Submission Guidelines

We are currently closed but plan to reopen to submission in March or April.

(Please note that our usual minor fee ($2) for standard submissions exists for what we think is a killer reason: all our authors get paid (no less than $40)).

The Basics

  • We publish contemporary literary fiction, non-fiction, hybrid, and poetry.
  • (Literary does not imply ‘realism’ or that we won’t happily consider genre-based work.)
  • Never previously published.
  • Submissions: one prose piece at a time (up to three flash pieces), and up to five poems.
  • Fiction: we’ll happily consider longer pieces, but we rarely go beyond 5000 words.
  • We nominate what we consider our strongest works for inclusion in the Pushcart Prize anthology.
  • Authors receive free contributor copies and a discount on additional copies.
  • We receive first North American Serial rights; after, all rights revert to author (online samples are only put up with author permission).
  • We only accept submissions via our online system; snail-mail submissions will be recycled.

We usually take 2-6 months (sometimes longer, sorry!) in responding to submissions, but we give everything a good read. For submissions we’re using Submittable — thanks to the makers there and their great system.