Submission Guidelines

Doubleback Review is a home for your retired darlings—pieces of any genre that were published by a journal that subsequently became defunct. We only publish previously-published work from journals that no longer exist; we do not publish previously unpublished work nor previously published work that is still available online or in active print circulation.

Let us resurrect your dead art; let us love your beautiful zombies.

Doubleback Review is committed to lifting the voices of traditionally marginalized groups, including but not limited to people of color, LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, and those with femme identities, and we specifically encourage these folks to submit. We’re opposed to racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and any other such oppressions, and that will be reflected in our publication selections.

We publish two issues per year, on the fifteenth of the month in April and October. We accept submissions on a rolling basis. Submissions received between August 16 and February 15 will receive responses on or around March 15; those received between February 16 and August 15 will receive responses on or around September 15.

Poets should send up to five poems, and prose writers should send up to 4,000 words total—one story or essay, or up to three shorter flash pieces—in one document (Word preferred), each piece beginning on a separate page. Include your name and email address at the top of each page. In your cover letter, please specify where each piece was previously published. Your pieces must no longer be available online or in active print circulation.

Artists interested in being featured on our cover may send one piece in .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .pdf format. Please specify where the piece previously appeared in your cover letter, and include an artist statement.

We’d love to hear about you, so feel free to include a cover letter in the body of your email. Please also include a third-person biography, 75 words or fewer, and the address of your blog or website, if applicable.

Please only submit one packet at a time and wait until you’ve received a determination before sending again.

Doubleback Review does not charge for submissions, and is not a paying market.

Finally, please note that failing to adhere to our submission guidelines may result in the automatic rejection of your submission.

Ready? Set? Go!