Ninth Letter Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in submitting to Ninth Letter. We look forward to reading your work. Please see below for current open calls for submissions and specific guidelines for each project. 

Ninth Letter Print Edition Submissions

Ninth Letter is published semi-annually in print at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are interested in prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work. 

We do not accept previously published work, including self-published work on websites, blogs, etc. Simultaneous submissions are welcome! Please send a message withdrawing your poem(s) or flash piece(s) immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Please only send only one submission per genre at a time. We ask that previous contributors wait three years from your publication date before submitting again. 

We accept electronic submissions via Submittable. We do not accept submissions by email attachment. Email submissions will not be read.

To see what we publish, you can purchase our current issue or a subscription via Submittable. All issues (including back issues) can be purchased here. 

General Print Submission Guidelines

Submission Period: 

Ninth Letter accepts submissions to our print issues between Sept. 1 - Feb. 28. 

For poetry, please submit 3-5 poems (max. 8 pages) at a time.

For fiction and creative nonfiction, submit one story or essay up to 8,000 words at a time. For flash, you may submit up to 3 pieces with a total word count totaling no more than 4,000 words.

If you classify your work as "hybrid," please submit to the genre category you feel your submission most closely applies. You are welcome to leave a note in the cover letter field with any details you think our reading team would find helpful. We will make sure your submission gets to the right team and receives the attention and consideration it deserves. 

Submission Fee:

We charge a $3 reading fee. Fees are waived from December 1-31 or until we hit our cap of 300 submissions per genre.

Fee Waivers:

A limited number of fee waivers are available for writers for whom the submission fee would present undue financial hardship. Please send a short email to ninthletter9@gmail.com to request a fee waiver. No proof of income or other sensitive information is required.

Publication Terms & Payment:

Ninth Letter pays $25 per poem and $100 per piece of prose upon publication and two complementary copies of the issue in which the work appears. Contributors also receive an exclusive subscription discount offer at the time of acceptance. Ninth Letter acquires First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). We ask that you acknowledge Ninth Letter upon reprint of your work.

Response Time:

We strive to respond to your submission within six months. Please wait until that time has elapsed before querying about the status of your submission.

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Web Edition Submissions

Ninth Letter accepts submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for our web issues to be published at ninthletter.com. Submissions are open from September 1 to November 1 and February 1 to April 1 .

Web Edition Theme: Manifest

The theme for this issue is manifest. How phony is the magic trick that ends with something real? Some would have us believe that to quell our helplessness in the face of persistent global uncertainty, we need not fall prey to anxiety and our other self-soothing mechanisms masquerading as control. No, we need simply to manifest—what we will, we will to become, and we will become what we will to become, which helpfully eliminates the cumbersome sorting of cause, effect, and general accountability. It all seems a bit abstract.

We at Ninth Letter value positive thinking of course, but wish, with this issue, to bring us back down to Earth. For writers, to manifest gainfully requires not just will, but expert application of our trustiest of tools—concreteness, detail, specificity, and, their building block, the image. And so, for this issue, we invite you to return to our shared fundamentals: Manifest something real, out of words, using these tools. Show, don’t tell: Hold the rabbit by the ears, even though the hat was empty. Make us believe, in spite of ourselves. Send us your work!

General Guidelines: 

You may submit up to three poems (no more than 10 pages) or one piece of short prose of up to 3500 words; please also include a cover letter that briefly explains how you see your work connecting to the theme. Note: work submitted without this information may be withdrawn. See genre categories for more details. 

We only accept submissions for web editions via Submittable. Submissions sent via snail mail will not be considered for web editions. Email submissions are not accepted and will not be read. 

Unless otherwise requested, please submit only once per reading period. We do not accept submissions of previously published work (including work published on personal blogs or social media sites). Please do not send multiple submissions within the same genre. 

Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please withdraw any work accepted by another publication. 

Formatting Note: 

Our website does not allow justified text. Work with fully justified text blocks will not be considered for publication. 

Publication Terms and Payment: 

Authors whose work is selected for the web issue will be offered payment of $25 per poem or $75 per piece of prose, plus an exclusive discount for a one-year print subscription. 

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