Wishbone Words

Wishbone Words is currently closed for submissions.
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Please take the time to fully read our submission guidelines.  Any piece that does not conform to these guidelines will be declined.  If you have questions or concerns after reading these guidelines, please reach out to us, and we will be happy to communicate with you.  This is a volunteer-run magazine, so please be patient with our response time, as most of the team members have other daily obligations and health concerns in addition to working to bring this magazine to life.  It may take us some time to read and reply to all of our messages – be it through email or socials.  Thank you. 

Click here to view these guidelines as a PDF.

Important Information

Submission window and publication dates

We publish two issues per year.  We will launch one issue in May and one issue in November.  The submission window for the May issue is from September 1st to November 30th.  The submission window for the November issue is from March 1st until May 30th.

Turn-around time

Please be patient.  Allow up to several months to be notified of whether your submission has been accepted or rejected.  For the May issue, you will be notified of your submission’s status by January 2nd.  For the November issue, you will be notified by July 1st.

While we read through submissions, please do not ask us about your piece’s status on social media or through email.  Only contact us if you wish to withdraw your submission. The more people who reach out, the less time we can dedicate to reading through the subs. 

Reminders

Just like our contributors, everyone who volunteers their time to Wishbone Words has their own health struggles.  Please be respectful with our team members when communicating on social media or through email.  We love to hype up past and current contributors, so if you are being published elsewhere, tag us – we love to see it!

General Submission Guidelines

Use of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)

Wishbone Words Magazine does not condone the use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) in creating pieces of writing or artwork. Submissions suspected of being generated with A.I. will be screened with detection software. If sufficient evidence of A.I. usage is found, the submission will be rejected. 

Language/Profanity/Derogatory Terms

Please remember your submission is being read by a human being who has feelings and emotions.  We will not publish hateful or hurtful works.  If you have to ask if it’s hateful/hurtful, you should probably revise it before submitting it.  Additionally, we do not publish racist, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise damaging content. Use your best judgment and, when in doubt, give content warnings for readers or ASK.

Simultaneous Submissions

Simultaneous subs are okay, but please let us know if your piece gets accepted elsewhere so it can be withdrawn from our submissions pile.

Re-submissions

If we have declined your piece for an issue, please respect our decision.  You are welcome to work on revising the piece and try resubmitting during our next submission window, and we will happily read your revised work.

Submitting After Publication

The Wishbone team encourages previous contributors to submit to future issues if they have more writing they would like to share.  However, being a previous contributor does not guarantee publication, and the piece of writing/artwork must go through the general submissions queue to make it into the magazine.

Payment

At this time, we cannot pay contributors.  Our staff is currently all volunteers, and the money we make from selling copies goes toward website maintenance.  However, contributors will receive free access to their issue of the magazine.

Genre-Specific Guidelines

Please note:

When submitting multiple works in the same submission period (for example, poetry), all works must be submitted as a single document.

Formatting Guidelines

• Font: All pieces should be written in a standard font such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Calibri
• Size: All pieces should be in font size 12-16pt
• Spacing: Prose pieces must be double-spaced; poetry can play with spacing as long as it remains readable.
• Individual Piece Titles: All pieces should be titled or be named “untitled.”
• Submission Title: Please title your submission as: First Name_Last Name_Individual Piece Title (Example: “John_Smith_Disability as Visibility.”) If sending more than one written pieces (like multiple poems or flash pieces) please send them in one document.
• File Format: Written submissions must be in .doc, .docx, or .pdf. Art submissions should be in .jpeg/.jpg or .png format. Please reach out to use if you are having difficulty formatting your submission.

Author Information

• Bio: Please include a short, third-person author bio.  Your author bio should not exceed 100 words.
• Socials: If you have social media, please let us know which of your accounts you would like us to share in the magazine upon publication.

If you have questions or concerns before submitting, such as needing help with exporting your submission into the proper file type or needing to withdraw a submission, please do not hesitate to reach out to us: Contact@WishboneWords.com.  Please be patient with our response time, we will likely not reply immediately, and it may take us some time to get back to you.  Thank you.

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