Sonoma County Literary Update

Calls for Submissions: May 2020

If you have a call for submissions or a contest of interest to Sonoma County writers, send it to editor@socolitupdate.com. Calls for submissions are listed in chronological order (earliest deadlines first).

For a current list of calls for submission from around the country, as well as deadlines for writers’ contests and awards, conferences and residencies, and literary magazine and small press databases, visit the Poets & Writers website.

Duotrope is a searchable database of over 2100 current markets for short fiction, poetry, and novels/collections in all genres. Available to paid subscribers only ($5/month or $50/year).

The New Pages Big List of Literary Magazines. Focuses on literary print and online magazines, listed A to Z. Also check the Calls for Submissions page.

Creative Writers Opportunities List. This former Yahoo group posts calls for submissions and contest information for writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction at: https://creativewritersopps.blogspot.com

Everywriter Resources. This site is packed with articles on how to get published and other writing resources, and a searchable database for journals and magazines, literary or genre, with submission opportunities. Everywriter also publishes articles, fiction and poetry on the site. (Register to submit.) https://www.everywritersresource.com

Literary Magazines is a facebook page where members (including journal editors) post calls for submissions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/40165782786

If you’d like to explore more options to get your writing out of the drawer and into print, check out the information at the companion website: http://wordsintoprint.wordpress.com.

Be sure to check the ONGOING calls below. A number of journals accept submissions year-round (listed in alphabetical order).

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The First Line wants stories that begin with the same sentence

All stories must be written with the first line provided. The line cannot be altered in any way, unless otherwise noted by the editors. The story should be between 300 and 5,000 words (this is more like a guideline and not a hard-and-fast rule; going over or under the word count won’t get your story tossed from the slush pile). The sentences can be found on the home page of The First Line’s Web site, as well as in the prior issue. Note: We are open to all genres. TFL also published essays and poetry. 

The first line for May 1, 2020 deadline is: The door was locked.

Payment is $25 to $50. For detailed guidelines and email address for submission, go to: www.thefirstline.com/submission.htm

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Seeking New Short Stories for Issue 15!

Deadline: May 15, 2020
Light and Dark is seeking your best short stories for our fifteenth online issue! We are particularly interested in stories that deal in some way with the dichotomous nature of existence. Please send us nothing longer than 3,000 words. All stories will be published on our website: www.lightanddarkmagazine.com. The author will also receive a token payment of $15. We look forward to reading your best work: lightanddark.submittable.com/submit.

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Chicken Soup for the Soul Wants Your Story!

Deadline: May 31, 2020
Age is just a number, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have some opinions about it. If you’re over 60, we want your stories about how you’re spending the next third or more of your life. Are you enjoying an empty nest, or starting a second career, or maybe winding down a first one? Perhaps you are on the adventure of a lifetime (when not “sheltering at home”) or even exploring the world of Internet dating. Whatever it may be, share your post-age 60 stories with our readers! If we publish your piece, you will be paid $200 plus 10 free copies of the book. Writing guidelines and more info at www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics.

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WOW! Women On Writing Spring 2020 Flash Fiction Contest

Deadline: May 31, 2020

Guest Judge: Literary Agent Quressa Robinson with Nelson Literary Agency

Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 – 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, communication, and well-rewarded recognition to contestants.

Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; simultaneous submissions okay; reprints okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

Limit: 300 entries.

Prizes (20 winners!):
1st Place: $400, publication, interview, and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
2nd Place: $300, publication, interview, and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
3rd Place: $200, publication, interview and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
7 Runners Up receive $25 Amazon Gift Cards, publication and interview
10 Honorable mentions receive $20 Amazon Gift Card
Top 10 stories are published in the WOW! Women On Writing e-zine, and contestants are interviewed on WOW’s blog, The Muffin.

Entry: $10 entry fee; critique option for an additional $10

www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php

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Oyster River Pages is Open for Submissions!

Deadline: May 31, 2020
Oyster River Pages is a literary and artistic collective seeking submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts that stretch creative and social boundaries. We believe in the power of art to connect people to their own and others’ humanity. Because of this, we seek to feature artists whose voices have been historically de-centered and marginalized. Additionally, our Emerging Voices section seeks new voices in fiction from those who have published fewer than two publications and who meet our submission criteria. Please see www.oysterriverpages.com for submission details.

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Wordrunner eChapbooks Seeks Mini-Fiction Collections

Two fiction collections will be selected for our fall 2020 e-chapbook series, to be published in August and December, online and as epubs.  Stories by authors who receive Honorable Mentions will be considered for our 2021 themed anthology.

Submit your manuscript by June 30. Stories may be flash or longer, from 500 up to 5,000 words each.

We’d like at least five stories, but no more than 15 (if flash fiction). We will also consider novel excerpts. No genre fiction, please. See www.echapbook.com/submissions.html for detailed guidelines and Submittable link. Payment: $100 plus royalties. Submission fee: $6.

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16th Annual Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest

The 16th Annual Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest officially begins in April, as part of the celebration of National Poetry Month. The theme of this year’s contest is “Seeing Is Believing Through Poetry.” There are five new categories: “What Do I See When I Look In The Mirror?”   “I See You In My Dreams” “You Should Have Seen What I Saw Today” “I See A World With Many Opportunities” “See If I Can Make You Laugh.” Poets may submit a maximum of three poems, no more than one in each of three of the five contest categories.

Poems may be in rhyme, free verse, Haiku or other accepted poetry forms and of any length, up to a maximum of 60 lines. 

Everyone is encouraged to enter the contest. There is no entry fee. Poets do not have to live in Lincoln, CA, to be eligible. Young Poets, 18-years of age or under, are encouraged to submit poems and will compete in a special “Young Poets” category. 

The “Rules and Entry Form” can be downloaded from the following website: https://friendsofthelincolnlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Voices-of-Lincoln.pdf or blog: https://slolowe44.blogspot.com/2020/03/blog-post_35.html

Entry Forms must be received no later than Saturday, July 18, 2020. Early submissions are appreciated. If you have questions, please contact Alan Lowe, Contest Coordinator, at slolowe@icloud.com for assistance.

Winners will read their poems on Sunday, October 11, 2020, at the Voices of Lincoln Special Event to be held from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. in the Willow Room at the Lincoln Public Library at Twelve Bridges, 485 Twelve Bridges Drive, Lincoln, CA. Winners also will be presented with a commemorative chapbook of the winning poems.

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Call for Submissions: The Petigru Review

Deadline: July 31, 2020
The Petigru Review is looking for surprising stories, poems, essays, and first novel chapters for our annual online literary journal. We are especially interested in supporting diverse and emerging voices. Submissions close 7/31/20 or when we hit 500 submissions. www.thepetigrureview.com

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ONGOING CALLS:

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The Bakery Is Looking for Poems

The Bakery is a new online journal featuring a new poem every Monday through Friday, at www.thebakerypoetry.com. The Journal  launched in July and is looking for poems.

Submission Guidelines:
Send 3-10 of your best poems in a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file. Put Poetry Submission in the subject title of your email and send to bakerymagazine (at) gmail.com. No need to send a cover letter. Just make sure your contact information appears either in your email or in the attachment.

Simultaneous Submissions are accepted, but please let us know as soon as any of your poems have been accepted elsewhere. No previously published poems. However, poems published on your personal website, blog or social network page are acceptable. If your poem is accepted, The Bakery asks that you remove your poem from your site for at least one month after publication.

The Bakery is also interested in poetry book reviews, both full collections and chapbooks. If you would like to submit a review, please send a query email with the title “Book Review Query.” Include in the body of the email the title of the book, a sample of any written reviews or critical work, and your contact information.

The Bakery also features art work each month. If you are interested in having your art featured, please send up to 5 JPGs attached an email with your contact information and the subject title: Art Submission.

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Blue Mountain Press Accepting Book Manuscripts

Blue Mountain Press, the book division of Blue Mountain Arts, is accepting manuscripts in the following categories: gift books, personal growth, teens/tweens, family, relationships, motivational, and inspirational. Mail manuscripts to: Blue Mountain Press, P.O. Box 4219, Boulder, CO 80306. Request proposal guidelines or e-mail queries to BMPbooks@sps.com. Please add Sonoma somewhere in the subject line so we know you found this posting on the Sonoma County Literary Update website.

Please note: We are not accepting works of fiction, rhyming poetry, children’s books, chapbooks, memoirs, or books that promote a specific religion.

There is no deadline for submissions.

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C&R Press: Call for Full-Length Manuscripts

C&R publishes fiction, short stories, poetry, essays, memoir and mixed genre work, with an aim to highlight female, minority, LGBT,  immigrant, progressive and submerged voices. Recent titles include While You Were Gone by Sibyl Baker, Ivy vs. Dogg: With a Cast of Thousands! by Brian Leung and Dark Horse by Kristina Marie Darling, as well as a collaboration with the Women’s National Book Association on Women in the Literary Landscape.

Our website is www.crpress.org, and you’ll find the link to our
submissions guidelines here: http://www.crpress.org/submissions/.

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California Quarterly: Call for Poetry Submissions

California Quarterly is the poetry journal produced by the California State Poetry Society, with 50 pages of poetry per issue. The publication features a rich variety of work from poets nationwide as well as from other countries. Published four times a year, submissions are accepted year round. Guidelines are as follows: Submit up to 6 poems at one time, include name and address on all pages of poems (with 2-page maximum), SASE for response, unpublished poems only, and foreign poems with translations encouraged. Simultaneous submissions accepted. Send poetry submissions to:

CQ Editors
Post Office Box 4288
Sunland, California 91041

CQ is now accepting poetry submissions year-round through submittable. See the submissions page at: www.californiastatepoetrysociety.org/publishing-with-us

You may also order a copy of the latest issue at www.californiastatepoetrysociety.org.

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Carbon Culture Review

Carbon Culture Review is a journal at the intersection of new literature, art, technology and contemporary culture.  We define culture broadly as the values, attitudes, actions and inventions of our global society and its subcultures in our modern age. Carbon Culture Review is distributed in bookstores throughout the United States annually by Media Solutions. CCR will also showcase a digital online issue with original monthly content updates on the web.  See: http://carbonculturereview.com

WHAT DO WE PUBLISH?
We publish quality poetry, short stories, other literature and artwork that connect in some way with modern technology. We prefer work that is edgy, offers new perspectives, challenges traditional genres and modes of expression and moves or excites us.

In addition to our 2019 Print Issue, we are publishing three writers’ work per week on our Carbon Culture Review website. Our publishing imprint Carbon Books is seeking full-length submissions Poetry, Lit Fic, Quality Genre (no Fantasy), Memoir, and Essay. We’ve already selected two books and would like to acquire 2-4 more by September. Carbon Culture Review is a journal at the intersection of new literature, art, technology and contemporary culture. Check out our website at: carbonculturereview.com

More details at: https://carbonculturereview.submittable.com/submit

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Spread Art and Philanthropy by Submitting to COVID LIT

Deadline: Rolling
COVID LIT is a new online lit mag that gives the middle finger to COVID-19 by publishing, promoting, and spreading art, poetry, and prose using the disease’s name. What sets us apart from other magazines? Simple: instead of paying us a submission fee, all submissions must be accompanied with a minimum $3 donation to a nonprofit of the artist’s choosing. Our goal is to publish weekly online content and, eventually, a print anthology, so send your best work and use your creative superpowers for good! Visit www.covidlit.org today and help those who desperately need it.

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Flash Fiction Magazine

Flash Fiction Magazine champions original, creative and engaging works of fiction, which run between 300-1000 words in their entirety. The stories can be of any genre but the emphasis should be placed on a complete story, where there is conflict and character development. FFM is always open for submissions. It is free to submit and although, they are based in California they accept stories from anywhere in the world.

There is no payment for stories published on the website but they pay $40 per story accepted for their anthologies and the best story of every month receives $100.
For guidelines and to submit your story please use the link: https://flashfictionmagazine.com/subs

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Foundry Open Call for Poetry

General submissions are always open for free.

Foundry publishes a range of styles and forms, from short lyric poems to prose poems and longer narratives. We are drawn to poems that feel as much as they think.

We are committed to inclusivity and warmly welcome submissions from marginalized voices. We will not consider work with sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or able-ist content.

Please submit 3-5 original, previously unpublished poems through Submittable. All poems should be included in a single .DOC/.DOCX or PDF file with one poem per page (eight pages maximum). Enter a cover letter with a brief third-person bio in the space provided by Submittable.

We read year-round and publish new issues in March, June, September, and December.

Foundry pays $10 per poem. More guidelines and submittable link at: www.foundryjournal.com/submit.html

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Ginosko Literary Journal’s Call for Submissions

Accepting short fiction & poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, social justice concerns, spiritual insights for GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL.

Editorial lead time 1-2 months; accept simultaneous submissions & reprints; length flexible, accept excerpts. Receives postal submissions & email—prefer email submissions as attachments in Microsoft Works Word Processor or Rich Text Format. Copyright reverts to author. Read year around.

Publishing as semiannual ezine. Check downloadable issues on website for style & tone: www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com
Use latest version of Adobe Reader.

ezine circulation 6000+. Website traffic 500-750 hits/month.

Also looking for books to post on website, spoken word recordings, and links to exchange.

Ginosko (ghin-océ-koe) To perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of truth by experience.

Member CLMP.

Ginosko Literary Journal
Robert Paul Cesaretti, Editor
PO Box 246
Fairfax, CA 94978

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Harvard Square Editions Accepting Novel Manuscripts

Harvard Square Editions, an alumni run independent press, is accepting manuscripts. There is no deadline for submissions. Guidelines: http://harvardsquareeditions.org/contact-page-2. Email queries to: submissions@harvardsquareeditions.org

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HeartWood Literary Magazine Call for Submissions

Brand new online literary magazine, in association with the Low-Res MFA at West Virginia Wesleyan College, publishes twice yearly in April and October.

We accept submissions year round through Submittable, and welcome previously unpublished poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, from both established and emerging writers.

Please note: We do love Appalachian voices, but we enthusiastically encourage writers from all backgrounds to submit.

We are interested in writing that pushes into, dares to reveal, its own truth, that takes emotional risks, that gets to the heart of the matter. Simultaneous submissions are fine, provided you notify us if the work is accepted elsewhere.

Complete Submission Details can be found on our website: http://www.heartwoodlitmag.com/

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Mastodon Publishing

Mastodon Publishing, a new full service indie publisher, publishes a spectrum of literary voices, with the goal of bringing diverse and uncensored writing to life in many shapes and forms. We also welcome upmarket and commercial manuscripts, including non fiction and special interest items (cookbooks, academic, YA, genre and others). We have two titles so far: A Diet of Worms by Eric Rasmussen and Life During Wartime by Katie Rogin, with four more due out this fall.

We love ideas and imaginative minds, creative minds, and technical minds: anyone with good thoughts and good writing. We want to bring as diverse and uncensored a catalog to life as we can, through print and digital, from short books to large books, technical to creative. Mastodon is Thoughts Made Real.

Mastodon is currently open for full-length submissions in all categories. Our website is www.mastodonpublishing.com and our submittable page: https://mastodonpublishing.submittable.com/submit.

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Occidental Center for the Arts (OCA) Book Launch Series Guidelines: Call to All Writers

1)  All genres considered: Fiction (Novel, Novella or Short Stories), Non-Fiction, Poetry
2)  Preference given to local Sonoma County writers or material about Sonoma County.
3)  Books should be published within past twelve months. Author may read from and sell other previously published pieces.
4)  Preference given to authors with hard copy, rather than e-book.
5)  Application Procedure: Send sample of 2-3 chapters of prose; 5-10 pages of poetry. Include brief bio and any writing credits. Send to Occidental Center for the Arts website: occidentalcenterforthearts.com, and/or hard copy to OCA, 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental, 95465, with “Attention: Book Launch Committee”.
6)  This is an on-going series: Submitted work will be reviewed by Book Launch Committee. Writers are notified as soon as possible.
7)  One or two writers are featured at each reading. Short reading along with book sale and signing. Each author is encouraged to create his/her launch with its own unique signature.
8)  If self-published, author provides books for the Book Launch/signing event. Authors with major publishers will arrange with OCA on how books (those sold at launch) will be obtained.
9)  Authors agree to donate a percentage of book sales (at least 10%) to Occidental Center for the Arts.
10) OCA will publicize the event but writers are expected to publicize through their social networks and e-mail lists.

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PANK Magazine and PANK Books

[PANK] — PANK Magazine and PANK Books, Pankmagazine.com, the Little Book and Big Book series, fosters access to emerging and experimental poetry and prose, publishing the brightest and most promising writers for the most adventurous readers. To the end of the road, up country, a far shore, the edge of things, to a place of amalgamation and unplumbed depths, where the known is made and unmade, and where unimagined futures are born, a place inhabited by contradictions, a place of quirk and startling anomaly, [PANK], no soft pink hands allowed.

Please visit our page for submission info: https://pankmagazine.com/about-2/

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Pithead Chapel: A Monthly Online Journal of Short Fiction

Pithead Chapel is a small, independent journal out of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, run by people who love to read and write fiction.

At Pithead Chapel, we’re looking for engaging stories told in honest voices. Most of all, we want to feel something. We want to reach the last word and immediately crave more. We want your story to leave a brilliant bruise. Send us your best work and we’ll do our best to get your voice heard. Sorry, we’re not into genre pieces (e.g., science fiction, horror, fantasy, and romance).

If you write short fiction, please consider visiting us and submitting some of your work: http://pitheadchapel.com

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Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine: Open Call

Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine seeks tight, gripping prose and poetry.
We use Submittable and all submissions need to come through that system so our first-reader staff can evaluate them as a team.
https://postcardpoemsandprose.wordpress.com/

Postcard Poems and Prose publishes 8-10 poems and 4-5 flash fiction features online each month (120-200 poems and short prose pieces annually).

Reading period—January 1 thru December 31. (Open submission call)
We judge each piece on its merit rather than author biographical information.

TO SUBMIT: https://postcardpoemsandprose.submittable.com/submit

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The Rain, Party, & Disaster Society

The Rain, Party, & Disaster Society is a workshop-based online literary publication that strives to give representation to new ideas and thoughts, to challenge the reader and to question commonly accepted opinions, values, etiquette and ideas. Within our pages, you may find: works that tackle hot-button issues, works presented in a style that is out of the ordinary, works that present the reader with a question or debate, and works that break mainstream rules within their genre. All of the pieces you find on this site have been through our workshop process, during which the RP&D editorial staff works closely with contributors to hone their voice and help them to produce the best possible work for you, the reader, to experience.

We currently accept works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry every month between the 1st and the 15th. Please view our guidelines page for more information on submission requirements.

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Straylight: Call for Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction

Straylight, the literary journal of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, is calling for submissions of fiction and poetry for both our print magazine and for publication on our website. Our online edition (The Villa) is also calling for novellette and novella-length fiction submissions for serialization. We will consider any genre, but are looking for high-quality work. Submissions may be made electronically at https://straylight.submittable.com/submit. Find us on the web at www.straylightmag.com.

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The Sunflower Collective: Call for submissions (Rolling — all round the year)

The Sunflower Collective is looking for submissions. We celebrate the personal and the political — which we believe to be one and the same thing — in art. We would like to mention at the outset that we are not interested in art that does not take risks. We do not mind if you have a degree but we are unlikely to be impressed by it. Nor do we care which journals have published your work before. All we are interested in is something that sings for itself without any props, something that grabs us by our throat and refuses to let go, something that shakes us out of our complacent stupor. Give us something hungry, not bellyful; something beat, if you get our drift. We express our inability to publish anything that propagates either left-wing or right-wing fascism.

Please send us your poems, prose, artwork and photographs in the body of the mail at thesunflowercollectiveindia@gmail.com with the subject line mentioning your genre of Submissions. Do read the submission guidelines before sending your work.

Submission Guidelines:

1) Poetry: 1-5 poems (Around 5 pages of poetry in total)
2) Prose: 2000-3000 words ( Fiction/ Non Fiction/ Experimental/Memoirs)
3) Art work and Photographs/ Photo Essays (5-10 in JPEG format and must not exceed 250K in size )
4) Format: Poetry and Prose submissions to be sent in the body of the mail, unless there are specific formatting requirements from the author (Needs to be mentioned in the mail). Photos and scanned Artwork in zipped folders. Photo essays in MS Word with zipped folders of JPEG images separately attached.

Please send us your work in a single mail only.
http://sunflowercollective.blogspot.in/p/about.html

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Trainless Magazine

Trainless Magazine is now accepting unsolicited fiction and nonfiction. Nonfiction articles should stay relevant to our magazine’s theme of travel, athleticism, and culture. Fiction is much more open, as every world created through fiction presents a new “culture.” Stories ranging from 500-3,000 words are accepted. It would have to be an incredible, really unstoppable story to keep our readers reading after 3,000 words. More details at: http://trainlessmagazine.com/article/submit.html

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Transfigured Lit – Open Call for Flash Fiction

A new Flash Fiction Journal Rooted in Christ seeks stories of 1,000 words or less by Christian writers. All genres are welcome. Stories don’t necessarily have to be “religious,” but must not have any cussing, sex, etc. We are especially interesting in reading flash with a literary quality to it. Submit by email, no fee. See our submission guidelines for more info: https://transfiguredlit.wordpress.com/submit

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whimperbang

whimperbang, an online journal of artistic commentary, published three times a year, invites the submission of serious, directed artistic expressions that reflect or comment upon today’s world. All literary and visual genres will be considered. See our “Submission Guidelines” at http://whimperbang.com/submissions.

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WILDNESS

WILDNESS wants work that evokes the unknown. Now seeking poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Submissions on a rolling basis.
URL: readwildness.com

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Zymbol Open Call for Books

Zymbol is publishing books!!! Each book we publish will receive full distribution, a sponsored reading, an ad in our annual international newsstand edition of Zymbol magazine and copies of the book. Our open call is for all genres, approaches and subject matter and we’re looking for novels, short story and poetry collections. See: www.zymbolmag.com

Zymbol has opened submissions for our online edition and our 2019 print edition. Additionally, our new book imprint, Zymbol Books, is open and offering a book prize contest. The winning title will receive $1000, publication with a standard contract, and $3000 devoted to advertising and promotion. We will publish 2-3 books in 2019, chosen from the winning and runner-up titles. Find us at http://www.zymbolmag.com/.

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