Editor Interviews

Sometimes it seems like submitters think a longer cover letter will do them favors. It probably won't. We'll read your cover letter to find out a bit about you, but we don't need to know every one of your successes and publications!

By sending novels or novellas that start with the main character waking up and looking in the mirror.

Not much. We're not finicky.

Hands down, the biggest issue we get is someone has a great short story, does a genre search, then a simply copy/paste submission to us without taking the time to learn about our publication. A good chunk of what we turn down comes with an email that says, "This is a great story, we are sure someone will publish it, just not us. After reading our submission page, feel free to resubmit something that fits the type of thing we publish."
We also get things that are too long. If you are telling an ethical question story, do it in the least words possible. Nobody wants to read 10,000 words just to get to the question, "Are all forms of meat eating, except volunteering to be cannibalized, an act of non-consensual violence?"

Not formatting (please use our template if possible), no name or bio, emailing direct instead of using submissions form, not self-editing the work.

Numbered pages. Why?

Two main things:
1.) Poetry Submissions are read anonymously (the author's name should not appear on the poems) and
2.) Poetry Submissions are limited to one document containing up to three poems, not to exceed five pages in total.
We restate these conditions multiple times in the submission process but have to disqualify submissions in each submission call.
Plus, for poetry, we allow an optional audio file to accompany the submission. Few writers take us up on that, but a great audio performance has made the difference between an acceptance and a decline more than once.

They haven't read about our tastes/preferences/samples from the website. Or confuse us with Prism International.

Not following guidelines.

Many authors assume that, because we are associated with a horror podcast, the work they submit should have a similar tone. But Folded Space is not defined by horror. At its core, it is about how people and other sentient beings carve out a niche and survive in places that were never meant to be survivable. Can that be horror? Absolutely. But it can also be adventure, mystery, drama, wonder, or something else entirely.

Some submitters just don't read the guidelines (which are pretty easy to follow).

They do not use the Shunn template, do not follow 3000 word limit, poems are more than 24 lines.

People sometimes assume we're looking for work that simply references tarot or faithfully reflects traditional card meanings - that could not be further from the truth. Some of our favorite submissions come from artists who let the card challenge their assumptions and lead them somewhere unexpected.

Since we are a magazine for youth, we require parental permission upon acceptance to publish the child's work. There have been many instances when we didn't receive permission, which made it harder for us to plan the issues.

Occasionally authors will ignore—or even reject—the guidelines. The basic requirement of submitting a manuscript to a publisher is to be professional and honor that publisher’s submission policies. Remember, respect goes both ways: the fastest way to lose ours is to ignore the guidelines.

We review up to two submissions per author for each annual volume. While we’d love to read more of your work, our editing team has limited bandwidth, so any extra submissions won't be reviewed or receive a response.

Not sure how to answer this. We haven't had too many issues with our process. Most submitters are sensitive to our dedication to this project, which we must balance with our jobs and personal lives.

Unfortunately, we tend to get too many submissions that go way over our word-count limit. The other big one is submitting to the right genre form -- we'll often get standard-style poetry submitted to our hybrid category (sometimes other genres too, but mostly poetry). Not only does that make properly processing honorariums confusing (we pay certain flat amounts by genre), but when this happens during our Fee-Free Submissions Week that has caps per genre, these mis-submitted subs are also taking away a slot for a writer in that correct genre.

Ooh... déjà vu!
Writers often focus on the creative side of their work and forget that literary and other online magazines have concrete expectations for how a piece should look when it lands in the editor’s inbox. Here's my quick submission checklist for writers:
(1) Read all guidelines thoroughly – keep them open while you format.
(2) Provide contact information exactly as requested.
(3) Set font, size, spacing, and margins exactly as requested.
(4) Double-check word/line/page count (exclude title page and bio).
(5) Save as .doc., .docx, or .pdf, and name the file Lastname_Title.doc/.docx/.pdf
(6) Preserve poetry line breaks (PDF is safest).
(7) Add an author bio (up to 100 words).
(8) Note whether simultaneous submissions are permitted.
(9) Attach any permissions for quoted material.
(10) Complete every field in the submission portal (if used).
(11) Respect the response timeline before following up.
Writers who show such care in submitting are being respectful, enhancing their chances of success. Is there an echo in here?

I just get an e-mail with the file attached. I don't want your life story, but a bio there is welcome.
Also, no outside genre. I get way too much sci-fi and horror.

It doesn't happen too often but an attachment we don't accept or more pieces than we accept or longer than our word limit (1,000 words per piece for prose). But people have mostly been pretty good. Thanks, people!

Many authors try to match a magazine’s creative vision only to face rejection. That's why we've focused our brand and named our stories. We want to define who we are. Intrepidlode describes the expectations we hold for stories. Read the essay on our website (intrepidusink.com) titled, "What's In a Name: Introducing Intrepidlode," under words > blog for more details.

A lot of submitters think leftist is a synonym for, liberal. No one on our editorial team has a vision for a neoliberal world order. So, sometimes, we get work that is lamenting a time in the past where we loved each other, and a time where there was no violent political divisions, and we're just like, "what world were you existing in?" And that is not the response you want to your political analysis. That isn't to say work from liberals is unwelcome, but your approach to politics shouldn't make us scratch our heads. We have plenty of shared struggles you can speak to, and plenty of liberals do successfully point to that, and we're happy to publish our favorites.. But we're not going to publish work that praises past US presidents for instance. Like, yes, we get that the current guy is uniquely evil, but that doesn't mean that we want to hear how amazing you think, say, Ronald Reagan, was. Hint, he was bad too!

I don't know if that is a fair question. We are a non-paying market, so I try to be generous with submissions.

Genre! Some folks send us CNF when it's really fiction. Others send reads that are on the light or spooky side, and don't have the chewy literary quality we look for.

They send too many poems or short stories (we have gotten entire manuscripts). We ask for 1-5 poems (no longer than 61 lines each) for each submission, one short story of 1-12 pages for each fiction submission, one creative nonfiction essay of 1-12 pages for each creative nonfiction submission. Some people have gotten around the one short story/one CNF by sending us multiple submissions; we have requested that they refrain from doing this, as it reduces the time we have to spend reading everyone else's submission.

We don't see many mistakes! One small tip: be sure to double-check the category of your submission, because we have separate portals for original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and reprints. And, to answer one frequently asked question: while we're only looking for work from 2SLGBTQIA+ authors, your submission doesn't have to include queer characters or content.

Because Red River Review has expanded to include short fiction, creative nonfiction, flash, hybrid, and interdisciplinary work, we want submitters to know that these pieces do not need to follow a conventional model. We welcome work that is quiet, fragmented, nonlinear, image-driven, lyric, or formally experimental. But the work still needs an anchor: tension, relational experience, revelation, a distinctive voice, or a unique way of seeing or being in the world.
A story or essay does not need a traditional plot or tidy resolution, but it should be held together by something carefully developed. There should be a sense of movement, pressure, consequence, or discovery — some reason the piece takes the shape it does. The same is true for visual, hybrid, and interdisciplinary work: we are open to many shapes, but we want to feel that the work understands the shape it has chosen.

I think the most frequent mistake is just sending us writing when we're probably not the best fit for it. We're up to read anything sent to us, but read our past issues first to see what we publish - they're all online for free!

We are wide open and we don't judge so don't be scared.

We do not publish thriller pieces, science fiction, or horror lit.

I believe that writers are working out their obsessions on the page. Obsessions take time to process and then craft well for other readers. The one thing submitters most often get wrong is submitting too early - before they've had the chance to fully develop their piece, find its beating heart, and craft something that will last.

We receive many submissions lacking adherence to our submission guidelines.

They think we want them to write about their kids or their parenting. We don't. We want them to write something amazing (it can be about parenthood but it certainly doesn't have to be)

That we're looking for manuscripts that capture a current trend. We are far more interested in reading novels that the writer absolutely loved writing.

Do NOT put your name anywhere on your work, as we do anonymous submissions, to make sure there is no bias among our student editors. -AJ Lugo Cortes, Managing Editor

Many submitters don’t follow our guidelines regarding names. Our student editors are shielded from any knowledge of the submitter, so if your name appears in your Submittable header, anywhere in your document, or even in your document file name, we will immediately reject it. Many submitters also ignore word count limitations, and we must reject those, too, as space is limited in our print journal. Some people will submit multiple times in different categories, flooding us. In all these cases, submissions will be rejected.
-Lauren Tivey, Faculty Advisor

Occasionally, we will receive submissions in languages other than English. Unfortunately, we can only publish work that is written in English, unless you're able to provide a translation. It's very important to include all the essential supplemental information, such as author bio, country of residence, foreword, and your work attached as a Word Doc to the email! Including the call you're submitting to in the email subject line and body is essential in helping our editors review your submission accordingly. However, if you have any questions about our submission process, please reach out to us before submitting!

Oh goodness. My submitters are usually pretty on top of things. The biggest problem is not reading the submission guidelines, or not knowing anything about Q&C. We're very open about our mission statement, so there's really no reason to submit if you don't agree with it.

Sometimes people forget to provide a brief bio with their submission. Also, if someone submits multiple pieces, we require all intended pieces to be attached to the same submission email which helps us stay organized and reserve the proper time and attention to an author's/artist's submissions in their entirety.

Submitters often submit to us outside of our reading period, include their work as a Google Doc link or multiple attachments, or withdraw their work by sending a new email or without reading our previous emails.

Not that it is wrong, but I don't think submitters realize just how important page one is. I see a lot of short stories that meander for the first several pages, in that they are all exposition with no real action, no scene work. These stories may find their stride on page four, but if our readers are not hooked by page one, they often will not make it to page four.

They do not follow the guidelines carefully.
Some send unacceptable content reflecting hate, foul language, anger with the intent of hurting others.

They put their names on their submissions. The submitter's name should be in the cover letter but nowhere else.

They often send work before it’s fully finished or tailored to Litro, assuming we’re looking for a particular theme or style rather than strong, self-contained writing. We also see submissions with long cover letters or multiple pieces bundled together, which slows the process. One polished piece, clearly presented, with a short cover note and an understanding of what we publish, goes much further than volume or explanation.

Our submission process is fairly straightforward, but what trips most people up is the time zone maths! Sydney, Australia is ahead of most other time zones in the world, and we use daylight saving time for part of the year, so it can get a little confusing. We provide a countdown clock on our website to make it easier.

They send in stories that far exceed our word count (1,000). They submit work that is not tied to our theme for a particular month. They provide art in a low-resolution format and/or is marred by flash photography of their drawing or painting. They submit work without the courtesy of introducing themselves.

Not much. We are astonished that the vast majority of our submitters understand our aesthetic and send us very good work. This make it very tough for us to choose, however, we love it. We rarely read a terrible submission.

That we are not a periodical and accept only booklength submissions. Of course, booklength varies: a chapbook is 42 pages or fewer.

Generally, people seem to do well following our process. We do occasionally get submissions from people who have clearly not read our guidelines, including whole manuscripts or poetry when we only accept short fiction.

Unfortunately, we get a lot of submissions to the wrong departments. Please make sure that you are submitting to the correct department, and do not submit if the one you want isn't open.

We sometimes get submissions that aren't genres we publish, or that don't follow our guidelines. We try not to put people through too many hoops, but the guidelines we do have are there for everyone's benefit.

We present character prompts for every submission window. The mistake we see most often is either the submitted story isn't about the character or the character has no impact on the story. The character doesn't have to be the protagonist, but they shouldn't be mentioned one and never seen again. The story should collapse if the character is removed.

It's a good idea to read the submission guidelines before submitting anywhere.

The biggest issue is submitting stories that are too short (we need to fill atleast 28 pages), or submitting stories that lean too heavily into topics that don't sell well, for example: Christmas stories, religious/biblical stories, rape/violence, or sexist content. We also get authors who refuse to participate in the editorial process, and that makes it difficult to market their work effectively. Understanding that the story will be edited is a part of the submissions process.

They do not follow our guidelines and it makes an editor wonder if they even read them.

Spelling and grammar are the easy answer. Please edit your work.
I also receive very short, sparse bios with no social media links sometimes, which is fine as long as that is a clear choice. We're here to promote you.

Formatting! Please put a cover letter and biography in the document you submit.

Lately, I have noticed more people sending us entire manuscripts, and we don't have a press. We have word count limits in our guidelines.

My magazine is based in Europe and I do get a lot of pieces from the States, but I need to be careful that the magazine does not become too US-centric or leans more towards an American perspective. I need it to feel universal. If you can make the setting somewhat non-specific, that helps enormously. Also, I am after quirky and slightly bizarre anthophilic tales, be they fiction or non-fiction. For example, telling me about your hunt for wildflowers in Colorado with your dog (albeit beautifully written), might work for an editor in Colorado but it isn’t going to be suitable for me on many different levels. However, telling me a true story about an eccentric Englishman in the 1900s who got lost in Colorado hunting for wildflowers, and his dog returned (who might have eaten him), is different! That’s the story I want to publish.

Works that are too long, off topic, or similar to what we have published previously.

Some attach a document to the email instead of copying and pasting. We’ve also occasionally received lined poetry, which we’re not looking for. We’re looking for flash and flash-like prose poems.

They don't follow our guidelines. They send us science fiction, memoirs, horror, YA, true crime and romance...and they send us the entire manuscript. Send us what we want, not what we explicitly say we *don't* want.
Or they send us a cover letter that begins with "I'm seeking representation for my book... " That's an automatic rejection. We're publishers, not a literary agency. If you're so lazy and careless that you're sending us your standard agent query, why should we bother reading your submission?

We use Submittable, and so the process of submitting is pretty standard. Please don't fret about what to write in the cover letter. You can't really go wrong. It's a place to toot your own horn! That includes letting us know if you're a new writer. We're interested in debut authors and new voices too! But it's also okay if you're too Midwestern to toot your own horn. We get that too.

We always have a general theme for the issue we are working on. You'd be amazed at how many people send us stuff off the theme. Sure, we might need it in the future, but we are never going to hang on to all of it to revisit years from now. So send us stuff that's on theme for sure. Again, it helps to actually read our magazine before submitting so you can get the vibe of what we do.

On a process level, most writers do everything right.

Many writers send genre fiction (sci-fi, horror, romance), flash fiction, & modern experimental writing, or they send stories involving subjects that we specifically state in our guidelines are our least favourite things: reimagined fairy tales, erotic or violent stories, etc. Some writers think we’re looking for stories about Greek mythology but the Doric temples on our website are a metaphor to represent what we look for in a short story: a solid foundation or beginning, soaring columns or plotlines that lead directly to a satisfying and beautiful conclusion that still has impact and relevance in the modern world.
We also get a lot of work that is already online. Although we are happy to take reprints, our one condition is that your story can’t be accessible, for free, anywhere else on the internet. We will gleefully re-home a beautiful story if the original online journal has gone defunct, or if the piece is behind a paywall, and we love giving an online presence to worthwhile stories that are only available in print, but we don’t understand why anyone would want to publish work in two online journals at once.

It’s rarely a matter of anyone getting anything “wrong.” It’s more a matter of fit—whether a piece speaks to the sensibilities of VOLTA’s readers and to what our editorial team is actively drawn to. We’re especially interested in emerging writers, and we’ve had the privilege of being a first publisher for multiple writers and artists.

Unpopular Publications and Tales of Blood and Roses are back and we intend to continue with additional publications. Submitters often fail to submit stories in the theme we're open for.

We could write an essay on this! Common issues include: receiving submissions via email (we only accept submissions through a Google form) and outside of our submission windows; receiving password-protected files; submissions that do not adhere to our themes; and submissions that exceed our stated word/line counts.
All our submission guidelines are easy to view on our site (and these are linked within the submission form), so basic errors like these show a lack of attention to detail. We want to publish great work, and the guidelines exist to make this easier for everyone!

The most common errors are sending genres that we don't publish or submitting outside of our reading periods.

1) Word length. I do not take fiction over 2,000 words, and yet I have had writers submit as many as 4,000 words.
2) Subject matter. I will reject anything that is overtly sexual, violent, hateful, filled with obscene language or political. We have enough craziness in our world, and I want to set Soul Poetry apart from that. We need space to breathe!
3) Entering too early or too late. Just take note of the submission dates.

Most of our submissions are great, but please don’t send in non-fiction submissions!

Mostly it's not reading the brief or keeping to word count. It's fairly clear some people just send bulk submissions out to see what lands and these ones haven't yet had an acceptance from me.

That you have to apologize for withdrawals or other submission changes. We love to hear one of your pieces has been accepted elsewhere & if you make a mistake in spelling or send the wrong file it's really not a big deal. We use google forms, this is not an elite and professional endeavor, I promise.

That we accept previously published work. Sometimes we do, but only if it is no longer available from the original source. We also accept work that is only available in print.

Submitters must be:
-residents of DC, Maryland or Virginia
-be ready and willing to be part of a cooperative (volunteer) press
-work of collections often do not feature the strongest or most compelling work at the very top
Reminder: our readers/judges are past winners of the contest. They are literary writers. Read our recent past winners and understand the interests of our press.

Not a lot, really, although I do occasionally see a short story that exceeds the maximum word count, or someone will submit too frequently during the current reading period.

At some level, the decision to publish a manuscript reflects a relationship. It doesn't have to be a marriage and it doesn't have to be too excessive or dynamic. Still, it's a connection, and the submissions process needs to anticipate this connection. Needs to hope for it and expect it. Because we're all in this together.
Half of our declines are based on style. Half are based on line edits. There's only so much we can do for you to land you with us. But there's also a small percentage that is declined...It's good writing, and writing that is certainly good enough to publish, but the writer has held back, has at some point said 'oh fuck it that's good enough' and then moved on. Please don't move on. Not every good manuscript has a chance to become a good good manuscript so don't cheap out on your art.

We don't get too hung up on the process itself. Have a problem with the form? Email it. Made a mistake, let us know. Missed the deadline by a day or two? Just ask.
That said, sometimes the connection to theme is forced or too abstract. A typo is no big deal, but the work should be as polished as it can be. And occasionally, someone forgets to tell us their piece was accepted elsewhere and it breaks our little editor hearts when we offer acceptance and can't have it.

I don't have a lot of detailed instructions to miss, as long as the stories get to me, I'm good.
The most common error is probably selecting the wrong project in the submissions portal.

Sending work that is too mean-spirited or violent. Obviously our logo is a knife, so I'm not suggesting we haven't encouraged it. We have published work that includes violence, but there is another kind of work that is too gleeful in its violence. The violence doesn't seem just, so maybe it's work in which the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

Not being familiar with the journal. Also, word count.

Not following the theme or guidelines. Read the guidelines!!!
The "Bad Romance" theme is not, in fact a "Romance" theme.

We only accept hard copy submissions.

I think sometimes folks don't understand that we read completely unauthored. I always check submissions to ensure there are no names on the manuscript before they are saved over to the readers' Google Drive. No one knows who the author is or anything about them. It's just the work on the page.

They send things that aren't at all connected to the prompts.

We're always surprised by the number of submissions we receive that aren't the kind of work we publish. Read the guidelines of what we're looking for on our submissions page, and if you still think your work might be a good fit, we'd love to take a look.

We keep our guidelines intentionally sparse because we want the process to feel welcoming. We do not want rigid rules that create barriers for writers. A common misunderstanding is that sparse guidelines mean that formatting is flexible. In reality, single spaced submissions are very difficult to read when we are reviewing many pieces. Double spacing helps us give each piece the focus it deserves.
Another pattern we see is that submitters sometimes reply to a form rejection and request feedback, even when we offer a paid feedback category for that purpose. We would love to respond to every request, but our volume of submissions makes that impossible. The paid feedback category exists so that writers can receive thoughtful editorial notes, and the funds from that category go toward paying contributors. Editors do not profit from that service.
We also endeavor to have fast turnaround times. We read and filter submissions daily out of respect for our writers and their time. Occasionally a quick response triggers confusion or frustration from submitters who assume that a faster decision reflects a lack of attention. In truth, it means the opposite. A submission is prioritized as soon as we open it. A quick response is never a dismissal of the work. It is simply the result of an editorial team that values timeliness and consistency.
On rare occasions we receive submissions or messages that are unkind to our editors, including dismissive comments about pronoun fields or required content warnings. We take care of writers, and we ask that care to be mutual.
These moments are the exception. The overwhelming majority of writers who submit to us are gracious, thoughtful, and invested in literature. We are grateful for the trust they place in us when they send their work.

They send stories that are too short to be published in our chapbook series.

They think we have far more staff than we do. We are a literal mom and pop operation. We certainly notice when someone has submitted a piece previously, or when they've misunderstood our submission guidelines, or the meaning of "speculative" in speculative fiction.

They include a statement about how they didn't use AI. Our AI policy is liberal, and we clearly state that there is no need for authors to disclose what tools they use (or don't use). Telling me you never touch the stuff is tantamount to telling me you didn't read the guidelines.
That said, this isn't grounds for rejection; it just makes me roll my eyes.

You don't need to be a published author. In fact, I kind of ignore lists of prior publications. All I care about is your work.

There is no need to write a synopsis of the story.

The most common error that submissions make is trying to take on our theme too directly or too literally. Our themes are writing prompts. If our theme is "mirrors," and your first sentence is "mirror, mirror on the wall," we may not make it to the second sentence.

POETRY SUBMISSIONS
Poets with disabilities/disabled poets are welcome to submit up to five poems with a maximum of 75 lines each on any topic or theme during each reading period. Our reading periods or submissions review “windows” are March 1 to May 1 for the summer issue and September 1 to November 1 for the winter issue.
For topics and themes unrelated to disability, Wordgathering editors will ask authors to confirm that they have a disability and/or identify as D/deaf, D/disabled, Crip, Mad, Chronically Ill, Spoonie, Sick, or Neurodivergent (including Autistic) in one or more ways. Nondisabled poets must submit work that relates in some way to disability. Nondisabled poets are welcome to submit up to five poems of a maximum of 75 lines each during each reading period.
PROSE SUBMISSIONS
A maximum of two prose pieces (including short essays, creative nonfiction, flash memoir, fiction, excerpts, and drama) may be submitted during each reading period. Our reading periods or submissions review “windows” are March 1 to May 1 for the summer issue and September 1 to November 1 for the winter issue. Writers interested in submitting short essays, creative nonfiction (CNF), flash memoir, fiction, excerpts, or drama should first send a query to [email protected] describing the proposed piece and how it relates to disability literature. Please submit work only after receiving editorial confirmation regarding submission(s).
Writers with disabilities/disabled writers are welcome to submit work on any topic or theme. For topics and themes unrelated to disability, Wordgathering editors will ask authors to confirm that they have a disability and/or identify as D/deaf, D/disabled, Crip, Mad, Chronically Ill, Spoonie, Sick, or Neurodivergent (including Autistic) in one or more ways. Nondisabled writers must submit work that relates in some way to disability.
MULTI-MEDIA SUBMISSIONS
A maximum of five pieces of multi-media content (including art, photography, short videos, comics, and music/audio content) may be submitted during each reading period. Our reading periods or submissions review “windows” are March 1 to May 1 for the summer issue and September 1 to November 1 for the winter issue. Artists and creators with disabilities/disabled artists and creators are welcome to submit work on any topic or theme. For topics and themes unrelated to disability, Wordgathering editors will ask artists and creators to confirm that they have a disability and/or identify as D/deaf, D/disabled, Crip, Mad, Chronically Ill, Spoonie, Sick, or Neurodivergent (including Autistic) in one or more ways. Nondisabled artists and creators must submit work that relates in some way to disability.
Each submission of art, photography, short video, comics, or music/audio must be accompanied by a proposed descriptive text.
Short video content must be closed captioned in English (users should be able to turn captions on or off). We do not accept automatic captioning. Please include an accompanying full transcript file.
If you are uncertain whether visual content needs to be described textually, please indicate your question in your submission email. To describe visual content in a video, whenever possible, please use an embedded descriptive audio track in English (that users can turn on or off) with accompanying written text, or include a supplemental audio track in English with accompanying written text.
Editors reserve the right to revise or edit descriptive text, transcripts, and captioning, in consultation with the creators submitting their work.
Our journal site includes image and audio description resources, courtesy of the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the Burton Blatt Institute. https://bbi.syr.edu/projects/oipo/resources/image-description/
Our file formats can be found here: https://wordgathering.com/submission-guidelines/#file-formats
Information about other genres can be found in our submission guidelines. https://wordgathering.com/submission-guidelines/

Sending me simultaneous submissions when in the guidelines it says specifically NOT to.

Our guidelines are pretty relaxed, but there are times where writers may submit excessively over word limits. Word limits exist to make the job of an editor easier: please stay in the range. In all honesty, I view word limits as guides for the benefit of the submitter instead of the editor: I'm unlikely to reject a packet based solely on length unless the packet is excessively higher than 5,000 words (for prose) or twelve pages (for poetry).

Most people get it right. But do be sure to read our submission guidelines. Because of our format, we're not a good fit for shape poetry (READ: don't send us shape poetry, much as we might love it), and long stories have to be EXCEPTIONALLY exceptional to make our pages (READ: shorter gets more love). Please wait a month to submit again after a rejection (unless otherwise asked) and 6 months after having a piece accepted. Three flash, 3 poems and 1 story at a time, max words 3,000.

Too often submitters don’t stick to the theme, which is an instant ‘no’ from our end. We also don’t publish academic or straight nonfiction writing — nonfiction pieces should have a creative or personal component.

They think that we are a travel magazine.

It MUST have been previously rejected and revised. We do not want work that has never been submitted before.

We only accept one submission per writer per period, and would prefer previous contributors wait a full period to submit again!

Formatting. Which is a tiny issue when it's just one piece, but can be a lot of work when it's several.

If a submission is not well edited and written from a thoughtful and helpful perspective, it is not a good fit for the blog or magazine.
If the submission is an art piece, it must have the background cropped out, no watermark, and a backstory of the piece included, along with the artist's perspective of the piece. Too often, I receive submissions that are not ready for publication and require polishing before being made public.

Submitters most often get it right, but when they don't it's usually because they haven't taken a close look at our magazine or our website (www.arkint.org).

Honestly, I think our submitters do more right than wrong. I guess the one thing is, and this is more of failing on me than you, but I can't reply to everyone if you get rejected. Follow up if ya gotta, I don't mind, but don't get bent out of shape if I can't get back to you.

What I see go wrong isn't really about the process, but more about the submission itself:
Sometimes we get a story or poem that makes us feel like we're in school --- it tries very hard to teach or preach, and makes the reader feel like there will be a test at the end of the lesson. We don't want that. We want a good story or poem that will demonstrate Bible truths, and illustrate them. This is very different than, say, a straight forward dialogue between a parent and child about right and wrong. There is a place for that kind of work, but at Pure in Heart, we want more imagination and storytelling.

Submitting work that clearly is not aligned with other work we’ve published.

Some submissions come in that don't have anything to do with the subjects we publish. It is clear that writers are submitting their work to as many publications as possible, as they are trying to play a numbers game. And I get it, as it is true that you will get more rejections than acceptances. But I would discourage this as one, it wastes everyone's time, and two, it doesn't foster any connection with one's work. Rather, take the time to learn more about the publication and submit work that fits in with what the publishers are looking for. Think of publishing as a relationship, not a competition. You don't need to be a die-hard follower of the publication, but you do need to understand what it is that they are trying to build and what work they tend to gravitate toward.

Some submissions come in that don't have anything to do with the subjects we publish. It is clear that writers are submitting their work to as many publications as possible, as they are trying to play a numbers game. And I get it, as it is true that you will get more rejections than acceptances. But I would discourage this as one, it wastes everyone's time, and two, it doesn't foster any connection with one's work. Rather, take the time to learn more about the publication and submit work that fits in with what the publishers are looking for. Think of publishing as a relationship, not a competition. You don't need to be a die-hard follower of the publication, but you do need to understand what it is that they are trying to build and what work they tend to gravitate toward.

If they get anything wrong, it would be that they send work blindly, not recognizing the kinds of work we publish. We are pretty flexible, we also want people to send their work where it will be loved and appreciated and sometimes we aren't the right fit for what they send.

As in my previous answer, the thing that submitters most often get wrong is not reading the submission guidelines to understand that Collaborature is a publication for submissions of collaborative poetry and fiction.
Another thing I’d like to see more of is perseverance in our monthly contest. People enter amazing work. We have a different guest judge each month. Everyone has a different bent. Sometimes people enter for a couple months, and they give up when their poem or fiction writing isn’t selected. Writers may submit once per month, until you win. Then you must wait one calendar year to submit to the contest again.

Many think that they need to disclose the details of their diagnoses/identity/relationships in order to "count." This is false. We at manywor(l)ds trust you as to your own identity, and you never need to tell us any personal details in order to "qualify" to submit.
Some people also think that when we have open reading periods, we're only accepting submissions for one issue at a time. However, we accept pieces for up to three future issues at once in order to curate a diversity of form and content.

Not reviewing back issues first.
Emailing us basic questions that are easily answerable by reviewing back issues and our website - particularly the submissions page - or could be answered by having common sense.
Emailing us about their intention to submit something (they never do), rather than submitting something.
Sending work which is obviously far too long for the magazine.

Many miss our interest in real-world religion and submit made-up faiths. We're interested in seeing how existing faiths have to adapt in the future, or in how they can shape the future.

Sending their submission as a pdf. We prefer Word documents.

Our submission requirements include a request for a brief bio because we genuinely want to get to know you. It's fine if you don't have a ream of publication credits, but let us know something about yourself, serious or whimsical. We also request that you single-space prose submissions. That's because double-spaced text is awkward to read through our submissions management software. That said, if you forget to single-space, no big deal.

The most common reason we pass is awkward prose, often overwrought. Spare prose is much easier to get right. The second most common reason is that it hits a message we feel has already been covered well enough, such as parasocial relationships with AI or the personification of climate change.

We want submissions in the body of an email, not sent as an attachment.

They don't read the submission guidelines on the website. Unfortunately, it's an instant no if it is clear they haven't. I will happily give them advice on how to approach other publishers but it is very likely a rejection from us. We also get addressed as Dear Publisher, Dear Sir, To Whom It May Concern. I'm afraid it is a no in those cases as well as a potential published author can find out all about us on the website - we aren't a nameless, faceless publisher. We are a small indie press run by two people.

For original story submissions (i.e., not reprints), please remember to omit all identifying author information!

Some people submit on the chance their work will be accepted. It’s obvious they haven’t read or understood the submission guidelines. Sometimes the only thing in the email is a poem with no civil commentary to indicate they know whom they are submitting to. At times, bios or author images are missing. Also, some people misinterpret what we mean by “holy”. They submit horror stories, battles with Satan, sermons, and the like. Another error is not pacing the submissions. Sometimes writers submit too often, even before a piece is published.

They try to go around it by sending submissions to our business email address. (We delete those.) A query is great, but an attached story submission isn't. Or put extra things in the text like graphics or biographical statements in text.
Or: send us "think pieces" or reviews that should be submitted to our non-fiction sister publication, "Coreopsis Journal". (Which has a different process.)
Poets who don't give us their contact info or their names... (!)
We also get too many submissions that really should go to a magazine that publishes experimental works or mainstream literary works. We try to direct those writers elsewhere when we can.
Otherwise, most writers seem to be pretty savvy at sending submissions that are perfectly fine.

That we will accept multiple submissions or that we’ll consider submissions after they keep withdrawing their submissions.

Most often, it's an issue of formatting. Authors sometimes include Moonstruck Books in a shotgun blast of submissions, which is very obvious. These submissions usually include a generic pitch letter and a manuscript that is (1) not a genre we publish, (2) not ready for publication, (3) not aligned with our stated values, and/or (4) more commercial than creative. It's also very obvious when an author considers Moonstruck Books to be "small potatoes," an easy acceptance letter. The editorial relationship between publisher and author begins with this first contact, so I suggest these writers consider their approach carefully. Submitting a book can be disheartening, grueling work. With that said, matching with a publisher is not like swiping on Tinder. Take your time, read more library books, and be a human.

We unfortunately must reject work that does not fit our scope and mission, even if well written. For example, we do not publish science fiction as a genre, or works that do not address in some way contemporary New South issues. Authors are highly encouraged to read our description and an issue or two prior to submitting.

Submitters often do not include everything in one document. We really need exactly what it says in the guidelines. Otherwise we have to chase up bits and pieces and it becoems very messy. Work can easily get lost.

On this call the main problem is not meeting the theme or interpreting it in an obvious way.

Submitters often do not include everything in one document. We really need exactly what it says in the guidelines. Otherwise we have to chase up bits and pieces and it becomes very messy. Work can easily get lost.

We only accept anonymised submissions via our moksha portal for specific submission windows. Stories should not be submitted to our audio portal, which is only for narration audio of accepted stories in production.

They send in poems or stories that are not horror.

Not reading the submission guidelines. It makes everything easier if you submit in the correct format, and following the correct rules.

Not being on theme, or being insufficiently themed. If the themed element can be removed or changed in your story, it's not strong enough! The theme needs to be integral to the story.

Our word count is important. Please don’t submit anything longer than 2,000 words.

We get a lot of questions about how to count the words. We have a strict word limit of 100 words or less, including the title. We use Microsoft Word for the official word count, which treats hyphenated words as one word. So the easiest thing would be to plunk your entry into Word right before submitting it to determine the accurate word count. Just be sure to omit any other info such as your name or the date.

Submitting when we are closed to submissions. Not understanding the press and its cohort.

Most of the submissions we get are standard genre horror stories. These might be a great fit at plenty of other venues, but they are not for ergot.

We do not publish full-length books except through our Beautiful Pause Prize annual contest! And we are a very small team, running on passion and small donations, and all have more than full-time jobs. We constantly dream of the day we'll be able to only write, make art, and run Press Pause. If we are a little slow to reply or accept or decline, it's about us and our productive capacity, and not you.

Forgetting that we only publish civics-themed books.

We are often sent pieces that quite clearly do not fit with the style or voice of the magazine. However, the implication of this is not to artificially constrain your artistic voice to conform with our style, but rather, to make sure that our magazine is the right fit for your writing.

The most common error is non-compliance with the formatting guidelines.

Sending us submissions that ignore the physical constraints of Inch. Inch celebrates concision, brevity, and the remarkable work such constraints can inspire. Please read submission guidelines carefully.

Look, if your work doesn't fit in the categories of the Google Form, don't be afraid to pitch us over email or DM! Several pieces so far were a conversation that turned into an experiment that worked out, and we welcome critical making and process-oriented work. We don't believe in editing a submission into some sort of perfectly-worded masterpiece, but if you've got a concept you want to pitch and need to bounce the idea off us, we welcome that email.

First, they fail to sample our archives to get a clear idea of the kind of work we're looking for.
Second, they fail to note our 1000-word limit for fiction and essays. We're willing to consider a little bit of spillover, but writers consistently send material from 2000 to 5000 words. These are always rejected without review.

Submitters often send work that is simultaneously considered elsewhere. Because we are a small voluntary team, we do not have the time to review work only to discover that our hard work was for naught.

The quality of the writing we are looking for: we want exceptionally well crafted stories, with high tension and complex characters, and which have been carefully reviewed by the author (and their friends!).

We really do want a bio or personal statement, and many do not take time with this.

Submitting to any journal is a leap of faith, so we’re incredibly grateful to anyone who puts their work forward. The biggest mistake would be not to submit.

We take great pride in the prize-winning authors we publish, the many established writers. But, we take equal pride in providing a space for new writers. Around 20% of our authors received their first byline in Panorama.

I try to encourage authors to become involved in the submissions process as it can be a rather enlightening experience, informing not only their view of the journal and how it comes together, but also their own submissions. A great review process requires great care, time, and tact. Submitters should understand that reviewing submissions is demanding.

You can make the reviewer's life easier by having clear formatting, and understandable sentences. Being really clear about the intent of your work, the story you’re trying to tell, and not overwriting are useful checks. Ask yourself or a friend: “does this make sense?”. Ultimately I will be asking editors to champion submissions they love.

For people new to Panorana, you should know that we are open for submissions three times a year to coincide with the three tri-annual issues we publish. It’s a small window and the themes for each issue are specific to each issue. The issues in 2025 are SURVIVAL in March, the PARIS edition in July, then ENCOUNTERS in November. Editors particularly enjoy work that relates to the theme laterally, creatively, and imaginatively.

We accept, and will always accept, snail mail subs, but please send a SASE! I get a lot of angry emails from people who never heard back from us, and no SASE is usually why. We clear the decks completely every cycle, and pride ourselves on not making writers wait forever.

Not reading the guidelines.

My guidelines are pretty simple and I'm not a tyrant about them. For instance, I ask that pieces be in Times New Roman 12pt, but if a story arrives in Garamond I'm not going to reject it. I've only rejected a handful of pieces for not following guidelines - one wasn't in English, the two or three others were not romance/love themed.

I would say that the biggest problem we see is sending us a query letter that is clearly written for someone else. It shows unprofessionalism from the start.

Poets may submit up to three poems. If the poems are NOT meant to be evaluated as a collection, they should be in separate documents. For example, if a writer submits three stand-alone poems, there should be three pdf or docx attachments.

We see a lot of emailed submissions bogged down with publication history, forty-year biographies, and links to every book they've ever published. We would rather just read your work and fall in love with you later! I understand the eagerness, but our submission guidelines note what additional information we need, which is simply your name, a 100-word bio, and 2-3 personal links. The faster we can get to your work, the faster you'll receive a response.

Most of our submitters read the guidelines. Occasionally, we will get a very long piece. We only publish work that is under 2,000 words.

One of the most common mistakes submitters make is not following the submission guidelines properly. Whether it's formatting, word count, or file types, these details really matter and can often result in automatic rejections, even if the content is great. And many people get discouraged after their first rejection. It’s a normal part of the creative process. If your work isn’t selected, don’t take it personally. Use it as a chance to refine your craft and try again!

We ask for separate submissions--no bundles of poems and stories.
There's a limit of five pieces total.
We read blind, so folks save us time when they follow the guidelines.

The Empire's technology and the scope of its history take some study to get right.

We often receive submissions of more than four poems, which is the maximum amount we can allow from one poet during each submission period.

They send me flippin’ attachments! Or they send something that isn’t funny at all.

They often send rhyming poetry (we never publish rhyming poetry and usually do not publish form poetry) or send fiction that tells, instead of shows.

The submissions we end up rejecting either don't follow the guidelines or the theme.

Our guidelines are not very stringent. Read the magazine to get an idea what we're about.

N/A. We don't have guidelines so there's nothing to get wrong.

We only accept work under 500 words, even for the book review category. We love concise mini-reviews! We want to read about books that came out in the last few years, in any genre. We're looking for fresh insight and analysis, not summaries. We want to read about craft: structure, line work, pacing, motifs, etc. The review itself should be infused with creativity and personality.

We have a two-step process. First, an initial review by our editors to determine if a book should be recommended for review by our editorial board. If a manuscript is chosen for a board review, we require exclusivity during the review as there is a high chance of acceptance if it reaches that stage. It is a rigorous, costly, and time-consuming process. Prospective authors sometimes do not understand all that is involved.

The following are mistakes made by submitters to Eggplant Emoji: Submitting a piece that is 1,000 words or less. Submitting a premise-based piece. Submitting an essay. Submitting a piece that is only one scene. Submitting a piece that only has one joke.

We don't respond to rejections. Depending on the contest/general submission period, paying member or not, submissions get reviewed in a set amount of days. If accepted, we'll notify you. If not, we won't. Please, don't ask about the status of your submission! =)

Wrong? Hmmm. Not wrong per se, but we get about half our submission with attached files named "confetti.docx" - a more detailed format for files would be nice. "Last name, type of submission, Spring or Fall, Year" would be a nice organized way for submitters to name files. It would make it easier on our webmaster to navigate all the submissions. Rarely, we also get submitters sending us more submissions than our limits - we try to give everyone a chance and it doesn't seem fair that some submit more.

Sometimes, submitters hyper-fixate on 1 or 2 errors. We're human just like you and are not going to judge you for a mistake or two! But being mindful and even sending a correction check in email is always appreciated!

They don't read the guidelines and send things that we would never actually consider, wasting both of our time.

.5 Writers have not read the submissions guidelines
1. Sending a submission meant for/addressed to another market.
2. Submissions exceed our 5000-word limit or artwork that is not correctly sized.
3. Writers who attempt to submit via social media or other channels.
4. Cover letters that include a summation of the work.

They forget to attach a file.

Please include your submission in the BODY of your email. Please do not send us long work -- due to our format, we can only publish shorter pieces.

More often than not, submitters have little to no understanding of our aesthetic and so they send commercial, traditional writing. It's worth taking the time to read at least a few poems or a couple of fiction pieces to better understand what The Collidescope is all about. Otherwise, submitters are wasting their time and the team's.

Submitters often tell me a lot of irrelevant information about their personal lives or details of their emotional journey with writing in their cover letters. But really I only want to know relevant things. Like if you sent me a police procedural and actually are a law enforcement officer, that's something I'd like to know. Or if you are a physicist who sent me a sci-fi book that would also have some bearing on my decision. The only exception to this rule is if the submitter is under 18, I'd like to know that right away. Otherwise, I'm okay not knowing anything about an author before opening a manuscript.

They obviously have not read previous issues. They have not read the guidelines correctly when there are some. They seem not to live in the same world as I when they go on about flowers and butterflies.

They tend to ignore the word limit.

Sometimes I get serial submitters who send pieces constantly, despite a request in declines to only submit work once every three months. It's also clear when people have not read the guidelines.

Proselytizing, prescribing, or otherwise promoting a particular spiritual outlook.

Not wrong--but our ability to edit poetry is very limited! Unless something truly obviously excellent comes across the editing desk, it will usually be rejected. This is due to my own shortcomings as an editor--not you!

Not having any idea about what we publish.

We don’t receive too many things that feel outright wrong. One thing that makes for a quick rejection is clarity. If the piece is riddled with errors or lacks the horse sense of good writing, we are quick to pass. Similarly, if a piece doesn’t share our mission, at least in some small way, it probably isn’t for us.

Submitters often make the mistake of not adhering to our submission formatting requests, or maintain an absolutely zero-level of chill during correspondence. Also, be prepared to potentially engaged in the editing process.

That our magazine's theme is exclusively about practical witchcraft and that their submission that does not center around this theme will not be a good fit; and the other way around: choosing to submit material centering around practical witchcraft and crafting it that way to increase their chances of acceptance for publication.
That we accept book reviews by our contributors, and not review books ourselves.

Not reading the submission guidelines. We are open to a lot — but not everything!

Sometimes submitters think we’ll figure out what their point is. Their work is too vague, elliptical or unfocused. Sometimes writers will submit unedited work, hoping we’ll do the magic for them. We won’t. We are strong believers in the revision and editing process. We expect our writers to honor all aspects of the writing process if they want to get to the final step of publication.

Most people do it just fine. Sometimes someone will query without describing the book at all and without attaching the manuscript: "I've written a mystery novel, would you like to read it?" I don't know, maybe? Probably not (just statistically, the odds are that any given submission will be one of our 999+ nos in a given year, not our one and only yes), but maybe? Don't email asking if you can send a submission -- just send the submission. And describe the book briefly in the cover letter so that I can quickly let you know if what you're submitting has any chance of being right for our line. (No reason you should have to wait weeks or months for a response you could have gotten in minutes if you'd just described the book up front. It's painful to get a no, but if you're going to, better to get it right away than have to wait weeks before getting it.)

Fiction submissions: We still get a ton of dudely dudes sending us dudely stuff we do NOT want.
Poetry submissions: We still get a ton of showoffy poems using five dollar words- which we do NOT want.
Art submissions: No AI-assisted/generated, please!

Do not send Erotic Materials. We do not take Omegaverse stories either.

Submitting more works in one attachment than allowed and failing to remove their identifying information from their submission.

THEY DON'T READ OUR GUIDELINES.

for poetry, fiction and artwork, we require notes bridging to our mission and/or the issue's theme

Putting a lot of backstory into the first pages, and the actual story doesn't start until page 3 or 4. Sending letters that begin with "dear editor." Do your homework before sending to any publication.

I'm sure I'm in agreement with most editors here: you can tell when someone has a list and is just barreling down it, sending it off in one big blast—there's something so impersonal to that, and while I respect that sending out work is a sensitive (honestly, more painful than not!) process, writers can sometimes forget that editors are also just people, too, looking for writing and writers to support. Really, the tone of your cover letter is probably the most sensitive part of your submission, and it's never the wrong move to be clear, earnest, and intentional.

Sending more than our length requirements (3 poes up to 40 lines, prose totalling 1,500 words).

Submitters often forget to submit the form on our website beforehand, which is something we need for logging and contacting accepted creators.

Sending us previously published work or simultaneous submissions.

We often receive submissions over our word count. While we understand that it can be difficult to stop yourself from writing more and more when you are engrossed in a plot, we are aiming to publish short stories that convey complex narratives or themes in crunched times. It's a challenge, we know! While we love reading your stories, no matter the length, we simply do not have time to get through your multi-chapter submissions that we can't publish, so please consider this when submitting!

They send their submissions to the contact email address for SWING or to me as the Editor. This throws a wrench in our organization and will certainly delay a response to their work. Submit all work through Submittable.

We don't have a complicated submissions process, so the only thing I can think of is when people submit simultaneously and then fail to notify us when they've been accepted elsewhere. Sometimes we'll spend quite a bit of time on a submission, ultimately decide not to accept it, send a note to the author, and get back something along the lines of, "Well, it was already accepted at Raging Cheese, so I don't really care that you didn't like it." That's not cool.

Not reading the guidelines.
But specifically, we get a lot of submitters who attach a document and don’t give any other information, no biography, nothing at all but the file.
Or often we’ll get eight poems in eight separate files, which is time consuming to sift through.

We’re not too picky about the format of the submissions. As long as you get your work to us in a way that we can read it we will evaluate it all the same. It can be a little bit annoying when people decide not to put their social media handles. Social media is a great way to contact people and its a great way to help grow the community, but everyone has their reasons I’m sure.

They ignore word counts, submit writing multiple times, or submit more than once within a month. Don't do this. Also, please do not submit and withdraw and then submit again because you suddenly found a typo or realized that you didn't like the way you phrased something. We have also had writers submit several poems or flash fiction pieces in separate submissions. Do not break up your pieces. We will automatically not accept your work if that occurs. Also, writers need to accept that it can take 4 weeks or more to get a response.

They submit work that is clearly outside of our aesthetic. For example, we are unlikely to publish genre fiction, such as crime or mystery. Genre work would have to subvert the genre in an interesting way to catch our attention.

Sometimes people email submissions to us instead of using our online submission manager, and sometimes they mislabel the genre as they submit their piece online.

That just because we are a small, independent literary magazine, it only takes a few days to get a response from us. At the magazine, we also make it our mission to give each piece of work the attention and special treatment it deserves, even if it doesn't make it into the final edition. That is why the whole submission process can take a couple of months. We try to provide each and every author and visual artist who graces us with their work some kind of personal comment, insight, or impression from our editorial team because we want everyone to feel that The Globe Review is really more than a magazine to us; it's a cohesive community of artists.

Frequently manuscripts are not formatted in line with our requests, which is frustrating. We don't reject pieces on those grounds, but knowing that accepting one such also means some needless labour to make the text usable doesn't do a submission any favours. Submission emails that literally include the words "Your Story Title" in the subject line are also not unheard of...

Most commonly authors submit material that is not a good match for us. For example, we're not the right place for horror, fantasy and sci-fi. In addition, we frequently receive material that falls outside our word count of 500-2,500 words. That said, we're flexible, within reason, if the writing is very good. Where a submission has been declined, we ask authors to wait two months before submitting again. Because of the high volume of submissions, we really would appreciate authors' sticking to this one.

Submitters rarely follow the guidelines, and although we read everything we receive, if we hesitate between two pieces, the one following the guidelines is more likely to get published.
The writing might be beautiful, but if the story, the emotions don't come through, get lost in the stunning descriptions, we won't publish it.
Many stories feel unfinished. It could be plot holes, not going deep/raw enough, a lack of voice, or an ending that doesn't offer closure... if something is lacking that would require too much editing for the story to shine, we usually pass.

Occasionally people don't include a cover letter, and an attachment with no message at all is too sketchy. We get great submissions overall though. Most submitters get it right!

Few people get the submission process wrong, but we do occasionally get a submission for something other than what our contest is for, like a query letter submitted for our synopsis contest.

Including their name.

We rarely publish poetry that rhymes; it will most likely receive a rejection.

Submitters seem to have the unfounded idea that we know / don't know what we're doing. In fact, we know very well what we're doing, having ad libbed so long we know our unwritten play well. And maybe I do undersell us a bit: we went to school for this, we've gotten awards for this. But still, we're clearly making this up. We're not professionals; we're talented amateurs.

They try to offer too many words/pages--stick to the 5,000 word count limit, please.

Not taking their name out of their submission file. We like to read all submissions anonymously but a good percentage of submitters still include their names within their story or poem file. We prefer not to see identifying information about the submitter until after we've made our decision based solely on the work itself.

In the Literary segment, submitters sometimes do not adhere to the word count mandated in our guidelines. In the Visual Art segment, submitters often send just a couple of visual art images. We need 6-8 artworks/photographs/graphic designs for the Visual art segment.

Most people get it right, but sometimes we get submissions that are just about literature and have nothing to do with anthropology, or very conventional articles that would be better suited to a more traditional anthropology journal.

That there is a big group of people running the place.
It's me and I get a ton of submissions everyday.
So just because I do not get back to you right away does not mean it's a no.
Also that work has to be about whiskey.
Look at what I publish its all different.
So show me your best work.

Not submitting work as a separate attachment

We don't consider .pdfs because of some formatting mishaps we've had in the past. Nevertheless, we get a lot of .pdfs.

Thankfully, not much. We just strongly suggest reading the submission guidelines, which should answer all questions about submitting.

We do not publish poetry.

Cover letters are not too important, and no submissions will be rejected because of spelling or formatting errors.

Work that is completely unrelated to art has no place at The Ekphrastic Review, no matter how brilliant it is! If the link is subtle, that's okay, but please let me know what it is and how it informed the piece. Do not send pretentious academic art theory, "critical theory," or deconstruction nonsense. We want prose that is informative, insightful, personal, unusual, and/or engages with art and its stories in interesting ways. Don't send anti-political or anti-religion rants. If those subjects evolve naturally and intelligently within a work, that is fine, but we are a place that fosters unity, diverse perspectives, and nuance, not the op-ed page for a current events paper.

They have not sufficiently revised or rewrittten their work (yet); and many writers are still exploring the areas of their own mind and biography which have not yet released their secrets into the writing; that is to say, much of the work our writers have yet to finish is internal and personal, as opposed to revealing more work needed in the sentence construction itself, or in the form or meter: it’s less the writing that needs more time as it is the writer whose journey as an artist has only begun.

Writers sometimes exceed our recommended word count.

The two main hiccups we see are stories submitted outside of the form and word counts all over the place outside of our listing.

Unfortunately, we are taking longer to make decisions because we have several editors (who read everything.) While we are not ogres, we are not really friends with the writers and would like work submitted in a usual professional style. We do not use or make decisions based on bios or companies that submit for writers. We would like a name and address on every poem. We get work submitted by mail unless from overseas and keep track of the work by SASEs.

Telling instead of showing

Our submission process is pretty streamlined, so issues.

There's not much to get wrong! Just submit your work through Submittable, and we promise we will read it. It does take us some time, but we read everything! Like the community college that sponsors us, we like to think that excellence is not inconsistent with open admissions and complete welcome.

Sending work that does not fit submission guidelines--please do not send us academic articles or pieces including artwork.

Typos. Submissions outside DC, Maryland and Virginia. Read and subscribe to WWPH Writes.

They do not send material that corresponds to the theme.

Sometimes they send too many poems. Sometimes they fail to read the magazine first and send poems that aren't on our wavelength.

Word count out of range - too short or too long.

We ask for FULLY edited and final mss but so many times we receive obviously poorly edited or non edited mss and we find this is usually the reason we pass on some potentially good mss. If the author doesn't believe in their work enough to have it in its finest final format, then the rest of the process will be gruelling an probably unsuccessful, so we just pass if it is a poorly presented submission.

The only issue we have is not getting prompt notification when a simultaneous submission is accepted elsewhere. On several occasions we have excitedly accepted a story or set of poems only to be told after acceptance that the piece has been accepted elsewhere.

Not actually linking their story in some way with the current issue.

Leaving personal information on the submission document (we judge anonymously), submitting traditional narratives, submitting sci-fi and fantasy (submissions don't need to be straight realism, but we don't publish genre fiction)

Don’t be afraid to query! If you haven’t heard back in the time allotted do reach out. I consider deeply every story that makes it into my queue, which may take longer than our usual response time. If you send a polite reminder that I’m holding on to your story, I’m happy to give you a status update.

A cover letter should be succinct, a brief bio that includes previous publications. That's it. And please only upload one submission with multiple poems in one document.

We've been very fortunate to have submitters who must read carefully and tend not to get anything wrong about our process.

They send us submissions that have nothing to do with the Finger Lakes region.

For our contests, we ask for submissions of entire manuscripts, not partials. Please submit the whole thing!

We do appreciate content notes (which are encouraged, not required), given that a lot of eco-writing is heavy, and many of our readers are Wooster students.

N/A

They send us material that doesn't fit our criteria, or that is just a sample without a summary to help us understand the whole work.

Doesn't adhere to word count, excessive author bio, overt erotica instead of horror, or emails it to me instead of using submission page.

They send poetry in the fiction portal and so on.

Most often, not meeting guideline requirements or submitting outside the reading periods. We get a lot of submissions and it takes some time to go through them, so we have to be strict about the hiatus periods. Another mistake often made is to submit material that is straight horror or fantasy. This kind of submission is rejected nearly 100% of the time.

We do not use Submittable, or other submission platforms, which means we rely on our email to communicate with contributors. Please add us to your contact list so our emails aren't blocked. Occasionally, people do not receive our emails because our address is flagged as spam, or blocked. Incidentally, we don't use Submittable because of the cost involved, and we don't believe contributors should have to pay to send us work. The argument has been made that the cost is equivalent (in some cases) to paying postage, but the beautiful thing about email is--IT'S FREE!

The contest is anonymously judged, so don't leave your name on the manuscript itself or the art.
For the writing contest, make sure your story contains some hint of the genre in the first four pages. We get romances and other sorts of stories that are not right for the contest.

Bios in the first person or over 100 words can be bothersome. We don't need your contact information; however, social media handles may be necessary when promoting your work.

Folks should remember to complete the Google Form provided to all submitters, to the best of their ability. We ask for a one sentence bio to be included in our zines - this is often a paragraph! That makes the submission process quite long!
People who create art using traditional mediums, like collage and illustration, should remember to send us a high-quality scan or photo of their image. Folks often get rejected due to the quality of the image sent to us, rather than the content of the piece.
Writers should remember to send us a 1-2 page submission - we can't accept longer pieces.

Sending us fiction that is way too long.
Advice in this regard? Read the magazine first, then give us a chance to read your work and think about it. Be a writer who cares about where you actually send your work -- your BEST work -- and we promise to read your work with as much care as you took in writing it.

Most often we reject stories because of underdeveloped premises and worldbuilding. We understand that authors cannot reach a space opera level of worldbuilding in 3,000 words. But we expect authors to explore the nuances and consequences of their premise and ensure the world their story is set in is believable.

We've gotten too many people that disregard the 1200-word limit that's posted in several different places on our website, so that's a little disappointing, but in terms of what people get wrong that we don't clarify on our website, I'd say a lot of people are under the assumption that more submissions automatically mean they have a higher percentage of getting a story selected. While we love to see the same people submitting again, month after month, submitting too many stories runs the risk of over-stimulating us and making us less willing to see what's special about one story in particular. Given the choice between sending us two stories and one elegant, polished story, send the one. We love pieces that have clearly had a lot of time poured into them, especially on the sentence by sentence level.

The main error I see in submissions is that the submitter has not properly read the guidelines. Either the word count is too high, the piece does not meet the specified criteria for the magazine, a biographical statement or profile image are not attached, or more than one piece of work is submitted at once. I am relatively forgiving, however, and will still read submissions even if a few rules are broken as for me it is about the work itself.

People send me stories that don't have a supernatural element.

They don't take the necessary time to make sure their submissions follow the stated guidelines—I'm constantly astonished that people don't follow directions! I get submissions with track changes comments and edits in them, incorrect spacing and fonts, writing full of typos, grammatical errors, incorrect punctuation, etc. Such a shame that writers will dash off a submission like this, and be disqualified before their work can even be considered.

Now, this is a good question. We rarely have issues with the submission files. I rarely disqualify a submission because they're all within the word limits and follow the rules.
I have to give this credit to the LISP team. I'm so proud of them because they're fast in replying to questions of the submitters who have confusion about the rules or the submission process. And also the rules are quite clearly announced in emails and ads via social media. That makes things easier for the submitters and the jurors.

With so many choices for writers and poets to submit their work, remember that every publication has its own idiosyncrasies. We will know as soon as we open your file if you're throwing any old kind of work at our wall to see if it sticks (and it won't). Read our guidelines and offer us pleasure, not pain, to read what you've written.

Instead of being unflinchingly supportive of the deep voice inside them yearning for expression, they send material that is within their comfort zone.

It varies, but mostly people send me stuff that doesn't fit the requirements, or they send me stuff by email instead of through the submission form. In the first instance, that means I literally can't use it, so it's a waste of everyone's time. The Poetry Box is a poem printed on a physical postcard and mailed out every month with tea and chocolate to our subscribers. The poem has to be short, because postcards are small. For some reason, this one in particular seems to trip people up. Fifteen lines is fifteen lines. Count your lines (including blank lines - they still take up space).

Disregarding our submission guidelines and emailing me directly. This is not a successful strategy!

That we conform to the traditional idea of "experimentation." We want to completely annihilate the white, western canon of literary experimentalism and usher in a new, diverse age of innovation.

The word count! It's so sad when you have to reject a story just because it's way under or over.

Improper format. We still get a lot of submissions which are not in standard manuscript format (Shunn format). If the writer can't be bothered to submit in a professional manner, it's very unlikely that it will receive the consideration which the story might otherwise deserve.
We also get frequent submissions from writers who haven't done their research. If you don't know how to saddle a horse, please don't describe your character attempting it. Know how far it was possible to travel and how long it would take. Understand what clothing, weapons and food were in use in the time and place you write about.

Our submission process require the submitters to answer one of the three questions that we ask about our journal. Those who do not go through our journal often get the answer wrong.

Fail to read through their story properly and correct any errors before submitting.

Although we only accept one poem at a time, we often receive multiple poems. Submitters often submit in more than one genre at a time and/or they submit immediately after receiving a rejection. We ask that submitters wait one month before submitting agin.

Submitters often miss that we do not take pitches for essays. We do accept pitches for book reviews and interviews, but we like to see finished essays, especially from writers we haven't worked with before. And make it easy for us to get in touch! Include an email address in your cover note. And please, please let us know if you are sending a simultaneous submission. We are fine with them, but we do need to know. Lastly, we do not publish work that has appeared online before, even if only on a personal blog.

They think that we will accept anything. They think that sending a nasty note about their rejection will change our mind. Writers often do not proofread. They query too early in the process---they are not patient. They want feedback on pieces that we don't have the time to give.

Submitters often write their query in a manner that suggests that they are doing us a favor by submitting their work. When submitting, don't be patronizing or overly grateful. Just submit your work and allow us to review it objectively.

The main deviations I see from our submission guidelines are submitting more than three poems or visual art pieces and also mislabeling the subject line of their submission email.

We occasionally receive more than the requested number of poems, or a story much longer than our word limit.

Assuming that writing only a hundred words is easier than writing a thousand or ten thousand. To paraphrase Mark Twain: 'I'd have written you a postcard but I didn't have the time.' Concision takes work.

Many writers believe someone has to die for a story to be thrilling. Nothing is further from the truth. Haven't we all been enthralled by a story where 'nothing happens'? Where a man might sit for hours in a cafe, agonising over a simple question. Will she come in, and if she does, will today be the day she smiles at him? The skill in turning such an apparently 'nothing happens' story into a riveting, satisfying story is one we might all strive to achieve.

Well, our submission process is straightforward, and people don't get it wrong, much. We're only open for a month at a time per genre, though. So if you're thinking of submitting, don't delay.

Most submitters are pretty spot-on. We do get the occasional writer or artist who feels that we made a big mistake by rejecting them and glory in writing nasty letters and threats. A rejection is not personal, it's simply an acknowledgement that the pieces you sent this time are not right for the magazine at this time. We also keep a list of those who sent us a group of poems that are accepted, and then receive a note from them a few months later after we've laid out the magazine stating "I am withdrawing my submission from your magazine because Big Shot magazine, who is So Much more Important to My Career accepted it yesterday." I definitely will not ever accept any work from those folks again - not because I don't like their work, but because they are wasting my personal time and I can't trust them. I'm not sure when the simultaneous submissions thing started, but it is not a nice thing. The good news is there are many magazines who openly advertise they want simultaneous submissions. If that's your thing - you'll find the right place. Just don't expect respect from old guys who believe your word is your bond. The good news? 99% of submitters are spot-on, and do not play these games.

Often they will send me submissions that aren't really horror or they are too short. I know that we are open to novellas, however, if a story is too short, it makes it harder to market and I am likely to pass on those submissions unless they are really great.

Firstly, the most common mistake our submitters make is to skip the guidelines and submit their works to us. They expect us to sort, read, and select any one of the poems among 20-30 pages of their work. This is not how we operate. So please try to avoid it.
Secondly, we do not publish and will never publish previously published works.
Lastly, we strongly ask our submitters to go through one or two rounds of their own editing process before making the submissions.

Ignoring the guidelines and not including what we ask for in their submission. Formatting, for example, is extremely important in our reading process because of the tools we use to read and edit. If a submission comes through as just a huge block of text, it won't be read and will be rejected out of hand. The other big thing is submitting works in styles or subject matter that we will not consider. "Cozy" mysteries and police procedurals are styles we see a lot of that are called out in the guidelines as something we don't want. Extreme violence for the sake of violence and hate-speech are another thing we've called out as not wanting that we unfortunately see too often.

We get a lot of submissions, particularly fiction, that are well over the word count limit. We're happy to be a little flexible on word count, but out of respect for our editors, and their time, if it's significantly over we won't even open it. We only have one editor for each genre and they will actually read everything that follows the guidelines.

Submit work online only through Submittable.

Cavar: Far too few submitters use trigger/content warnings on their pieces. Not only does this severely reduce your likelihood of acceptance, it also poses the potential for harm to our editorial team and our staff readers. Warnings are a crucial access need, and our entire team is disabled/ND/mentally ill: please respect us by giving a head's-up if you're dealing with tough content (including but not limited to suicide, eating disorders, self-harm, addiction, sexual assault, abuse) in your work.
One other thing that isn't exactly wrong, but warrants a note: Many submitters disclose their exact diagnoses, the specifics of their queer and trans identities, or their (professional/self-)diagnostic status. You are more than welcome to do this if you feel inclined, but you do *not* have to explain in this depth. Your queer, trans, disabled, and Mad self-identification is enough for us, and we trust our submitters by default, including those who are questioning and/or closeted. We're anti-transmedicalism and pro-self diagnosis, and trust that you and only you are the authority on who you are.

I would probably say response times. We have certain cut-off dates from one semester to the next. It can vary based on our timeline's demand. We are reading them, but our response and decision times may not be as quickly as some may hope. We apologize in advance!

They submit books that aren't likely to interest us or our readers. Our advice is to try to do your best to understand our list and our writers before submitting. If you like their work, hopefully we'll be on a similar wavelength.

Believe they can email us every other day to learn their status. Bad idea. We respond in less than 30 days. Believe that.

--For some reason, each year we get a few submissions that give us only the author's street address but omit the city/state/province/country. Please give us your full mailing address.
--We require a working email address with each submission. On occasion, an author has given us an email address with a typo or one that they do not check regularly. Please be sure to give us a working email address so that we can get in touch with you regarding contest questions.

We use Submittable, so from a technical standpoint, our submission process is pretty much foolproof. From a writing standpoint, authors most often fail to proofread their stories for, not just spelling, but also structure and story consistency. Also of note is that we do not accept poetry.

For the press, we don't accept submissions outside of our submission calls. For the magazine, we often get pitches that aren't about speculative genres. We only publish science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres (or works that would fit into the umbrella of "speculative" works.)

It's surprises me how many people write third person bios in first person. And then amount of people who turn in PDFs. And occasionally there are folks who send us interviews or profiles of other women. That isn't what we are looking for. Our guidelines state specifically that we're looking for stories that are true and about you.

Thinking that other crime fiction is the same as Holmes - our fan base wants Holmes and Watson.

It's a fairly simple process to navigate, and the place we may lose people is in the guidelines because they haven't read them. Beyond that, writers who include an inappropriate cover letter. We aren't expecting a love letter or an autobiography. A short, cordial letter will do. Frankly, we often don't even read them until we need information, like a mailing address. Other than that, writers who are jerks and don't treat us like human beings or who treat us like enemies. We're people who volunteer our time to do this because we love it and love literature, just like you. We're on your side.

Nothing, really. Just be sure to proofread your work and if sending photos, be sure to send captions - names, location, dates, etc.

Usually, our submission periods. Many contributors send their works outside the submission window.

Some writers don't read our submission guidelines and send in almost anything.

Not much. We strongly encourage you to read all directions and follow them. If you make a mistake in submissions, we'll try to work with you to smooth it out.

Every now and then we get submissions littered with derogatory terms. It's not an automatic rejection of course, but it does mean the author needs to work extra hard to convince us there's a meaningful literary justification.

The opening paragraph or stanza is make or break for a read through—let alone an acceptance. You don't have to show me all up front, but you have to make me believe you have something worth plowing through a few thousand words to find. And words do have to be used correctly: have a friend proofread it. Bad grammar or baffling word choices are the kiss of death.

Some think we publish only work by mothers. Actually, one does not have to be a mother to submit if the subject matter of the writing is motherhood (and any theme).

We're relaxed about formatting and how communication "should be," so no one's really getting anything wrong. Sometimes people will submit to more than one category at a time, which we don’t love, but we’ve yet to hold a grudge over it.

We are fairly relaxed, but at least give your story a title and put your name in your email. We care about your submission, we appreciate it when you care too.
Something close to more or less standard formatting is good to, but not mandatory. We stay around 50 words, and will help edit something we like. We are always
available to answer questions as best we can. Send us three or four stories if you like, but try and pick work that relates to the issues theme. If the connection is a stretch,
that is okay, but there should be something.

Visiting our Submittable page is the best way to stay updated about what the journal is accepting, as we often open and alternate different submission calls throughout the year. Submitters also occasionally submit work in the wrong genre; these submissions often go unread or are rejected outright. Our best advice: read our submission guidelines carefully and follow our Submittable page.

Too many submissions in the one email -- we're a one-person team, we can only read the amount listed in our submission guidelines from each author.

For the most part those who submit to Please See Me are professional and pay attention to the guidelines. The submissions we no longer have time to respond to are those which do not address the current issue's theme or our mission, or writers who do not submit according to standard publishing guidelines.

Our online submission manager has a drop-down menu for choosing genre (poetry, prose, reviews, etc.). A lot of people miss it and submit to the wrong genre.

geography, as we do try to keep Panel magazine somehow related to the region.
deadlines.
word limits.

Nothing, except sometimes authors will send their work outside the reading period.

Please include the genre(s) of your story! If you're not sure, guess. I'll sometimes publish it under a different genre, but it helps me if you give me an indication.

Submissions we don’t like to see have some common characteristics: there is no cover letter or at least a slipshod letter that tells us nothing about the writer; a poet will send us only one short poem when our submission guidelines clearly state that they submit a small body of their work; poetry that is unoriginal and cliché; stories that don’t draw you in or are unfocused and meandering; a submission that clearly indicates that the submitter has not read through our submission guidelines.

Too many submissions. The shotgun approach doesn't work. Select your best stuff, and send that: don't just fling everything at us in the hope that some of it sticks!

Submitting via the website or to the wrong email address – not following guidelines!

We sometimes receive product-placement proposals from bloggers outside books and publishing, which always baffles me. Read the website and see what we do!

Not understanding what kind of work we publish. Not following submissions guidelines to the letter.

Most of our submitters follow the submission guidelines. Things to avoid: sending multiple submissions, poems or stories with offensive content, and/or epics.

Please submit when our submissions are open! Please read the submission guidelines! We get there is a lot to read, but there is a lot that goes into submitting work, and it breaks us a bit whenever we have to ignore and delete a work that was sent outside of our reading window.

They don't include their writing cv and any skills or contacts that they have to help with the marketing.

Of course, it is a good idea to be familiar with Mud Season Review before submitting, and to follow submission preferences and guidelines.

We only publish manuscripts, but we get single stories, essays, and poem clusters sent to us on the regular.

Some think it is confusing to sign up. It is very straightforward. If you need help, we have places to ask within the forum. All of our editors are willing and capable of helping you out.

We don’t ask for much in the way of guidelines. Some subs ignore them completely, which tells us that’s probably not a contract we want to enter into. I think some writers might believe markets have guidelines to torture them. That’s not true. Guidelines are there to make the workflow smooth so the market can respond as quickly as possible. Following them to the letter sends the message that there’s a dedication to the craft and the desire to work with a particular publication.

They send us submissions that aren't about teaching! Also, they sometimes forget to label their prose as fiction or cnf.

The submission process begins with the writer. We want to see work that demonstrates a professional level of writing and editing, with attention to detail. Beyond that, some writers submit only one page of poetry or, on the other extreme, send numerous submissions before hearing back about the first submission.

Submitters often go wrong when they exceed word count and do not read previous issues. We can always tell when you haven't done either, and will most likely result in your work being unacceptable.

not putting an author name or byline anywhere in the title or doc, & failing to include any contact info. that file gets either downloaded & cut & pasted & goes into a folder. weeks or months later that doc is all we have to go by. if we can't contact the author for further info because no email address or no address whatsoever was included, well that goes straight into the trashcan.
also, doc, not docx. & if there are tonnes of diacritic marks, also include a pdf.
additionally, if the pce was originally in another language be sure to include that language. we've reached the point where there are two dozen pces in limbo because we do not have the original language. the contributor keeps promising to send it, but doesn't.
we've reached the point where we will no longer consider such submissions without the inclusion of the original language at the outset.

Submitters sometimes don’t follow a Shunn-style of formatting and send in artwork or use strange fonts for effect. This makes for hard reading or no reading if our readers can’t open it. Same goes with sending in files in formats we don’t accept, so please double-check our guidelines.
We don’t require a story synopsis, but we do appreciate you telling us the length of your story in the submission form.
If you have to explain the context of your story to us in the submission form, then your story isn’t ready for us.
Last but not least, submit to the right department. AI's are always classed as science fiction.

Too often we receive work that is poorly proof read or that contains document formatting that has to be eliminated. We don't read beyond our three poem limit. With fiction, a story that exceeds our 1,000 word limit by too much stands little chance. We receive too little artwork and, because we use only black and white pictures, some of what we receive does not reproduce well.

Beware of the word limits. For creative nonfiction, please don't submit academic essays or college application essays. For poetry, make sure creative structural elements like line breaks and punctuation have a purpose. Young writers probably have the most difficulty with the craft of fiction - they read a lot but might not have been exposed to the craft of writing fiction. Dialog is hard, endings are tricky, plot choices are many.

Emailing us submissions when we are closed. We are housed at George Mason University, so during the summer when we are closed, it is because we are not in our office, we are not reading, and we can't take submissions by mail.

By asking writers to "challenge" a genre, we're not asking for them to re-write the rules of a good literary analysis or prose. However, we want to see them question commonly used conventions or trends. For example, if everyone in academia is writing about Shakespeare and the intersection of music we want a unique thesis that brings ties in interest areas outside of what has already been reiterated. If a passion our author's is more common or trending that's okay! We favour genuine interest over feigned artistic edginess.

They flood us with poetry that is a bunch of words but does not elicit emotion.

We thankfully have not had too many submitters get much wrong about our submissions process, but one thing that we do see while looking through submissions are pieces that don't fit our literary magazine's mission. Therefore, to reiterate, we encourage future submitters to please familiarize themselves with Sinking City's philosophy and aesthetics by reading our previous issues.

I have to say that the great majority of submissions are properly submitted through the award submittal site, so we have very few submitters who get any of those elements of the submission process wrong.

See above. When we ask for anonymous, they add their name!

You can tell when someone is using a "shotgun approach" and submitting as widely and indiscriminately as possible. It's a drag. Please take the time to know the publication you're submitting to. We get definitively non-fantastical works in the submissions queue more often than we'd like, and it's just a waste of precious time. Also, please run the spellchecker before submitting.

The mistake most submitters make is putting identifying information in the story document itself. We do blind readings, and stories with identifying information will be immediately requested for a document without.

They fail to mind our extremely explicit list of topics and themes we could do without and send us their rejects from The Onion or McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.
A fair number of submitters continue send us college drug stories, which only work if you were there, or are in college, or are presently on drugs. It’s unlikely we were there, and we’re long past college.

Often they will submit overlong pieces, or material that isn't well suited for our audience.

They send in stories of worlds that are framed like a Utopia, but are actually a Dystopia. Or even more frequently, they send in stories that don't have good endings. They're neat, trim, and the complexity of human figures are forgotten. The end comes suddenly like a guillotine, but the author hasn't said everything they need to say. It doesn't serve as a launch pad for the reader to imagine what happens next it just kind of fizzles and reading it it's very clear that the story isn't there or hasn't finished.

It seems like some writers believe that we will read (or not read) a submission based on how clever the cover letter is (as though they were applying for a job). We are committed to reading every submission we receive, and often don't read the cover letter at all, unless we suspect we've published the person in the past. We're judging submissions based on the quality of the individual piece, not whether the writer has been published elsewhere. We see a lot of effort go into cover letters that would have been better expended on revising the text itself.

Submitting a piece that has a lot of promise but hasn’t been through the editing process quite enough yet.

Failure to read and understand the submission guidelines.

Not reading the guidelines and sending us work that we don't normally publish. Also calling us 'sirs'!

Not paying close attention to the guidelines

It can be frustrating when a submitter clearly didn't read the submission guidelines. Ours are pretty typical, and we try to keep the process easy. Sending multiple submissions during the reading period, or sending more than the number of pages we ask for, isn't going to help you get noticed in the way that you hope.

Sometimes silence is an answer.

We take submissions exclusively through our online interface--sorry, no hard copy or USPS. We just can't manage those with our review process. Also, while our Multimedia submissions are open year-round, we're looking work we explicitly can't do in print. We love linear static-text text-only fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, but please save those for our print issue submission period, every winter until Feb. 1!

Failure to apply Shunn format; failure to include a short bio; failure to recognise fundamental elements of storytelling.

That we publish propaganda articles. It is not true.

Honestly, the most common mistake is that poets submit several poems as one submission...rather than as separate submissions. It doesn't upset me too much, as I realize that other magazines have the opposite policy, but it does mess up our review process a little.

Contributors are still sending us submissions longer than our limits, and are not using the titles of their works as the titles of their submissions, all of which makes our work more difficult. Artists need to pay special attention to the requirement for an artist's statement, identification of media used, and specifications for the quality of the image.

We publish many categories of work. Some submitters make their offering in the wrong category, sending it it to the wrong screeners. This delays our process and results in longer wait times for submitters watching their inboxes for our responses.

Don't leave your names on your submissions! As said earlier, we judge blind and if we see your name we can't consider your work. Second, if you don't know the magazine go to our website. We make it easier to get a sense of what we publish than many magazines. Take advantage of that. Don't just blanket every journal with your writing. We can tell when you're doing that.

They miss out the bio or the ending is weak.

Not reading the guidelines properly, or having no personalisation to it at all. I know that submissions get sent out to various publishers at one time, but taking a moment to address your audience is always worth doing.

Some think that because the word "southern" is in the publisher's name that we only accept material from below the Mason-Dixon. That is not the case. Others send submissions without following the guidelines, and they're immediately rejected. A few follow up about the status of their submission every day with the evaluation time clearly stated on our website.

Not being funny. I mean, crap, this is a humor magazine. Don't be unfunny, bitches.

Sending material by PDF when we stipulate that we do not want to receive PDFs.

Some don't understand that interpreting the theme is up to the them. Some people ask what we mean by a given theme, and we must say that we don't know! Others submit stories that a far too long--20 to 30+ pages.

They send too many individual pieces at once. They ignore word limits in fiction.

We often get cover letters wherein Qwerty is spelled "Querty," and we also get cover letters addressed to other journals or previous editors.

Attaching their work as a Word document that is not properly formatted, with lots of grammatical errors/spelling mistakes etc.,
A thorough review, preferably by a literary peer/friend is always advised before submission.

I have had submissions of entire manuscripts, or work that does not engage with the aforementioned themes. Incomplete submissions are another problem, which all reflects poorly on the submitters in terms of their attitude and professionalism.

We don't sweat the small stuff. Just keep the word count sane. Try not to be rude.

I want flash fiction of 750 words or less, one story at a time. A lot of folks miss that in the submission guidelines.

The biggest misconception about literary journals is that submission fees absolve the author of reading the journal. In actuality, that $3 fee primarily goes to the submission manager hosting fees. Those print issues cost about $8 each just to print, bind and produce the issue, and then mail it to subscribers. That's just the printing costs. Our web hosting and management costs money. Our submission manager system represents a huge amount of our operating budget on top of that. Plus, unlike many literary publications, Witness pays all of its contributors. Most of our staff is volunteer and get paid in a contributor copy and a line on their CV. Most of our staff also are in graduate school themselves and/or teaching undergraduate students. I say this not to have anyone feel bad for us but to realize that Witness operates in a negative cost structure -- we need subscribers! If you are a writer who is hoping to get published in any publication -- not just Witness -- you need to read more literary publications. Look, they come out maybe twice a year -- read a lit journal instead of your phone on the toilet. Leave them in seat backs on airplanes. Consider supporting literary publishing part of your annual dues for being a writer.

They submit without understanding our purpose and taste as editors. We are not a journal which publishes new original research on Paradise Lost, for example.

We are not particularly easy to annoy, so though many of the submissions we get are from authors (and agents) who do not follow our guidelines, we will might still consider them. We are not the kind of house to get all uppity about the formatting of a letter. We need to see that writing sample though. The genre (and your publishing credentials) are less important to us than your voice and treatment of an idea. That doesn't mean your letter should be "in character" though. That's what the sample is for. We are unlikely to request pages if you didn't send the pages with your submission like we asked. For us, receiving only a query letter is a bit of a let down. And please send it to the right email address, not to our individual emails. No points for that.

Pay attention to the details of the call including page limits for manuscripts, whether to omit your name from submissions, and other specifics listed in our individual guidelines.

We have received submissions by those who have not read our guidelines - like pornography, or extremely long pieces. Contest submissions often include identifying information, and are rejected for that. We don’t want to burden our judges with unacceptable entrants

A lot of writers forget to include their bio because many other publications ask for it to be excluded. Some writers are also surprised when I respond with a yes or no on the same day as when a submission comes in. It is my policy to always keep up with the emails I receive by responding on the same day, unless I'm away at a conference or the like. This promptness surprises some writers: because most other publications need months to respond. Don't be concerned about my speediness: time should not be wasted to procrastination.

We have a pretty flexible submission process and are open all the time with no submission fees. It is very rare for us to decline something because it's noncompliant. We are exclusively a fiction market, so we turn away nonfiction and critical essays about craft in nonfiction and poetry books. Do we want your piece in TNR 12 pt double-spaced? Yes we do! It is the easiest to read. Will we read your single-spaced piece in Arial? Yes we will, but you can help us by making it easy to read your work.

Writers often forget to include the publication history of the story they are submitting. It's important that the editorial staff knows if the story is an original or a reprint, and if it's a reprint when and where it has been published already.

Raising Mothers isn’t a parenting blog. We aren’t interested in quick tips or typically what you would find on the average mom blog. We want exquisite literary writing from women of color and nonbinary people of color who parent. We want deep, thoughtful, introspective work. Work that reconciles our own childhoods and the childhoods we’re helping to currently shape.

They don't tell us their connection to the South or don't have one at all. Including a short bio is very helpful in determining whether a submitter is qualified.

They don't pay attention to the monthly themes or the genres we accept. Sometimes we get a great story in but we can't use it because it doesn't fit anywhere.

Sometimes, a submitter will skip the cover letter. While we usually still look at submissions without a cover letter, we enter the process with a bias against it. To ignore a simple request from our submission guidelines shows disrespect for the people receiving your submission.

I think sometimes our aesthetic gets weirdly translated into the idea that we're the go-to venue for super trippy stuff. I'm not saying we won't publish a piece that conjures a drug or alcohol-induced haze, but we can only publish so many of those before things get stale. So, maybe send us your other piece too.

They bookmark the "Submit" page and disregard our closed for reading period which occur for 30 days, 15 days before we publish an issue and 15 days after.

I think submitters might think that because we're student-run, we're not going to take the process seriously, which couldn't be farther from the truth. Every piece with even slight promise gets multiple read-throughs, and there's always some sort of aggressive debate. We feel strongly about our publication, and sometimes that means yelling.

Proof read, proof read, proof read.

Often, they are impatient. We are a small publisher and only produce four books/year. It takes time to do what we do. Frequently there is rewriting on the author's part. When the work is the best it can be, then, we publish. If people are patient and work with us, we have done great things. I am proud of our work, and our people are committed to this labor of love.

In the digital era, we are seeing a proliferation of spontaneous, raw "cellphone" poetry which needs more thought and work by writers. Instant gratification and catharsis are not good for literature and, in our opinion, have a destructive impact on the quality of literature, language and thought. Also, some will send their entire body of work rather than a few poems or simultaneous submissions they will later withdraw.

Submitting too much, or pieces that are too long. We rarely publish longer CNF, so that we can include more writers. I love when writers submit one, solid gold piece that they have poured their heart into. It shows a dedication to themselves, and it makes me want to give them the opportunity if the work holds value.

Two things: The first is failing to read enough of the previous winning and honorable mention stories to get a good sense of what we're looking for. The second is sending stories via snail-mail rather than using our electronic submissions system.

They submit drafts that are "almost there", and they've forgotten to do a tight language edit before submitting. As soon as a reader stubs his/her toe on the first clunky sentence, the reader moves from appreciating the story/poem to putting on the radar for errors. Once that radar is on high alert, the critical analytic faculties kick in and the chance of an appreciative assessment falls.

Word length, but I have to say this happens less at NUNUM than it did at previous journals I worked with in the past. I think it could be because NUNUM only accepts flash fiction, that word in itself let's everyone know from the start that submissions need to be short.

We've always been pretty transparent about our editorial process, and our Submission Guidelines are available online and it seems (for the most part) the majority of writers follow those guidelines. If anything, what is most frequently wrong is that the work isn't really suitable for TMR.

Not knowing the kind of poetry we publish. For example, some poets send rhymed poems, which shows us they don't know anything about our press. We ask for a SASE with the manuscript, and some poets don't include it. Since we like to respond to what we read in a personal way, often with handwritten notes, we really need the SASE.

Submitters will sometimes submit under the wrong genre (poetry under fiction, or CNF under art). It messes up our queue and runs the risk of pushing the piece to the end of the consideration process.

Our feedback option will give you commentary that can be described in a few sentences or a paragraph. Our critique option digs deeper, and gets more prescriptive. The two aren’t interchangeable.
(You say “most often get wrong,” and this is it, but it doesn’t happen very often. By far and large, our submitters are pretty good, except I don’t really understand why folks insist on triple-spacing their work when we ask for double-space.)

Potential contributors should read our submissions guidelines closely and make sure to submit directly to the relevant department editor (fiction, poetry, CNF, etc) rather than to the editor-in-chief. We do not read attachments, and we only accept submissions via email. Some departments read year-round, while some take a summer break. While we do accept simultaneous submissions, we appreciate an email if the submission has been accepted somewhere else.

Sending multiple stories at once. One sub at a time, please.

The only thing that I would say is "wrong" is that submitters occasionally respond to rejection emails with frustration or a desire to engage in greater depth. We aren't equipped to do that. Our attention has to be on the journal itself. Who knows why something didn't get in? Submit again later. Try something different.

Some people think we're just being nice when we turn down their work, but invite them to send new work in the future. We always mean it when we say this! Also, we don't accept submissions via email. And please, never address us as "Dear Sirs."

Sometimes poeple think that anything goes, and send wildly inappropriate work. Just a short glance at what we publish would indicate what we try and stay away from. We ask that they paste submissions into the body of the email as well as include an attachment if they have special formatting, most often they forget to paste the work as well. Author photos for our archives, that's often forgotten. Waiting four months once their work has been accepted to submit again. But all this being said, I try not to be strict and unforgiving with the rules. That's too much ego. The one that does bother me the most though is no simultaneous submissions. We have had so much work pulled after we've accepted it because of failures to follow that guideline. Please make sure the submission is original to AHC. Everything else I'll usually over look.

They confuse "queer content" with gay sex. While that is an aspect of the queer experience for some, there are so many other forms and content that we look for.

Our word limit is a recommendation, not a demand; so is our poem limit. I get too many stories in double-spacing despite asking for single, which tells me I'm part of a blanket submission and they probably haven't read our issues (and therefore know what we're looking for); that said, most stories we publish come to me with double-spacing. We don't care about (and often don't read) cover letters; the writing will always speak for itself, regardless of whether the writer is unpublished or well published. The "submissions process" isn't critical; great writing will get published even if submitted by pigeon and scrawled on a napkin.

Please make sure that the version you send us is the one that you want judged. We don't generally accept revisions to winning entries, and we prefer not to spend extra time making corrections to entries during the judging period.

Not knowing our magazine and what we publish. Typically, I can tell if submitters have read past issues or not by the type of work they submit.

Beyond simply not following our guidelines (which are in line with other journals' guidelines), our biggest reason for rejection (or blacklisting) is simultaneous submissions. We don't accept them and don't appreciate getting replies to our acceptance notices that read "this has already been accepted/published elsewhere." This is a surefire way to make sure we don't consider your future submissions.

We only publish short fiction and poetry but receive a surprising number of creative nonfiction submissions.

Their submitted work is well beyond the word length described on our Submit page. Also, it can be clear from a submission the writer hasn’t looked at the work Sunlight publishes. We don’t accept submissions that are religiously or politically charged. In addition, we want well-crafted essays, not blog posts. The best way to approach our submission process is to review the pieces we publish.

Putting their name in the document title or heading. We use blind submissions. We reject 10-15% of all submissions for this reason...

We are a start-up journal on a shoestring budget so we have an email submission process. We prefer stories to be included within the body of the email (as our guidelines indicate) yet we often get attachments. (Please, no attachments!) Also, we are a journal of short prose yet submitters sometimes still send us verse poetry with line breaks which we do not consider.

Usually it's length—and that happens more often in the Screenplay/Drama category. People will send us their feature-length screenplay and that's usually an automatic no. We accept prose up to 7,500 words and up to 5 poems. Sometimes we get 40 page novel excerpts in Submittable. It's really just about an author or artist using their common sense—instead of sending us the feature-length screenplay, send us what you consider the most publishable scenes. Instead of a 40 page novel excerpt, send us what you think is the best part that can stand on its own.

They sometimes underestimate how much work we receive, and therefore how long it may take to read and a come to a decision on their piece. With so much great work out there right now, we need to read and discuss deeply before coming to a decision. We also receive a lot of solid work that's simply not right for us. Each journal has its own character, and we're looking for pieces that fit ours.

Sometimes, submitters will enclose multiple pieces within a single document, while we prefer to have each piece in a separate Word document. We also appreciate having a third-person biography to accompany each submission, in the event that it's accepted for publication.
For the most part, though, we've found our submitters to be very meticulous about this. We're grateful to have so many attentive, dedicated people interested in The Penn Review.

The most common errors reflect having failed to read the submissions guidelines, in particular, submitting work that cannot in any way be construed as political resistance.

Careless proofreading or a failure to supply requested biographical information.

They do not read the submission instructions.

1. We select work based on the merits of the writing in front of us, not on the author's past achievements. That said, we appreciate a fully-formed cover letter that shows attention to detail. It addresses the editor (or editor and readers); mentions the title(s) of the work submitted; spells the name of our journal (not another journal) correctly; and includes a brief third-person bio. It's not necessary to describe or summarize the writing, as we will carefully read it and draw our own conclusions.
2. Work that doesn't follow our guidelines is returned unread. We also appreciate when writers carefully edit and curate their work before sending it. This means, for instance, not sending a novel or an entire manuscript of poetry and asking us to choose from among 50 or more poems.

They submit repeatedly after being declined and submit more than the limit of one story or nonfiction piece and three to five poems.

Submitters who send us something as part of a class assignment but fail to submit a traditional cover letter. Submitters who expect a quick response. Submitters who are aggressive or impolite in asking for a response will always receive a rejection.

Simultaneous subs. One at a time, please. You can send a couple poems, but package them in one file.

Not following submission guidelines. Don't send submissions through post or email. Don't try to submit when the submission period is closed. If your writing is that brilliant, we'll enjoy it when submissions open again. Be sure you are satisfied with your work before you submit it. Revise, revise, revise. And know that when we reject submissions, it isn't personal. We receive thousands of submissions each period and are very selective.

Our most frequent reasons for rejecting work are:
1. The work is not ready (whether it's not polished enough or not developed enough) or 2.The work is simply not right for our journal. For this reason, we always encourage authors to read an issue of SKR before sending us their work.

On the basic level, bad submissions either pitch us something we don't do in terms of genre or attach pages--basically the sub isn't following our guidelines. Some even submit to us when we are clearly closed, and thus they either really didn't read our submission page or don't care that we're closed. Either way is a turn off. I will put a little mark here and say, however, that we do welcome submissions when closed if we've specifically requested the query, such as at a Twitter event or some other contact.
When it comes to the sample pages, lack of a hook results in a pass the most. Thankfully, most queries aren't typo-ridden messes. Too cliche openings, or scenes I've seen a hundred times already are most common. Second to that would be a voice that's too flat or boring. Third would probably be too much narration / set up. Tell me only what I need to know for that opening scene and nothing else and get things moving. Backstory, motivation, world building, etc. can come out later. It's a hard line to walk, sometimes, but it's what really does it for me when the author nails it.

We have stopped accepting postal submissions. Also, kindly let us know if your submission is simultaneous and a piece is accepted elsewhere.

A few things: They forget to send a third-person bio; they send straight-forward realism; they send too soon after hearing back from me with a rejection. All of these things can be avoided by simply reading the submission guidelines.

Submitters most often get it right, but when they don't it's usually because they haven't taken a close look at our magazine or our website (www.arkint.org).

Follow the guidelines. We will consider prose over 5000 words, but there must be a compelling reason for such length. It may not be obvious to the submitter, but there is a good reason that each poem be submitted separately.

Their idea of feminism is not intersectional.

We read anonymously, and so we ask that any identifying information be removed from submitted manuscripts. This is the thing that authors most frequently neglect to do.

Following guidelines. Fiction submitters often forget to tell us of their favorite novel or greatest life revelation. We sort of care about the revelation mostly because we'll know if a submitter of fiction has read the guidelines. Poetry submitters will often forget a cover letter. When a poet's cover letter states something like "I'm a butterfly" we won't even open the submission.These seemingly silly points are only in place to see if someone has bothered to read the guidelines.

Popular mistakes include:
1. Not submitting work individually as per the guidelines on our Submittable website.
2. Not proofreading (or incorrect grammar).
3. Not including third-person biographies (which is certainly forgivable, but is still a slight hassle should we choose to accept your piece).
4. Addressing us as another journal in the cover letter. (Always good to double check your copy and paste!)

They don't explicitly mention their 'Pen Name'. No bio attached. It's in docx format. There are multiple errors in the first paragraph and there's no 'hook' in that paragraph.

sending us traditional short stories. we love them and appreciate them and enjoy reading them, but without some sort of edge in style/content/form, it's probably not for us.

Usually tone is the problem. Pieces are too violent, graphic, sentimental, self-centered, self-satisfied, hate-filled, judgmental, or show no indication that the person has a love of or affinity for language.

We see many pieces that show talent, but in which the writer has clearly not taken the revision process seriously. These are our saddest rejections--pieces that show so much potential, but which just aren't quite there. There are, of course, others that we reject where clearly the author hasn't respected our guidelines or doesn't have enough skill to yet be submitting at all, but, for us, the hardest ones are the ones we like but that just aren't yet perfected. Just the other day, for instance, we were discussing a set of poems that contained some absolutely fabulous lines and images, but the poems just didn't hold together--they needed a couple more rounds of revision. It was hard, but we had to let go of them.

The most common mistake is to attempt to cram too much into a single submission, whether it's poetry in which poems may not begin on a new page or some of the work feels less resonant or less attended to, whether it's in prose in which the word count is exceeded, or whether it's in graphic narrative or art in which the page or image count is exceeded.

We really do mean it when we say we’re a speculative fiction publisher. Arguing with us about how your literary memoir does have an element of the fantastic or unusual in it, really it does, will not make us more likely to reconsider.

They send in hard-copy submissions without asking permission first and send them outside of our declared reading periods. None of these get read!

Nothing: submitting is tough - it's like going on a date. Be polite. Be patient. If it's a simultaneous submission, tell us. If it's been accepted somewhere else, tell us (we may ask you to keep us in mind when you have something new).

That credentials matter, or that a submission resembling work we have read before has the stronger chance, or they think too much and try to please.

You cannot submit if you have already published (or self-published) a full-length book in any genre, defined as a work over 50 pages in length.

I am not sure it's a matter of anyone getting anything "wrong," it's just a matter of matching one's work to the tastes and interests of the readers, editorial assistants, and editors. The work in our inaugural Spring/Summer 2016 issue, as well as the work in our forthcoming Fall/Winter 2017 issue, and the work we've featured on our website, would likely give submitters a clear sense of what we're after.

That it's quick. We receive over 2,000 submissions a year and generally stick to a traditional publishing house policy of a 6-12-month waiting/review time (though usually we get back to the author in about 6 months).

We do not accept email submissions and please be patient for a response. We respond to every submission. We do not discard submissions--ever.

We receive many submissions that are simply not innovative or experimental in nature, and therefore do not fit with our mandate. I advise anyone submitting to look at the magazine and to consider the submission guidelines prior to sending their work in. We also receive quite a few handwritten, scrawled submissions via mail, but we have shifted ENTIRELY to Submittable via our website, so a contributor using this method risks not being considered at all. Given the volume of submissions we receive, it is simply better for everyone if we use Submittable, and can effectively track submissions.

Please just follow posted guidelines to the best of your ability. No one will be rejected strictly for not adhering to a rule, but neither will that ingratiate them with the editor.

Not much. The world is often too rigid, and that's not what we're about. I suppose the worst thing is forgetting to attach the attachment, but that can be fixed with a note. Once I received a contest entry with no name or address on it, and had to do a reverse search for the e-mail's owner. That was exciting. We try to not take our role so seriously that it overshadows that the writers are exposing themselves to us in the most personal of ways, and make mistakes doing so. Little mistakes that can be overlooked, if we want.

If submitters don't submit an rtf file it can muck up the works. If submitters don't put "submisison" in the subject line of their email it can muck up the works.
Generally, submitters are pretty good though.

Omitting the title, word count and genre from the email and not setting up the Word file (or equivalent) in accordance with our guidelines. We don't preclude good work because of these things, we realize that not everyone has the requisite software or skill, but it does make our handling of the work much more complicated.

We judge blind and one of our rules is for authors not to leave their names on their stories. A surprising number of people are disqualified for this reason and also for going over the word limit, which is 2200 words.

We occasionally have someone who submits more than the maximum allowed per issue.

We get a lot of pieces that are speaking from positions of privilege in attempts to reckon with that privilege through the speaker's interaction with underprivileged positions. While we certainly appreciate attempts to interrogate privilege, these pieces often come off as seeming condescending or self-indulgent.

Many submitters simply don't follow the submission guidelines. We read blind, and will automatically reject any piece submitted with identifying information.

We have mentioned that we like "anthropological" stories, but we want to stress that they must have a speculative fiction component. So no plain folk tales,
fan fic, or straight retellings of mythology. . . We'd like you to invent your own fairy tales.

The most common errors are submitting outside of a reading period, or sending us derivative works (loosely based on current events or popular movies, games, or TV shows.)

The story must not be a chapter from one's novel. It must be a stand-alone story.

Space Squid is very flexible with how we take submissions. But to make the process less likely to annoy the slush reader, you will want to have in the body of your email, in this order: your email address, your name, and the title of the story. Keep personal information down to two sentences or so. Let us know if we've met personally, or if you've published in Space Squid before. Everything else is entirely unnecessary and will not be read. You'll be lucky if I keep my attention on the first two paragraphs of your story before rejecting it, so no point in taxing my skimming skills before then.

They send us Alaska stuff. They send us snail mail. They put their names on their submissions (We prefer to read blind!).

For fiction, we often get submissions that are clearly first drafts, which is a huge turnoff. For poetry, we sometimes run into problems with folks who don't follow our simultaneous submission policy. Frustration ensues.

We rarely have problems now that we've switched to using Submittable, and our submitters do a wonderful job of reading our submission guidelines, which you can find at thejournalmag.org/submit.

The three most common errors are:
1. Starting the story too early. Quite often the beginning of the piece is backstory and the true beginning is a page or so in.
2. Lack of polish, which includes weird formatting, typos, bad grammar, or an uneven voice.
3. Too much information in the cover letter. Don't tell us what the story is about or give us a huge biography. We want to dive straight into the story and let it speak for itself. For contests in particular the stories are judged blind, so judges never see the accompanying information anyway.

Too many white dudes traveling the world and writing down their asinine experiences. Too many poems about dads. Too many sestinas--being perfectly honest, folks, there is a 1% chance we will ever publish a sestina. (But you never know.)

A pet peeve is poets who submit more than one poem in one submission. We welcome multiple submissions by an author, but would like them to be submitted individually so we can properly assign them to an editor. We also need bios, and they really have to be under 50 words, 25 is best. Other than that, we are quite happy with the way authors and artists submit their works.

The most common error is submission of too many poems or short fiction pieces that are too long.

The submissions that don't go over so well typically have not followed guidelines, or sent us work that clearly wasn't proof read.

They submit before the book is ready for publication. It is a major achievement to finish a book! Each author should be proud of themselves for finishing. It is hard work, and exciting. But, this does not necessarily mean that your book is ready for publication. Take the time to make sure it is the best possible book it can be. The author may need a critique group to help them polish their pages, or beta readers, or even professional editors (though less necessary unless they are going to self-publish).

Two things:
1. They submit genres of writing we don't publish on the website, like poems. We love poems to death, but we don't really publish them.
2. When they submit they do not include all submissions into one. It's easier for us to keep track if we don't have to track down five different submissions, instead finding them together in one entry.

Just throwing in a submission that doesn't suit the site (read our articles and stories and make sure yours fit in one of our sections). We don't have anything about food or fashion, unless it's about the science of some ingredient or a dress that Napoleon wore.
Also, don't submit something and tell us "it needs an edit". If you know that, edit it yourself.

Always be mindful to submit work to the correct category. Check out our Submittable site to see what is currently being accepted.

Sending work outside submission windows; immediately following a rejection slip with more work (we will only read one submission per writer per submission period); sticking our submissions address on their promotional mailing lists!

The article has to be funny in a stand-alone fashion. Is the reader lost on the concept in the first paragraph? Game over. Irreverent doesn't mean esoteric. Also, 600-1000 words is the ideal range. We need enough to form a complete concept, but not so much that your eyes hurt after one article.

Not including a sentence or two about their submission. I’ve also had several that appear to have come from some automated system, which tells me they haven’t even bothered to visit the site. Even then I’ll still give their piece a review, but ouch!

Twisted Vine reads blind, so adding personal info in the submissions is a big no-no.

Our submission process is pretty simple, people don't really get it wrong. We had one author submit something via a comment to our Guidelines page which was a chuckle. We do ask that people send us their writing as they'd like to have it published. Multiple copies of a story that's been accepted can get very confusing.

What submitters get wrong most often is trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. I'm a writer who submits to publications as well, so I know that authors generally get a rejection from one publication then login in to Duotrope to find the next most likely home. That's fair enough and common practice. However, grimdark is a subgenre. Our readers are very specific about what they want. It's blatantly obvious when somebody submits a high or heroic fantasy (for example) story without checking what kind of work we actually publish.
Secondly, our word limits are rock solid for unsolicited submissions.

Nothing. Everyone who uses my website is a LEGEND.

A cover letter is nice, but not necessary. A brief bio is acceptable for us to know who the author is, how they come to writing and how they know about BlazeVOX. But then again, just a good book poem or a novel is always the best way of introduction.

Mostly authors send work to us that does not suit our journal or the work is not ready for publication. In either case, do have a look at what we publish and that will be the best determining factor. We have cultivated an audience that reads a specific form of literature and we do our best to accommodate that.

I've only been editor at Mascara for less than a month, but I have noticed that some people send work that suggests they may not have carefully read the submission guidelines. For example this issue we are looking to publish prose poetry only in the poetry section but I receive a lot of lyrical poetry that doesn't fit the prose poetry format.

Often the number of poems and word count for prose is too high. Should be an easy thing to get right by reviewing the submission guidelines. Also Little Patuxent Review publishes two issues a year, and the winter issue always has a theme. Often we get submissions that don't have any connection to the theme, even broadly.

We don't publish memoir or popular reference so please keep that in mind.

Submission-spammers who ignore the stated theme and write an 800 word cover letter that tries to hammer their square story into a round hole.

No much, actually - our submission guidelines are pretty straight-forward so most submissions adhere to the process. Although we'd love to get more and more submissions from more and more writers.

Even though it says we do not accept guest posts, we still get guest post requests!

Not speak to the topic

Be sure to submit to the right category (fiction, poetry, or nonfiction), and there's no need to withdraw your submission and re-submit (thereby accruing another reading fee) for small edits, formatting, or typos. If we like your work enough, we'll ask for those kinds of edits.

They do not remove their names from their submissions or include the title(s) of their piece(s) in their email. We read all submissions blind, and we expect adult, professional submissions, which means being able to read our submission guidelines and submit accordingly.

The obvious mistake is word length. The other is genre – much as I might enjoy some swords and sorcery, that's not what we're after. The other common mistake is forgetting to include a story: I don't want to read lots of exposition, and with just 900-odd words available, your story doesn't have room for it.

It's unfortunate when authors blindly send us work without even reading parts of issues on our web site, or else have an unrealistic sense of when they should hear from us. A number of authors are in such a hurry to catch a plane. Just send the work. If we want to see more we'll ask. As editors, we do this because we love you, not because we're against you.

We still receive lots of submissions that don’t follow our guidelines. This usually includes genre fiction or works that exceed our word limits. We also aren’t a big fan of funky fonts. Other times authors will submit something in every category at once, and while we admire that determination, we prefer it when writers submit one piece at a time and wait for a response before sending us another.

30% of the submissions have no name in the manuscript. When the MS goes into production, we don't know who it belongs to. We now reject immediately, without reading, those submissions that don't have a name in the document.

That we need to have hard copy submissions. We know it's old-school, but our selection process involves passing the work from hand to hand, to be read at various circles of women all over the state. Imagine sitting on a couch in a living room with 20 other women, cup of tea in hand, reading through folders of writing and viewing pages of art.
Also, including a SASE with submissions is often overlooked.

Submitting a piece that a hasn't been revised or proofread. Writing a lot without having a lot. Writing after only having read narrowly. Trying to imitate another writer who has already done what they're trying to do. Ignorance of the literary journal market due to research limited to books and websites on Markets.

People should remember to include a title for their work.

Not sending us a strong enough story.

When people don't read or just ignore the submission guidelines . . . A 4,000 nonfiction word limit doesn't mean that you should take it as a personal challenge to submit a 5,000 word piece that knocks our socks off and forces us to make an exception. It means that we have limited space and need to draw the line somewhere.
General grammatical, spelling or formatting errors also drive me bonkers. Please proofread your work. Misspelling the name of the journal is the fastest way to get a rejection.

We produce two issues a year, one being the contest issue and the other being an issue of solicited work. We do this in part because it's the tradition that the great Frederick Barthelme established and made work so well for Mississippi Review, and in part because we are a very small staff of three. I'd say the biggest misconception [part A] is that we don't take unsolicited work. We do, but only for the contest issue. Biggest misconception [part B] is that we only publish writing about the south and Mississippi in particular, which isn't the case. I love place-specific magazines like Oxford American and Midwestern Gothic--both truly awesome--but that's not our thing. In MR a piece can take place in Mississippi or on the moon, so long as its aspiring to access its deepest narrative, to make its meaning in an interesting and literary way, to take itself and the reader seriously, to outlast its moment, to be art.

There are many submitters who include their work in the body of the email.
Also, there are many poets who send more than 3 poems at a time.

The name. It's B O D Y. With Spaces. Or they miss the point entirely. B O D Y strives to publish excellence each and every time.

Most often we get submissions that don't follow our guidelines -- they will be missing an important piece, such as the synopsis (and it's impossible for us to decide whether a novel is right for us without a synopsis). Tied with that are submissions for a type of book we don't publish (such as a war novel or a middle-grade children's book); this can be avoided by spending just a few moments on our website, so this is time worth taking for writers.

Submissions more than 2,000 words.

They send stories that have no science fiction in them. It doesn't have to be a lot, but the speculative element does need to be there somewhere.

Too few pages or poems for a collection (or mini-collection). Or, despite instructions in guidelines, submitters put their name and bio in the manuscript. The readings are blind.

Sending submissions during the closed period. Submitting more than once per open submissions period.

That it should take less time than it does.

Submittors often send work that's been printed with insufficient toner and in a font that's not easy on the eyes. All the submisisons we receive remain in their original envelopes as they circulate. Too many submittors cram their thick, badly folded submissions into business #10 envelopes. Folding adds wear and tear to a submission before it is even read. A 10 x 14 envelope means the submission comes in flat,remains flat and is not the victim of constant and hasty refolding by successive internal readers. Finally, many submittors feel they must beguile us with a list of testimonials from other writers about the merits of their work or enclose business cards that state "writer" or "poet" as their profession. Both strategies are unncessary. The work is testimonial enough.

One time this guy, well he put this -- oh, never mind.

Really nothing. They do great!

Submitters are generally respectful and dutiful with following our guidelines. We don't accept postage submissions anymore, though, starting this past January!

Sloppiness of preparation, repetitive subject matter, lack of clarity and flow. Most of all, ignoring the instructions in the Call for Submissions!

Your usual guideline issues - the work is too long, it's an excerpt from a larger piece, etc. Also, submitters will send pieces that should be group together (say, five poems) as indiviudal submissions. Sometimes people email us work instead of submitting through Submittable, too.

The most consistent reason we return manuscripts is stylistic incompatibility. Too often, submissions show no awareness of the 28 year history of our journal. While our readers are always open to new and exciting pieces of art, our journal sets the context in all cases.

We can't consider certain things, particularly computer-generated texts, vignettes, micro-fiction and micro-poetry (e.g. haiku, senryu). Other websites accept or even specialize in those genres. If Bewildering Stories considered them, we'd be flooded with submissions; and we'd have to accept them all, because we don't know how to choose between them.
The s- and f-words are proscribed as expletives. Fictional characters can cuss a blue streak, if they need to, but they can't use those words. Honestly, you'd be amazed how many submissions have been improved by applying that rule.

We really prefer for submitters to address the genre editor by name in the cover letter. It takes a few seconds longer to find the right name on our masthead, and shows a level of care that “To the editors” does not. We won’t usually base a publication decision on that, but it’s in our guidelines and it does make us happy to know an author has paid attention.
As a larger issue, we ask that authors wait three months after hearing from us before submitting again in any one category. When someone resubmits right away, we return unread because it’s obvious she or he hasn’t read our guidelines.

People misspell my name a lot. I become "Robert Tune" or "Robert Tuna" or "Aubrey Hirsch" at least once a semester. I don't mind, but it probably turns off the practicum readers.
There is no need to pitch a short story to a literary journal. Pitches shrink or distort a story, and never in a flattering way.

The idea that they must, at all costs, make a connection with us in the cover letter, that we need to be amused or impressed or have the submission explained in order to consider it.

Some submitters do not follow the submission guidelines. Aside from that, some submitters do not always proofread.

We get a surprising number of submissions handwritten on torn notebook paper. We love handwritten stuff, don't get me wrong...but not in our submissions, so much. We like our submissions to be legible.

Most often when submitters send in their manuscripts, they ignore our word count policy, or tell us up front they have no intentions of promoting their titles. The biggests error resides in the submitter not reading our guidelines and sending in stories that are inappropriate or not for our publication.

They send work we don't publish, they send too much at once, they send it in 14 point font or just a crazy font, but primarily, they don't do their homework. Clearly, they would walk into a bar and say, "Would anybody marry me?" forgetting that it's wise to know the person you're going to spend the next few years with even if it's a starter marriage.

We receive a number of submissions that fail to follow simple steps in our guidelines (such as including the word count of a fiction piece in the submission's title). Authors may not realize that each of our guidelines is meant to help expedite the process of reading and responding to submissions; ignoring or overlooking our guidelines only slows down our readers and delays a response to the submission.

They simultaneously submit. They upload all work in one file when we request separate file uploads. They list their name on the submission.

I can cope with most things concerning document format, but editorially I sometimes wonder who the piece is aimed at. Maybe only the writer?

I think they send blindly, not checking us out first. I understand the process of figuring out where to send is tough, so no judgment.

They submit fiction that is way too long for the format of our magazine. Check the guidelines regarding fiction.

They send us work that could not possibly be published in Threepenny, either because of content (science fiction stories, crime stories, humor sketches) or because of style (self-indulgent, immersed in their own lives, no perspective or distance). That covers what's wrong with most of the fiction submissions; the poetry is all over the map, and I expect it to be, and the main mistake is that it is not good enough, but the writers can't help that.

We often receive work that is just inappropriate, whether it is someone’s memoirs (we don’t publish non-fiction) or erotica (we don’t publish porn). When that happens, it's pretty clear that these folk haven’t bothered to learn anything about our press, much less take a few minutes to check our submission guidelines.

Giving a plot summary in the cover letter (sometimes, all you have going for you is surprise), too long, too glib, too arch or ironic. Familiar or un-inventive in plot/conception or, if knowingly familiar in plot, not enough effort put into those qualities that will make the story stand out from its predecessors (pacing, atmosphere, mood, character).

Most submitters don't get things wrong, but the ones that do don't take the time to read our submission guidelines or don't take note of simple things: number of poems we accept, for instance.

Some of the work we get is sloppy not only because it isn't proofread, but the writer simply doesn't understand our magazine because they haven't read it. We get crime fiction, journalism and even erotica none of which we publish. Read the magazine. Email us if you have a question about a story, poem or essay.

Most people don't make big mistakes when they're submitting, but I do appreciate when people include some information in the Subject line of their email to help me identify their story when I'm sorting things.
Also, every now and then someone sends in a "50 words or fewer" story, not realizing that it's supposed to be exactly 50 words. Don't make that mistake!

Query letters often lack enticing log lines and compelling blurbs, and for lack of effort to craft them, I get half-baked synopses that leave me with more questions than answers.

Submitting more than one work in an upload, not including a bio (even a short one – we don’t make decisions based on where – or if – you’ve published before), going over the word or submission limit (7,000 for fiction, 5 poems total).

We often receive multiple submissions. We ask submitters to submit only one story or poem per month. We also receive many submissions as attachments, which is contrary to our guidelines.

Simultaneous submissions make me very unhappy.

We still get a lot of folks sending us non-humorous poetry and prose. I don't mean they're sending us stuff that attempts to be funny and fails--I mean they're sending us pieces that aren't intended to be funny in the first place. I can only imagine that these folks either 1) haven't read our submission guidelines, or 2) enjoy reading our rejection letters.

Some writers suggest what my reaction to their work might be.. Some include an envelope for return but omit the stamps.

They don't tend to include their author bios or if they do, include them in the body of their piece which appears as though they didn't bother reading the guidelines. It makes it seem like we're part of a mass email approach, which doesn't bode well. If you don't take the time to go through guidelines, it only leads to negative feelings on the parts of the reviewing editors.

No submitter ever gets anything wrong. Oh, yeah, actually, once a guy did. We accepted his poems and we were about to publish them and then we found the same poems already published elsewhere on the Web! We were mad, but not for too long. If that same guy sent us some more poems that we liked, and they weren't already available elsewhere on the Web, we would take them.

1) Blowing deadlines
2) Thinking we are a children's publication
3) Thinking we are an "adult" publication -- we see ourselves as age 13 and up publication
4) Ignoring that we clearly are not interested in gore, vampires, sci-fi and sword and sorcery type writing. We like them, but they are not the genres we are interested in.
5) Assuming that even though a story or poem is not related to any theme we have, we still might use it

I get very few submissions with "unforgivable" mistakes. The average submission is really quite good, making the job of sorting out the great from the good rather difficult.

They send emotional drivel. That isn't to say that a piece with emotion or feeling is a bad thing. Just be sure that emotion is filtered through a deep understanding and respect for language, stucture, and craft. Consider the Freefall method: to write without concern for editing. That is not the best submission. Let's be clear.
Susan would say spelling errors in your cover letter or sending in too many poems.

Not bothering with any sort of cover letter whatsoever. I know it's electronic submission, but a bit of effort goes a long way. Or giving me a biographical note that's several times longer than the submission itself. That's just...bizarre.

Submitters can have a hard time getting their works accepted by us when they send in a manuscript that simply isn't ready to be published. Some might assume that an editor can help them rewrite and rewrite a story that needs a lot of work. We do try to work with a story that has real promise if it is structurally sound and just needs some tweaking in order to make it a great read. We do not have time for total rewrites of a theme or idea that just isn't working well.

Authors will send along a rewrite of a story shortly after the initial submission (and before she or he has heard from me). Sometimes the rewrite is just a matter of fixing a couple of typos. I never read the rewrite because our system always presents me with the oldest story first. I end up deleting the rewrite and resenting that the author expected me to read the same story twice. If I want a rewrite, I'll ask for it. Also, no story is rejected simply because it contains a couple of typos.

Not following our on-line submissions process correctly. Including identifying information in their work so it fails our blind submissions requirement. Submitting unprofessional looking works.

Not reading our guidelines.

Just sending one poem. I don't have a lot of rules except for that.

They forget we are a regional journal. Photo submissions are not high enough resolution. They do not answer their email.

They either send their work to the wrong place(our email box rather than the online submission system), or send the wrong style of work.

Either sending poetry that is completely off-topic, or sending pieces that are didactic rants rather than poems.

Too many genre pieces, too many stock courtroom dramas, too many pieces that need character development. J Journal is a literary journal first and foremost.

We cater to the long form short story (4,000 to 12,000 words), especially in terms of Web practices. So, we get a lot of 1,000 to 3,000 words submissions that we have to reject out of hand.

Submitting too often. We realized that it's often hard to figure out any journal's likes and dislikes down to the t, but we often feel that submitters throw shit to the wall (the wall being us) and see what sticks. Read a couple of our issues. Get an idea of what's stuck to us in the past.

Some writers submit pieces that have not been vetted or critiqued by others.

Send materials we do not publish.

We often receive submissions in .docx or .odt formats. (The correct formats are .doc and .rtf files.) While some of our readers can open these files on their personal computers, others cannot. The reading process is much faster when we have documents that we know all of our readers can open. If a submissions is in an inappropriate file format, we don't like to reject it on that basis, for fear that we're missing some really great work. Therefore, we hold on to them until the reader who can access these files is available; but this often means that the submission lingers in a waiting room, so to speak.

With our online form, someone occasionally forgets to include their email address.

They send docX or MS Works files. Open Office and others offer Save As RTF/ DOC options. If such doubts are there, simply pasting it in the body of the email is also accepted. Yet, people just attach anything and post it just like that. If nothing else send us a TXT file, but don't send us such odd file types which ruin the formatting when converted to RTF.

As alluded before, sending in gratuitous violence, sex, or just plain nasty stories without any other redeeming qualities. We want dark, but not dark for darkness' sake. Don't simply try to gross us out. That's uninteresting.

I see several recurrent missteps:
1. Work that, in its effort to seize our attention, comes across as exhibitionistic.
2. Work that, in its caution and taste, comes across as boring.
3. Work that reads as if it has been written by a committee. (This is particularly true of submissions from students in MFA programs.)

Many think we do fully produced audio dramas and want to send us scripts. Many send horror or fantasy, while we are solely an SF market.

The three top mistakes are
1) Sending work that's too long (i.e. over 2,000 words)
2) Not submitting to one of our themes (they change monthly)
3) Sending us poetry or script. Again, PLEASE check out the website before sending us your submission - we do not publish poetry!

I must say most submitters get it right, but those who don't might submit something without that very important return envelope, or they forget to include a cover letter, or they submit their work outside our reading period. Occasionally we get a handwritten submission which, unfortunately, we can't accept.

They don't understand that we want original, inventive material written from the heart. It's okay to be different! Please, no attachments.

Sending work that is obviously a wrong fit, sending too many poems or too often.

They send submissions in the form of .doc or .docx attachments. Those are difficult for me to open. I much prefer .rtf or .txt attachments, or submissions in the body of the email.

Sending a piece which is more or less than six sentences.

The biggest mistake is forgetting to remove all traces of their identity from the attachment containing the story. We want your contact information in the body of the e-mail, and no trace of your identity in the attachment.

We do not accept email submissions under any circumstances.

We use an online submission system that’s now pretty common. But the trick, for poetry, is to patch all your poems together in a single document and submit that, as only one document can be uploaded for the submission. Include your cover letter as a first page if you’d like, or otherwise paste it into the Comments area.

submission without prior query.

A. They rhyme. we do NOT consider rhyme. It is the first thing, in bold, that it says in the guidelines.
B. there are tons of special indentations in varying lines of type - we are not keen on any form of concrete poetry (we do not even center poetry if it is submitted to us that way and we accept it for publication), specifically because we would have to reformat uniquely indented type for an Internet web page, which is difficult to accurately master.
C. Though we are getting used to converting them now, people still send us ".docx" files because they have a newer version of Microsoft Word (which us Macintosh users do not have, so cannot open) and do not bother to save it as a ".doc" file, which we explicitly ask for (which would save us a lot of time in converting their files).

Logistically, the only problem has been exceeding the word count (8000 words for prose). Content-wise, we see many submissions carrying death or serious illness as a main theme when we rarely publish such material. The same holds true for pieces containing much harsh language, anger, and/or argumentative dialogue. One other element which will quickly turn us off is with regard to the narration: repeated and careless use of the same word.

Many don't include their names and titles in the subject heading, which is inconvenient. Some try to submit multiple pieces or offer us pieces that are simultaneously being submitted elsewhere, which is more serious, but rare. It's pretty easy to tell who hasn't read the guidelines, not just by the format of the email but by the inappropriate kind of story they send.