Submissions are accepted year-round. Those that are read after the current issue is complete will be considered for future publication.
Acceptances and/or rejections can range from five days to a month.
Please feel free to send a follow-up/inquiry email concerning the status of your work or if it has been accepted elsewhere. Negative replies to rejections are discouraged.
- All submissions must be previously unpublished work, although exceptions can be readily made.
- Poems of any length are accepted – please send 1-5 (those that rhyme usually aren’t accepted, but are welcome for consideration).
- Prose must be 3,000 words or less – please send up to 3 pieces.
- Submissions for “Ragtag” (interviews, book reviews, art, and miscellany) will be published sporadically throughout the year. Please send one piece (written or audio) at a time. Request submissions are highly encouraged!
- Please include a short third person bio, your Twitter handle and blog links as well in your email.
- All written submissions should be attached as a .doc, .docx., or .rtf file.
- When submitting, feel free to be creative with your subject lines. For example, one may choose to write: “URGENT: INEXPLICABLE CONTENT ATTACHED TO CURE HUMAN INDIFFERENCE”, or “DO NOT OPEN IF SENSITIVE TO FLAMMABLE MATERIAL.” Go for it, friend.
- Pages do not have to be numbered.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, and can be stated in your email.
- You – the writer, the wielder, the omniscient, will have full creative rights to your work.
*Occulum especially seeks neurodiverse writers and/or writers who often feel ostracized by the mainstream.
*Please note that Occulum will not accept any writing that harbors even the slightest discontent/hatred for any gender, race, color, orientation, etc. The journal will also not accept work and/or writers who promote violence towards women and POC, people with disabilities, and children.
