled and everything in between. We don’t discriminate on the basis of content, subgenre, or author recognition. Send us your best.” They accept fiction of up to 4000 words and pay $0.01 per word. Read Over My Dead Body guidelines here.

WriterOnLine also has a really great article listing Mystery Markets, so you can find more links there.