Submission Guidelines

B O D Y publishes 3-4 issues per year, with work rolled out daily over the 4 weeks or so of each issue. All submitted work will be considered for one of these issues. 

Submissions for the 2024 Spring Issue are now closed. Read the issue here.

General Guidelines:

Do's:

• Please include a short cover letter with your full name and a brief literary bio statement. We prefer short, factual bios. Please don’t send us your entire literary CV. 
• Include your last name, genre, and number of pieces submitted in the title of your submission and your submission file – for example, Jane Doe, 5 poems
• We accept simultaneous submissions.  If you need to withdraw a part of your submission due to an acceptance elsewhere, please send us a note via Submittable to let us know.
• Please check the category guidelines below for additional submission instructions. 

Don't's:

• Please do not submit previously published work. We won’t publish work that has already appeared elsewhere in English. This includes other magazines, your blog, or on social media. Translations of work already published in another language will be considered. 
• Please don’t submit more than once or in more than one category per reading period. The submission cap from Submittable limits how many submissions we can receive. Submitting more than once robs someone else of the opportunity to be read.
• Please do not re-submit work we’ve already considered and declined. Keep track of your submissions. Repeat submissions will be declined unread.

Translations:

• Translators are invited to submit translations in all genres for which we have open calls.
• Please follow the category guidelines when submitting.
• Include the original language pieces along with the translations.
• Word and page limits apply only to the translated works (e.g. 3-5 translated poems, plus the originals).

Final Notes:

• We respond quickly, typically within a week. If you don’t hear from us for a couple of weeks, it means we’re seriously considering your work. 
• Our submissions are capped. Once we receive our submission limit, the submission form is disabled until the end of the month. We typically read over two months for each issue, so if we hit our cap before the end of the first month, we'll reopen submissions the following month, giving you an additional opportunity to submit.