Submissions – New Letters

General Submissions

New Letters reads submissions all year long. We only accept work submitted through Submittable, our online submission manager. There is a small fee for submissions, though fees are waived for current subscribers. You may subscribe to the magazine here.

Please send no more than six poems, one chapbook, one piece of nonfiction, one short story (graphic or traditional), or one novella per submission.
Send one submission at a time.
Put your name, postal address and email address at the top of the first page of the submission.
We generally publish short stories that are no more than 5,000 words; novellas that are no more than 30,000 words or roughly 60 pages; graphic short stories in comic spreads up to ten pages and in color or black and white; and chapbooks that are no longer than 30 pages.
We consider simultaneous submissions if you (a) let us know and (b) notify us immediately if the work you sent to us has been accepted for publication elsewhere.
Like most literary magazines, our staff is small and the volume of submissions large; please be patient. We make every effort to respond to submissions within six months.

Contest Submissions

To enter one of New Letters annual contest, click the appropriate link below:

The New Letters Literary Awards (Deadline: May 19, 2025)

The $1,000 New Letters Editor’s Choice Award (Deadline: Nov. 10, 2025)

Book Review Guidelines

New Letters is primarily—but not exclusively—interested in reviewing excellent books (even movies and visual art) otherwise not receiving much attention in the national media. We also like books that have something important to say about culture, politics, aesthetics, or any kind of art; that includes scholarly, critical, or biographical books that could find a non-specialized readership.

A single-book review will run 500 to 900 words, usually; essay-reviews of groups of books run longer. The review should merit its length.
If you have a potential conflict of interest, you should mention that connection in the review.
Negative appraisals can be included as part of reviews; however, if the review is substantially negative, we prefer simply to ignore the book.
New Letters pays, typically, $25 for book reviews; payment is not guaranteed but made as resources allow.

Artist Guidelines

New Letters publishes photographs, drawings, paintings and even, at times, photographs of three-dimensional work. Although placement in the magazine sometimes 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 principal standards for selecting art: Is it fresh, interesting, high-quality work; will it effectively reproduce on the pages of this magazine?

Please note these criteria and suggestions:

We have no preferences for subject matter or style. We evaluate each work of art on its own terms, based on how it will serve the needs of the magazine.
Send professional resume information and one or two (at most) sample works of art. Do not send art without professional background information.
Send sample low-res images by email to NewLetters@umkc.edu, or direct us to a website where we can view your work.
There is a small payment for work after publication. The amount varies, depending on grant revenue.
We usually respond within three or four weeks.

Format & Style Tips

Our only fixed requirement is good writing, and we have no rigid preferences as to subject, style, or genre.
We are open to critical discourses about writing, art, or culture, as long as that writing is, in itself, lively, fresh, and vivid.
We do not read unsolicited email submissions, nor do we respond to such submissions by email.
Double space prose.
We suggest generous margins (consider 1.5-inch side margins for prose and at least that for poems).

Rights & Payment

We buy first North-American serial rights. All rights revert to the author upon publication. New Letters is among a group of literary magazines that actually pay writers & artists, albeit modestly. Payment to contributors also includes two copies of the issue and 50 percent discounts for additional copies and subscriptions.