Free submissions open June 1st!
Submission Guidelines
Off Season publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and, occasionally, visual art. We are a digital-first publication, meaning that all of the work we publish is intended to be read in an online space. Our guidelines are as follows:
- We only accept submissions via our Google Form. Anything sent by mail, email, or Instagram DM will not be read by our team.
- We do not consider work that has been previously published online or in print.
- We ask that writers submit only once in each genre per submission cycle.
- We accept simultaneous submissions, but we ask that you withdraw your submission as soon as possible if it is accepted elsewhere. (Also, please tell us where so we can read it!)
- We ask that prose submissions not be longer than 4,000 words. This can include one longer piece, or multiple flash pieces in one document.
- We ask that poetry submissions contain 3-5 poems totaling no more than 10 pages. Poems should be submitted in the same document.
- We aim to respond to submissions within 60 days after the submission window closes. If you have not heard from us after this time has passed, please feel free to inquire about your submission at offseasonmag@gmail.com.
- We do not accept work that has been generated by AI at any stage of the creative process.
Eligibility Requirement
We only have ONE eligibility requirement to submit to Off Season. Because we seek to celebrate the rough patches of a creative life, we ask that you only submit to us if you have not received a literary journal acceptance in the last three months. Our goal is that submitting to us is something you can look forward to after a few months of rejections or silence. We're excited to read your work!
A Short FAQ About This Eligibility Requirement:
Q: Do I have to withdraw my submission if I receive a journal acceptance right after I submit it?
A: Nope! Unless it was the same piece you sent us, please don't withdraw your submission. And congratulations on the acceptance!
Q: If you're about to close submissions and I received a literary journal acceptance two months and twenty-nine days ago, does that mean I'm not allowed to submit?
A: Please submit! We care more about the spirit of the law than the letter of the law.
Q: Are you going to email all the journals I've ever been published in to check that I'm telling the truth about my last acceptance?
A: Nope! This is an honor system. We trust you to wait to submit to us after waiting (approximately) three months or ninety days from your last literary journal acceptance. Otherwise, where's the fun?
Other Requirements
Off Season retains First North American serial rights and non-exclusive digital rights for all work that we publish. All other rights revert to the author immediately upon the work's publication. The work may be republished digitally or in print so long as it acknowledges its first printing in Off Season. Authors also agree that Off Season may use their work in a future anthology with written permission.
Off Season does not accept art or writing that has been generated by AI in any way. If any published work is later proved to have been created using AI, that work will be removed from the Off Season website immediately. We want work that comes directly from your brain, and all of the non-AI influences that help you create your best writing!