Quick announcement: if you can produce a review before the end of May, email me at shannonathompson@aol.com for a FREE copy of Minutes Before Sunset via Smashwords!
I’m switching it up today! I normally talk about young-adult fiction, specifically sci-fi or fantasy, but I thought I’d leave a list of nonfiction journals where you all can submit your work to. I got this list from my Nonfiction Writing I class at the University of Kansas. The reasoning I’m including journals, rather than publishers, is simple: journals give an opportunity to get your name out there if you don’t already have something published, and they have a higher acceptance rate, depending on which one you’re submitting to. However, some of these journals also accept poetry, prose, and more, so check it out, even if you don’t write nonfiction. You might get something else published!
As an extra, I’m also including my three finalized personal essays from this class, so you all can see what I learned. (If you can recall, I wrote Writing Tips: How I Handle Rejection on March 23, 2013, and I included a first draft, which is now below, rewritten and edited.)
My essays: They will open as PDF files.
- Flashbacks: This is the edited version of the only essay I’ve shared before. It’s about my mother’s death, along with my roommate’s death, and how these moments, along with other traumatic events, have affected my views on mortality.
- My Weeklong Marriage and the Lying Truth: I’ve mentioned my vacation to Puerto Rico quite often, and there’s a reason for that. It was one of the most important vacations in my life, and this essay is about what I learned while I was there. However, it is explicit, but I don’t want to ruin the contents either by explaining.
- Now[here]: This particular essay is about my life on the road. As many of you know, I have moved over fifteen times, and I’ve lived in five different states. This is where my desire for creativity began and how it formed somewhere beyond the window. This essay also includes quotes from Erin Moure’s The Unmemntioable.
This is my favorite photo taken during my vacation in Puerto Rico. I’m sharing this as a part of my essay, “My Weeklong Marriage and the Lying Truth.”
Nonfiction Journals: Now. This is a list of all of the journals we discussed in my class. I will add some information, but I can’t include everything (because there is A LOT of specifics.) If you’re interested in submitting, I highly encourage everyone to continue to read over the journal before doing so. This list is simply a collection where you can begin:
- AGNI: Poetry, essays, fiction, creative nonfiction, autobiography, memoir, cross-genre, prose, narrative, and literary fiction. Accepted Sep. 1 and May 31.
- Brevity: Publishes well-known and emerging writers. Work must be shorter than 750 words. Reads between May and September.
- Ecotone: all forms of literature within a transition zone between two adjacent ecological communities. Reading period between Aug. 15 and Apr. 15.
- The Iowa Review: nonfiction, but unsolicited manuscripts are accepted during the fall semester only.
- The Georgia Review: nonfiction, specifically subjects against a broad perspective. Reading period between Aug. 16 – May 14.
- The Gettysburg Review: essays over literature, art, science, history, film, and contemporary thought. Reading period is between Sep. 1 and May 31.
- The Gulf Coast: accepts fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and reviews. Reading between Sep. 1 and March 1, but there are prizes and contests.
- The Kenyon Review: short fiction and essays up to 7,500 words, poetry, plays, excerpts from larger works, and translated poetry or prose. Reading period is Sep. 15 through Jan. 15.
- Missouri Review: nonfiction only. No restrictions on length or topic. But they only accept online submissions for $3.
- New Letters: essays of fiction, nonfiction, and some poems. Most essays are between 3,000 and 5,000 words. No simultaneous submissions.
- The Normal School: nonfiction, memoir, personal essays, and creative nonfiction with contemporary styles. Most interested in whatever goes against the norm. Literary short fiction, poetry, and culinary journalism, but no unsolicited criticism. Manuscripts read between Sep. 1 to Dec. 1 & Jan. 15 to Apr. 15.
- N + 1: Instructions say to read a couple pieces to see if your genre fits. Submit if you decide it’s applicable.
- The Fourth Genre: contemporary and creative nonfiction. Accepted between Aug. 15 – Nov. 30.
- Threepenny Review: includes art from many different genres, including but not limited to, fiction, nonfiction, essays, memoirs, poetry, operas, plays, books, film, and photography. Submit whenever but multiple submissions will be ignored.
- Under the Sun: creative nonfiction (no academic articles or review essays). Very short pieces (2-3 pages.) Manuscripts read between Aug. 15 – Jan. 2.
If you want more information, I share a lot on my Facebook page! You can also ask me anything you’d like. Join by clicking here.
Good luck! Let me know if any of you submit and/or get published (or have been published) in these journals. I’d love to share the links with everyone as positive examples to help others be inspired into publication 
~SAT
