Saturday, March 9, 2024

Call for Submissions: The Good Life Review

Recent cover image or website screenshot for The Good Life Review

Work must be original and previously uncurated. Please reference this thoughtful article by Tim Green on curation versus publication.

We pay $75 per piece for writing published in seasonal issues ($100 for two pieces). We pay $25 for pieces appearing in our “Micro Monday” segment and for artwork used on the cover of our seasonal issues. For international submissions, we are only able to send money via PayPal.

There is a $3 fee for submissions for our Spring and Autumn issues which allows us to use Submittable and our web platform. 

There is currently no fee for submitting art or pieces to be considered for The Buzz ~ Micro Monday feature.

We will respond to all submitted work. It may take from one to six months depending on when in the reading period the work is submitted. Artwork may remain open for the duration of a calendar year. Thank you in advance for your patience.

We accept submissions via Submittable only. Any received via email or post will not make it into the queue of our editorial teams.

If you have an issue with the fee because of financial hardship, or difficulties with the submission platform, please send a message via email to:

 editors <@> thegoodlifereview.com (Change <@> to @ )

Simultaneous submissions are accepted as long as we are promptly made aware of acceptance elsewhere. Simply withdraw in Submittable – or – for individual flash pieces or poems, initiate a message in Submittable indicating which title(s) are being withdrawn.

The Good Life Review acquires First North American Serial Rights and the right to maintain an archive copy of work online. All other rights revert to author upon publication with a request that if the work is reprinted, appropriate acknowledgment to The Good Life Review is made.

We do not publish offensive work or pieces which exhibit hatred directed toward a particular gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual identity, socioeconomic class, or other status, regardless of protected by law. In other words—if you are an asshole, we don’t want your writing or your money.

Please only one submission per category at a time and wait to hear back before submitting again.

Again, work must be original and previously uncurated. Give us your very best!

The Good Life Review is always open. Reading and selection for our seasonal issues is based on the following schedule:

February 1 – July 31 (Autumn Issue)
August 1 – January 31 (Spring)
November 15 – April 15 (Summer Honeybee Prize Issue)


We also accept micro poems and prose for our Micro Monday feature on “The Buzz.” Pieces submitted to any open call that meet the micro requirement (page/word count) will also be under consideration for this segment.

We are open for artwork year-round which is free to submit. Artists whose work is used for the cover of our seasonal issues will receive a $50 honorarium.

Poetry

  • We are interested in work that pushes boundaries, both in content and form. Poems should emanate from textured, evocative images, use language with an awareness of how words sound and mean, and have a definite sense of voice. Each line should help carry the poem from first line to last. We are open to experimentation, traditional form, and free verse.
  • Whatever shape it takes, we want exciting work that thinks through or challenges poetic traditions. There is no length limit on individual poems, but please send no more than 5 poems per submission and no more than 10 pages in total in a single text file.
  • Poems should be typed with at least one-inch margins and a 12 point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.
  • Longer lines and unique formatting are fine, however the presentation of these may be altered as text could wrap to a newline based on the display media/window size being used. We do our best to maintain the poet’s vision.
  • Begin each new poem on a new page.
Flash and Micro
  • We are excited to read flash where every word pulls its weight; every sentence tells a story. Flash should yield quick transformations and revelations, have compelling characters, and a narrative that provokes thought with a voice that lifts us up and carries us past the last line. The word count limit for micro fiction and cnf is less than 500 words. Flash is 500 to 1,000 words. For pieces over 1,000 words, we encourage you to submit via our fiction or creative nonfiction categories.
  • Pieces should be typed, double-spaced and paginated with one-inch margins and a 12 point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.
  • Include no more than three pieces in a single text file.
Nonfiction
  • We want essays that get our minds working and hearts thumping and prose that is artful with voices that are clear and cadent. Whether traditional or experimental, structure and form should enhance the content of a story that is both universal and painfully specific. Essays should not exceed 5,000 words. Excerpts from memoirs may be considered but should be self-contained. For pieces under 1,000 words, we encourage you to submit via our flash cnf category.
  • Essays should be typed, double-spaced and paginated with one-inch margins and a 12 point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.
Fiction
  • We want polished, confident, well-developed stories that are engaging from the first word to the last. Experimental fiction is welcomed. We consider original, previously unpublished stories up to 5,000 words (if it’s a little more, we will keep reading, but the story has to earn it). For pieces under 1,000 words, we encourage you to submit via our flash category.
  • Stories should be typed, double-spaced and paginated with one-inch margins and a 12 point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.

Translation, Graphic/Cartoon, Hybrid, Experimental, and/or Collaborative Work

  • Here at The Good Life Review we recognize that life is complicated and part of the joy of being an artist is freedom to explore outside the lines. If you have writing that doesn’t fit neatly into a single genre category, or was written by more than one person, you might find a good home for your work with us! We also support Spanish translations.
Submit your work here.

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