Submissions

Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing publishes two digital issues per year, in spring and fall. We publish work by both emerging and established writers.

Compose accepts

• fiction
• poetry
• creative nonfiction
• articles on the craft of writing—both practical and inspirational
• interviews with established writers, literary agents, editors, etc.
• excerpts from traditionally published book-length works
• photography and artwork

Reading Periods

We read submissions year-round and accept work via Submittable only (except for features—see below).

Simultaneous Submissions

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please immediately withdraw your submission directly within Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere. To withdraw a portion of a poetry submission or a flash fiction submission, log in to your Submittable account, click on your submission, and add a note under the "Activity" tab.

Definition of Previously Unpublished

Our definition of "previously unpublished" is that the piece has not appeared anywhere in print or online, at any time. This includes blogs and publicly accessible forums. Excerpts from traditionally published books should not have been previously published online.

Republishing the Same Author

Our policy is to not publish work by the same author in consecutive issues. If you have been published in Compose, please refrain from submitting further work until at least one issue has passed since your piece was published.

Author Rights

In all cases, we ask for the right to display and archive work in multiple electronic formats such as on our website, and in PDF and .epub formats. All rights revert back to the author upon publication. If we are the first to publish your work, we very much appreciate any reprints acknowledging that the piece was first published in Compose.

For poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and features, we acquire First Rights to the work (i.e. the piece must not have been previously published in print or online).

For excerpts from traditionally published books, we acquire First Internet Rights (i.e. the excerpt in question has never before been published on the Internet.)

For artwork, we acquire Non-Exclusive Electronic Rights (i.e. the work may be previously published elsewhere, in print or online).

We cannot honour requests to remove work from our journal once it has been published.

Response Times

We will respond to submissions as quickly as possible. If you don't receive a response within sixteen weeks, please contact us.

Payment

At this time we are unable to pay our contributors. We are a free publication that charges no submission fees, and all of our editors are volunteers.

Manuscript Guidelines

Our preferred manuscript format is as follows:

• double-spaced (except for poetry)
• 12-point Times New Roman font
• name and contact information on the first page
• word count on first page (except for poetry)
• brief cover letter in the box provided in Submittable
• attachments should be in doc, docx, pdf, odt, txt, or rtf formats

Fiction

Please submit one previously unpublished piece of fiction, up to three pieces of micro/flash fiction (all in one document), or an excerpt from a traditionally published novel or collection of short stories. Excerpts must not have been previously published online. Fiction submissions should not exceed 4500 words. Submit fiction here.

To withdraw a portion of your submission, log in to your Submittable account, click on your submission, and add a note under the "Activity" tab. To withdraw the entire submission, click "Withdraw".

Poetry

Please submit up to six previously unpublished poems, all in one document. Submit poetry here.

Note: There are some limitations in formatting poetry for the Web. Lines of poetry must be no longer than 75 characters (including spaces), and we may not be able to accommodate certain types of formatting. However, we will discuss this with you if we foresee a problem.

To withdraw a portion of your submission, log in to your Submittable account, click on your submission, and add a note under the "Activity" tab. To withdraw the entire submission, click "Withdraw".

Creative Nonfiction

Please submit one previously unpublished piece of creative nonfiction or an excerpt from a traditionally published book-length work of creative nonfiction. Excerpts must not have been previously published online. Creative nonfiction submissions should not exceed 4500 words. Submit creative nonfiction here.

Submissions can be withdrawn directly in Submittable.

Features

Please submit queries for interviews, feature articles, or craft essays directly to our managing editor, Suzannah Windsor, at editor@composejournal.com.

Photography/Artwork

Please send five high-resolution .jpg or .png files of artwork all in one submission. Materials may have been previously published in print or online. Submit photography/artwork here.

To withdraw a portion of your submission, log in to your Submittable account, click on your submission, and add a note under the "Activity" tab. To withdraw the entire submission, click "Withdraw".

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Compose. We look forward to reading your work!

Submit to Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing

N.B. The views and opinions expressed by contributors to this journal are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors.