Kaleidotrope is an established online magazine of speculative fiction and poetry. Although they mostly publish science fiction, fantasy, and horror, they’re open to other writing that blurs these genre boundaries or falls outside of these categories. You can read Kaleidotrope for free online to get a sense of what they publish.
Kaleidotrope has been published four times a year online since 2012. Before that, Kaleidotrope was published in print. The journal was founded in 2006, and each edition features work from around 15 contributors.
Kaleidotrope will be open to submissions three times this year: during the months of June, September, and December. Authors of fiction may submit one story of any length—there’s no minimum or maximum word count. However, the editors strongly prefer stories between 250 and 10,000 words. Poets may submit up to three poems in any style, although the editors do not especially like haiku or other very short forms.
Authors published in Kaleidotrope are paid: $0.01 per word for fiction, and $5 per poem.
Kaleidotrope accepts submissions via email, not online or by post. They do not accept simultaneous submissions, but they typically respond to submissions within a couple of days. They do not accept previously published work, including writing that has appeared on personal blogs or public online platforms such as social media websites. Authors may submit more than once in a reading period, but should wait for a response to each submission before submitting again.
Kaleidotrope only accepts submissions that adhere to the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.
If you’d like to learn more or submit to Kaleidotrope, please visit their website here.
Bio: Ella Peary is the pen name for an author, editor, creative writing mentor, and submission consultant. Over the past five years, she’s written hundreds of articles for Authors Publish, and she’s also served as a copywriter and copy editor for a wide range of organizations and individuals. She is the author of The Quick Start Guide to Flash Fiction. She occasionally teaches a course on flash fiction. You can contact her at ellapeary@gmail.com.