Submit to Subtropics

Subtropics seeks to publish the best literary fiction, essays, and poetry being written today, both by established and emerging authors. We will consider works of fiction of any length, from short shorts to novellas and self-contained novel excerpts. We give the same latitude to essays. We appreciate work in translation and, from time to time, republish important and compelling stories, essays, and poems that have lapsed out of print.

For stories and essays, Subtropics pays a flat fee of $1,000 ($500 for a short short) for North American first serial rights. Poets are paid $100 per poem. Subtropics pays upon acceptance for prose; for poetry, we pay after the publication of the issue preceding the one in which the author’s work will appear.

Direct fiction submissions to David Leavitt, essays to David Leavitt or Mark Mitchell, and poetry to Sidney Wade.

Submit in hard copy by mail. Include a short cover letter with your contact information. Please include your contact information on the submission as well. We respond exclusively by e-mail. Manuscripts cannot be returned under any circumstances.

We do not accept simultaneous submissions in poetry. While we will accept simultaneous submissions in fiction, please note, when making your submission, that we respond much faster than do most journals.

Please read an issue of the magazine before you send us your work in order to get a feel for the kind of writing we publish. You’ll see that we don’t publish science fiction, fantasy, genre fiction, or anything with talking animals.

Submissions are accepted from August 31st to May 1st.

Some Thoughts from the Editors

• We ask that you submit only one story at a time, and wait until you have heard from us before sending more. Once you have received a reply from us, please wait at least one month before sending another submission.
• Please send no more than five poems in any one batch.
• We try to respond as quickly as possible to submissions, and for this reason are not able to write personal replies.
• A preponderance of the stories coming our way are written in first-person present tense; we are starting to grow weary of this perspective. Please keep this in mind.
• We are skeptical of the second person, though willing to be persuaded.
• More thoughts to come as they occur to us.

Thank you for your interest in Subtropics.

Subtropics
P.O. Box 112075
4008 Turlington Hall
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-2075

In the Swamp (detail), Charles E. Burchfield, 1917