Written by November 5th, 2015

Six Great Journals That Re-Opened to Submissions

This November a number of great literary journals reopened their doors to submissions. Below are mini reviews and links to six wonderful literary journals that just started considering submissions again.

The list is in no particular order.

1. Arsenic Lobster

A weird and wonderful poetry journal that is associated with a small press. They publish print issues once a year and electronic issues thrice a year. They have a slow response time and a low acceptance rate. Most of the rejections they send out are personal. They have been around for a decade. To learn more or to submit visit their website here.

2. Abyss & Apex

This Hugo nominated speculative fiction magazine does a great job publishing fiction and poetry. They are an electronic publisher. They publish four issues a year and they pay their writers. To learn, more visit their website here.

3. Blackbird

One of the oldest and most respected electronic literary journals around. Learn more at their website here.

4. Up The Staircase

Up The Staircase is a respected electronic poetry journal that has reopened to submissions. Our full review is here. To learn, more visit their website here.

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 here.

6. Sugared Water

A respected print journal that is open to prose and poetry of all genres. To learn more visit their website here.

 

We Send You Publishers Seeking Submissions.

Sign up for our free e-magazine and we will send you reviews of publishers seeking short stories, poetry, essays, and books.

Subscribe now and we'll send you a free copy of our book Submit, Publish, Repeat

45 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for March 2026

45 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for March 2026

▾ Filter listings Fiction Poetry Contest Essay ✕ Showing all These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from 45 outlets; a couple of the outlets are open for more than one call. Some of the call themes are: strange Dear John; reverse evaluation; maps; bad science; the aftermath; pandora; vegetal; birthday;…

Cool Springs Press

Cool Springs Press

Cool Springs Press was founded in Nashville more than 30 years ago. They initially only focused on gardening in Tennessee and the region surrounding it. However they were successful and started to expand even before they were acquired by The Quarto Publishing Group. Quarto incorporated its existing line of DIY focused book into Cool Springs…

White City Press: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

White City Press: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

White City Press is focused on publishing mysteries across a range of sub-genres. They are currently open to cross-genre mysteries (for example scifi/mystery) as long as mystery is the key element. They are also open to mysteries aimed at young adult and new adult readers, as well as mysteries with protagonists over the age of…

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: February 2026

Notes from the Editor’s Desk: February 2026

Phaidon's Owner Implicated in the Epstein Files; Writing Workshop Instructors Wanted; 4 Submission Calls.