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A strange word – submission – implying giving oneself over to the dominance of another, to a more worthy and powerful entity. True, that’s what Jonah the prophet did, after some initial rebellion, before finally acquiescing, but not what you, the author is doing here. We use the word, because it’s recognized in the publishing world as the term for tentatively holding forward your work, to be dissected and evaluated by editors before possibly being deemed worthy of their approval, but we hesitate somewhat with that definition and are searching for another more meaningful and egalitarian term. In the meantime, we use it, without all its baggage, as we have yet to find one more suited. So here we are.

SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES

Please read the points below before sending us your work.

The essentials up front:

Our submissions address is jonahmagazine@gmail.com.

Submissions must be in English.

JONAHmagazine is published twice yearly, on or about JANUARY 15 and JULY 15, unless the Apocalypse or an enormous solar mass ejection occurs, in which case we expect to be temporarily off-line. Our imminent next issue is our 23rd. The deadline for submissions for each edition is 3 months before the publication date, i.e. OCTOBER 15, and APRIL 15. Any work submitted past the deadline is added to the group of submissions for the edition which follows.

Include your name (see identifying yourself below), email address, the genre(s) (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, and so on, and there are plenty of so–ons), and a brief bio of no more than 75 words, (unless you’re James Joyce, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, or Margaret Atwood, in which case there is no limit.) Only living writers may apply, which allows for Margaret Atwood, but none of the others mentioned above.

Your writing should be in the spirit of our Mission Statement, found on JONAH’S VOYAGE page. Please read it. We accept original, previously unpublished work in the English language (whatever that is), specifically fiction, poetry, memoir, essay, and non-fiction. 

****Copyright remains with the author or artist. If we publish something you wrote, you can do whatever you want with it, although we appreciate your mentioning that it was first seen in JONAHmagazine.

Translations of prose into English of high quality may occasionally be accepted. However, no poetry translations from another language into English are accepted.

You don’t pay anything. We don’t pay anything.

The fine print:

For any upcoming edition, include a maximum of 1 prose piece, (maximum 2500 words, please) and/or 3 poems in WORD (PC format) or PAGES (Apple format) as email attachments. Written material exceeding these limits will be ignored. Submissions in other formats are difficult to transfer into something we can read and edit, and after trying to do that, we may give up and reject it. If your submission is accepted elsewhere, kindly let us know as soon as you hear, before we’re in the embarrassing position of accepting your work and then being told that it’s no longer available.

No-nos:

We don’t accept music or sound submissions. Very long poems are discouraged. If there is an illustration that accompanies your written submission, it may be accepted for inclusion, but not always.

Submit only once per edition– we’re easily confused. If your work is accepted, you will be notified by email several weeks before publication. If accepted somewhere else, let us know as soon as you can. We’re not the jealous type, so we won’t hold it against you.

Identifying yourself:

Pseudonyms (noms de plume, aliases, nicknames) are acceptable for labelling in the publication, but we need to know who you really are. If you want to use a pseudonym or other alias, be clear which name is yours and which is the pseudonym. We need the actual name of a real human in your submission. If your personal name and surname are ordered differently from the usual western fashion (personal name first, followed by middle name(s), if any, and then by your family name), please make this clear so that your name is displayed and indexed properly. Using only initials for personal or middle parts of your name is quite acceptable.

Only humans may submit their work. If you are a robot, a plant, a non-hominid, a form of artificial intelligence, a deity, or from another planet, galaxy, or universe, or a monkey or other creature randomly typing on a keyboard, your work will not be accepted.

Friendly stuff:

If not accepted, don’t despair or feel intimidated. Submit the best writing you can. We are on your side (usually), trying to publish work of high quality, and your next submission might be exactly what we’re looking for. We don’t hold onto old submissions for possible inclusion in future editions. If your work hasn’t been accepted, then assume the worst. We try to send out rejection (we really hate that word) letters, but sometimes we’re overwhelmed and don’t.

Please be patient with us. If you submit early, be prepared to wait until close to the publication date for our acceptance letter. We like to judge all submissions in more or less the same time frame so that judging will be fair and based on valid comparisons.

Authors may include a drawing, painting, sketch or photograph (in pdf format) with their written material if they prefer, but it should be in what conventionally is called “good taste,” interpreted somewhat loosely, although exceptions can be made in the name of art. We won’t necessarily use it, though.

Now get to work and write your masterpiece!