Thank you for your interest in publishing with Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things.
We reached our 500 submissions cap from this most recent cycle, therefore submissions are closed.
See Also:
- Detailed Rights & Rates
Writers may submit up to 1 piece of prose and 3 pieces of poetry at a time. Each piece of writing must be submitted separately. If there are multiple poems in a submission, we will withdraw the piece.
Please ensure your writing is typed in a readable font for comprehension purposes. If a piece is handwritten and ineligible, we will withdraw the submission.
We will not consider any work generated by AI. Ignoring this rule will result in your current submission and any future submissions being automatically declined.
We are proud to offer feedback from our readers on all submitted pieces. If you do not wish to receive feedback, please click the “No Feedback” option when submitting your writing on Submittable.
Because we are a volunteer-run publication offering feedback, our response rate is usually 5-6 months after submitting. Though we have taken upwards of 9 months to reach a final decision. Please do not email us requesting updates on the status of your submission until after 5-6 months have passed. For more information on our response times, read our FAQ page.
We ask that writers refrain from re-submitting a revised version of their piece until 6 months after an initial decision is made on our part. This is to ensure that our feedback is digested and work is critically re-evaluated and revised, rather than hastily edited.
We do accept simultaneous submissions, however if your piece is accepted elsewhere, we ask that you withdraw your submission.
We do not accept previously published pieces. We consider writing published on blogs, social media, and/ or other literary magazines as previously published. If your writing is available or purchasable online, we will withdraw the submission. This is to ensure we use our readers’ time and author payments fairly.
We accept around 3% of all submissions received.
Audience
Ember is a journal of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction for all age groups; however, submissions for and by readers aged 10 to 18 are strongly encouraged. Please ensure you correctly state your age on the submission form so we can keep an accurate track of the submissions by young writers.
How to Submit
Submissions are managed through our Submission Manager, powered by Submittable . If you submit by e-mail, we will direct you to use our Submission Manager instead.
Important Note to teachers:
If you are thinking of submitting several pieces of work to us as part of a class project, or are instructing a group of students to do so individually, we would be grateful if you could check this first with our Editor-in-Chief, Brian Lewis: [email protected] and ask that your students include your name in their cover letter.
Formats
- Poetry
- Most forms are considered, both metered and unmetered, traditional and experimental. Poems from 3 to 100 lines have the best chance of acceptance. You may submit up to three poems at a time, but a separate submission form must be completed for each poem.
- Short Stories
- Short Stories up to 12,000 words will be considered. You must include the word count in your file. However, more important than word count is the quality of your work: we are looking for excellent, polished writing that pulls us into an engaging story. Please be aware that we do not publish chapters of larger pieces or picture books.
- Flash Fiction
- The ideal length for Flash Fiction submissions is about 500 to 750 words, but pieces up to 1500 words may be submitted in this category. Remember that Flash Fiction is not the same as “vignette;” even very short works should still present an interesting and compelling story.
- Creative Non-fiction
- Creative Non-fiction is the beautiful union of exposition and literature. Tell us a true story, and tell it well. Word count limits are the same as for Short Stories. Please be aware we do not publish essays.
Content Tips & Suggestions
- Profanity, Vulgarity, Sex, and Violence
- As an all-ages publication, our refusal to print profanity/vulgarity is based on an understanding of our audience, not on censorship. Similarly, while allusions to the occurrence of love and sex, anger and violence may be integral to some stories, we tend to err on the side of making Ember accessible to middle-grade readers. Submissions with graphic and/or explicit descriptions of sex or violence will be withdrawn. If you’re still unsure whether your work qualifies, think whether you would let a 10 year old read your piece or not.
- Prose: Great Stories, Compelling Characters
- Ember is looking for great writing that tells a compelling story, regardless of length. Even very short pieces, like flash fiction, should tell a story, though there will certainly be fewer dramatic elements developed than we’d see in a longer piece or novel. The presence of “story” is what distinguishes flash fiction from “vignette.”
- Poetry: Paint With Language
- For poetry, we also look for a story, but the story may be implied. Of course, there is a lot more flexibility for poetry, and some styles tend to emphasize descriptive language over storytelling. We’ve also seen some poetry submissions which go too far, focusing so much on story that they are little more than prose stories with poem-style line breaks. So, for poetry, we tend to use the very subjective measure of accepting poems which make us say, “Wow!”
- Be Accessible, Not Condescending
- We believe that even our younger readers are smart and capable of advanced reasoning and interpretation. However, not every accepted piece will be appropriate for or of interest to ten-year-olds, who are the youngest readers in our target audience. Many readers will simply skip over stories and poems which exceed their developmental maturity. Submissions with the best chance of acceptance will be meaningful on some level to both older and younger readers without being condescending. We also consider works which require some maturity for full comprehension, so long as the content is not inappropriate for younger readers who might choose to explore the more advanced pieces.
Rights & Rates
We pay 2 cents per word or $20 per work, whichever is more, for worldwide first publication rights in English. You retain all other rights (including other languages, audio, and reprint rights), but we ask that you not reprint the work in another publication for six months after it first appears in Ember. See our Rights & Rates page for details.
Ember 
Hi,
I just want to let you know an error has occurred in my submission, and my cover letter is the wrong one. Is there any chance of me changing that, and still being considered for publication?
I have a few questions.
You accept any work that fits your standards?
Can I write under a pen name?
Lastly, is there a limit on how much you can submit?
My best friend and I wrote a whole book. We were wondering if you took whole books?
Unfortunately we do not publish whole books.
Short stories up to 12,000 words are considered.
Do we have to accept payment?
We certainly encourage writers to accept payment for their pieces as we feel they should get compensation for all the hard work put into their craft.
Hello! I’m 14, and may submit a short story (Aprox. 5,000 words)
It does, however, have sword fighting and blood… it isn’t not too graphic though. Would I still be able to submit this?
Hi Hailey! Yes, feel free to submit this story to us via submittable.
Hi Hailey! Your story sounds like it fits our submission guidelines. Feel free to submit to us once our submissions reopen!
how do i submit my short story
Hi Lucas! Our submissions are currently closed, but we will keep the website updated when we reopen them.
Please share the link for submittal.
Hi Parthvi. Currently, our submissions are closed. When we reopen our submissions, the link will be provided at the bottom of this page. Please check back to this page for updates.
what is the email to submit to?
We do not accept submissions via email. Please refer to the “How to Submit” section of this page.
When do submissions close? And is there a submission limit? For example, could we submit both a poem and a short story?
We don’t have a set schedule for closing submissions, but we do close as needed from time to time. Aside from that, there is no submission deadline.
You may submit one story and up to three poems at a time.
Thanks for your interest!
Do you accept simultaneous submissions? And if my story fits your content guidelines, would it be alright to publish it both here and on my school’s literary website?
Yes, we do accept simultaneous submissions. If your submission is accepted elsewhere (congratulations!), you’ll be able to withdraw from Ember using the submission manager link, optionally adding a note to let us know where it will be published.
When we accept a piece for publication, we do ask for an “exclusive” period where we’re the first and only publisher. Once that period has expired, though, we’re delighted for pieces we loved to be reprinted/republished other places, including your school website.
If a work has already been published somewhere in print or online (like a school website), we aren’t very likely to accept it.
Hello,
Do you allow simultaneous submissions? If so, how do I let you know if the story has been accepted elsewhere?
Thanks!
Yes, we do accept simultaneous submissions. If your submission is accepted elsewhere (congratulations!), you’ll be able to withdraw from Ember using the submission manager link, optionally adding a note to let us know where it will be published.
Is there a link to submit or has Ember received 100 submissions already?
We hit our cap and it’s not even halfway through the month! We will reopen the first of April.
Thank you for being patient!
My submission isn’t saving for some reason.
When will the submissions reopen? Because I have a flash fiction to submit.
Our submissions will re-open on Oct 1, 2022.
How soon should I expect a response if I asked for no feed back?
Ember reads submissions in chronological order by the date pieces were submitted. Because of that, we don’t have specific response time for No Feedback pieces, only that they tend to move through our submission queue quicker.
Hello! It says that submissions are open from June 1 to July 1 (the latter of which is in a few days). I just wanted to confirm that — and if so, when on July 1 do you close the submissions? Thank you so much!
Submissions generally close at midnight (U.S. Eastern Time) on the date stated. For example, when we had the special summer submission window, it closed at midnight on July 1–not the end of the day, but the beginning.
Thank you so much!
Hi, I am trying to submit (for the special summer submission call June 1-July 1, 2023) today but when I go to submittable, it says you are not accepting submission). Am I able to submit today? Thanks so much.
Submissions generally close at midnight (U.S. Eastern Time) on the date stated. For example, when we had the special summer submission window, it closed at midnight on July 1–not the end of the day, but the beginning.
However, we are now open for our regular fall submission window.
Hello. This page says submissions are accepted through July 1 (today), but when I click on “Click here to submit,” it just takes me back to the guidelines page. Thanks for any help you can give.
Submissions generally close at midnight (U.S. Eastern Time) on the date stated. For example, when we had the special summer submission window, it closed at midnight on July 1–not the end of the day, but the beginning.
However, we are now open for our regular fall submission window.
When will the results be out?
Please refer to our submission guidelines page for information on our response times.
Hello!
If my work is accepted, will I get a free copy?
Writers receive a free copy of the publication where their work is featured; however, we are operating on online publications at the moment with the intent to publish E-book versions of Ember in the future. These e-books will include publications featured online.
I accidentally put the wrong line count for my poem, Spanish From My Eyes. Is this okay?
That’s fine. We ask for an approximate word count to help us assign submissions to readers evenly (and to make sure longer pieces are within our limits), but it won’t affect our first read other than that.
When a piece is accepted for publication, we use the math at wordcount.egjpress.org to get the official count.
ok, thank you
I just clicked “read Ember” your masthead and got redirected to a news site that was in Spanish or Catalan. Just letting you know!
It’s a weird error that only pops up once every 1000 requests or so … we’ve been looking into it since you reported, it, but we haven’t found the cause yet! Thanks for letting us know.
Hi!
I recently checked my Submittable dashboard and my entries still have an “in progress” tag on them. It’s been a little over six months since I submitted my entries and I was wondering when they’ll be updated?
Thanks so much for your time!
Grace
Hi Grace,
As much as we try to get submissions back to writers in a reasonable time, it sometimes takes longer than we initially expected due to submission volumes and volunteer readership availability. You are welcome to reach out to our Associate Editor, Julia, to inquiry about the status of your piece after six months has passed from your original submission date.
Hi Does Ember have any social media I can follow to get updates on open and close times?
Best regards
Luan.
Our most active social media is our Twitter/X account @emberjournal. We will post updates there!
Hello,
I wrote a realistic fiction piece for my social studies project at school. Am I able to submit that writing? Thank you.
Hi Jiya, yes you are welcome to submit your fiction piece to Ember!
Hello, my daughter is 9 years and 8 months old. She is writing very good poems. Can she submit them or she has to be 10 y.o. to submit?
Thank you
Hi Daria! Your daughter is welcome to submit. We typically ask that eager young writers wait to submit until they’re ten; however with our response times being 5-6 months and her being two months shy of ten, she’ll eligible by the time we make a decision on her publication.
I did not include my word count in my short story file but I specified in the submission form. Is that acceptable?
Yes, this is just fine. Thanks for checking.