submit
Pictura Journal will appear online in April, August, and December. We plan to release print editions when funds permit. Submissions are always open, and we’ll do our best to respond within three weeks. If you don’t hear back from us within that period, please feel free to follow up. We offer a token payment of $5 per contributor, paid through Paypal (preferred), Cash App, or Venmo upon publication. We’ll do our best to find alternate means of payment if necessary, but we can’t make any guarantees. The small payment amount isn’t reflective of the quality of contributor work—it’s just what we can afford with our current funding.
We’re currently reading for our April issue, beginning with work submitted on November 4.
guidelines
What We’re Looking For
We love concrete images and work grounded in a strong sense of place. “Night Walk” by Franz Wright, “Michiko Dead” by Jack Gilbert, “The Orange” by Wendy Cope, and “What the Living Do” by Marie Howe are some of our favorite poems. Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl”, and “Olga” by Lidia Yuknavitch are good examples of the kinds of prose we enjoy.
The Basics
We currently accept previously published work, as long as you let us know where it originally appeared. We encourage simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw any pieces that are accepted elsewhere. Submissions in multiple genres are also accepted.
We will never publish anything that could reasonably be deemed offensive, including work containing graphic violence or abusive behavior, or themes and language expressing hatred for any marginalized identity. If you’re uncomfortable with your work appearing in an inclusive publication, we’re not the place for you.
We accept international submissions, but written work must be in English.
Please don’t submit if you’re under 18 years of age.
Do not send us anything generated by AI, or any work depicting graphic nudity or violence.
Include a brief third-person bio with each submission. Cover letters are welcome but optional. Do not put your name or identifying information anywhere within the document itself. If we accept your work, please wait four months after publication to submit again. If we decline your submission, you may submit different pieces after four months.
Upon acceptance, creators of unpublished work grant Pictura Journal exclusive first serial rights and the right to archive that work online. If your submission has already been published elsewhere, you agree to grant us reprint and archival rights.
All accepted work may be included in a print edition or nominated for prizes when possible unless the contributor directs us otherwise.
the specifics
We are now accepting submissions through Duosuma. If for some reason you can’t or would prefer not to use the submission manager, send your work as an attachment to submit@picturajournal.com and include a bio in the body of the email.
Poetry
Send up to five poems in one document. We prefer free verse, each poem no more than two pages long, and can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to replicate any special visual structure.
Prose
Send one or two pieces of fiction or creative nonfiction, each no longer than 1,500 words. Excerpts of longer works are fine, but they must make sense on their own.
Artwork
Send up to three pieces of visual art, in the highest resolution possible.
Feedback and Expedited Responses
Submissions are always free, but a donation of at least $3 will guarantee a response within three days. For $6, we’ll provide feedback on your submission. You’ll see an option to provide a payment on the submission form. Feedback is not available for art submissions.
We’re no longer offering expedited feedback, but we hope to be able to soon.
