The American Literary Review welcomes submissions of previously unpublished poems, short stories, and creative non-fiction. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable if noted in your cover letter. Please note that all submissions from now on will be considered for the online publication only. For any questions not covered in this section, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions page.

• Our regular reading period extends from October 1 to May 1.
• Submissions can be sent to us through our online Submission Manager for a fee of $3.
• Why the $3 fee? Our $3.00 fee is not a reading fee, but simply meant to cover the administrative and IT costs associated with our online submissions system. Hopefully, $3 is no more than you would spend on paper, ink, envelopes and postage. We also think you’ll appreciate the convenience of being able to upload your submission and track its progress from your own computer.

We do not accept submissions via email or via postal mail. We also do not accept any previously published work, including online publication and “revised” or altered versions of stories, poems, or essays. Unsolicited manuscripts received outside the reading period will be returned unread.

At this time, we’re not able to pay our contributors. 

Please note that all current students and graduates of the University of North Texas are ineligible to submit to ALR.

FICTION GUIDELINES:
Submit only one story at a time. American Literary Review seeks distinctive, character-driven stories. 

We have no set maximum for length, but stories under 8,000 words have the best chance of publication. We generally avoid novel excerpts unless they can stand alone as stories.

Short fiction submitted for publication in the American Literary Review must:

• be double-spaced
• have the author’s name, address, and phone number on the first page

POETRY GUIDELINES:
Submit no more than five poems at a time. Poetry selections are made by a widely-read group with eclectic tastes who look for the best poems, regardless of form or subject matter. 

Poetry submitted for publication in the American Literary Review must:

• be accompanied by a cover letter with the author’s name, address, phone number, and poem titles

NONFICTION GUIDELINES:
Submit only one work at a time. We welcome submissions in personal essay, memoir, literary journalism, and experimental nonfiction. We prefer submissions shorter than 6,500 words.

Nonfiction submitted for publication in the American Literary Review must:

• be double-spaced
• have the author’s name, address, and phone number on the first page

REVIEWS :
We do not publish unsolicited book reviews at this time. The editors and their associates regularly prepare a section of short book evaluations, selectively treating recent publications.

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDELINES:
Please send up to five original photographs in a standard web-readable format (we prefer JPEG). Each photograph should have a title. We are looking for work that exhibits technical skill and artistic merit to incorporate into our online journal.

We encourage writers and artists to examine our journal before submitting work.