FAQs

How well does Submitit work?

Since our inception, Submitit has helped get 61.4% of our stories, essays, and poems accepted for publication by literary journals. Yes, you read that right. Nearly two-thirds of the pieces we submit find their way into high-quality literary journals. Here are the details.

Do you have a list of recent acceptances?

Well, as it happens, we do! You can see our Testimonials & Publishings page for a selection of testimonials and recently published stories, essays, and poems. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

How much do you charge for your services?

Please see our Services page for our current rates.

How many pieces can I submit?

For each standard submission package, you can submit one short story or essay (creative nonfiction), up to three flash pieces (fewer than 1,000 words), or up to five poems. You are also welcome—and encouraged!—to sign up multiple projects. Yes, of course this is good for our business, but having multiple projects "in play" at once is one of the keys to publishing success. You can read more about this here.

How do I access my Client Portal?

If you're already an existing Submitit client, you can purchase new services, edit your profile, check the status of your work, add journals to your Do-Not-Submit list, and much more at your Client Portal. Just click here.

How involved will I be in the whole process?

As involved as you'd like. You'll approve (or decline) any edits or formatting changes we make to your work. You'll sign off on bios and cover letters. You'll review our recommended journal list before we make any submissions. We'll even include journals of your choice (although we may push back ever so slightly on journals that we think are poor matches). In short, we'll do the heavy lifting, but you'll be involved every step of the way, and we're always open to your suggestions.

How do you choose the journals in the Submitit algorithm?

The journals in our database range from established top-tier journals, such as The New Yorker, New England Review, and McSweeney’s Quarterly, to smaller, less well-known journals, some of which may be just getting started. The top-tier journals represent the pinnacle in literary journal publishing, but they also have the lowest acceptance rates (usually hovering around 0–1%).

That’s why it’s important to target some of the smaller, and often newer, journals. But we don’t include every journal that comes along. We’re looking for ones that show some evidence of potential staying power: a professional and attractive website; a clear mission statement; affiliation with a larger organization, such as a university; a solid and preferably expansive masthead; and so on. There is no question that journals—even top journals (Tin House, Glimmer Train, Seattle Review)—come and go, but we do our best to choose journals that we think will be around for a while. To read much more about this, click here.

How do you match my story/essay/poem with literary journals?

We consider a number of factors:

First, based on stories, essays, and poems we’ve recently read (since editors change, we only go back a few years), we’ve rated each journal in a number of categories (for example: prose lyricism, difficulty, topicality, experimentation, humor, poetry meter and form, etc.). While we do consider what journal editors say they’re looking for, we tend to emphasize what we’ve actually read, an approach that, we think, better measures a journal’s true preferences. All of this goes into our database.
Second, we score your work in the same categories mentioned above.
Third, we make our matches, using the Submitit Algorithm.
Finally, we consider where you are—professionally, technically—as a writer. Are you looking to get your work published for the first time? Emphasizing smaller or newer journals might make sense. Do you already have a strong track record? We might target primarily—or even exclusively—top-tier journals. You can read more about our various submission strategies here.

What styles or genres do you submit?

For now, we’re comfortable with all types of “literary fiction,” from relatively straight-forward writing, with simple prose, clear story arcs, and traditional character development, to riskier or more experimental writing, which may play with form and language, and may offer greater challenges to the reader. Because of the nature of what we do (i.e., read, read, and read some more), we have wide-ranging experience with just about every style of fiction out there, excepting “genre fiction” (see below).

We are also comfortable with "creative nonfiction" (the style of nonfiction typically published by literary journals). We define creative nonfiction as nonfiction that shares many of the attributes of fiction: scenes, characters, story arc, often figurative or poetic language, etc. You can read much more about creative nonfiction here.

Finally, we're open to all styles and forms of poetry.

Eventually, we plan to work with genre fiction (e.g., fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and mystery). Please check back soon.

For multi-title submissions (flash and poetry), does order matter?

The short answer is: yes. Generally speaking, uploading your stronger and shorter pieces first (when possible) will give you more submission opportunities. There's a bit of an art to ordering your pieces when signing up. You can read much more about this here.

Do you prefer print to online publications?

Maybe just a little, but we don’t exclude online journals. It’s a wonderful feeling holding in your hand an actual print journal that includes your work. But many of the best journals (and most of the less well-known journals) publish exclusively online. In today's well-connected world, online work offers visibility and is easier to share. As we discuss below, there are many reasons why you might want to get your work published, either print or online.

What are my chances of getting published?

Getting published is not easy. Top journals typically accept less than 1% of the work they receive. Even smaller and newer journals usually stay under 10%. Yes, there are some journals with higher acceptance rates, but not tons of them. And, of course, much depends on your actual writing.

We don’t know many writers who realistically expect to publish every story, essay, or poem they send out. But because we target journals that publish work similar to yours (thanks to our algorithm), we obviously think working with Submitit will greatly improve your chances.

Do you edit my work?

Editing is not part of our standard submission packages (although we will fix minor typos and formatting mistakes, within reason, while reading a work). If you're interested in optional (and highly recommended) editing—copy and line editing for prose, and "poetry editing" for, well, poetry—check out our Editing page.

Do you offer any guarantees?

We do not guarantee that your work will be published. As mentioned above, getting published is hard. And, obviously, we only have so much control over your writing. Ultimately it is your story, essay, or poem that will be accepted or rejected by literary journals.

But we do guarantee that we will carefully read your work; we will thoughtfully and strategically come up with a list of journals that we think may publish your work; we will submit your work, correctly formatted, as specified by each journal; and we will be available if you have any questions or concerns. If you’re not completely satisfied with our submission services, we offer a full refund within 30 days of receiving your work (editing not included).

How do you protect my privacy? What do you do with my story/essay/poems when you're done submitting? How do you manage our "shared email"? (You know, stuff like that.)

For the answers to these kinds of questions, please review our Terms of Service. If any of your questions are not answered here, or if you have any concerns, just let us know.

Do you charge for journal submission fees?

Nope. Our rates for regular submission packages include all submission fees. It’s worth noting that we typically avoid the few journals that charge excessive submission fees (Narrative Magazine, we're looking at you), but for the vast majority of literary journals, we have you covered.

Summer submissions?

Many journals—especially those affiliated with MFA programs—take the summers off, but there are still plenty that accept submissions year-round. For most writers, we recommend submitting when your story, essay, or poem is ready: winter, spring, summer, or fall. And remember, we recommend multiple projects, so hopefully, over time, you'll be able to submit your work throughout the year.

So getting published in literary journals is tough. Why bother?

Here are some of the reasons our own writers seek to publish their work in literary journals:

Getting your stories, essays, or poems out there is a great way to get noticed. You just never know who may stumble upon your work. A famous writer looking for a writing friend? An agent? A publisher looking for a new voice?
If you’re working on a collection, the task of finding an agent, and eventually a book publisher, will be much easier if you’ve had a handful of your pieces published in literary journals. It immediately separates you from most of the competition.
Same with a novel, especially if you manage to publish chapter excerpts (although these excerpts should work autonomously). But even if your chapters don’t lend themselves to stand-alone publishing, having other publishing credits in your name should help in eventually finding agents and book publishers.
Writing is a lonely endeavor, with few victories, even for the most successful writers. Getting your work published now and then is a welcome diversion from the solitude of most of our writing lives, a welcome pat on the back.
Sending out your work is also a good way to assess the quality—or at least the appeal—of your writing. Submitting your work to ten or twenty literary journals—including several that statistically are relatively accessible—and getting nothing but form rejections may be the kind of feedback that will encourage you to develop and refine your writing in some way. You might also consider using Submitit’s editing or consulting services (see our Services page). Yes, getting rejected can be disheartening, but it can also be an important learning experience.
Notice we didn't mention money. If you're hoping to publish in literary journals to make a living, please reconsider. Journals do not pay well (or, often, at all). These little publishing victories are steppingstones (and everything else we mentioned above). The worth, we believe, is beyond monetary. (Here's a longer article from our blog on this topic.)