Top in Fiction was created in July 2024 out of a desperate need from readers in search of fiction on the Substack platform and writers of fiction in search of readers for their work. Now, after 1.5 years of proven results and a well built community on a solid foundation, we’ve turned ON paid subscriptions. This is purely a “patron” model. Meaning, nothing you find here on Top in Fiction will ever be put behind a paywall. The reason for this important change and milestone in our journey is for those who want to support paying writers for their work and to help keep everything that happens behind the scenes here, afloat. If you are able, here are the “Tiers” available for you to subscribe today: [all tiers receive the same benefits]
$5/M Patron → Click Here! (the default/main tier for everyone)
$10/M Advocate → Click Here!
$20/M Champion → In order to contribute $20/M, click on either tier above and UNCHECK the Discount that is being applied. See screenshot below:
PAID SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS
All Anthologies published by TiF Press as an ebook. [must be a paid subscriber for at least 3 months OR annual/founding member]
Mention in the Acknowledgements page(s) of all TiF Press anthologies published.
Founding Member Only - 1 Anthology per year in PRINT format. (Global shipping)
Now let’s start with a few things you should know about your FREE subscription to TiF:
We ONLY feature fiction work from Substack publications (for now).
We encourage self-promotion.
We ONLY share NEW work. Meaning the stories you read in our weekly emails will never be more than one week old!
This list of recommendations are put together by the people who know what good fiction can be found here: YOU! We DO NOT use algorithms in any way shape or form to curate our lists. Nor are we influenced by audience size in our decisions.
WHAT EMAILS CAN YOU EXPECT?
WEEKLY ISSUES - Every Monday (might shift to Tuesday depending on other factors) we feature 10+ fiction that was written within the last 7 days. These stories can range from poetry, to micro/flash fiction, to short stories, and even serials. No genre is left behind in the making of these emails. There is something for everyone.
MONTHLY RECAP - On the first Wednesday of every month there is a Substack Live where some stories that appeared in the previous 4-5 weeks and some new stories not yet featured but written within the last calendar month are read aloud. These stories also receive a special medallion the writer can use however they’d like.
TiF DISRUPTIONS - Every now and then there is an event that happens within the fiction community that brings writers together to write a short story and release it either on the same day or in a succession of days. Some of these events might be organized by Top in Fiction but many might be organized by other groups who’ve entrusted TiF to help them get the word out. These emails are few and far between and because there is no set schedule to them, that’s why we call them a “disruption” to our regularly scheduled emails.
TiF NOTIFICATIONS - [For Writers] To get notified whenever our weekly call for fiction that we use to select and feature in our Monday emails opens, we send an email reminder. We also send a reminder one hour before the form closes. This notification is also used for Top in Fiction and TiF Press related events throughout the year. While writers would benefit most from this, readers may want to receive these emails as well just to know what’s coming. Another option for readers is to bookmark our Events Calendar.
FICTION FIRST - [For Writers] Writing prompts to motivate and encourage fiction writers to write fiction.
[Anything labeled For Writers is OPT-IN, meaning you must choose to receive these emails.]
WHAT WON’T INFLUENCE HOW A STORY GETS CHOSEN
Size doesn’t matter here. We never look at your subscriber count (if it’s listed) or how long you’ve been writing/sharing fiction.
DMing. In fact, this might be a double detractor. We encourage self-promotion within the Friday meet-up posts, but we won’t accept DMs from people asking me to include them in the next TiF issue (believe me, it’s already been happening more often than we’re willing to admit).
Restacking/Likes/Comments! We love when the issues are shared. Sharing is what helps TiF grow and growth increases the audience that the stories listed each week can reach. But it’s not a tit-for-tat situation. Just because you’re helping the community doesn’t mean we owe you something in return.
AI/ChatGPT/etc. Use of AI to write fiction is not accepted. If we discover a story has been written by AI it will be removed. There is no statute of limitations on this rule.
So, whether you’re looking for a great story or perhaps you’ve written one that you want more people to know about, there’s room here for everyone’s story!
REMINDER: We will never, ever, ever, not ever, include a non-fiction post in any of our weekly emails! However, we do acknowledge that many fiction writers we share may also write non-fiction within their own publications.
You’re under no obligation to subscribe to our many recommended newsletters, we just ask that you give them a try! You never know, you may discover something/someone you never heard of before!
PAST TiF RECOMMENDATIONS
From July 2024 - February 2025 we accepted recommendations for featured stories via the comments section of weekly Friday posts. That practice has been discontinued in favor of using an online form for recommendations. But the past posts are still available to look through as they contain, by my count over 1,000 different fiction stories to choose from! Just click the button below:
We are slowly adding all of the recommendations from last year (2024) and Weeks 1 - 9 from this year (2025) to our new Notion page that allows for easier filtering and searching:
TESTIMONIALS
