Written by Emily Harstone November 7th, 2013

The Top 5 Literary Journals Re-Opening to Submissions This Month.

Sometimes you want to submit to a literary journal, but they’re not open to submissions. Here’s your chance to submit to the top 5 journals that opened up this month.

1. Salmagundi

Salmagundi is a quarterly print journal that publishes poems and fiction. Salmagundi has been published since 1969 by Skidmore college. They have a very low acceptance rate and a very slow response time. It can take them up to a year to respond to your submission.

However they are extremely respected and have wide distribution. They are well worth submitting to if you don’t mind the wait. To learn more visit their website at http://cms.skidmore.edu/salmagundi/

2. Blackbird

Blackbird exclusively publishes poems online. They are one of the oldest and most established online literary journals. They have a very low acceptance rate, but if your work is published by them, it cements your standing as a poet and a writer. To learn more about Blackbird visit: http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/

3. Two Words For
Two Words For is an electronic literary journal devoted to publishing poems and fiction inspired by other artists and works. They are based out of France and have a wonderful artistic eye. They are still a new magazine but their reputation is quickly growing. You can learn more about them at http://twowordsfor.com/

4. Bop Dead City
All the journals on this list so far take a while to respond, from six months to a year. Bop Dead City responds to most submissions within a week, usually within the day.

They are a quarterly print publication that is looking for short stories and poems. Bop Dead City gives all their contributors a complimentary copy of the journal. They accept under 5% of the work that is submitted to them for consideration. You can learn more about them here: http://bopdeadcity.wordpress.com/

5. Kestrel
Kestral is a great, established, and artistic literary magazine. They even have a fairly reasonable acceptance rate of over 5%. The one hitch with submitting to them is that they do not accept electronic submissions. You have to mail your work to them the old fashioned way.

They generally respond to submissions with three months, which is a fair response time. To learn more visit their website: https://www.fairmontstate.edu/kestrel/

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