Call for Submissions: Rockvale Review

Submissions OPEN for Issue TEN on January 1, 2023!

The reading period runs from January 1 to March 31, 2023.

Issue Ten will be published in May 2023.

We publish poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction. Please read the following guidelines carefully and in their entirety. Disregarding our guidelines may result in the disqualification of your submission.

The reading period for Issue Ten is January 1 to March 31, 2023. Work submitted outside this window will not be read. We invite you to submit your best work that is both bold and vulnerable. This issue is unthemed.

Guidelines applicable to all genres: 

• We read blind, so don’t put your name anywhere on your work or in the title of the file you attach. If we see a name, the submission will be disqualified and we won’t read it. You can add a cover letter and a 100-word, 3rd-person bio in the appropriate section on the form if you wish, but we are more interested in the quality of the work you send now than in your past achievements. If your work is accepted, we will contact you for your author’s bio.

• Please use 12-point, Times New Roman font. We only accept .doc, .docx or PDF files.

• We may ask for an edit in a piece of writing we really believe in.

• While we’d love to compensate you for your beautiful words, we can’t do that yet.

• We only accept work via Submittable.

• Simultaneous submissions are perfectly OK, but please let us know if your work is accepted somewhere else by making a note in Submittable. Previously published work is not accepted.

• We acquire first North American serial rights for work we publish. All rights revert to the author upon publication. Should your work be subsequently published in a chapbook, full collection, another journal, or anthology, please mention that it appeared first in Rockvale Review.

• Submission Fee: We charge a $2.50 submission fee for all submissions.

Specific guidelines for each writing genre.

Poetry: 

• Send 1-3 poems. Start each poem on a new page. Please don’t send poems longer than 50 lines. Poems may be single-spaced.

• Please don’t send song lyrics or greeting card verse, poems with explicit language, or poems that are overtly political, sexual, or discriminatory.

• It is unlikely that we will publish rhyming verse. It is unlikely that we will publish translations.

• While we will consider all types and forms of poetry, we lean toward image-driven work that is clearly grounded in craft. We pay attention to line breaks, enjambment, use of punctuation, musicality, rhythm of language, etc.

Short Fiction: 

• Send 1 piece of writing, double-spaced, with a word limit of 2500.

• In the header of each page, please include the story title. Please include page numbers.

• Story must be a complete work on its own and not an excerpt of a greater work. There must be a clear narrative arc that peaks with crisis/action. We are looking for stories that move us.

• Please carefully check your work for misspellings, punctuation, language issues, etc.

Creative Nonfiction: 

• Send 1 piece of writing, double-spaced, no longer than 2500 words.

• In the header of each page, please include the CNF title. Please include page numbers.

• We consider CNF to include memoir, essay, and reported material written in a narrative style using storytelling techniques.

• Please carefully check your work for misspellings, punctuation, language issues, etc.

Thank you for sending us your work. We appreciate the chance to read it. We generally respond within 12 weeks.

Surprise us, amaze us, make us gasp. We want to feel the power of your words.

Submission link and more information here.