Submissions

Nightingale & Sparrow will be open for submissions of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and photography from 20 December through 31 January. Nightingale & Sparrow reserves the right to close submissions prior to this date if a significantly large amount of submissions are received, but we will give notice as soon as possible should this be the case.

The theme of our first issue is flight. Send us pieces that soar above the physical realm, literally or figuratively.

Coming themes:

flight (anticipated publication February 2019)

renaissance (AP May 2019)

heat (AP August 2019)

nevermore (AP October 2019)

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] and follow the guidelines below.

Nightingale & Sparrow reserves the right to leave any submission that has ignored these submission guidelines.

For all submissions, ensure that your name and other identifying information does not appear on your piece(s) themselves. Please include:

name (or pen name, if preferred) and pronouns of choice
publication history (if applicable)
any relevant links (author website, social media)
a brief third-person author bio (approx. 50-150 words)
photo/head shot (used for our contributors page if your work is accepted for publication)

Submit to no more than one genre per reading period. If your piece is accepted, please wait at least one reading period before submitting again in that genre. If you weren’t included this time, don’t hesitate to submit for our next issue!

We do not accept previously published pieces (including on websites or social media), except in cases of previously published then unpublished (i.e. another online press closes its doors, leaving its former pieces without homes). We do consider simultaneous submissions, but please alert us immediately if your piece(s) are accepted elsewhere.

When submitting, please use “[Genre] Submission” as your subject line (genre being replaced with poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or photography).

In the body of your email, include a brief cover letter giving us some insight into your pieces and you as a writer.

Please allow up to two weeks from the closing of submissions for us to respond to submissions. In cases of backup or other delays, we will share updates on this page and on our social media profiles. Nightingale & Sparrow will respond to all submissions that meet our guidelines.

Any works promoting violence or other harmful topics (at editors’ discretion; included, but not limited to, discrimination based on gender, race, sexual preference, weight, physical ability, socioeconomic class, etc.) will not be considered.

Please include any relevant content warnings where appropriate.

If submitting a piece “after” another artist, please credit that person and link to/attach a copy of the original piece. See our “About Us” page for more on our plagiarism policy.

At this time, Nightingale & Sparrow is unfortunately not a paying market. Though we cannot offer monetary compensation, we will gladly support you and your writing endeavors however we can! See our “Contributors” page for more information.

While we cannot pay you directly, we’re happy to add a donation link (Patreon, Ko-fi, etc.) to your contributor page!

Poetry:

Send us 1-3 poems of any length, with each poem in a separate document.

Submit micropoems for social media publication here.

Prose:

Send us your best fiction or creative non-fiction work (just one!), between 3-10 pages (at 12 pt. standard font, double-spaced).

Photography:

Send us up to 15 photos as a link to Google Drive or Dropbox. All photography submissions will be considered for both cover imagery and use within the magazine, to be announced at the end of the response period.