Submission System Guidelines
Editorial Philosophy
VQR strives to publish the freshest, most accomplished writers of our time. We are partial to work that is conscious of language without being self-conscious, that pulls readers in with drama and emotional risk, rather than holding them at arm's length with gimmickry and tricks. In short, we seek writing that uses intensely focused language to affect the way that readers see the world. A well-crafted poem, story, or essay is, at its heart, a statement of refusal to accept conventional wisdom and instead study the world for oneself. We seek that writing which illuminates what we, as a culture, may learn from such close inspection.
Genres
- Poetry: All types and length.
- Short Fiction: Length is from 2,000–8,000 words. We are generally not interested in genre fiction (such as romance, science fiction or fantasy) unless it's of a high literary quality.
- Nonfiction: Length is 5,000–10,000 words. Please read the magazine before submitting. Much of the nonfiction we receive indicates very clearly the submitter has never looked at the magazine. We publish literary, art, and cultural criticism; reportage; historical and political analysis; and travel essays. We rarely publish author interviews. We rarely publish memoirs. In general, we are looking for nonfiction that looks out on the world, rather than within the self.
General Guidelines
- We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit previously published material, including work published in anthologies, chapbooks, or online.
- We only accept submissions via our website using our online form. We're sorry, but due to the volume of submissions we receive, we no longer accept unsolicited submissions via mail and we do not accept submissions via email.
- Please read some past issues of VQR before submitting your work so you have a clear sense of our editorial focus. A portion of every issue is freely available on this site. Or you can purchase a recent issue at your local newsstand or bookstore, or direct from us. Also, we have a limited number of sample back issues available for $7.00 (postage included, please allow 3–4 weeks for delivery; foreign orders: $18 USD postage paid).
- Submissions are limited to one prose piece and three poems every six months. Due to the large number of submissions we receive, we have to place a limit on submission of new work until 6 months after your last submission (regardless of whether we've made a decision on your most recently submitted work). If a work is still under review, you may withdraw it and submit new work, up to the limits already mentioned.
- Our reading period is from September 1 through May 31. Any submissions received between 6/1 through 8/31 will be returned without being reviewed.
- We prefer no simultaneous submissions, please. If work you have submitted to us is accepted elsewhere, please notify us immediately.
- Eighty percent of submissions are reviewed within three months, but due to the large number we receive, 20% of responses are delayed for longer than three months. Please be patient with us; we receive between one and two thousand submissions each month and have a small staff.
- Responses will be provided by e-mail.
- Sorry, but due to the high volume of submissions, we can't respond personally to every submission.
Guidelines for Submitting Online
- All files must be saved in Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text Format (.rtf), or Plain Text (.txt) formats. Our system cannot handle other file formats. If you have questions on how to save your document, please consult the Help section of your word processing software.
- Please upload only one work per file — even batches of poetry should be submitted one poem per file. For example, if you are submitting three poems, do not submit one file containing three poems. Instead, create one file for each poem and submit them individually. If there is more than one work per file, we will review only the first work in the file.
- Please set up your submission in letter-sized format, with ample margins, double-spaced, using a standard typeface (e.g., Times, Helvetica, Arial) and font size (12 point is best).
- Please use minimal document and font styling in your submission.
Payment & Copyright
For poetry, we pay $5/line, with a minimum payment of $200 per poem. For prose, we pay approximately 15–20¢/word. Work that is published only on our website is paid at a lower rate.
Our standard publishing agreement asks for the following rights in exchange: first North American print rights; nonexclusive online rights; and a few other limited rights. Copyright is retained by the author at all times and authors are free to resell the work, though we do ask for a 90-day exclusive from our first publication of the work.
Questions?
Please do not email us to ask if we received your submission—we don't have the staff time to answer such e-mails, given our volume of submissions. If the submission web page acknowledged your submission in the affirmative, or if you received an e-mail confirming receipt of your submission, then rest assured that we have received it and we will review it when time permits. The only circumstance under which we would not have received your submission would be if you attempted to submit work and were given an error message stating that your submission could not be processed.
If you have questions not answered here or you need to contact us regarding a specific submission, please send an email to editors@vqronline.org.
