Submissions.
CLOSED for submissions.
About Our Submissions.
Coffee Ring Review accepts fictional prose submissions between 1,000-5,000 words, with a grace length of 100 words. (Anything under 900 words or above 5,100 words will not be considered.) We prefer speculative fiction and stories that cannot be confined to one genre. We provide broad prompts that can be interpreted and used in a variety of ways, and we anticipate that they will be used as such. We like clean, tight prose, engaging characters, and descriptive imagery throughout. And we LOVE when it's clear your story means something to you; we want to see stories bursting at the seams with passion.
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Once you send your submission, our masthead strives to send a decision within one month. If a month passes and you haven't heard from us, please send an inquiry to coffeeringreview@gmail.com!
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There are a lot of details on this page about submissions; please read through everything before you submit!
Technical Stuff
We accept past publications - you will need to tell us where it has been previously published - and simultaneous submissions. If your simultaneous submission is accepted elsewhere, please let us know as soon as you are able.
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Each author may submit one (1) story per submission period.
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We ask for publishing exclusivity for your story for six months after edition release. Once your story has been published, it will remain on our website indefinitely. If we ever participate in a throw-back or highlight edition, we will obtain the author's written consent before re-publishing any story.
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Additionally, we are not currently able to compensate our authors. However, all authors we publish will receive a free PDF copy of the edition.
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Please format your story following the Shunn Manuscript Format.
What We Look For.
CRR is looking for pieces that push an agenda, and that can be an agenda of any kind. We want something you care about so much that it makes us care about it, too. We look for intentional stories: there is a reason for everything, and the pieces fit together like a puzzle.
(We're going to re-iterate the clean and tight prose, engaging characters, and descriptive imagery. We're big on those.)
Hard Passes.
We will not publish any stories involving sexual assault, animal abuse, or child abuse. We accept stories with gore, but gore should not cross the line to being gratuitous.
Our Feedback Process.
One of the masthead's favorite parts about this magazine is that we give feedback on (correctly submitted) every piece we receive, regardless of whether or not it is accepted! You can expect line edits listed as "suggestions" so you can see every change, as well as comments directly in the document.
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If there is a specific thing you want feedback on, please include that in your submission and we'll be sure to target it.
