Ninth Letter Print Edition Submissions
Ninth Letter is published semi-annually in print at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are interested in prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work.
We do not accept previously published work, including self-published work on websites, blogs, etc. Simultaneous submissions are welcome! Please send a message withdrawing your poem(s) or flash piece(s) immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Please only send only one submission per genre at a time. We ask that previous contributors wait three years from your publication date before submitting again.
We accept electronic submissions via Submittable. We do not accept submissions by email attachment. Email submissions will not be read.
To see what we publish, you can purchase our current issue or a subscription via Submittable. All issues (including back issues) can be purchased here.
General Print Submission Guidelines
Submission Period:
Ninth Letter accepts submissions to our print issues between Sept. 1 – Feb. 28.
Genre Guidelines:
For poetry, please submit 3-5 poems (max. 8 pages) at a time.
For fiction and creative nonfiction, submit one story or essay up to 8,000 words at a time. For flash, you may submit up to 3 pieces with a total word count totaling no more than 4,000 words.
If you classify your work as “hybrid,” please submit to the genre category you feel your submission most closely applies. You are welcome to leave a note in the cover letter field with any details you think our reading team would find helpful. We will make sure your submission gets to the right team and receives the attention and consideration it deserves.
Submission Fee:
We charge a $3 reading fee to pay for Submittable and to contribute to our author payments. Fees are waived from December 1-31 or until we hit our cap of 300 submissions per genre.
Fee Waivers:
A limited number of fee waivers are available for writers for whom the submission fee would present undue financial hardship. Please send a short email to ninthletter9@gmail.com to request a fee waiver. No proof of income or other sensitive information is required.
Publication Terms & Payment:
Ninth Letter pays $25 per poem and $100 for prose upon publication and two complimentary copies of the issue in which the work appears. Contributors also receive an exclusive subscription discount offer at the time of acceptance. Ninth Letter acquires First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). We ask that you acknowledge Ninth Letter upon reprint of your work.
Response Time:
We strive to respond to your submission within six months. Please wait until that time has elapsed before querying about the status of your submission.
Web Edition Submissions
Ninth Letter will be accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for our winter web issue to be published at ninthletter.com. Submissions will be open from September 1 to November 1.
The theme for this issue is “de/composition.” A bit biased, no? To think of decomposition as the dead opposite of the thing that used to be—its breaking down, its decay, its withering. Decomposition as merely putrefaction, a lesser of the former, a corpse, a husk. Let’s question this, then.
Send us your work that sees, in decay, something new. Send us work that, in content, in form, in spirit, decomposes as a way to recompose. Let us see your flies gather, the ants lick the wet bones bare. Send us your compost heaps as new seeds crack inside. Send us your landfills where night dogs strafe like dreams through plastic. Send us your taxidermy studded with jewels. Send us your shards, rearranged into a face. Send us your dead, your ash mixed with glitter.
General Guidelines:
You may submit up to three poems, or one piece of short prose (fiction or nonfiction) of up to 3500 words; please also include a cover letter that briefly explains how you see your work connecting to the theme. Note: work submitted without this information may be withdrawn. Acceptable file formats are .doc, .docx, .rtf, and .pdf.
Submit your work for this special feature at ninthletteronline.submittable.com. Submissions sent via snail mail will not be considered for this issue. Email submissions are not accepted and will not be read.
Unless otherwise requested, please submit only once per reading period. We do not accept submissions of previously published work (including work published on personal blogs or social media sites). Please do not send multiple submissions within the same genre.
Publication Terms and Payment:
Authors whose work is selected for this web issue will be offered payment of $25 per poem or $75 per piece of prose, plus an exclusive discount for a one-year print subscription.
Response Time:
We strive to respond to your submission to our web issues within four months. Please wait until that time has elapsed before querying about the status of your submission.
Postal Submissions
Ninth Letter accepts mailed submission for our print issue at no charge from September 1 – February 28. Mailed submissions are not accepted for web issues. Mailed submissions should be addressed to the appropriate editor and sent to the following address:
Ninth Letter
University of Illinois Department of English
608 South Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Please include your name and contact information on the first page of your manuscript; cover letters are optional. All mailed submissions must include an SASE for reply; we recommend a stamped business-sized envelope. If you wish to have your manuscript returned, you must include adequate postage and a properly sized envelope, and indicate such in your cover letter. We will recycle all unreturned manuscripts.
You should hear from us regarding your submission within six months; if you haven’t heard from us in that time you are welcome to query about the status of your manuscript at ninthletter9@gmail.com.
We can only review two submissions per author per reading period; if you have submitted twice before the end of the reading period, please do not submit again unless solicited to do so by an editor.
