#lit mag submissions

[oraclelitmag]

they sing the majesty of the circle, loving mother of life and its blood filmy symmetry, an aphrodisiac to the weeping widow, it sells her thin solace and ounces of sunshine balance, it boasts, when waves of moonlight lap against her door, and sends milky chatters over her teeth when she finds her lover’s eyes in the new growth under her rose bush.

this life of mine, however,has followed the jagged temper of the square, silent little renegade a path of straight vein and baobab trunk, this little life ran

and then, the sudden convulsion of turning the first corner

now, under our leathered skin, under the angel statuettes of our mothers across the sea, these little squares sleep

until on a June day, with air akin to clotted blood, we again turn the corner, shiver, wipe  the red trails of dust dripping from our eyes to the east, and continue to sip this red, white, and blue concoctionwe begged for eight years ago

this little child, if asked, will draw her vaudeville of a life as a profound, little square with eight corners, hung with suitcases and Spanish moss.

— Tayla Robinson

[livewire-litmag]

SUBMIT TO LIVE WIRE AND SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US!!

[librarycards]

hello! i apologize in advance this is probably something that you get asked a lot. but do you have any recs on literary magazines to submit to? im a trans poet, ive been writing for over a decade but never shared anything and ive been wanting to try to send my stuff to get it published somewhere. obv ive been google searching but theres so many big and small publications and i was wondering if you have ones you like especially and/or tips on how to choose a magazine/journal to submit to. thanks a lot! <3

no worries, thank you for reaching out!! i've been publishing for like 8 years + an editor for almost 4, so i always appreciate the opportunity to help people new to the world find ethical publications that will treat their work with the care it deserves.

first and foremost: there are going to be pubs out there that are awesome and i don't know about. you may be the one to discover them for yourself! one aid in finding the best mag for your work is the wonderful, writer-created chillsubs. it's a fantastic platform that keeps a huge list of mags and presses and their relevant stats, and lets you create an account and bookmark those you're interested in. everyone i know uses them, and it's very worth it given the sheer volume of mags out there.

i also have some recs of my own, ofc. i'm going to list them below. if they pay (which i prioritize) I'll mark them with a $. some are trans/queer focused and some aren't, but all are pubs i've either edited and/or published with and can confirm their ethics + respect for writers.

manywor(l)ds - my mag! i'm co-founder and eic. break genre _ shapeshift with us. ($)

Sinister Wisdom - old, well-regarded lesbian+ lit mag, now open to everyone who is/loves a dyke. I'm guest-editing an issue on Madness with them, now open for submissions!

fifth wheel press - run by a beloved friend and comrade of mine. i've published here. excellent transparency, care, great for first-timers. ($).

kith books - headed by trans literary icon kat blair. a mag/press/community centered around bodymind non-conformity and noncompliance.

Honey Literary - QTPOC-centered, unabashedly pop-culture + social justice oriented. the vibes are simply immaculate.

Whale Road Review - not queer/trans focused, more oriented toward....'grown up' poetry/prose/pedagogy papers. Katie Manning (eic) is a fucking gem.

Graphic Violence Lit - just had my first experience publishing with them, and their care + consideration for the whole writer is amazing. they publish boundary-pushing work.

beestung - one of the brainchildren of Sarah Clark. nb/gq/2s SFF. I just edited a few guest issues w them and have published with them. amazing work. ($)

A Velvet Giant - genrequeer work. the editors are experienced, enthusiastic, and amazing at promoting writers long after publication. it's a family! ($)

Ethel Zine + Press - handmade with love by Sara Lefsyk (as you can see, trans/nonbinary/2s sarahs dominate indie publishing, as well we should :3). Sara is a sensitive and care-full editor and bookmaker whose every publication is a work of art.

Protean - pro- as in proletariat. awesome left mag with a mix of politics and culture and everything in between. they take reprints! ($)

Mudroom - publish your work along with a picture of your mudroom/shoe rack. very responsive editors who will hype you tf up. ($)

The Institutionalized Review - for psych survivors. the editors concreteness of vision and dedication to their community know no bounds.

Just Femme + Dandy - queer and fashion-focused! led by the inimitable Addie Tsai. They pay *handsomely*. ($)

In addition, there are also some "big" mags I have had excellent experiences publishing with and wanted to shout out. These are harder for a beginner to break into, but worth keeping on your radar + have been fantastic to me as a writer.

Electric Lit

Split Lip Magazine

The Offing

Nat. Brut

Santa Fe Writers' Project

Bodega

New Orleans Review

Augur Magazine

I hope this is helpful to you + others! the literary world is ever-changing and this is just a snapshot. Hopefully you find some that you like!

[ponderreview]

Call For Submissions

Today we begin our next reading period for Ponder Review Volume 9, Issue 1

Send us your fiction, poetry, CNF, plays, art, newmedia

December 15, 2024 — March 15, 2025

[cyberneticnightmares]

"we're looking for a short story collection between 40k and 60k words. must be either horror or new weird or both by a BIPOC author"

me: oh damn! i totally got that

narrator: he did not, in fact, 'got that'. author only had 10k worth of short stories.

me: yeah but like... the deadline is the beginning of february .

narrator: .....

me: hold my beer.

[dogteethlitmag]

submissions open for issue two - KIN now!! we are accepting poetry micro fiction, personal essays, and creative non-fiction! email subs to dogteethlitmag@gmail.com or submit via our linktree!

[wildwillowmagazine]

I grasp at my ears As in bleeds song "A Siren’s Melody" by Anna Jackson, pdf pg. 35 Check out the minison zine archives to read more from Issue 19: https://theminisonproject.com/theminisonzine/tmzarchive/ #theminisonzine #TheMinisonProject #poetry

[redsheeppublishing]

April 30th

Two month until the submission deadline for Issue 1, Honey Crueler, is closed- however on April 1st, we will be announcing our second issue theme for all those who wish to submit but either couldn't make the first deadline or didn't feel the first theme suited them-

Again, have all of your work for Issue 1, Honey Crueler, submitted by April 30th and wait for April 1 st to see issue 2's theme announced.

Looking forward to seeing what you all got for us

[wrongpublishing]

Increase Your Literary Body Count in 2024

by Mathew Gostelow.

"In my slut era," I whispered, sending the story out on its ninth simultaneous submission.

At the most recent count, I wrote 60-odd things in 2024 and submitted them a total of 202 times in all. 42 of them were published in some form. Along the way, I racked up 90 rejections. All in all, I published somewhere around 44,000 words in 2023.

I was whoring my stories all over, like some sort of village bike made of ink and shamelessness. I spent a year subbing sluttily. I had a blast doing it too. I got a fair few publications under my belt, made new friends, and learned some lessons as well. Here’s just a few of them…  

Change horses midstream

I’ve discovered I work best when I’m juggling multiple projects at once. It sounds counter-intuitive and I guess it might not work for everyone, but I reckon everyone should try it.

The idea is to have several stories on the go at one time. Three feels ideal. I find that I will inevitably run out of steam on a piece – my interest or focus always flags at some point. Switching to something new acts as a vital palate-cleanser. I’m able to return to each project afresh, bringing new energy and perspective thanks to the time I spent away.

Follow the fun 

Don't be afraid to mix it up. Move out of your comfort zone.

If your latest flash isn’t quite working, why not rewrite it as a poem? Or mash it together with another half-finished piece and see what happens. In a longer piece, it’s okay to jump straight to the scene that's exciting you in that moment. Fill in the gaps and the preamble later.

Try things out. Write flash, write microfiction, write a poem. Seen a shiny prompt? Go for it. Plunge into a genre that you'd normally avoid. You might have fun, you might learn something. You might even end up with a story worth submitting.

Lean into your weird

I'm not saying you're weird, but… you’re totally weird. The way you tell stories is uniquely yours. You understand the world through the filter of your own personal experiences. And you express those observations in wonderfully idiosyncratic ways. 

One thing this prolific year taught me is that I love my writing more when I delve into those quirky parts of me. It could be sharing an oddly-specific fear in a horror story, or playing with words in a way that feels pleasing and musical to me.

Putting those unusual parts of yourself out into the world can be scary, but it's also fun. And I've found that readers and editors seem to respond to it as well.

Sim-subbing is addictive - but tread carefully

Simultaneous submissions are great. Is that one mag taking a bit long to decide on whether they want you piece? Send it somewhere else. Feel those sweet endorphins coursing through your veins. Oh yeah. That’s the stuff.

Here’s what I learned from a year of very heavy simultaneous submissions: Send a piece out to as many places as you like – but only if you're equally happy with ever possible outcome. That’s the important bit.

If you have your heart set on a specific home for a story then for gawd’s sakes don't sub it anywhere else until they have decided. Otherwise you risk tying yourself in knots if/when one of the lesser mags accepts it before your dream publisher has decided.

Play fast and loose!

Themed calls are great. They can be inspiring, sparking fresh ideas in our minds. Or help us to see our existing stories in a new light. But here’s what I learned this year: don’t be afraid to come at the theme from an obtuse angle.

Editors must get tired of reading 50 different permutations of the same story. Your off-kilter take could be just the breath of fresh air they're looking for.

And if you have a story already written when a call comes along and it feels like it's close-ish to what they're looking for, then you should throw it in the mix. What have you got to lose?

A true story from this year:

I had a story accepted after misunderstanding what a themed call was all about. I didn’t read the instructions carefully enough and subbed the wrong thing. I realised immediately after pulling the trigger and considered withdrawing my piece. For some reason, though, I didn't. (Slut era!) The editors saw something in my story and accepted the piece.

Moral: Don’t slavishly follow the theme. Go crazy.

Dilute the sting

Rejections can hurt, especially if you have your sights set on a specific magazine or anthology. But you know what helps? Rebound sex. Er… I mean, rebound submissions. Get that same piece back out there. Heck, send it to two places. Go crazy. You get closure by moving on. Also, the more you submit, the more rejection notches you get on your bedpost. And you know what, after a while you’ll find it starts to sting a lot less. 

So there you go. Lessons from a promiscuous wordmonger. Why not try to up your literary body count in 2024? You might like it. Repeat after me: “Slut era”.

Mathew Gostelow (he/him) is the author of two collections; See My Breath Dance Ghostly, a book of speculative short stories (Alien Buddha Press) and Connections, a flash fiction chapbook (Naked Cat Publishing). He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction. @MatGost

[oraclelitmag]

Honey Nova

Striped lines attempt to define the swine 

From drinking water or wine, 

But the cup overflows 

And my hair grows 

And the nonsense slows 

Into a minimum and the grand sum knows 

What matters anyway. 

So don’t fool a dude 

With an attitude 

Because I’m stubborn since the day I when I was born 

And torn from womb 

Too soon for monsoon 

To drench this goon. 

Try somewhere else and 

Find yourself 

Involved in futile focus, 

Working on controlling others 

Instead of opening your own lotus. 

I promise you nothing is real 

Besides the lies I shed 

Over the ones that already reside 

Between the tides 

Of the emotional currents in your head. 

So do you believe 

And then behave 

And become a worker in a beehive 

For queens who consume your honey too? 

Clean your assets 

Until you crumble in caskets 

And maybe then realize 

It wasn’t about the honey, 

Free flowing abundantly, 

It was never the money, 

Falsified ideology of currency. 

We cannot have something that we are. 

We cannot be less than shooting stars 

Across the space of time around sublime rhymes. 

Constellations and congregations 

With formations that are the cultivation 

Of 

Our 

NOVA. 

— Mikal Shkreli

[letssaygayjournal]

Happy Pride Month everyone! Let's Say Gay is partnering with Bridge Ink to extend and reach queer youth everywhere. We are pleased to announce our partnership, and would like to remind you that the deadline for submissions has been extended to July 1st.

Submit to LET’S SAY GAY! a literary journal for queer-identifying youth ages 13-18. We accept writing, poetry, visual art, and photography. We are accepting of all queer identities and the intersectionality and nuance that may accompany them. And it's free to submit! You don't even have to put your name out in the public. For more information on submission guidelines, go to lsglitjournal.com

[risingphoenixpress]

Submit your Micro Chapbooks Here

[dreamworldgirlzine]

Got a shoutout today from ChillSubs! You know what to do: submit, submit, submit 🩵

[sagacitylit]

⚜️ Submissions Open til May 15th! ⚜️

We're a bit late to joining and posting here as opposed to our other social media, but hello, Tumblr!

Saga City is a new journal for new writing, and our submissions are open right now, like right now! Until May 15th! Which isn't a whole lot of time! So get going!

You can check out full guidelines for poetry and fiction here!

General guidelines are below (text also provided in ALT ID)

All submissions should be sent to sagacitylit [@] gmail [.] com (remove spaces and brackets).

We are looking for poetry and fiction, and we would especially love to see some more short stories sent our way! Be sure to take a look at the guidelines and what we like, but otherwise go wild <3

[echolitmag]

Hello!

Welcome to the Echo Hotel, tumblr traveler. Let me take your coat, and tell you about our new contest, "Do Not Disturb." We're accepting 1,500-5,000 word horror stories from 13-19 year old authors, and the winner will receive a $200 dollar prize! What do we need them for? Never mind that. Rest assured, the winner's story will be kept nice and safe in our upcoming magazine until the time is ripe for us to sacrifice it to our immortal patron, Barry the Bee, for riches and fame!

To learn more about how your hotel-themed horror story can help the Echo gain the favor of a dark idol masquerading as an innocent lil' bee, go to echolitmag.com/shortstorycontest.