Submission Guidelines

Once you have read the guidelines below, you can submit your work through our submission form.

A Welcome to All Writers and Artists

We affirm our desire to welcome writers and artists of all countries, backgrounds, traditions and religions to our pages, and our willingness to fairly consider their work. 

As creatives, we believe that our shared ability to engage with complex issues with curiosity, nuance, and care unites us. We are unequivocal in our stance that bigotry against any group, including Islamophobia and antisemitism, harms our literary and artistic community as a whole. Likewise, we do not condone discrimination or bigotry of any kind, including, but not limited to, racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobia.

Compulsory Submission Guidelines:

Your submission will be considered invalid if you do not adhere to the following guidelines.

  • One submission is permitted per quarterly. This means that you may only enter your work into one category. Your submission will be considered for the upcoming issue only.
  • Within each category, you may only submit one piece of work, unless you are submitting poetry or artwork. Please note that we are unlikely to accept more than one work per poet or artist.
  • We do not consider previously published or self-published submissions. This includes work that is and/or has been on sale and/or displayed on websites, social media channels, and personal blogs. The only exception to this is if you have previously been published by a magazine that has since ceased to exist. Importantly, your work must no longer be available to view or purchase, either in print or online.
  • We do accept simultaneous submissions. However, you must inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere so that we can withdraw it from consideration.
  • We do not accept work that contains offensive language (including racist, sexist, or otherwise derogatory language), graphic erotic content, or radical religious or political commentary.
  • We do not accept work that is AI-generated or AI-assisted.

Written Work Guidelines:

Compulsory:

Your submission will be considered invalid if you do not adhere to the following guidelines.

  • Works must be written primarily in English. Translations are acceptable but must be accompanied by a copy of the original text. Before submitting, please confirm with the original rights holder that the translation rights are available. If the translation is accepted, we will request a letter confirming this.
  • Submit all written work as a singular .doc/.docx/.odf attachment. Do not send your work as a .pdf. If you are interested in submitting works in file types not listed above or are experiencing issues with the form, please feel free to contact us using our contact form.
  • Please name your files using the title of your work, regardless of the file extension.

Optional:

We really appreciate it if you adhere to the following instructions, but it is not essential for you to do so.

  • All works should be typed in 12 point font and single-spacing.
  • Centre your title and number the pages of your document.

Compulsory Category Guidelines:

Your submission will be considered invalid if you do not adhere to the following guidelines.

We are unable to read more than the permitted number of works per category.

  • Poetry:
    • Maximum of 40 lines per poem.
    • Maximum of 2 poems, all submitted in the same document.
    • Note: Free verse, formal verse and anything in between is welcome.
    • Note: Be aware that our magazine is published in A5 size and therefore is not the best place for poetry with very long lines.
  • Fiction:
    • Short Stories
      • Maximum of 3000 words.
    • Flash Fiction
      • Minimum of 100 words.
      • Maximum of 1000 words.
  • Nonfiction:
    • Creative Nonfiction
      • Maximum of 3000 words.
    • Flash Creative Nonfiction
      • Minimum of 100 words.
      • Maximum of 1000 words.
  • Drama:
    • Stage plays
      • Maximum of 5 A4 pages.
    • Screen plays
      • Maximum of 5 A4 pages.
      • Formatting should be as close to Final Draft as possible.
    • Note: Play extracts and monologues are welcome.
  • Visual Art:
    • Maximum of 3 works. Submit works in .png/.jpg/.jpeg format. For your artwork/photo to be considered for the cover art please submit in A4 format or aspect ratio 1:√2.
    • Our form may have problems if your files as a whole exceed 7MB. Feel free to use our contact form to let us know in case you are interested in submitting larger works and are having problems with either our regular or emergency forms.
    • Note: Paintings, Drawings, Digital Art, Collages and Photographs are welcome.

Important information

  • If your work is accepted, we may make editorial changes. We will inform you of any changes and request your approval before publication.
  • If your work is accepted, please note that we generally do not accept more than one piece per writer or artist within a single calendar year.
  • If your work is rejected, please wait for two submission cycles before submitting again. 
  • Our print magazine is published in A5. Please keep this in mind if your work has specific formatting requirements.
  • Please wait for our response regarding your submission before sending another. We review all submissions after the submission window closes and aim to respond within six weeks.
  • We request first-time publication rights, but all rights revert to the author after publication. If your piece is published elsewhere in the future, we kindly ask that you credit Spellbinder as the site of its first publication.