AWP's Almost Here. Here's What February Looked Like

We are deep—and I mean deep—into AWP prep mode over here. Things have been hectic, but the good kind of hectic, you know? Anyway, before we disappear into a conference haze, here’s a quick look at what’s been happening at Chill Subs this month.

The big numbers

The milestones keep coming. We’ve already seen a bit of growth in the month of February. As of today, we’re looking at:

✦ 77,500 total users, a number that just won’t! Stop! Growing!

✦ Over 330,000 tracked submissions. Writers, you are busy, and we love that for you.

✦ 6,246 opportunities in our database. Magazines, journals, contests—all the things.

Recent releases

A few things we've shipped lately that are worth knowing about:

✷ We made it easier to sign up for Free Sh*t for Writers. Now, you can sign up even if you aren’t already a member of Chill Subs. I mean, you should become a member of Chill Subs, but if you just want the newsletter, that’s fine too. I’m not the boss of you.

✷ Defunct magazines now live on. If a magazine goes defunct, it won't just vanish into the void anymore. We've built out new defunct-status pages so writers can still discover your magazine's history and archive. See it in action with the aptly named Defunkt Magazine.

✷ The Forever Workshop got an upgrade. And here's the good part: the first workshop—How Writers Get Agents in 2026 (What Actually Works)—is free to access, so you can get a feel for the new experience before committing.

What writers are using the most

Here are all the things that have been resonating with the Chill Subs community this month.

This month's most popular collections are:

✦ FISH List of Lively Indie Literary Magazines 2025

✦ New Writer Friendly - Best Lit Mags of 2025

✦ Career Builder - Best Lit Mags of 2025

✦ Literary Magazines with the Fastest Response Times

✦ Literary Magazines in the Sweet Spot

This month's most popular keyword searches are:

✦ Horror, weird, poetry, gothic, and memoir. A little spooky. I guess we’re all going through it.

✦ Lots of you also searched for specific mags: The Offing, Split Lip, and The Sun. Nice.

This month's most used magazine filters are:

✦ Besides searching primarily by genre, subgenre, and name, many of you found your new favorite magazines by vibe.

And that’s that. Thanks for being a part of Chill Subs for another month. See you at AWP, maybe? We’ll be at booth 448 if you want to come and say hi.