We appreciate your submitting your work. Much of the work we publish is unsolicited, and we consider it an honor to showcase essays, stories, and poems by emerging writers. We're grateful for your hard work.
We welcome submissions in the following categories: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, craft essays, and writing for children/young adults. Please read guidelines in each category before submitting. We now charge a $3.00 fee for all general submissions. This is not a reading fee; it’s simply meant to cover the administrative and IT costs associated with reading your manuscript. We happily waive this fee for current subscribers (see special categories for subscribers below.) Entry fees for contests have not changed.
Thanks so much for submitting. We look forward to reading your work!
Fiction - $3.00
Please submit a double-spaced manuscript, no more than 10,000 words. We look for work that is beautifully crafted and tells a good story, with characters that are alive and kicking, storylines that stay with us long after we’ve finished reading, and sentences that slay us with their precision.
Fiction --Subscriber
Please submit a double-spaced manuscript, no more than 10,000 words. We look for work that is beautifully crafted and tells a good story, with characters that are alive and kicking, storylines that stay with us long after we’ve finished reading, and sentences that slay us with their precision.
Poetry - $3.00
Please submit 3-10 poems at a time. All poems should be in one file. We look for poetry that is as much about the world as about the self, that’s an invitation, an opening out, a hand beckoning. We like poems that name or identify something essential that we may have overlooked. We like poetry with acute, precise attention to both content and diction.
Poetry --Subscriber
Please submit 3-10 poems at a time. All poems should be in one file. We look for poetry that is as much about the world as about the self, that’s an invitation, an opening out, a hand beckoning. We like poems that name or identify something essential that we may have overlooked. We like poetry with acute, precise attention to both content and diction.
Creative Nonfiction - $3.00
Please submit a double-spaced manuscript no more than 10,000 words. We welcome an array of traditional and experimental work, including, but not limited to, personal, lyrical, and meditative essays, memoirs, collages, rants, and humor. The only requirements are recognition of truth, a unique voice with a firm command of language, and an engaging story with multiple pressure points. We agree with Joy Williams that a “good piece of writing startles the reader back into Life. . . . It can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader’s face.”
Creative Nonfiction --Subscriber
Please submit a double-spaced manuscript no more than 10,000 words. We welcome an array of traditional and experimental work, including, but not limited to, personal, lyrical, and meditative essays, memoirs, collages, rants, and humor. The only requirements are recognition of truth, a unique voice with a firm command of language, and an engaging story with multiple pressure points. We agree with Joy Williams that a “good piece of writing startles the reader back into Life. . . . It can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader’s face.”
Craft Shorts and Essays - $3.00
We're looking for essays (no more than 10,000 words) on the subject of literary craft. We want to know not just that you liked the way an author did something, but why you liked it and how the author made it work. We define craft broadly. Submissions can be about the nuts and bolts of literary writing (e.g., how to write dialogue, how to play with line breaks) or they can consider questions about literary genre, wax lyrical about vision, speak to process, address a hot topic in litcrit. If you’re talking about writing and you’re passionate about what you’re saying, try us. We're looking to raise up, not beat down; we are interested in the positive, not the negative. We're interested in the myriad facets of craft, not in the idea that there is only one way to do something.
Short Category: 300-500 words. Examples: A moment of insight. A sentence in a book that exudes craft. A technique. Take us in and out. A vitamin dose of craft.
Craft Shorts and Essays --Subscriber
We're looking for essays (no more than 10,000 words) on the subject of literary craft. We want to know not just that you liked the way an author did something, but why you liked it and how the author made it work. We define craft broadly. Submissions can be about the nuts and bolts of literary writing (e.g., how to write dialogue, how to play with line breaks) or they can consider questions about literary genre, wax lyrical about vision, speak to process, address a hot topic in litcrit. If you’re talking about writing and you’re passionate about what you’re saying, try us. We're looking to raise up, not beat down; we are interested in the positive, not the negative. We're interested in the myriad facets of craft, not in the idea that there is only one way to do something.
Short Category: 300-500 words. Examples: A moment of insight. A sentence in a book that exudes craft. A technique. Take us in and out. A vitamin dose of craft.
YA and Children's Lit Submissions - $3.00
We accept picture book, middle grade, young adult and YA crossover work (text only—for now). We’re looking for polished pieces that entertain, that show the range of adolescent experience, and that are compelling, creative and will appeal to the devoted followers of the kid-lit craft, as well as the child inside us all.
YA and Children's Lit --Subscriber
We accept picture book, middle grade, young adult and YA crossover work (text only—for now). We’re looking for polished pieces that entertain, that show the range of adolescent experience, and that are compelling, creative and will appeal to the devoted followers of the kid-lit craft, as well as the child inside us all.
Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize - $20.00
Please enter one original, unpublished story under 10,000 words. Your name and address should not appear on the story itself; we read contest entries blind. Feel free to include a brief cover letter in the comments section, but not as part of the manuscript itself.
Katherine Paterson Prize - $20.00
Please enter your original, unpublished piece under 10,000 words. Your entry may be a short story or a novel excerpt, but if it's a novel excerpt it should really stand alone. Feel free to include a brief synopsis if your entry is a novel excerpt. Your name and address should not appear on the story; we read contest entries blind.Please include a cover letter in the comments section, letting us know if this piece is intended for Young Adult, Middle Grade, or younger audiences. But don't include a cover letter with the manuscript itself, since we read entries blind.