Submissions are now open until January 13, 2018. 

Scintilla accepts simultaneous submissions of original, unpublished work. Our response time varies, but writers should hear from us within 4-6 weeks. In order to track and manage our submissions, we only accept work submitted through Submittable. There are no reading fees for submitting your work; and, unfortunately we are unable to pay writers for published work.

On the top of the first page, please include your name, address, telephone number, and email address. An optional biographical note may be included with submissions, and will be asked for upon publication. Manuscripts should be saved as either doc or rtf.

Please follow the guidelines for prose and poetry.

Editorial Vision

For fiction, we're looking for stories that draw us in and make us forget about our surroundings for a moment. Is your story captivating? Is it original? We want to read stories we haven't seen before. Take a risk. Explore the margins.

In regard to nonfiction, we're interested in both personal and topical essays. If you have a story to tell about someone or yourself, then send it in. If you've written an interesting essay about prisons in the United States or the lumber industry (and you aren't Annie Proulx), we want to read that too.

Finally, we're interested in both experimental and more conventional poetry. If your poem creates an emotional response in a reader, please submit it. Poems are windows through which we see one another. 

If you're unsure whether or not your work is a good fit for Scintilla, please read some previous issues. Spend time with those writers whose work we've published. Seek out their poems and prose in other venues, then reflect on what to do.

One way we differentiate ourselves from other publishers, is that we try to provide some feedback if we don't accept a piece for publication. It doesn't always happen, but we try. Why? Because, we're all writers. It sucks to get a flat rejection. Revising is difficult. Having a few points from which to proceed helps in the writing process. Scintilla is a platform for a community of writers.