Consider Submitting

Check out these opportunities to get published and engage with writers and scholars below. Literary Mama also has extensive submissions listings and posts new calls for submissions the first Wednesday of every month. Be sure to review our listing of Fellowships and Residencies too.

Project / Outlet: Narrative Magazine
Submission Requirements: See Narrative‘s submission details
Strongly Encouraged: See Narrative‘s submission details
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: The Sun Magazine
Submission Requirements: See the Writing Guidelines
Strongly Encouraged: “We publish essays, interviews, fiction, and poetry. We tend to favor personal writing, but we’re also looking for provocative pieces on political and cultural issues. And we’re open to just about anything. Surprise us; we often don’t know what we’ll like until we read it. We pay from $300 to $2,500 for nonfiction, from $300 to $1,500 for fiction, from $100 to $250 for poetry, and from $1,000 to $2,000 for interviews. We also give contributors a complimentary one-year subscription to The Sun. We purchase one-time rights. All other rights revert to the author upon publication.”
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: Chicken Soup for the Soul
Submission Requirements: See the Writing Guidelines
Strongly Encouraged: See Possible Book Topics
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: The Life Sentence
Submission Requirements: See the Submission Guidelines
Strongly Encouraged: “The Life Sentence is the destination sophisticated crime fiction/noir fans go to for reviews and stimulating criticism. We want the content to be engaging, exciting, and inspire people to share and to participate in what we are doing. We cover crime, mysteries, and noir in all genres, including true crime, thrillers, novels, nonfiction, movies, and television. We prefer pitches to pieces that are already written. Please introduce yourself and include two or three links with your pitch so we can get a feel for your writing.”
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Non-Fiction 
Submission Requirements: See the Submission Guidelines
Strongly Encouraged: Extremely brief essays (750 words or less)
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: The Northern Virginia Review 
Submission Requirements: See the Submission Guidelines
Strongly Encouraged: “You must be a resident of the Mid-Atlantic region or Virginia or be NOVA faculty, staff or alumni.”
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: One Teen Story is seeking short stories about the teen experience for teen readers.
Submission Requirements: Entries in any genre of literary fiction that explores themes relevant to the teen experience (e.g. identity, friendship, family, coming-of-age, etc.). Submissions should be 2,000 and 4,500 words and “strong enough to stand alone (as opposed to excerpts from novels-in-progress).”
Strongly Encouraged: While teen writers are welcome to submit, OTS encourages them to enter their teen contest instead. Gratuitous profanity, sex and drug use are best avoided.
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: Parenthetical Literary Magazine is seeking submissions for their July issue.
Submission Requirements: Previously unpublished poetry of any length, or fiction / non-fiction between 1,000 and 2,500 words. “The magazine will feature mainly Canadian contributors, and any non-fiction will be grounded in CanLit, since our goal is to create a community of emerging Canadian writers and publishers…”
Strongly Encouraged: Read up on Paranthetical‘s mission.
Deadline: Ongoing

Project / Outlet: The Babishai@StoryZetu 2016 Twitter Competition
Submission Requirements: See details here.
Strongly Encouraged: N/A
Deadline: March 4, 2016

Project / Outlet: Transcendent + Lethe Press
Submission Requirements: See shunn.net; Please send all submissions as well as any questions to transcendent.submissions@gmail.com.
Strongly Encouraged: “Transcendent is seeking short, speculative fiction published in 2015 that features transgender characters, including but not limited to those who identify as genderqueer, transfeminine, transmasculine, non-binary, two-spirit, FTM, MTF, agender, intersex, bigender, genderfluid, third gender, and others, with a special note that there is no one way to be transgender with regards to medical, social, and personal transition status. Similarly, we acknowledge, affirm, and welcome transgender characters of all ages, races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, physical and mental capabilities, socio-economic statuses, and geographic locations.Speculative fiction will also be interpreted liberally to encompass the full spectrum of the genre, including the fantastical, the strange, the horrific, the weird, and everything in between. The moral of the story: if you think transgender speculative fiction applies to your story, please send it. And if you’re unsure, send it anyway!We welcome and encourage authors of oppressed and/or marginalized identities to submit. Authors need not identify as as transgender.”
Deadline: March 31, 2016

Project / Outlet: Proximity Magazine, Issue 11
Submission Requirements: “Submissions must be previously unpublished and submitted to Proximity for publication in one of the following categories: long-form (6,000 words maximum), mid-range (2,000 words maximum), flash (500 words maximum), or photo essay/multimedia. Multiple submissions and alternative forms of true stories are welcome and encouraged. See the Proximitywebsite for frequently asked questions: www.proximitymagazine.org/faq”
Strongly Encouraged: “For its 11th issue, Proximity is looking for true stories that explore the theme of REUNION, in personal essays, images, reportage, and multimedia.”
Deadline: April 15, 2016

Project / Outlet: J.J. Pionke + Lethe Press Seeking “Survivor” Submissions 
Submission Requirements: Manuscripts of contemporary poetry or fiction.
Strongly Encouraged: “In this SF/F anthology, we’re looking for stories of everyday trauma survival — from a barmaid on an intergalactic space station who was abandoned by her parents, to a farmer’s son bullied by his peers, who withstands and resists their abuse. We also welcome stories with a war setting, such as stories about veterans and refugees. The key component for all of these stories is how relatively ordinary characters survive and thrive, given the traumatic experiences they’ve had. Note: we aren’t necessarily looking for happily ever after. Trauma survival rarely ends in happily ever after, though it can, and hopefully will, end in closure and a coming to terms. We’re soliciting speculative fiction up to 10,000 words, though we prefer 4000 – 8000. Payment is 3 cents / word for print and electronic rights, to be published by Lethe Press. You need not be a trauma survivor yourself to submit. Simultaneous submissions are fine. Send up to 3 submissions as attached files (.doc, .docx, or .rtf format) to pionke@illinois.edu with the subject line: SURVIVOR SUB [title]. Questions should also go to JJ Pionke at that address.”
Deadline: May 1, 2016

Project / Outlet: University Press of Kentucky Contemporary Prose and Poetry Series
Submission Requirements: Manuscripts of contemporary poetry or fiction.
Strongly Encouraged: “profound attention to language, strong imagination, formal inventiveness, and awareness of one’s literary roots.”
Deadline: June 1, 2016

Project / Outlet: The Shell Game Anthology of Ready Made Forms
Who’s Eligible: All writers of previously unpublished works between 750 and 8000 words.
Additional Details: See http://theshellgameanthology.blogspot.com
Deadline: August 1, 2016

Grayson Books Poetry Prize
Who’s Eligible: All writers of poetry
Additional Details: See https://graysonbooks.submittable.com/submit/20849
Deadline: August 15, 2016

Project / Outlet:Wising Up Press is inviting fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and poetry on the kindness of strangers: When and how have we experienced or demonstrated it? How has the experience changed our worldview?
Who’s Eligible: Writers of all ages and cultures
Additional Details: Complete guidelines: http://www.universaltable.org/wisingup.html. Considering book manuscripts on same theme: http://www.universaltable.org/writerscollective.html.
Deadline: September 1, 2016

Project / Outlet: New Rivers Press is seeking poetry submissions for a Bob Dylan-themed anthology Visiting Bob.
Who’s Eligible: All writers of poetry
Additional Details: See Submission Guidelines here: https://newriverspress.submittable.com/submit/53140
Deadline: September 15, 2016

Project / Outlet: Cherry Tree
Submission Requirements: Original, unpublished works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Strongly Encouraged: “Read examples of some of our favorite pieces of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from the most recent issue of Cherry Tree.”
Deadline: October 15, 2016

Project / Outlet: 2016 AWP Conference & Bookfair
Submission Requirements: See Event Proposal Handbook
Strongly Encouraged: “The AWP conference committee seeks proposals featuring panelists who are diverse in their backgrounds, pursuits, affiliations, and ages. While an institutional affiliation is not required of participants, when appropriate, panels should showcase presenters from a variety of organizations and institutions who are at different stages of their careers. The ideal panel will consist of participants who represent a broad range of perspectives and experiences. The committee also encourages panel participation from graduate students.”
Deadline: The proposal period for submissions for the 2017 conference in Washington, D.C., will open in mid-March 2016.

Project / Outlet: New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program
Submission Requirements: Submit a 10-page document that includes samples of your work. Eligible applicants must live within the New York Tri-State metropolitan area, NY, NJ, and CT, (within commuting distance of New York City); have been born outside of the United States or in United States territories i.e. Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands; have been pursuing a career as an artist within the range of 1-10 years in the United States; and NOT be currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program.
Strongly Encouraged: N/A
Deadline: Information for the 2016 application to come.