Submit Your Work

Arcturus accepts unsolicited submissions year-round of fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid genres.

What We Publish

We have no restrictions on the writers or content we publish, but we’re passionate about publishing new perspectives — new ideas, new voices, new worlds, new challenges, new ways of seeing, etc. — a theme that can take an infinite number of shapes, including speculative fiction, experimental poetry, political essays, narrative reportage, and virtually everything else.

For original, previously unpublished work, we only ask for First North American Serial Rights (i.e., to be the first publication in North America to publish it), after which the rights return to you.

*We do not accept full manuscripts of any kind. We are not a publishing press. Please do not send queries for your manuscript.

How to Submit

Please Note: Poetry submissions are currently on pause as we work through an extremely large backlog of submissions. We’re working passionately to get through your beautiful work and respond in a timely manner. Thank you for honoring this pause for now, and we’ll let you know when you can send in your poems again.

To submit your work, email the editors at arcturusmag@gmail.com (unless you’re entering one of our writing contests). Please address the appropriate editor (see the masthead at the bottom of the About page) and use the subject line: GENRE: Title of Work (ex. FICTION: My Story). Provide a brief cover letter and third person bio, and attach your work as either a Word Doc, or PDF.

If you’d like to submit for multiple genres, please send a separate email for each genre.

We try to respond to submissions within three (3) months, but please allow up to four (4) months before contacting us about the status of your piece. If you have previously submitted to Arcturus, we ask that you please wait six (6) months before resubmitting.

We accept simultaneous submissions. But if it is accepted elsewhere, please respond to the same email you submitted to inform us immediately you must withdraw your piece. NOTE: For Poetry, please withdraw specific poems from a packet in a new email. Not doing so will take longer for the editors to respond.

Poetry
Please Note: Poetry submissions are currently on pause as we work through an extremely large backlog of submissions. We’re working passionately to get through your beautiful work and respond in a timely manner. Thank you for honoring this pause for now, and we’ll let you know when you can send in your poems again.
Please submit up to 3–5 poems, no more than 10 pages total, as a single document. Please do not combine multiple poems onto a single page.
NOTE: For simultaneous submissions that get accepted elsewhere, please withdraw specific poems from a packet in a new email. Not doing so will take longer for the editors to respond.

Prose
Please submit only one piece no longer than 5,000 words, be it fiction, flash fiction, essay, reportage, or a hybrid genre.

Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to provide contributors with compensation. We encourage writers to first attempt to find a home for their original work that does offer compensation, as we strongly believe all writers and artists deserve it. We are currently seeking funding opportunities in order to compensate contributors in the future.

Note: Please avoid submitting if you know the editors personally.

For more information, see the about page.

Arcturus is a sister publication of the Chicago Review of Books, and supports its mission to make the literary conversation more inclusive through diverse voices and genres.