As a Calvin writer, you may be looking for other places to share your work. This page explains how to submit your writing to literary journals. It also includes Calvin Writers Recommend, our database of recommended literary journals.
Calvin Writers Recommend
[table width=”500″ ]Journal,Genre,Media,Length,About,Calvin-specific info,Website

Albion Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (1/year),”≤15 pages or ≤5 poems”,”A national undergraduate literary journal.”,More,Website

Allegheny Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (1/year),”≤20 pages or ≤5 poems”,A national journal of undergraduate literature,More,Website

“The Banner”,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (12/year),600-1200 words,The official monthly publication of the Christian Reformed Church in North America,More,Website

Black Warrior Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤7,000 words or ≤5 poems”,”A semiannual magazine of fiction, poetry, essays, art, comics, and reviews”,More,Website

Brevity,Nonfiction,Online (4/year),”≤750 words”,A journal of concise literary nonfiction,More,Website

Burnside Writers Collective,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (Daily-Weekly),”≤1000 words”,An online magazine presenting an alternative to franchise faith,More,Website

Button,Fiction&Poetry,Print (1/year),”300-2,000 words or 1-3 poems”,New England’s tiniest magazine of poetry and fiction and gracious living,More,Website

The Carolina Quarterly,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),”≤25 pages or ≤6 poems”,”Literary journal covering fiction, poetry, essays, nonfiction, artwork and reviews”,More,Website

catapult magazine,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (biweekly),Unspecified,unite. learn. serve.,More,Website

The Chattahoochee Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (4/year),Unspecified,The literary quarterly of Georgia Perimeter College,More,Website

The Christian Century,Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (biweekly),Unspecified,A progressive ecumenical magazine based in Chicago,More,Website

Clackamas Literary Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (1/year),”One story or ≤4 poems”,”Clackamas Literary Review is a nationally distributed, annual print journal”,More,Website

The Claremont Review,Fiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤5,000 words”,The international magazine of young authors 13-19 years old,More,Website

Collision,Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤3,000 words or ≤5 poems”,Dedicated to publishing student poetry and nonfiction prose,More,Website

The Colorado Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),15-25 pages,A national literary journal,More,Website

The Conium Review,Fiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤3 flash (≤1000 words), ≤2 short story, 1 novella (≤15,000 words) or ≤5 poems”,”A journal seeking innovative writing. Make it weird.”,More,Website

Crab Orchard Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤25 pages or ≤6 poems”,”A journal of creative works”,More,Website

Crazyhorse Literary Journal,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤8,500 words or 3-5 poems”,”To publish the entire spectrum of today’s fiction, essays, and poetry”,More,Website

Creative Nonfiction,Nonfiction,Print (4/year),”≤5,000 words”,The voice of the genre,More,Website

Cricket,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (9/year),”200-2,000 words or poem ≤50 lines”,A literature magazine for kids ages 9-14,More,Website

Drunken Boat,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (12/year),”≤5,000 words or ≤3 poems”,International Online Journal of the Arts,More,Website

Ecotone,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤30 pages or ≤5 poems”,Reimagining Place,More,Website

The First Line,Fiction&Nonfiction,Print (4/year),”300-3,000 (fiction) or 500-800 (nonfiction)”,An eclectic journal that requires submissions to begin with a provided first line,More,Website

Geez,Nonfiction,Print (4/year),50-500 words,Holy mischief in an age of fast faith,More,Website

The Georgia Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (4/year),”One story or 3-5 poems”,”A quarterly publication of essays, short fiction, poetry, reviews, and art”,More,Website

Glimmer Train,Fiction,Print (4/year),”≤12,000 words”,Quarterly magazine of literary short fiction,More,Website

Gulf Coast,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤7,000 words or 3-5 poems”,A journal of literature and fine arts,More,Website

Gulf Stream,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and online (2/year),”≤10,000 words or ≤5 poems”,Literary magazine published by Creative Writing Program at Florida International University,More,Website

H.O.W. Journal,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤8,000 words or ≤5 poems”,Helping Orphans Worldwide,More,Website

Hanging Loose Magazine,Fiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),”1 story or ≤6 poems”,Dedicated to publishing new writers and old writers whose work deserves a larger audience,More,Website

Hayden’s Ferry Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”1 prose piece or ≤6 poems”,Semiannual magazine,More,Website

The Hudson Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (4/year),”≤10,000 words or ≤7 poems”,Celebrating sixty years of literature and the arts,More,Website

Image,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (4/year),”≤6,000 words or ≤5 poems”,A journal of the arts and religion,More,Website

The Iowa Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),Unspecified,”A literary journal carrying fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews”,More,Website

The Louisville Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (4/year),1 story or ≤5 poems,A literary magazine since 1976,More,Website

The Malahat Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and Online (4/year),”1,200-8,000 words or 5-10 poems”,Essential Poetry & Fiction,More,Website

McSweeney’s,Fiction&Nonfiction,Print (4/year),Unspecified,Timothy McSweeney’s Politics Surprise the Other Missionaries,More,Website

Mid-American Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤6,000 words or ≤6 poems”,”Est. 1972, international since 1980″,More,Website

The Mississippi Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (4/year),”1,000-8,000 words or 3 poems”,Online version of the literary magazine published by the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi,More,Website

Narrative Magazine,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (3/year),”500-15,000 words or ≤5 poems”,An online publication of various literary genres,More,Website

New Ohio Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),Unspecified,a publication of the Creative Writing Program of Ohio University’s English Department,More,Website

Ninth Letter,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤8,000 words or 3-6 poems”,A collaborative between the Creative Writing Program and the School of Art and Design at UICA,More,Website

The North Central Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤5,000 words between 1-2 prose pieces or ≤5 poems”,Publishing exclusively the writings and works of undergraduate students,More,Website

The Other Journal,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (4/year),”≤2,500 words or ≤6 poems”,An Intersection of Theology and Culture,More,Website

The Oxford American,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and online (4/year),1 prose piece or 3-5 poems,The Southern magazine of good writing,More,Website

Painted Bride Quarterly,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and online (4/year),”≤5,000 words fiction or ≤3,000 words nonfiction or ≤5 poems”,A peer-edited journal devoted to publishing rigorous works of undergraduate scholarship,More,Website

Perspectives,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and online (10/year),”≤3,000 words”,A journal of theology in the broad Reformed tradition,More,Website

Ploughshares,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),”Around 5,000 words or ≤5 poems”,”Award-winning poetry, fiction, essays, and memoirs”,More,Website

The Point,Nonfiction,Print and online (4-8/year),”4,000-7,000 word essays or 1,000-2,500 word reviews”,A Chicago-based print journal publishing rigorous but accessible writing about contemporary life,More,Website

Prairie Margins,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (1/year),”≤6,000 words or ≤6 poems”,An undergraduate literary magazine,More,Website

Relief Journal,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤8,000 words fiction ≤5,000 nonfiction ≤1,000 words poetry”,”A Christian Literary Expression”,More,Website

River Teeth,Nonfiction,Print (2/year),Unspecified,A journal of nonfiction narrative,More,Website

Rock & Sling,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≤5000 words or ≤5 poems”,A literary journal of witness,More,Website

Ruminate,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and online (4/year),”≤5,000 total words in 1/2 prose pieces or ≤3 poems”,Faith in literature and art,More,Website

The Seattle Review,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (2/year),”≥40 pages prose or ≥10 pages poetry”,”Wholly committed to the publication of longer works of poetry, novellas, and lyric essays”,More,Website

Shenandoah,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),”≤25 pages or ≤5 poems”,”To encourage imagination, precision, prudence, diversity and daring”,More,Website

Sleet Magazine,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Digital (2/year),”Unspecified”,”A journal seeking the unexpected”,More,Website

Soft blow,Poetry,Online (monthly),”4-6 poems”,”An online home for contemporary poetry from all over the world”,More,Website

Sojourners,Nonfiction&Poetry,Print and online (12/year),”1,200-3,000 word articles; 500-1,000 word reviews; 1-3 poems”,”A Christian magazine concerned with faith, politics, and culture”,More,Website

The Splinter Generation,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (often),”≤2,500 words or ≤3 poems”,An online generational literary compilation,More,Website

Storyscape,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (2/year),One prose piece or ≤5 poems,”truth / untruth / we don’t know and they won’t tell us”,More,Website

Strange Horizons,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Online (weekly),”5,000-9,000 word fiction; 2,000-5,000 nonfiction articles; 1,500-2,000 word reviews, ≤100 line poems”,A weekly speculative fiction magazine,More,Website

TriQuarterly,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (3/year),”≤3,500 words or ≤6 poems”,”Features fiction, poetry, literary essays, and graphic art”,More,Website

Zaum,Fiction&Nonfiction&Poetry,Print (1/year),”≤5,000 words or ≤5 poems”,”A literary and art magazine providing college students a venue for publishing their work”,More,Website [/table]

Data and analyses compiled by Alissa Goudswaard (’10)

Formatted and updated by Josh deLacy (’13)

Further updated by Sarah Ball (’14)

Calvin Writers Recommend
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Format your submission
Cover Letter

Nearly all venues require a cover letter. Literary cover letters are about simplicity. Include:

1) Editor’s name

2) Your piece’s title(s)

3) Notification if your piece is a simultaneous submission

4) 1-3 sentence biography

Here’s a sample short story cover letter:

Dear William Chaucer,

I would like to submit my short story, “Calvin’s Cheese,” (3,100 words) for publication in Great Stories Journal. This is a simultaneous submission.

My work has previously appeared in The Spark, Perspectives, and Dialogue. When not writing, I wear wooden shoes and research genetically modified corn.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Writing Writer

Here are a few other resources for cover letter composition:

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/literary-journal-submissions-101 http://www.missourireview.com/tmr-blog/2012/09/the-art-of-the-literary-magazine-cover-letter/ http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/your-perfect-cover-letter

More sample cover letters are available at:

http://www.writehabit.org/sample_cover_letters.pdf

Manuscript

No single formatting style fits all journals. Read each venue’s preferences. In general, though, a few practices are common. William Shunn provides a fantastic, in-depth example and explanation of proper manuscript format, as does Scribophile. Some basic points from their explanations include:

1) In the top left-hand corner, put your name, address, phone number, and email (single spaced).

2) In the top right-hand corner, put an approximate word count (rounded to the nearest 50).

3) Begin your story halfway down the page, starting with your title centered on the first line, your byline centered on the second line, and the then rest of your manuscript (double-spaced and non-justified).

4) Put a header on every page after the first one, with your last name, one or two key words from your title, and the page number.

5) If your piece includes a line break, use a “#” centered on a line by itself to indicate that. It stands out more than an empty line, especially for line breaks that occur at the top or bottom of a page.

Submission Packet

Online submission manager

Most journals use Submittable or a similar submission manager. Make a free account, add your personal information, and follow the submission manager’s prompts.  You can return to the manager at any time to check the status of your submission.

Email submissions

Some journals want specific subject lines, others leave it up to you. If given no subject-line guidelines, put the genre, title, and your name. One example: Fiction Submission: “Calvin’s Cheese” by Writing Writer. Some journals want both the cover letter and the manuscript in the email, others wan the manuscript as an attachment.

Physical mail

Include:

1) Cover letter

2) Copy of your manuscript

3) Self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) – the venue will use the SASE to notify you when you piece is accepted or rejected

Put all these materials into an envelope large enough for everything to fit without folding. Do not use resume paper; standard computer paper is preferred. Print on only one side. Do not staple or paperclip.

Follow-up

x months have passed” period. Obey it, but if those months have passed, sending a polite inquiry email is more than acceptable. Sometimes, a submission gets misplaced or sorted into the wrong file, and your email can put your poems back on the table.

Note: If you submit simultaneously and one venue accepts your work, immediately notify the other journals and withdraw your work. Very few things irritate an editor as much as accepting an already-claimed piece.

A journal will respond in one of three ways: a form rejection, a personalized rejection, or an acceptance. You will most likely get rejected. Top-tier journals publish about 0.1% of all the submissions they receive, and many of their submissions come from established writers with MFAs or PhDs. More accessible journals have higher acceptance rates—some as high as 20 percent—but even there, you are competing with accomplished writers. Expect rejection. Expect a form letter, impersonal and blunt. As Professor Vande Kopple would say, “It’s a tough world.”

If you manage to receive a personalized rejection letter, one that addresses your work specifically and points out its strengths and flaws, consider it a victory. It shows that an editor has enough faith in your writing to give specific, constructive comments—a gift they usually give to just a fraction of their submissions. Take those comments to heart, and celebrate. To view rejection letters through an editor’s perspective, check out this guide.

There is still hope for acceptance, though. Every writer begins unknown. Some journals try to publish one or two new or emerging writers each issue, and a few are devoted to publishing exclusively new writers (check out Calvin Writers Recommend for such venues) So collect rejections, and if you receive an acceptance letter, consider yourself very fortunate. Alos, it is necessary to not equate publication with success. That mistake, Professor Rienstra warns, “is the road either to depression or complacency. Establish your own definition of success and remind yourself of it constantly.”

Find a venue

Calvin Writers Recommend
Our own list of literary journals offers a personalized analysis of each magazine and information particularly relevant to Calvin students, in addition to generic data about submission requirements and journal characteristics. Many of the journals on our list welcome topics of faith, as well as new and/or undergraduate writers.
Duotrope
Duotrope is the best resource, but it costs $5/month. It has a searchable database of more than 4,500 literary journals, with filtering options that include genre, subgenre, format, payment, response time, and acceptance rate.
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses is a directory of independent literary publishers. It has filters for state, genre, and medium.
Flash Markets
Flash Markets lists flash fiction markets by word count and provides payment, frequency, and genre information.
Poets and Writers
Poets and Writers is one of the US’s largest nonprofit literary organizations. It offers a searchable list of over 800 literary journals with filters for genre, subgenre, format, and payment.
Write Habit
Write Habit lists dozens of journals that regularly publish emerging writers and sometimes new writers.

Evaluate a literary journal by its:

History – journals that have been around longer are, as a general rule, better.

Number of submissions they receive – the top journals receive more than 1,000 each month.

Payment for contributors – only successful, established journals can usually afford to pay writers.

Print issues – better known and respected journals will at least as a print anthology, even if most of their other work is online.

Other resources for evaluating literary journals: Writer’s Relief, Bookfox, and Perpetual Folly.

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