Submission Guidelines

Hey all! We have a new submissions manager called Duosuma, so from now on, head over there to submit! (That means we no longer accept email submissions. For accessible options please contact us via email.)

So in case you didn’t know, we’re totally taking submissions. Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know:

• • • We accept submissions on a rolling basis.
    • We publish a new piece every Monday and Friday at noon Pacific Time. We sometimes post fun extras (like our podcast episodes) on Wednesdays.
    • Upon acceptance to either the General Call or Micro Call, we ask that you do not submit again for a period of three (3) months.
    • SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: We accept them but please LET US KNOW if you’re sending us one. If you receive an acceptance from another magazine, we congratulate you! But please update your submission in Duosuma to reflect this (no need to email if you’ve successfully withdrawn a piece within the Duosuma platform). 

Submission Requirements for General Call:

• • • You may submit up to two (2) pieces at a time. For poems, this means 2 individual poems, not 2 blocks of poetry.
    • 3k words maximum per piece. (This is a soft limit, but please don’t get carried away. In general, we tend to prefer shorter pieces.)
    • Include a cover letter plus a short contributor’s note written in the third person (this is important!). Include your social handles in the cover letter if you’d like us to tag you.
    • For writing, stick to .doc .docx .txt or .rtf formats.
      For art please stick to jpegs. Audio/video should be in .mp3 or .mp4 
    • Place EACH of your submissions in its own individual file. (separate docs for writing, separate jpegs for images).
    • As we are an online publication, we do not accept traditionally mailed submissions.
      We also do not need your address, phone number, or other personal information. For cyber security reasons we actually recommend not sending these out to anyone when you don’t need to.

(NEW!) Submission Requirements for Micro Call:

• • • You may submit up to five (5) pieces of micro fiction or non-fiction, with a max of 150 words for each piece OR submit up to five (5) poems of 3 lines each. (We actually prefer if you submit more than one micro piece! But no more than 5, of course.)
    • You cannot submit to our General Call and Micro Call at the same time. (If you do, we will automatically reject the most recent submission.) Please wait until you have received a response from us before submitting again.
    • Place ALL of your submissions in a single file.
    • Other than word count and number of pieces, the rest of the General Call requirements apply to this call too. (So read everything above!)

Other stuff you should know:

• • • If your piece is accepted, you retain the copyright.
    • We currently do not pay for submissions.
      (But check out our Donate page because we want to change that)
    • We accept reprints as long as you hold the copyright. Please indicate in your cover letter if you are submitting a reprint.
    • Submissions you send us should be ready to publish. If we see a lot of grammatical or verb tense errors, we probably won’t accept your piece.
    • Current response time is about 2 months.
    • We accept anything and everything. We’re focused on fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art but we’d love to see experimental works that are suited to this digital platform as well! (Also read our Wish List or listen to podcast episode #12 where we discuss what we’d like to see.)
      • We accept literary as well as genre fiction.
      • We accept creative non-fiction, but we do not accept essays. (hint: if it reads more like a research paper or news article than a story, we won’t accept it.)
    • We’re fine with controversial subject matter as long as it suits the story.
    • Accepted submissions will be published between 1-3 months after they were submitted. You will be notified in advance of the date your piece will be published.
    • We accept submissions from people of all ages
      • Q: But what if I’m eighty?
      • A: We don’t care.
    • If you get a rejection, don’t be afraid to submit again!
      We’re always happy to see repeat submitters in our inbox.
    • It’s “The Metaworker.”  Not “The Metalworker” or “The Meta worker”.

Now head on over to our Duosuma listing to submit, then go write some more!

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