Submission Guidelines

Our journal Reading Period is now OPEN!

We are selecting work for our next theme: ”Oh Baby!“ 

Dedicated to UN Millennium Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
How do you nourish and nurture a child, both physically and emotionally? How do you resurrect a broken child? What shelters can be built for these tasks? Where these shelters are missing, what forces–human and otherwise–rule?

Submit Writing or Art

• We are always looking for crackheads. That is to say, we seek creators of words and art capable of inducing a metaphorical skull fissure within our readers, allowing new light to reach dark recesses. The heart, of course, must be as involved as the brain.
• We welcome work that reflects an engaged consciousness alive in the world.
• We have a limited budget to lighten the hunger inherent in the phrase “starving artist.” If your work is accepted for publication, expect payment between $10 – $50.
• We love work in any language. Please include author-approved English translation. All text will appear in English, original language, and any other author-provided translations.
• Each submission is reviewed by several editorial board members before a publication decision is made.
• Sorry, previously published work, including publication in an online venue which provides edited image or word content, is not accepted.
• Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. Please notify us upon acceptance elsewhere. Submitting across the artistic spectrum is welcome.
• We acquire First Serial Rights to publish on our website, to print, and the right to keep credited work in our archives.

Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction

• We accept personal narratives, immersion journalism, satires, reflections, meditations, and textual & cultural analyses.
• Most published pieces range from 1,000 to 5,000 words.
• We welcome work in any language. Please include author-approved English translation. All text will appear in English, original language, and any other author-provided translations.
• We have a policy of blind selection. Please do not include your name anywhere in the body of your submission.
• Do include a brief note in an e-mail introducing yourself and your submission.
• Send submissions to dirtcakes.new.nonfiction@gmail.com Acceptable submission formats are .doc, .rtf., .pdf., and .docx
• Guidelines for Poetry

• We accept all genres of poetry.
• Please send up to 5 poems, no more than 10 pages.
• We welcome work in any language. Please include author-approved English translation. All text will appear in English, original language, and any other author-provided translations.
• We have a policy of blind selection. Please do not include your name anywhere in the body of your submission.
• Do include a brief note in an e-mail introducing yourself and your submission.
• Send submissions to dirtcakes.new.poetry@gmail.com Please send poetry as an attachment. Acceptable submission formats are .doc, .rtf., .pdf., and .docx
• Guidelines for Visual Media

• We accept photography, paintings, drawings, and computer art.
• Photography may not be computer-manipulated in any way.
• Cover art will be printed in full color and should be of dimensions 6×9 inches. It will include the name of the journal and the issue number (see examples).
• Artwork published within the journal will be printed in b&w, though we make make a limited run of color interiors. The images will also be displayed on our online version, where they will be full color.
• There are no restrictions or thematic guidelines for subject matter.
• Send submissions to dirtcakes.new.art@gmail.com Submissions can be png, jpg, jpeg, or gif file type, and don’t need to be full resolution. Something like 800×600 pixels is fine, and must be smaller than 2mb in size.
• Please send no more than 5 images.