Submissions – Closed for the Foreseeable Future

Submissions to Lonesome October Lit are now closed for our indefinite hiatus.

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT.

Thank you so much to everyone who has shared their work with us over the past 14 months.

We will cease publication on 31st December 2018, and our site will remain a mausoleum of spooky stunning, gory gorgeous poetry and fiction.

We welcome submissions of poetry (any length – within reason) and short stories (from micro fiction up to 2,000 words). Please follow our guidelines carefully or your submission could be rejected without being read.

• Send up to 5 poems or up to 3 pieces of fiction, or a reasonable combination of the two.
• Send all of your pieces in one single document (preferably as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf) or in the body of an email. PLEASE DO NOT SEND PDFs. I won’t consider them.
• Previously published work is fine but please, please let me know where it first appeared so I can credit them.
• Please NO simultaneous submissions. We accepted them for our first year, but they are beginning to cause problems when people don’t withdraw their work, either from us, or from other magazines. I have four journals, five kids, and have now sadly run out of patience where this is concerned. I do respond in 10-14 days max anyway, usually much faster (sometimes you will get a reply in 0-12 hours), so that isn’t a very long wait, really. Thank you for understanding!
• Please make sure your story has a plot and/or your poem has a point to it. Lengthy descriptions of torture or gore with no real motivation aren’t stories (in my opinion, anyway).
• Please send submissions addressed to Kate at lonesomeoctoberlit@gmail.com
• Please do say hello in a short email greeting, and send a small bio of 100 words or under with your work. Please do not send long CV-style covering letters of writing credits and awards. I’m interested in the work you are sending me, not what’s been published elsewhere.
• I am unfortunately unable to pay for accepted work. This is a free-to-read publication with no income or funding.
• If I decline your submission and tell you to try again – DO TRY AGAIN. I don’t say this to everyone and it isn’t blowing smoke up your bum. It means those pieces weren’t right, but something else might be.
• I look forward to reading your work!