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Submissions |
Founded in 1999, Stirring: A Literary Collection is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet. Stirring is a monthly literary magazine that publishes poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, book reviews, and photography. Before submitting, we suggest that you read several of our recent issues to get a taste for what we like to publish.
For poetry, send all submissions in the body of an email to Erin Elizabeth Smith at stirring.poetry@gmail.com. Poems for our broadsides will be chosen by our Broadside Editor from the general submission pool.
For fiction and creative nonfiction, please send your submission as a Word or RTF document to Josh Webster at stirring.fiction@gmail.com.
For photography, send all submissions as JPG attachments to Erin Elizabeth Smith at eesmith81@gmail.com.
If you are interested in either submitting a book review or having your book reviewed, contact Letitia Trent at reviews@sundresspublications.com.
For all submissions, please include a brief 3rd-person biography in the body of the email.
If you have any other questions please read the FAQ that follows.
Note: All work is subject to editing.
FAQ
1.) How many pieces can I send at a time?
2.) How often can I submit?
3.) Do you accept previously published work?
4.) Do you accept simultaneous submissions?
5.) What rights do you ask for when you accept a piece for publication?
6.) Are you strictly an electronic magazine?
7.) What do you mean by "All work is subject to editing?"
8.) Why don't you accept files for poetry?
9.) Do you pay?
10.) I received a letter saying my work is being held over. What does that mean?
11.) How quickly do you respond?
12.) What languages do you accept?
13.) Do you accept prose poems?
14.) What types of nonfiction do you accept?
15.) In what format do you accept photography?
16.) If I have no previous publications to list, can I still submit?
17.) How can I be a Guest Editor?
18.) Where are you based?
19.) Do you comment on your rejections?
20.) How short/long can the poem be?
21.) Do you accept rhyming verse?
22.) Do you accept religious verse?
23.) What authors do you believe exemplify what you are looking for in poetry?
24.) Do you accept translations?
25.) Do you consider poems featured on blogs or IBPC previously published?
1.) How many pieces can I send at a time?
Poetry: We will look at between one and five poems a month. If you send over five, we will only read the first five included.
We do recommend that you send at least three poems so as to give us a broader range of your work.
Fiction & Nonfiction: We will look at one piece per month. Our word limit is currently 5,000.
Photography: We will look at either a website with an index of photos or up to five emailed photographs.
2.) How often can I submit?
You may submit up to once per month. Please wait to have heard from us regarding your first submission before sending a second.
3.) Do you accept previously published work?
We will accept anything that has appeared solely in print form as long as the place of previous publication is noted.
4.) Do you accept simultaneous submissions?
Yes, but please notify us immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere.
5.) What rights do you ask for when you accept a piece for publication?
We ask for First Serial Rights if the piece has not been previously published. We hold all rights for the piece during the month that appears in the current issue of Stirring; however after that month, the publication rights to the piece revert back to the author.
We also hold the right to reprint the piece in any future issues of Stirring or in any Sundress-backed print anthology.
If the piece has been published for the first time in our journal, we ask that this be acknowledged if it is reprinted in another journal.
6.) Are you strictly an electronic magazine?
Yes.
7.) What do you mean by "All work is subject to editing?"
All work that is accepted to our publication may be edited for spelling, grammar, or content. However any additions or deletions will be mailed to the author for their approval before or upon publication.
8.) Why won't you accept attachments for poetry?
Because we have been receiving viruses instead of submissions, viruses masked as submissions, and viruses doing the electric slide inside of submissions. If you have a problem with formatting through your email system, feel free to send us an email at eesmith81@gmail.com, and we can make other arrangements to view your work.
9.) Do you pay?
Unfortunately, due to our lack of funding, we are unable to pay our authors. We realize and recognize poetry as work and understand that writers should be paid for their contributions to the literary community, however we are poor, humble, and offer you fame instead of fortune.
10.) I received a letter saying my work is being held over. What does this mean?
This means that we are interested in your work and would like to continue to consider it for future issues. We will try to let you know within the next month whether we will be using your work or not.
11.) How quickly do you respond?
We try to respond within three month's time. If you haven't heard from us within that time, please nudge us with a reminder.
12.) What languages do you accept?
English only.
13.) Do you accept prose poems?
Yes.
14.) What types of nonfiction do you accept?
We accept memoir and creative essays. We do not currently publish reviews.
15.) In what format do you accept photography?
JPGs are ideal.
16.) If I have no previous publications to list, can I still submit?
Of course! We are always on the lookout for new writers.
17.) How can I be a Guest Editor?
You will need to email Erin Elizabeth Smith at eesmith81@gmail.com with your credentials along with a sample of your work. As a forewarning, we accept very few guest editors.
18.) Where are you based?
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
19.) Do you comment on rejections?
If an editor has given a comment that we believe would be helpful to the poet or the poem, we will sometimes pass them on. This is less than ten percent of the rejection letters, however.
20.) How short/long can the piece be?
We have published poems as short as two lines as well as six-page monsters, however, the bulk of the poetry we publish ranges from a half of a page to a full page in length.
For fiction, our word limit is 5,000.
21.) Do you accept rhyming verse?
We do, but with very rare exception.
22.) Do you accept religious verse?
We do not accept work that is written solely in praise of one god. We enjoy work with biblical, mythological, and religious references; however, we are not interested in polarizing our audience by accepting work that reveres one religion over another.
23.) What authors do you believe exemplify what you are looking for in poetry?
We urge you to read Jessica Bush-Warman, Frank Matagrano, or Dorianne Laux to get an idea of what we are looking for with our poetry. However we are open to just about anything as long as the work is ripe with imagery and originality.
24.) Do you accept translations?
No.
25.) Do you consider poems featured on blogs or IBPC previously published?
No, we do not.