Centaur is on the lookout for writing that’s inspired, bold, and surprising. With four seasonal issues a year, and up to eight pieces in each, there’s only room for your best 400 words or fewer. Learn more about Centaur in the interview Six Questions.
Centaur’s pledge to its writers and artists
- You will not pay a submission fee. Ever. You’ll get a nice acceptance or an equally nice decline within two months of story or artwork submission. (If you don’t hear from Centaur, check your spam folder. Every submission receives a response!)
- Writers: Centaur will nominate pieces for each of the annual literary competitions or anthologies, including Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net.
- Additionally, your editor will light her Dolly Parton candle for Centaur’s writers at each issue’s launch, in hopes that your work may be honored and anthologized elsewhere. (Please just credit Centaur as first publisher.)
- Centaur will feature its author and artist books on its Bookstore page.
- Your published story or art will be its own prize—shined (copyedits on stories), shown (social media), and shared (however, all rights reserved and rights revert to creator upon publication).
- Your published story or art will receive $20 in payment and a fortune in goodwill.
- New: Starting with the August 2025 issue: Centaur will match payments with a $20 donation to one of the following nonprofits, in your name or anonymously. This is not an effort to influence people politically. It is just a move to make the world a better place. You should be able to find something on the list that benefits Planet Earth, its people, or its animals, wherever you may call home. That said, this is an offer, not mandatory:
Your pledge to Centaur
- Your work is original and previously unpublished. No-AI generated or violent work.
- Artists: If you’re interested in illustrating in any way the magical being known as a centaur in an upcoming issue, please email Centaur with a short note about yourself and your idea for an illustration, as well as a link to samples of your work.
- Writers: Submit a mashup of fiction with prose poetry or nonfiction, also known as hybrid. Open to most styles of writing, but not to horror. Please, 400 words maximum and words only—no mixed media or multimedia. Words only. Only one submission every three months. If your work is published by Centaur, please wait a year before submitting again.
- If you have not heard back on the status of your submission within 2 months, please reach out with a query. Apologies, sometimes the spam folder is overzealous.
- Paste your submission with your full name in 12-point Times New Roman font in the body of an email to Centaur. No attachments, please. Include the word “Submission,” your piece’s title, and your full name in the email subject line, like this: Submission: The Orange Chair – Sadie Smith. New: Please include a 50-word bio so the editor knows who she is communicating with.
- Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let the editor know immediately if your piece has been accepted elsewhere.
- Everyone: You won’t be a horse’s ass, a blockhead, or both and hassle the editor. Examples include pulling your story or art after it’s been accepted for publication, questioning the editor’s decision to decline a piece, or missing deadlines.
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