Publishers' FAQ > General > How many literary magazines are there out there?

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The number of literary magazines is a difficult one to pin down. A literary magazine may be a very ephemeral thing, publishing only once or twice, printing a handful of copies, and fading away before coming to the notice of any of the organizations, indexes, or directories that try to keep up with this world.

The best we can do is approximate: there are approximately 600 active literary magazines in the United States. Active is defined as publishing at least once a year, for more than one year. There are perhaps another 400 to 700 magazines that publish irregularly and/or in miniscule quantities. These numbers do not include the many high school and undergraduate journals of writing, nor the burgeoning field of on-line magazines.