The First Line

The First Line is a literary magazine in which it's relatively easy to get published. They provide you with a first line, and you write your short story with that. The sentences can always be found at their website and they welcome all genres.

They publish four times a year and are quite well-read. The guideline for entries is usually between 300-3000 words, but there aren't hard and fast rules where this is concerned.

They pay US $30.00 for fiction and US $20 for non-fiction. They will also send you a copy of the magazine your work appears in. You can see the submissions page here. And here is what they've said on their page:

Short Story Submissions

Do you write short stories? If you do, here's an opportunity you don't want to miss out on. Dream Catcher - an international magazine - is looking for short stories of about 2,000 words. 

There's no mention of payment as far as I can see, but this is a good chance to get your foot in the door and be published. I've published a lot of calls for submissions on this blog. And I always try to ensure that they're paid positions. I think that a writer - like every other worker - deserves payment for his/her work. 

Nevertheless, once in a while we have to bite the bullet and give away some of our work to set the ball rolling. Here's what Dream Catcher has said on their site: