Current Flash Markets

I like writing flash science fiction, and I like The Grinder, but one recurring headache I've had is identifying flash markets on the listing that actually specifically are looking for flash.  A lot of "flash" markets are included in The Grinder's Advanced Search output simply because their guidelines don't specify a lower bound; e.g., "up to 10,000 words" would be listed as a flash market (and they very well might love flash, but to me it's much more of a gamble than a market that explicitly says they accept flash; maybe it's just me...).

 

So I decided to look at flash markets in more detail to try to pin down a list of markets that actually accept flash or can reasonably be assumed to do so.  And here it is:

Market Name	Flash Word Count	Acceptance Rate	Mean Response Time (Median)
SpeckLit	up to 100	0.6176	42 (43)
Timeless Tales	up to 2,000	0.2857	43 (55)
Nature: Futures	850 to 950	0.2	62 (61)
Grievous Angel (Urban Fantasist)	up to 700	0.0984	13 (11)
Daily Science Fiction	100 to 1,500	0.096	24 (21)
Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing Newsletter	up to 1,000	0.074	40 (29)
Lakeside Circus	up to 1,000	0.0704	68 (61)
Freeze Frame Fiction	up to 1,000	0.0672	22 (14)
Flash Fiction Online	500 to 1,000	0.0513	14 (11)
Terraform	up to 2,000	0.0488	38 (54)
Mad Scientist Journal	500 to 2,000	0.68	15 (13)
The Future Fire	up to 1,000	0.33	40 (40)
Perihelion Science Fiction	400 to 1,600	0.3021	59 (59)
Odd Tree Press Quarterly	500 to 1,500	0.2727	47 (153)
The Colored Lens	up to 2,000	0.25	20 (1)
Bete Noire	100 to 2,000	0.1818	51 (57)
Unlikely Story	up to 2,000	0.1162	49 (33)
AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review	500 to 2000	0.0804	79 (76)
Fantasy Scroll Mag	up to 1,500	0.0559	36 (30)
On Spec	up to 1,000	0.0526	202 (203)
Unsung Stories	up to 2,000	0.0508	29 (25)
T. Gene Davis's Speculative Blog	250 to 2,000	0.0444	14 (12)
Drabblecast	500 to 2,000	0.043	11 (5)
Plasma Frequency Magazine	up to 2,000	0.0375	15 (11)
Blue Monday Review	up to 2,000	0.0363	49 (60)
DarkFuse Magazine	99 to 999	0.0339	119 (150)
Orthogonal	5 to 1,000	0.0328	40 (42)
Spark: A Creative Anthology	up to 1,500	0.0323	103 (100)
Fantastic Stories of the Imagination	up to 2,000	0.0179	12 (5)
Strangelet	up to 2,000	0.0093	25 (23)
Devilfish Review	up to 500	0	82 (104)
Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine	up to 2,000	0	1 (1)
Pinball	up to 2,000	0	19 (20)
Three-Lobed Burning Eye	500 to 1,000	0	35 (23)

These were identified from searches during 1/23-1/27/2016 for currently open science fiction flash that were listed as semi-pro or better (at least $0.01/word) with at least 5 submissions in the past year.  I defined flash liberally with stories up to 2,000 words (and capped at that point for markets accepting longer work), and I considered a market a flash market if their guidelines limited submissions to that range, specifically mentioned that they accepted guidelines with upper bounds within that range, specifically mentioned (favorably) accepting "flash," or had word count guidelines such that it could be expected that at least 50% of submissions would fall within that range.  There are certainly other listed markets that accept flash, but since they don't explicitly say they do, I'd say submitter beware.

I considered including temporarily closed markets in this list as well, but The Grinder is always in flux anyway, so by the time those markets re-opened this analysis would be out of date and many new flash markets would likely be available.  As of last week, these were the solid options.  I'll update it when this list starts feeling stale....