submit

Pictura Journal will appear online in April, August, and December. We hope to release a print anthology every other year with content pulled from all published work. 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 inquire by email. We offer a token payment of at least $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.

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’ll always encourage simultaneous submissions, but please email hello@picturajournal.com to 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 cover letter and brief third-person bio with each submission. 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Upon acceptance, creators of unpublished work grant Pictura Journal exclusive first serial rights and the right to archive that work online.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 future print anthology or nominated for prizes when possible, unless the contributor directs us otherwise.

the specifics

Upload all submissions using the form linked below. If for some reason you can’t or would prefer not to use the form, send your work as an attachment to submit@picturajournal.com and include a bio and cover letter 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 $5.50, we’ll provide feedback on your submission. Feedback is not currently available for art submissions. Use this link to pay, and note that you did so on the submission form.

We’ll be offering expedited feedback from September 1 – 14 for $8.50. The turnaround time for these submissions will be five days.