Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in publishing with Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things.

We are launching a special summer submission call from June 1 to July 1, 2023.

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 do offer feedback, our response rate is usually 5 months after submitting. Please do not email us requesting updates on the status of your submission until after that wait period.

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 rejected without comment.

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.