Split Lip the Mag

Full details

You know the drill. Read our issues to see if we’re a good home for your work. Then hit up our Submittable. All submissions are currently being considered for our monthly online issues and our annual print issue. In an effort to promote Black voices, Split Lip Magazine is opening free submissions for Black writers in all genres for the rest of the year (with the exception of July, when we are closed to all submissions).

Free Submissions:

January, March, May, August, September, November

Sometimes we have to shut free subs early due to a really-rad-but-also-overwhelming response. (A peek behind the curtain: our free sub cap with Submittable maxes out 😭💸).

We recommend submitting early in free subs months!

And hey — if the fees are a burden, please reach out to us! We can’t always help out, but we like to try when we can.

Tip Jar submissions only:

February, April, June, October, December

We don’t accept submissions in July.

Expedited Submissions:

For $5 we’ll make sure we get back to you in 2 weeks. Expedited submissions don’t guarantee acceptance.

Some ground rules:

One submission per writer at a time, please. That means if you submit a poem, you can’t also submit flash. Etc. You get the picture.

We want to see fresh work that hasn’t been published anywhere before (including your personal blog or website). We don’t accept emailed submissions — you gotta use our Submittable. (The exception to the rule is Interviews/Reviews — see below for more deets!)

If, after you’ve submitted, you have some edits to make, withdraw your submission, update it, and re-submit! We know it’s a headache, but we’re a small, all-volunteer team. We only have so many heads to hold everyone else’s aches. So be a pal and do a little of the legwork for us! Any emails asking us to correct something in a submission will, as much as it pains us to say it, be ignored!

It’ll take us up to 16 weeks to let you know if you’re in or not — we’re a small, all-volunteer staff.

If you receive a rejection, please wait at least a month before submitting again: we love you, but a mag’s gotta breathe, you know?

Be a good person:

Double space your work — some of our staff needs it for readability! Single spaced poetry is okay, though. We vastly prefer .doc and .docx files, although a PDF is okay in a pinch. And don’t send us stuff that promotes bigotry and violence 🙅🏽

💸 Ooooh money:

We pay (via PayPal) $50 per author for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, and art, and $25 for interviews/reviews for our web issues. Payment for print is $5 per page, minimum of $20, plus 2 contributor copies.

As long as we’ve got money, we’re committed to paying people for their work.

Publication Rights:

First-time electronic publication rights are really all we ask for. What's a magazine without exclusive content?

Hang on!

Before you click this button, go read the genre deets below 👇🏾

Submittable