Submissions are now open. Please use our Duotrope platform.
Duotrope is a free submission platform for writers.
Please do not send emailed submissions.
Please limit two per calendar year. If you have been published with us, please wait three years before new submissions.
Submission Guidelines:
We are happy to publish work that celebrates the joy of reading and writing across different reading preferences. The marketplace can divide us based on our reading tastes, but riddlebird can strive to make a space for more diversity (of interest, of authorship, of meaning). Contributors should be open to revision and editing suggestions.
Please carefully read what we are looking for below, and follow the submission guidelines.
Limit one submission a period. 650-5,000 words.
Please note at this time we do not publish poetry.
Our interests:
Literary Fiction — Our favorite writers include authors like George Saunders, Souvankham Thammavongsa, and E.C. Osondu.
Personal Essays — We like a memoirist’s essay that has achieved some distance and allows us to share a newfound insight. Think of Vivian Gornick’s idea of “the situation and the story.”
riddlebird is not interested in publishing work that is demeaning. Racist, homophobic, or xenophobic prose will be promptly rejected.
We aim to publish online twice a year and combine both issues into an annual hardcopy.
Authors are compensated $100.
We will select up to 6 pieces a year to submit to the Pushcart Prize.
We do accept simultaneous submissions; please inform us if (happily!) your work is accepted somewhere else.
Please do not submit previously published work/reprints
Our goal is to celebrate your work. Please follow us on Instagram/Facebook @riddlebirdmag. We will share author bios and links to your work upon publication. We request initial North American Serial Rights.