Submission Guidelines

Eckleburg is a literary and arts magazine . The following submission guidelines are for short stories, poetry, essays and artwork. Eckleburg was founded in 2010 as an online and print literary and arts journal. We take our title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and include the full archives of our predecessor Moon Milk Review. Our aesthetic is eclectic, literary mainstream to experimental. We appreciate fusion forms including magical realist, surrealist, meta-realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors Roxane Gay, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis. Founded by Rae Cline while a writing student at Johns Hopkins University, Eckleburg now lives in NYC, Murray Hill.

 

WE DO NOT ACCEPT AI GENERATED WRITING IN WHOLE OR IN PART.

TAKING POWER: A SPECIAL ISSUE

Eckleburg is calling for work from writers who identify as women—fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, interviews, visual work, and the experimental. We want work that looks the world in the eye. As Gloria Steinem wrote: “Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.” Take the page. Take the space. Take the power.
 
We are excited to announce that Lex Covato will be designing the artwork for this special issue!
 
    • Female identifying writers/artists
    • Prose/hybrid: up to 5k
    • Poetry: up to 5 poems
    • Visual: High resolution images, at least 300 dpi

SUBMIT

FICTION SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We accept previously unpublished and polished prose up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise.  We are always looking for tightly woven short works under 2,000 words and flash fiction up to 1000 words. No multiple submissions but simultaneous is fine as long as you withdraw the submission immediately through the submissions system. 

Note: We consider fiction, poetry and essays that have appeared in print, online magazines, public forums, and public access blogs as already being published. Rarely do we accept anything already published and then only by solicitation. We ask that work published at Eckleburg not appear elsewhere online, and if republished in print, original publication credit is given to Eckleburg. One rare exception is our annual Gertrude Stein Award, which allows for submissions of previously published work, both online and print.

SUBMIT

GERTRUDE STEIN AWARD IN FICTION

1st Prize $1000 and publication. Accepting entries year round. Eligibility: All stories in English no more than 8,000 words are eligible. No minimum word count. Stories published previously in print or online venues are eligible if published after January 1, 2011. Stories can be submitted by authors, editors, publishers, and agents. Simultaneous and multiple submissions allowed. Each individual story must be submitted separately, with separate payment regardless of word count. 

SUBMIT

POETRY SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We are now accepting previously unpublished poetry of all forms. Please submit 1 – 5 poems as separate files in separate submissions. Please do not submit them all on one document. 

Note: We consider poetry (and fiction) that has appeared in print, online magazines, public forums, and public access blogs as being published. Rarely do we accept anything already published and then only by solicitation. Once the piece is published in Eckleburg, the author is welcome to re-publish the work anywhere and everywhere. In these cases, we ask that the original publication be credited each time to Eckleburg.

SUBMIT

CREATIVE NONFICTION SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We accept polished creative nonfiction/essays up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise. Preferences veer toward shorter works under 1500 words with an arts and culture focus. If you wish to include a bio, please keep it short, under 200 words.

We are open to a variety of subjects, such as thoughts about and experiences with current politics, in the US or beyond, cultural critiques, feminist critiques, intersectional critiques, science writing, medical writing, nature writing, interviews, literary journalism, traditional essays, experimental nonfiction; etc. We’re interested in submissions from a multitude of voices on a multitude of subjects. Our world is vast and varied, and we want our stories to reflect that world.
 
 

GALLERY | VISUAL & INTERMEDIA ARTWORK

Visual Artists | Send us 5 to 10 high resolution images. We are interested in a wide range of media including paintings, drawing, photography, collage, mixed media and visual poetry. We value the surreal and figurative, whimsical and absurd.
 
Music, Film and Arts Commentary | Send a Vimeo or YouTube link via email along with a short 100 to 200 word bio. The submissions link is below.
 

SUBMIT

RIGHTS & COMPENSATION

RIGHTS | If accepted, you are granting Eckleburg first North American serial, promotional, non-exclusive anthology (online and possibly print), and archival rights. Copyright reverts to the author upon publication. If the piece is subsequently published in another venue, we ask you to source Eckleburg as first publication. All fiction, poetry, nonfiction and visual art submissions will be considered for our annual print. Authors of works that are accepted for the print will be contacted by the editors.

PAYMENT | Print contributors receive a free copy. Print contributors who are also Eckleburg award winners receive award prize money up to $1000. 

RESPONSES | Response times usually run three months or longer; however, we sometimes respond within the day. If we haven’t responded by six months’ time, please contact us here.

AWARDS | Editors will nominate works at appropriate times through the year. Individual authors/poets who are nominated will be contacted privately.

WITHDRAWALS | Please withdraw your submission through your personal Submittable account created upon submitting. This is your personal account and Eckleburg editors do not have access to it.

EYES ON INTERVIEWS | Eyes On interviews feature Eckleburg contributors across every form we publish: fiction, flash fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art and music. Our contributors include emerging voices publishing for the first time alongside award-winning authors and artists. Eyes On interviews include Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Rikki Ducornet and others.

LONG FORM AND COLLECTION MANUSCRIPTS

We publish short works at Eckleburg. At this time, we do not publish novel, long memoir, essay collections, story collections or poetry collections. If you are looking to place a manuscript, we can suggest several excellent small and large presses whose excellent books are promoted through our Eckleburg Book Club — i.e., Random House, Graywolf Press, Coffee House Press, Tin House Press, St. Martin’s Press and more.

 

Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away. – The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

What others are saying about Eckleburg…

“Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy… , , .”
 
“The most exciting and adventurous and gutsiest new magazine I’ve seen in years.”
— Stephen Dixon
 
“Refreshing… edgy… classic… compelling.”
— Flavorwire
 
“Progressive….”
— NewPages
 
“Eye-grabbing… fun… bold… inviting… exemplary.”
— Sabotage
 
“Eclectic selection of work from both emerging and established writers….”
— The Washington Post
 
“Literary Burroughs D.C.… the journal cleverly takes its name from The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald….”
— Ploughshares
 
 
 
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