Our current submission period runs from September 1, 2023 to November 30, 2023 and then again from January 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024.
General Submission FAQs
Q:What do you pay your writers?
A: We pay $50, regardless of length. This will be issued via Paypal after the online publication of your work.
Q: What kind of stuff can I send?
A: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, comics, lists, and audio files. Especially the last four. We want more of those.
Q: Simultaneous submissions okay?
A: You bet. But you should know that if your work is accepted elsewhere and you don’t bother to withdraw it from our submission manager, your name goes on the Secret Blackball Wiki shared by every lit mag editor on the planet. If you’re submitting Poetry, please add a “note” to your submission with the title of the piece you’re pulling so that we can still consider your other two submissions.
Q: How about multiple submissions? I’ll send you my whole collection, and you guys can pick which villanelle you like.
A: With poems, send up to 3. With everything else, just send one thing at a time, please. If we kick it back, you can send us something else right away.
Q: If accepted, will my work go into the print issue?
Maybe. We publish around 48 pieces a year online. Twice a year we design and release print issues, which are curated from material that appeared on the web .
Q: Do you take submissions during the summer?
A: We are open to new submissions from September through March, with a December, coming-up-for-air break. We continue to read existing submissions from April to June. Once July hits, we put our brains in the chest freezer so we can pursue other interests.* Look for our contests, though! We don’t run them every summer, but we always post in advance of opening.
Q: What is your acceptance rate?
A: Our acceptance rate is typically around 1% or lower.
Q: How much can I submit?
A: Depends on the category.
--Poetry: up to 3 poems
--Fiction or Creative Nonfiction: up to 7,500 words
--Comics: up to 20 pages, JPEG, width: 850-900px, Landscape preferred
--Audio: up to eight minutes of content
Q: Is it cool if I just send you an email with my work, or mail you a hard copy?
A: Sorry, no. We have a workflow and reading teams and a process.
Q: How many submissions do you receive?
A: From September to March, we typically receive around 3,000 submissions, an average of around 15 per day.
*Wiffle ball, naps, reading comics books, and naps while reading comic books.
We want your writing about the flesh in flash form. We want your writing that contorts and inverts the body as vessel for, or manifestation of, the mind. Reflections that zip along the tug-of-war tightrope between confidence and shame, or beauty and dysfunction, past the point when one side slips and collapses into the mud. Approach the body as an evolving experiment: how is that surgery scar healing beneath the cast? Or a socio-political trap: why doesn't anyone construct ballet shoes for broad feet? De- and re-mystify the body with radiographs and esoteric medical-chart jargon. Accentuate it with tattoo-splatters; pierce it metallic. Depersonalize it, then combat with it for control over a life.
Guidelines: One submission per writer.
--Prose: No more than 500 words.
--Poetry: One poem no more than two pages.