Litro Looking For Submissions #seanocarolan.com #writing #submissions

What We Are

We began as a free print pamphlet featuring just one short story, then a pocket-sized monthly magazine—still free—with a handful of short stories and the occasional spot of nonfiction and poetry, published according to theme, for the reading pleasure of London commuters.

We’ve been publishing literary features online since 2008, but since May this year we have been developing further as a full-fledged online platform fornon-themed fiction and literary nonfiction, as well a place for readers, writers and the broader creative community to discuss various aspects of literature, arts and culture through features, reviews, columns and interviews.

You can submit your work to any of our platforms: Litro Magazine, Litro Online, or our podcast, Litro Lab. Please read the guidelines carefully.

Please note that it may take us anytime from two weeks to three months to accept or reject your submission. If you haven’t heard from us, you can assume we’re still considering your work.


Litro Magazine

Any questions? Contact Dan Coxon.

What we accept:
For our print magazine, we only accept short fiction, flash/micro fiction, nonfiction (memoir, literary journalism, travel narratives, etc), and original artwork (photographs, illustrations, paintings, etc) based on the designated monthly theme. Works translated into English are also welcome.

What we don’t accept:
We do publish poetry and novel extracts, but not on an unsolicited basis, so please do not submit any poetry or novel extracts to us—they will not be read.

Upcoming themes:
No Such Luck (November 2014) - CLOSED
Diaries (February 2015) - Submit here.
Myths & Legends (March 2015) - Submit here.
Mexico (April 2015) - Submit here.
Detroit (May 2015) - Submit here.
Transgender (June 2015) - Submit here.
Missed Connections (July 2015) - Submit here.
Whodunit (September 2015) - Submit here.

Requirements:
All submitted work must be your own.
Submitted work must not have been previously published—either in print or online. You can submit the same piece to other publications at the same time, but we ask that you withdraw your submission from Litro immediately when it is accepted elsewhere. We do, however, publish original translations if the work has previously appeared in another language.
Due to print space restrictions, each piece should be about 3,000 words, give or take a little. This is a guideline, not an absolute limit; and inexceptional cases, we will take longer pieces, but in any case no longer than 5,000 words.
Due to the volume of submissions we receive, please submit only one piece per theme. Additional submissions will unfortunately not be considered. You can submit stories for different themes simultaneously, though we should add that if we choose one story for a particular issue, we wouldn’t normally run another story by the same writer for at least a year to allow room for new authors.

Terms & Conditions:
The Author grants Litro the exclusive license to publish the English language Work, in print, audio and electronic form, throughout the world. The Author retains the right to publish the Work in a booklength collection of the Author’s works, or as part of a volume from which the Work is an extract.
For our full terms and conditions click here.


Litro Online

Any questions? Contact online@litro.co.uk.

Click here for our rolling calls for submissions page for a list of books, live performance and films we’re looking for reviews on.

What we accept:
We have now opened up the Litro Blog to all our readers and writers. If you want to be a Litro blogger (minimum commitment: three months, once a week), email online@litro.co.uk with samples of your writing and three blog pitches. If all goes well, you’ll be set up with an account from which you can start posting blogs for our review right away. These pieces will usually fall short of being features, and be anything from 400-800 words long.
Non-themed short fiction (#StorySunday) not more than 5,000 words. Works translated into English also welcome. Submit here.
Non-themed flash/micro fiction (#FlashFridays) not more than 800 words. Works translated into English also welcome. Submit here.
Essays (#EssaySaturday)—including, but not limited to, personal essays, memoir and travel dispatches, the more creative you are with the term “essay” the better. We’re really looking for stories that go deeper, that scratch beneath the surface of a tale, finding its wider meanings to give our readers something to think about. We’re also partial to a bit of a chuckle. No more than 2,000 words, although this is negotiable in certain circumstances. Works translated into English also welcome. Submit here.
Travel & Lifestyle—The travel and lifestyle section gives a brief on global affairs, travel, reportage, design told through personal essays and stories that deal with the fascinating aspects of everyday life. As we believe real culture is in the details of life as its being lived, day by day.Submit here.
Features on literature, arts and culture: We are not about literary criticism, but we do welcome informed and reflective, even personal, commentary. We are particularly interested in writing that explore the grey areas between literature and art, and also literature and culture, i.e. the connections between literature & travel, literary & fashion, literature & food, etc. that help us “see” literature in our real world. Submit features here.

Reviews: we review books, theatre, art exhibitions and cinema. Check our current Calls for Reviews. Read our review policy. Submit reviews here.

Share a Short Story (see examples). Submit here.
Columns: We are looking for columnists. Have an idea on literature/writing, travel, film, music, or art that you can sustain for at least three months, with at least a piece every fortnight? Pitch it toonline@litro.co.uk.
Interviews: If you like to talk to people and explore issues in depth, pitch your interview idea to online@litro.co.uk. Interviews can be done in person, via Skype, phone, or email—or any other more creative way you can think of.
Photo Essays or Comic Series—Submit here.

At this time, we do not accept poetry submissions for online publication.

How to Submit:

Completed pieces
If you already have a finished piece that can fit into any of our existing categories, please submit here. If you haven’t yet build up many writing samples, it would be best to submit to us a completed piece. If we publish it, you can start pitching to us.

Pitches
Send ideas for anything related to literature and culture—whether columns, interviews, features and reviews—to online@litro.co.uk.

Everything on reviews or author interviews, send to David Whelan.

Anything related to theatre, arts or live events, please get in touch with Daniel Janes. For anything film-related, please contact Christo Hall.

*Please attach a brief biography and CV with your pitches to better reflect your fields of expertise.

Contributors’ Mailing List
Every month, we also have some specific events and book reviews we’d like covered. If you’d like to receive an email from us every month calling for particular submissions, please sign up here.

Terms & Conditions:
If you are submitting short fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction or poetry, and we choose to publish it on our website, you also afford us the right to reprint your work in possible print, audio or digital anthologies in the future—subject to due notification to the author.
Regrettably, we are unable to pay our contributors at present.


Litro Lab

Any questions? Contact online@litro.co.uk.

We sometimes feature standalone stories—fiction and nonfiction—on Litro Lab. It can follow the month’s theme, or not, and must be no longer than five minutes.

You can submit here an MP3 recording of your short story; it must be your story, but you can get someone else to read it if you’d prefer (please credit them with a link, if applicable). Please also submit a written version of your piece.

*You can submit MP3s of pieces previously published elsewhere in written form, but please make sure you have the right to let us publish it in audio form. We are not responsible for the copyright infringement of work submitted to us.

Note: We also run audio interviews and readings with authors, episodes exploring a particular theme/subject such as Japanese folk tales, and even real-world reportage. If you’d like to participate — either as a guest or a producer — or if you just have a bright idea, please get in touch.