Submission Guidelines for Writers & Artists

Regular submissions for New Letters:  Writing, Art, Reviews

(click here for contest guidelines)

 WRITERS' GUIDELINES

     Thank you for your interest in New Letters.  We strongly urge potential contributors to read one or more issues of New Letters before submitting work.  A sample copy of a recent issue can be ordered for $10 each, ppd; a one-year subscription (4 issues) normally costs $22.  Writers who submit writing to us receive discounted subscription rates, which are available in advance if
you contact us.

We seek many kinds of writing:  Regardless of subject, style, or genre, our overriding concern is literary excellence.   

      • We prefer that you send no more than six poems, one
      piece of nonfiction or one short story per submission.

      • We publish personal essays and are open, as well, to
      critical discourses about writing, art, or culture, as long as
      that writing is, in itself, lively, fresh, and vivid.  We are not

interested in footnoted, “scholarly” articles, or anything that 
uses the word “privilege” as a verb. 

• A rough average length for prose is 3,000 to 5,000 words.

• We discourage multiple submissions but appreciate being
told if you are simultaneously submitting your work to us another magazines; we expect to be notified immediately if the work you have sent to us has been accepted for publication elsewhere.

• Format notes: 

     a) We do not read e-mail submissions, nor do we respond to your submissions by e-mail. 

     b) We do not read double-sided hard copies. 

     c) Please give us generous margins (consider 1.5-inch side margins for prose).

     d) We encourage writers to create emphasis through word choice, placement, syntax and
         sentence pacing, instead of overuse of exclamation marks.

• We have no rigid preferences as to subject, style or genre, although formulaic “commercial” efforts tend to put us off.  Even so, our only fixed requirement is good writing.

• We are unlikely to publish poems about poetry.

• We require a self-addressed, stamped, #10 envelope if you want notification of our decision only; if you want your entire manuscript returned, please send an appropriately sized envelope with sufficient postage.

• Like most literary magazines, our staff is small, and the volume of submissions is large, so please be patient.  Do not query us until five months have passed.

• We do not read unsolicited submissions that arrive between May 1st and October 1st.  Sample copies of a recent issue are available from this office for $10.00 ppd.  We wish you much success with your writing.
 

ARTISTS' GUIDELINES

New Letters publishes photographs, drawings, paintings, and even, at times, photographs of three-dimensional work.  Although placement in the magazine creates a resonance with a particular piece of writing, we generally do not use art to "illustrate" the writing.  Art in New Letters is there for its own sake.

We have two principle standards for selecting art:  It is fresh, interesting, high-quality work; it will effectively reproduce on the pages of this magazine.
 

• We have no preferences for subject matter or style.  We evaluate each work of art on its own terms.

• Artwork in the magazine could be published in black and white or full color. Color art can be, and often is, published in New Letters in black and white -- as long as there is enough contrast and delineation of detail in the work.

• We cannot consider slides.  Send photographic prints, any convenient size.  Sometimes, with line drawings or collages, high-quality photocopies work well for initial consideration.

• Include a return envelope with sufficient postage for the return of the work.

• There is a small payment for work after publication.  The amount varies, depending on grants.

• We usually respond within three to four weeks.

• Sample copies of a recent issue are available from this office for $10.00 ppd.