Top in Fiction began in the middle of Summer 2024 out of a need from the maddening crowd. WHERE IS ALL THE FICTION? WHY DOES THE FICTION DISCOVERY PAGE NOT FEATURE FICTION WRITERS? Instead of adding to the complaints I thought Iâd try to come up with a solution to this obvious problem. Substack will do what they can to honor each category theyâve created and make sure they feature the correct people. But they are beholden to the algorithm which does favor the larger communities, especially when those communities come with dollar signs. But thatâs why you are here. You value fiction stories and youâre desperately seeking fiction!
Well, youâve come to the right place. And after nearly two consistent years of sharing fiction by the dozens on a weekly basis weâve amassed thousands of stories, written by hundreds of different fiction writers! It can sound like a lot but we do our best to make this an enjoyable and enriching experience for you.
Letâs start with a few things you should know first:
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 theyâd 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 whoâve 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, thatâs why we call them a âdisruptionâ 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 whatâs 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 WONâT INFLUENCE HOW A STORY GETS CHOSEN
Size doesnât matter here. We never look at your subscriber count (if itâs listed) or how long youâve 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 wonât accept DMs from people asking me to include them in the next TiF issue (believe me, itâs already been happening more often than weâre 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 itâs not a tit-for-tat situation. Just because youâre helping the community doesnât 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 youâre looking for a great story or perhaps youâve written one that you want more people to know about, thereâs room here for everyoneâs 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.
Youâre 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
