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Storm Cellar

Literary Magazine

Fiction

Flash Fiction

Nonfiction

Flash Nonfiction

Poetry

Hybrid

Review

Translation

Art

Photography

Comics

Wtf is genre, send anything

302

Submission info
Read the magazine

A literary journal of safety and danger. We place a special emphasis on the Midwest, but even more emphasis on amazing writing and art. We aim to display aesthetic ambition as well as the work of authors and artists who are under-represented in the Anglophone literary world.

stormcellar.org

Highlights

Vibe:Send us your best but less intimidating
Response time:
3 months*
Editor reported data
/
79 days*
Chill Subs tracker stats
Acceptance rate:
2% *
Editor reported data
/
0.99%*
Chill Subs tracker stats

Pays$10

Find more details in the Genres section

FeeNo

Accepts simultaneous submissions
What's that?
When you can submit your work to multiple magazines at the same time
Accepts previously published
What's that?
When the magazine wants to publish your previously published work. Requirements vary
Nominates for prizes
From the editors
Pushcart Prize
Active on social media
Available in print
Provides contributor copies
Has examples online
Offers expedited response
From the editors
10
What's that?
Expedited submission: When the magazine offers a faster response time for an extra fee

Fiction - 5000 words max

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 1

Sub Genres: All / surprise us, Literary, Absurdist, Experimental, Fairy Tales & Folklore, LGBTQ+ Stories, Magical Realism, Speculative

Payment: $ 10

More-compact stories tend to do better (compact =/= short). We like it hot, we like it cold, we like it hard and fast, we like it slow and gentle, we like it traditional,* we like it experimental. We like it anonymous, don't care about a title page. We like it 12pt Times New Roman, double spaced.

Fiction - 1000 words max

Max words: 1000

Max pieces: 4

Sub Genres: All / surprise us, Literary, Absurdist, Experimental, Fairy Tales & Folklore, LGBTQ+ Stories, Magical Realism, Speculative

Payment: $ 10

Nonfiction - 5000 words max

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 1

Payment: $ 10

Lyric(-al) and narrative(-ish) essay, form-blending & genre-bending, personal-ized history and memoir-that-expands-to-larger-issues: we're talking creative nonfiction. No academic studies, no lit crit. The internet's filled with short nonfiction, so surprise us.

Nonfiction - 1000 words max

Max words: 1000

Max pieces: 4

Payment: $ 10

Submit in the "Flash" category, put a note in the cover letter if you want us/magazine readers to know your piece is nonfiction.

Poetry

Max lines: 400

Max pieces: 5

Payment: $ 10

No more than 15 pages total in a 12pt font. We're open to anything. We like surprises. We're not super in love with greeting card sentiments/prosody, nor these topics: cats, coffee, booze, birds. Of course, a poem is its own best case for its awesomeness.

Hybrid

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 1

Payment: $ 10

Describe the hybridity of your work(s) in the cover letter. You must submit in one of the poetry, flash, creative nonfiction, or fiction categories.

Review

Payment: $ 10

We have no particular interest in single-book reviews per se. For "reviews," what we really want are essays — submit them in the CNF category. Try to be as concise as possible, given the ideas you are trying to convey (why do in 1800 words what you can do in 800?). You do not have to be nice. The more creative the review, the better. The less expected the review subject, the better — think a sweet corn festival or a new model of talking toilet or the concept of the arc of history or even a comparison of three translations of Gargantua and Pantagruel if you can make such a thing entertaining. If a "review" is formally inventive or funny, even better. No amazon verified purchaser/goodreads power user type bullshit.

Translation

Payment: $ 10

Submit translations in the appropriate category (poetry, flash, CNF, fiction) following the category guidelines. We strongly prefer shorter rather than longer works. Previously published items only, no self-translations. Translators are responsible for obtaining, for works not in public domain, both original-language rights and English-language rights, for both USA serial printing and for worldwide ebook distribution, prior to submitting.

Art

Max pieces: 20

Payment: $ 10

Though we want to see things different from what we've published so far, our main criterion is whether we dig what you're laying down. We tend to prefer striking compositions and contrasty texture. We like, but by no means require, series and projects. We suggest you use the title of the image (if any) as the filename. We can handle most common file formats, but see below about file types. Friendly advice about file size: Whatever size/format you upload, we suggest having originals available at 300dpi/1800px wide minimum (we prefer at least 600dpi/3000px wide for covers), in a lossless format like .tiff, uncompressed .png, or .ai. If your originals are smaller or .jpeg, that's fine: don't blow them up unless your Photoshop fu is strong.

Photography

Max pieces: 20

Payment: $ 10

Comics

Payment: $ 10

Submit in the Images/Art category. 20 pages max. We are so, so picky about these, please don't get down if we are not into it. Whatever you send should look good in grayscale.

Wtf is genre, send anything

Payment: $ 10

Yeah but so you have to submit in one of the genre categories, and use your cover letter to tell us, like, what we are looking at.

How to submit

Processs
Submittable
Cover letter
This magazine does not list any details on their website for this section.
Eligibility
No specific eligibility requirements
Formatting
Fiction: We like it anonymous, don't care about a title page. We like it 12pt Times New Roman, double spaced.
Author's rights
When an author or artist (“you”/”contibutor”) agrees to our offer of publication of a work, Storm Cellar (“we”/”us”) thereby acquires worldwide first serial rights and limited, perpetual, nonexclusive, online rights. Submitters represent to us that they hold transferrable copyright for submitted works, and that those works meet our criteria above regarding previous publication status. We don’t use a signed contract, but rather make a “handshake agreement” regarding your work; i.e. by agreeing to publication you agree to these terms.
Additional info
Pays! $10 right now, hoping to increase it in the future. Offer expedited response: 7 days for $10 Available in print Limited number of free subs

Tracker statistics

159

Total submissions tracked

79 days

Average response time

0.99%

Average acceptance rate

14 days

Fastest response time

287 days

Slowest response time

*Weird response times we excluded from calculations: 649 days, 769 days, 1878 days, 2195 days, 2227 days, 2357 days, 4076 days

Сhill Subs is able to provide internal statistics because you use our tracker! You're the best!

Managed by editors

Submission calls

All genres

Always open

About

We want everybody to get weird and enlightened and learn and fall in love and have superpowers. We want to surprise and delight and horrify and provoke. Storm Cellar is not a distraction but a cure for boredom. Two to three issues per year in print and ebook editions. Free samples up weekly-ish. F...

Founded

2011

Country

stormcellar.org

Masthead

Sidney Taiko

Editor-in-Chief

Benjamin Goodney

Managing Editor

Brandon Johnson

Assistant Editor

Linda Stack-Nelson

Assistant Editor