We accept submissions from anywhere in the world.

No fees for submission.

The theme for this issue is Intimacy and Estrangement.

Written Guidelines:

• We accept submissions in DOC, DOCX, and RTF formats.
• For poetry, up to three poems, one per page
• Essays and short stories should be 500-2000 words.

Include a 50-100 word bio written in the third person with your submission.

Copyright and publication specifications: First Serial Rights

Theme: Fire & Ice

Flora Fiction is looking for artists, writers, poets, photographers, illustrators, and others to be featured for Volume 2 Issue 4, December 2021 online literary magazine set to release on December 21st, 2021.

We’re inspired by you and would love to see what you have to offer. Please check out our previous issues for reference of work we’ve published. If your style and content fits with us, send away!

Fire & Ice encompasses the duality of winter symbolism. Winter is stark. It brings the death of nature around us as the darkness of night consumes waking hours. We find ourselves eating and sleeping more, matching animal habits to find comfort.

And yet, this is the time of year where people come together and find warmth in gratitude and inspiration to change. We share stories by the fire and gifts from the heart. What does being "cold" this winter mean to you?
How do you find your warmth?

Guidelines

Formatting your work for submission is what allows your writing to be readable. If your material isn’t formatted correctly, it can be difficult to read, and when editors are faced with dozens of content to sift through, you may not stand out in the way you want to. Here, we’re specifically speaking about Poetry and Short Story submissions.

Preferred file type

Microsoft Word will always be the best way to submit. We’re talking documents with the extension .doc or .docx. PDF format is acceptable but may not translate to edit and publication as well. Avoid sending anything in Pages or TXT format.

File Name

This is so simple, yet many people often overlook. Unless specifically stated otherwise, always include your name as the author and the name of the work you are submitting, separating your name and the name of the work with a comma. For example, your file name should look like, “Jane Doe, Titled Work.” Do not CAPS your file name, it’s unnecessary.

Header & Footer

In your Microsoft Word program, under “Header & Footer” check the box, “Different on First Page” before you do anything. Align your text to the left, and include the following: your name, title of your work, what you’re submitting for, and the date. Next, close the header. Align text to the right and add the word count. On the second page of your submission (if there is one) include your last name, name of work, and page number in the top right corner.

Font & Spacing

12 pt, Times New Roman is the accepted standard. Courier New is still adequate, but no other font should be considered. Double space if you’re submitting Fiction. Single space if submitting poetry. If you’re submitting more than one piece make clear distinction to where and when each piece ends.

Content

The most important part of your submission. Avoid using frivolous spacing, font, or sizes. Stay within parameters. Spell check and read aloud. Too often do editors receive works that have incorrect capitalization, grammar, and misuse of punctuation.

Commonly found mistakes

• Emdash “—” or “–” is not the same as ” – ” the emdash is used informally as a comma, colon, parathesis, or to indicate missing parts of a word, or spaces. While the emdash is an effective form of punctuation, especially for emphasis, it is often overused in writing. Ideally, it should only be seen once, or twice in a piece of work, and substituted if a better form of punctuation suits the passage better.
• Ellipses “…” shows a trailing off of thought or formally, when material is quoted. This, too, should be used sparingly.
• Exclamation point “!” must be used in moderation. We’ve seen far too many stories and poems that has an exclamation point after every sentence. Use this as little as possible and substitute it for a simple period “.” at every available chance.
• Terms of dialogue. Always use a variation of “says.” Don’t try to embellish the conversation with other verbs such as “mumbles,” “murmurs,” “exacerbates,” “whispers,” etc. Let the dialogue literally speak for itself, and use an action instead. For example, “Don’t tell me what to do,” she says, raising her hand back behind her face for a smack.
• Word count. Always stay within the guidelines of preferred word count. Never go over.

Publication dates are early in the months of February, May, August and November, more or less (but for no particular reason) coinciding with the festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, Lugnasadh and Samhain.

The magazine does not operate a submissions window – we welcome at any time offers of up to six original & unpublished poems written in English from anyone. Accepted poems that ‘miss’ a given issue of the magazine are simply rolled on for the following issue.

Space on the Contributors’ page is at a premium so, if you wish to appear there, let your included bio note be succinct but tell readers something interesting about yourself, not just list magazines you’re in.

Although hard copy submissions are acceptable, we prefer to get your poems as a Word attachment. Please use single spacing, minimal formatting and Times New Roman 12 point, avoiding frames, columns and text boxes. RTF is good. We do not knowingly accept simultaneous submissions.

If sending work by post, please include a stamped self-addressed envelope big enough to take all the poems (C5 or larger), in the absence of which expect no reply unless your poems are absoLUTEly brilliant.

Our poetic likes and dislikes: the editors tend to favour work that may be unsure of itself but is willing to explore untried creative directions. Criteria include authenticity, humanity & the attempt to take off. Predictability, dogma and wordiness will almost always be rejected.
We prefer dreams to deathbeds, and please be didactic only if you are being ironic. In our view a poem is a sharing not of an opinion but of a perception.
Since we only publish poems we like, poets would be wise to look at a recent copy of OWP before offering us their work.

Neon publishes dozens of writers and artists each year – all from unsolicited submissions. If you’ve got something which might fit the magazine, please read the guidelines below to find out how to get it published.

Before sending work for publication…

The best possible thing you can do to increase your chances of being accepted is to read the magazine! This is easy to do: the print edition costs less than a sandwich and a coffee (and ships to anywhere in the world) and you can set your own price for the instant-download digital edition.

Not only will reading the magazine give you the clearest possible idea of Neon‘s aesthetic, but by subscribing, purchasing a copy or donating you’ll be supporting one of the UK’s longest-running independent literary magazines.

On top of that, anyone who supports the magazine in any of these ways will receive expedited responses to submissions, complete with editorial feedback. If that’s something you’d value, please consider supporting the magazine before making your submission.

What we’re looking for

We prefer darker pieces, especially those with an element of the surreal or speculative, but are open to anything and like to be surprised.

Images, comics, and graphic poems are also welcome, as are self-contained extracts. If you have any doubts about whether something is suitable, go ahead and send it anyway.

Themes

Alternate issues of the magazine are themed. The theme of the next themed issue will be:

Cuisine

Please note in your cover letter if you think your work relates to this theme. Unthemed submissions are always welcome. There is no deadline for themed submissions; when a themed issue is full this page will be updated and any extant themed submissions will be considered for an unthemed issue.

How to submit

• Include a covering letter
• Include a third-person bio (up to 100 words)
• Submissions are read by Krishan Coupland and Lee Mackenzie
• Up to 6 poems, 5,000 words of prose, 10 images
• Simultaneous submissions: okay
• Reprints: welcome
• One submission at a time, please

Send work to subs@neonmagazine.co.uk. Please add this email address to your whitelist or “safe sender” list. If you don’t, you may not receive a reply.

Please query if you have received no response after six months (expedited submissions can expect a response within six weeks).

Terms

We ask for non-exclusive, one-time, worldwide rights to publish your work in print and digital formats, and then to archive it indefinitely.

We pay on acceptance, via PayPal, at these rates:

Prose: 2p per word
Poetry: 20p per line
Photography: £5 per image
Comics: £5 per page

We consider submissions of poetry, prose, and art year-round. No affiliation to the US West Coast is necessary. Only previously unpublished writing will be considered for publication, but it is fine if art has been published elsewhere. We accept (and encourage!) simultaneous submissions, but please let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. 

Poetry Submissions
Please send up to seven (7) poems and include a cover letter and third-person bio in the body of the email. 
​
Here is a little more insight into what kind of poems we like.

Prose Submissions
Please send up to three (3) interviews, reviews, or prose poems/microflash (flash: under 500 words). Include a cover letter and bio in the body of the email. 

We believe writers should be paid for their labor. As such, we are happy to provide each writer with a small payment per each accepted poem/prose piece (paid via PayPal upon publication). We also, of course, promote all contributors, and we nominate for Best of the Net prizes.