Submission guidelines
LFLM is a quarterly, no fee/no payment publication. Our issues are released online and in PDF on the last day of each quarter. Little Free Lit Mag looks for submissions from writers who value the same spirit of generosity, accessibility and inclusivity that these shared libraries do. We seek work from and about a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. We look for writing that is accessible/enjoyable by a broad audience. We are not looking for anything in particular in terms of form or style, other than our commitment to publishing short form works (like poetry, flash fiction, tiny essays, etc.). These libraries are tiny, and we’re tiny, and we’re eager to showcase all kinds of tiny work.
Please submit your work to [email protected]
Thank you for trusting us with your work!
We are open for submissions the first month of each quarter, and each issue publishes in the last month of the quarter. Submissions are open in July, October, January, April, from the first day of each month to the last.
- We welcome work on any subject, including and beyond works celebrating reading, libraries, and books.
- New and established writers are welcome. 18 years or older, please.
- Simultaneous submissions are expected and welcome. Please email [email protected] with WITHDRAW as the subject line to let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- All material must be original (written by yourself, and without the use of AI). It cannot have appeared in another publication. This includes social media and personal blogs.
- We request that work that is “after” another author not only attribute the name of the writer they are responding to, but the title of the original piece as well. Additionally, if a submitted work quotes lines from another piece, we ask that the source text be properly attributed as an endnote.
- Please include any appropriate content warnings or trigger warnings in both your cover letter and in the document with the work you’re submitting.
- We will always reject submissions with racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, classist, religious hatred or otherwise bigoted content. We will not publish work like this, and we do not want to read it.
Length: Your submission can be poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or somewhere in between. We welcome hybrid pieces, so long as they abide by the 350 word limit.
- Poetry: Please send us three to five of your poems (24 lines max for each poem.) Prose poems should be under 350 words each.
- Visual poetry: Please send us three to five pieces, which can include photographs and photographs of three-dimensional pieces. The images need to be as high-quality as you’re able to send.
- Prose: Please send up to three pieces, no longer than 350 words each.
- Please submit only once per submission period.
Format: Please submit all pieces in a single Word document. Please reach out if your piece has special formatting which must be preserved, and you prefer to use a PDF. (Visual poetry, collage and other forms which rely on image may appear only as an online exclusive, because of the constraints in publishing the PDF issue in booklet size and black and white.)
- Email your submission to [email protected] with the word “Submission” in the subject.
- In the body of your email (instead of a cover letter):
- Please list the titles of each of your pieces in the body of your email.
- Please include a short bio using your name, written in 3rd person of no more than 50 words.
- Please do not put your name anywhere in your submission or in the file name. *This helps us read without bias as much as possible.
- Please also include an originality statement in your cover letter that affirms the work is your own, and that AI was not used in its creation.
If you do not hear from us after 3 months have passed, please send a query to [email protected]. Include the season you submitted your work in the subject line. Ex “query Fall issue.” Our managing editor, Gregory Luce, will be happy to assist.
We’re fully volunteer staffed, and like the little free libraries, our hard work is freely given. While we can’t offer a payment, we’re so grateful for the chance to publish your work. LFLM will be nominating for Best of the Net, Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfiction each year.
RIGHTS: We ask for first North American Serial rights. LFLM will archive all published pieces online at LittleFreeLitMag.com and in a print version of the magazine, available to download. All rights revert to the writer after work is first published online. Please acknowledge Little Free Lit Mag in any future publications (congratulations!) of your accepted poems.
