Call for Submissions: Menagerie Magazine

Menagerie publishes fictions, essays, and poems. We believe in sentences so sharp they draw blood, the strange and inexplicable, the wild and weird and uncanny, words in thickets, clusters, and flocks, pieces that move us beyond caring what others think about said pieces.

Things we like: fictions ala Borges, Link, Calvino, & Sparks; weird lyric essay; engagements with the environment and natural world; poems that explode form; bricolage, masala, & sagul sagul; forays into the omnipresent information-saturated online architecture we live in.

Things we don’t: lukewarm prose, sentences bereft of emotion, formulaic attempts at being on trend, conformity, pat endings, sentiment-drenched rhyming poems, neat and orderly stories.

We care about writers and artists. That means if you’ve entrusted your work to us, you’ll get a response. And we pay $50 per acceptance (e.g. one piece of prose or 1-3 poems). Because it’s important we value what you’ve made. Menagerie is open year round; subs are free till we hit our monthly cap, so get in early. Tip Jar subs are always open.

We’ll do our level best to promote your work, pairing each piece with original artwork, and providing social posts you can use on your own channels. It’s our hope that Menagerie will serve as an accelerator for bringing your work into the world and getting it noticed.

We observe the following guidelines:

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

• Please submit to only one category at a time.

• Poetry submissions may include 3-5 poems at once.

• Stories and essays should be no more than 5K.

• Please expect a response time of 30-60 days.

In short: if you’ve written something and don’t know what to call it, we want to see it. Our menagerie is vast and unending, and contains all size and shape of curios.

Perhaps yours will soon be one of them.

Submission link here.

Call for Submissions: Twenty-two Twenty-eight

Twenty-two Twenty-eight accepts submissions of poetry, fiction, non-fiction essays, visual art, music, and videos. Response times are usually one to three months. All submissions must be in English and must be previously unpublished except for videos and music. We accept simultaneous submissions; however, we ask that you promptly notify us if your work has been accepted elsewhere. Below are the submission guidelines for each specific category, formatting instructions, payment information, and other submission details.

Fiction and non-fiction: short stories and a wide variety of non-fiction are welcome. No graphic violence, graphic sex, or political pieces. Word Count: 500-2000.

Poetry: please submit 5-7 poems unless very long, then 1-2 (you be the judge). No graphic violence, graphic sex, or political pieces. Please note that we accept poems as a set (i.e. we do not pay $30 for each poem). 

Book review requests: if you would like us to review your book, please send us a quick synopsis of your book. If we decide to review it, we will ask you to send us a copy. We only accept digital copies. Please send it as a .pdf, .mobi, or .epub.

Visual art: please submit 6-10 images. They can be drawings, paintings, sculptures, photography, craft, or digital art. Include a brief biography of yourself and a brief statement regarding your work. Also include info for each piece such as size, medium, etc. Photo of artist is optional. Note: please no graphic violence, graphic sex, or political pieces.

Video/music: please submit video or music via Youtube link. Also, include a brief bio and brief statement regarding video/music submitted. Music from all genres are welcome. Note: video can be a vlog, lecture, dance, or movie. We're very open-minded. Please keep length for video/music to 20 minutes or under. Note: please NO graphic violence, graphic sex, or political pieces.

With all submissions: every submission must include a brief bio. We strongly encourage that you provide a photo with your bio. Including a photo is optional except for music submissions. You may want to include in your bio any social media or business links. Please include contact information, including phone number and mailing address (so we can mail you your check if your piece has been accepted. We promise no spam and that all of your contact information will never be shared.)

Our publication rights policy is as follows: First World Publication Rights, meaning that we are buying the right to be the first publication to post your work. Six months of exclusivity: after six months of publication you are free to have your work published anywhere. The right to keep your work on our website in perpetuity: this allows us to stay in line with print publications. Meaning, once we publish your work, it stands in perpetuity as though it were in print. For visual art and music, we only reserve the right to keep your submission on our website in perpetuity.

Payment: we pay $30.00 for all accepted submissions. We pay either by check or by PayPal. For international submissions, we are only able to send money via PayPal.

Format requirements: for writing submissions, please submit your work in an attachment in a .docx or .pages file. For visual art submissions, please submit your images in a .jpg, .jpeg, or .png file. For video/music submissions, please put the URL link in the main body of the email.

Please send all submissions to:

submissions@twentytwotwentyeight.com

Writing Competition: 13th Annual BOA Short Fiction Prize

The 13th Annual BOA Short Fiction Prize

April 1 - May 31, 2023

Judge: BOA Publisher Peter Conners

Winner Receives: Book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in spring 2025
$1,000 honorarium

Since its founding in 2010, the BOA Short Fiction prize has been awarded to ten of the most exciting and unique voices in American fiction. As with all BOA fiction titles, our prize-winning short story collections are more concerned with the artfulness of writing than the twists and turns of plot. It is our belief that short story writing is a valuable and underserved literary form that we are proud to support, nurture, and celebrate.

Submissions are invited only through Submittable or by post mail. We do not have the staff capacity to read or respond to manuscripts that are submitted by fax or email.

*Submission fee: $25

More information and submission portal here.

Writing Competition: 2023 Boulevard Poetry Contest

$1,000 and publication awarded for the winning group of three poems by a poet who has not yet published a book of poetry with a nationally distributed press.

Rules

• All entries must be postmarked by June 1, 2023 or submitted online by midnight CT.

• Entry fee is $18 per group of three poems and $18 for each additional group. Fee includes a one-year subscription. Make checks payable to Boulevard.

• Author's name, address, and telephone number, in addition to the titles of the three poems, should appear on the first page.

• Cover sheets are not necessary.

• No manuscripts will be returned.

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but previously accepted or published work is ineligible.

• The poems may be a sequence or unrelated.

• All entries will be considered for publication and for payment at our regular rates.

• Entries will be judged by the editors of Boulevard magazine.

• No one editorially or financially affiliated with Boulevard can enter the contest.

• The winning poems will be first announced on the website and then published in the following issue of Boulevard.

• Send typed manuscript(s) to Boulevard Emerging Poets Contest, 3829 Hartford Street, St. Louis, MO 63116 or submit online.

Submit your entry here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Mother": Hot Pot Magazine

 

Thank you so much for considering us! We are currently open for issue five submissions in categories: poetry, prose, and visual art. Our soft theme for this issue is mother — whatever the word means to you, from parents to objects that raised you. Issue four submissions are due by May 20th.

Please attach as many pieces as you’d like, written works in .pdf and visual works through .png, followed by a third-person biography. Address your email to:

 

 hotpotmagazine@gmail.com 

 

with the genre as the subject, and your first and last name. Please do not send us any extremely violent or sexual pieces.

Prose: less than 2000 words per piece

Poetry: under 200 lines per piece

Visual Art: open genre

If you are accepted, Hot Pot Magazine asks for First North American publishing and archival rights. All rights revert back to the author upon publication.

We allow previously published pieces and simultaneous submissions. But please just let us know where the piece was first published so we can properly credit them.

Our current response time is within two weeks.

Call for Submissions from ESL Writers: Tint Journal

Deadline: May 31, 2023

What kind of submissions does Tint accept?

• We accept original fiction and nonfiction creations by ESL writers (= all writers who have learned or acquired the English language after being fluent in another language), including short prose, flash as well as poetry. In view of the diverse backgrounds of our contributing writers, any subject matter which does not violate our values of acceptance and inclusivity is welcome. For text examples, see our current issue or visit our archive.

• Please submit only previously unpublished pieces. If you have a previously published piece that fits our mission, please contact us via:

 info@tintjournal.com.

• Translations will not be accepted. Your text has to be an original creation in English. However, the work can feature words or passages in other languages.

• Please only submit one piece per category (short story, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, poetry) at a time.

• For creative prose (short story or creative nonfiction), please submit a piece (short story or creative nonfiction) between 1,000 and 4,000 words.

• For flash (fiction or nonfiction), please submit a piece that does not exceed 800 words.

• For poetry submissions, please submit one poem only. If the poem has subsections, mark them clearly in your document. A poem should not exceed four C4, A4 or Letter pages in length.

More information and submission link here.

Call for Submissions: Does It Have Pockets

We are looking for fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. We also welcome pitches for columns (monthly or quarterly), interviews, book reviews, and other literary adjacent projects. Of particular interest are hybrid and cross-genre works that straddle the lines of classification.

Some specifics:

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know in your cover letter. We appreciate timely notification if a piece under consideration has been accepted elsewhere.

• We will be glad to look at previously published work (reprints) as long as: 1. you have the rights, 2. it has been at least 24 months since published elsewhere, and 3. you provide the prior publication credit at submission.

• Poetry: 3-5 poems

• Fiction: up to 5K words

• CNF: up to 5K words

• Flash fiction is welcome and you may send 3-5 flash pieces (up to 5K words) in a single document.

• Pitches: For periodic features or one-off interviews, reviews, etc., please use the pitch submission option. Explain your idea, intended frequency, and your intended audience. Pitch submissions are, of course, free.

All rights remain with the author before, during, and after publication. We request non-exclusive permission to feature your work on our site, our social media channels, archives, and special projects (anthologies, collections, etc).
Submissions fees for literary works are $3 and is used for artist payments and administrative costs (Submittable, website, etc.).

If published, we pay $10 per group of poems, story, or essay. Features/columns/reviews will receive $5 per issue. We understand this is nowhere near what writers deserve, and we will raise rates as soon as we are able. 

Submit your work here.