SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. WE WILL REOPEN AGAIN AFTER THE NEW YEAR IN 2023. LOOK FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON OUR TWITTER PAGE.
GENERAL SUBMISSIONS ARE FREE.
If you are looking for information regarding our Story Prize and anthology competition, please go to our anthology page, which can be found here: https://www.janusliterary.com/anthology/.
***Please closely and carefully read all of the information that follows before submitting your work. Doing so will prevent your work from being declined for not following the guidelines. **
GUIDELINES/RULES
As of December 2021 and until further notice, there will be a cap on the number of submissions we will accept. The cap number will be announced on Twitter. Please check our account for details: https://twitter.com/JanusLiterary.
Unless otherwise noted, during general submission calls we accept:
fiction and creative nonfiction micros of 50 – 250 words (maximum of ONE) (please indicate in your submission email if your piece is fiction or CNF)
flash fiction and creative nonfiction of 251-700 words (maximum of ONE) (please indicate in your submission email if your piece is fiction or CNF)
poems up to 60 lines (maximum of ONE). (please indicate in your submission email if your piece is a poem or a piece of fiction/CNF)
Please do not mix submission types. i.e. your submission should be only micros or only flash fiction or only poetry. For example, please do not send us a micro and a poem together or a flash fiction and a micro. Pick one form and stick with that. ONE submission per submitter.
If your work has been accepted and published by us, please allow two general submission cycles to pass before submitting again. This is to allow for a variety of voices and styles.
Please read previous issues to get a feel for what we look for, but we are open to most possibilities. The editors have a wide variety of tastes and affinities. Sorry, no children’s lit or erotica.
The most important thing is that your piece shows mastery of craft, whether it be a micro, flash, or poem. How you, the writer, manage to do that, in a way that sets your work apart from so many others, is what matters.
Submissions should be previously unpublished (never published in print or online, including a personal blog) and in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format ONLY. We do not accept audio or video files, unless solicited by the editors for Editor’s Showcase.
Submissions should be in a legible 12pt font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. Please put a word count in the header for micro and flash and a line count in the header for poetry.
Your file name should be the title of your story or poem, not ‘Janus submission’ or ‘Januspoem’ or similar.
In most instances, entries will be read blind. Your name SHOULD NOT appear anywhere on the document or in your file name or your story or poem will not be considered. Sometimes we will run surprise submission calls, where entries must be submitted within a specified timeframe in a 24-hour period. In those cases, we won’t always read blind. We will be clear about that on our Twitter page at the time of the submission call.
Our submissions are open to all writers of all identities, 18 years of age and older. You need not have been previously published.
We don’t mind gritty literature, but PLEASE no racism, sexism, homophobia or religious hatred. If sex factors into your story in any way, it must be relevant to the story. No rape, incest, pedophilia, bestiality, or necrophilia glorification.
Authors will retain all rights and copyright to their works. Janus Literary requests one-time, non-exclusive rights to publish your work. If you should ever desire to withdraw a published piece from Janus, please notify us in writing at: januslitsubmission at gmail dot com and your request will be respectfully honored.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us immediately if your story has been accepted elsewhere.
**IMPORTANT: If your submission is accepted, we reserve the right to make *minor,* *gentle* edits for spelling, grammar. Any other suggested gentle edits for clarity will be run by the writer first. We will never make or suggest edits that would radically change the voice of your piece. This is your writing, your voice, but even the best writers have editors who suggest minor tweaks to make a piece stronger. We treat this as a dialogue, not as a dictatorship.
International submissions welcome. All work must be in English.
We are not currently a paying venue. We hope that may change in the future.
PLEASE ALLOW 2 TO 3 MONTHS FOR A RESPONSE FROM US AS TO WHETHER OR NOT YOUR PIECE HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. WE NOTIFY ALL SUBMITTERS BY EMAIL. WE WILL NEVER NOT RESPOND TO YOU. WE RESPECT THE TIME AND CARE YOU TOOK TO WRITE SOMETHING AND THE VULNERABILITY CONNECTED TO SUBMITTING.
Thank you for your interest in our literary journal. If you submit your work to us, we will treat it with care.
As of July 2021, our publication schedule has changed. The new schedule, unless otherwise stated, is as follows:
March
June
September
December
SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:
Submissions are made via email. Please send your work as an attachment (in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format) to this email address: januslitsubmission at gmail dot com. SENDING YOUR WORK TO THE PROPER EMAIL ADDRESS ENSURES IT REMAINS BLIND TO THE EDITORS. If you send it to the wrong email address (i.e. our main email address: janusliterary fic at gmail dot com), your work will be automatically declined and unread. Do double-check that you are using the correct email address.
Before submitting, please familiarize yourself with all guidelines/rules and the privacy policy. Submitting your work to Janus Literary is taken as your full agreement with these guidelines/rules.
