What We Publish:

No limitations on genre. Just send us your best fiction. See our home page for a weirdly detailed example of the many genres we'll consider. But then again, the whole point of that list is that we'll consider pretty much anything.

We welcome flash fiction, longer stories, hybrid, and experimental stuff you can't quite define. We publish a new piece every three weeks. Help us keep our readers on their toes.

What We Pay: 

$100 via PayPal upon publication.

Word Count:

500 – 3,000 words is our preferred range, but you can submit up to 5,000 words maximum. Please submit only one story at a time. If you have a dozen flash fiction stories, please send us one of them. We respond very quickly, so if we pass, feel free to submit again. Note: We have nothing against microfiction, but since we publish one standalone story every three weeks, we will not consider stories less than 500 words in length.

Format:

We love hard-to-define fiction, but we also love easy-to-read fonts. All work should be double-spaced and formatted somewhat traditionally.

Response Times:

Our goal is to be one of the fastest-responding literary journals in the industry. If you get a quick “pass,” it is not a reflection of your writing but rather a reflection of our commitment to responding quickly.

Although we generally respond pretty quickly, our response times can vary with volume. If you don’t hear anything from us within 60 days, feel free to email Danny at Editor@wallstrait.com with the subject line, “Status of Submission: [Title]”. He’ll look into it and get back to you.

Note: We'll publish fiction in any genre as long as we love it, but we draw the line at AI-generated prose. We'll take humans writing about robots—but we don't want robots writing about humans. Please: No AI. 

Miscellaneous:

• No Multiple submissions. One at a time.
• We accept simultaneous submissions. Please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• No Reprints. Original, unpublished stories only.

Cover Letter:

• Please include the word count.
• Publishing under a pseudonym is fine — be yourself in the cover letter and let us know the name under which you'd like to publish.
• We don't care how the cover letter is addressed. Some journals are weird about this, which seems weird to us. You can address it however you see fit.

Please double-space your submission.

What We Publish:

No limitations on subject matter or style. Just send us your best work. We look for quality prose first and foremost. If it's written well, we'll consider pretty much anything.

We publish a new piece every three weeks. Help us keep our readers on their toes.

What We Pay: 

$100 via PayPal upon publication.

Word Count:

500 – 3,000 words is our preferred range, but you can submit up to 5,000 words maximum. Please submit only one piece at a time. If you have a dozen CNF flash pieces, please send us one of them. We respond very quickly, so if we pass, feel free to submit again. 

Format:

We love hard-to-define fiction, but we also love easy-to-read fonts. All work should be double-spaced and formatted somewhat traditionally.

Response Times:

Our goal is to be one of the fastest-responding literary journals in the industry. If you get a quick “pass,” it is not a reflection of your writing but rather a reflection of our commitment to responding quickly.

Although we generally respond pretty quickly, our response times can vary with volume. If you don’t hear anything from us within 60 days, feel free to email Danny at Editor@wallstrait.com with the subject line, “Status of Submission: [Title]”. He’ll look into it and get back to you.

Miscellaneous:

• No Multiple submissions. One at a time.
• We accept simultaneous submissions. Please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• No Reprints. Original, unpublished writing only.

Cover Letter:

• Please include the word count.
• Publishing under a pseudonym is fine — be yourself in the cover letter and let us know the name under which you'd like to publish.
• We don't care how the cover letter is addressed. Some journals are weird about this, which seems weird to us. You can address it however you see fit.

Please double-space your submission.

FICTION: 10-day Reply with 500+ words of feedback from a Senior Editor

You'll receive a response in 10 days or less, along with 500+ words of feedback from a senior editor discussing what worked really well, what worked, and what could use some work. 

We’ll send 500+ words of detailed feedback in a PDF. All feedback is generated by a human person who's reviewed thousands of submissions—we don't use AI or any external tools for this, and you'll likely see a typo or two as evidence of our very human process.

Note: If we accept your story for publication, our feedback will likely be closer to, like, 13 words: "We really like this one as is, and we want to publish it." Or something like that. But you'll get a paid publication ($100) and a super fast turnaround, if that's any consolation.

Otherwise, we’ll send our feedback and mark the submission “Complete.”

We're a privately funded journal that operates at a nifty little loss. We're offering this to help support our recent pay increase for writers and our visual artist. And because we like doing it.

Please follow our submission guidelines. 5,000 words max. 

I just wanted to pass along my sincere thanks for your careful reading, your thoughtful deliberation, and your incredibly kind and helpful comments (which are well in excess of the promised 250 words)! This kind of editorial feedback is worth its weight in gold, especially for a "late bloomer" such as myself.  – Trais P.

Thank you for your generous words and for the time it takes to give this much substantive feedback. This was so helpful and so great. I have so much to think about. I'm so glad I submitted this to you, thank you again so much for this, I really appreciate it.  – Danila B.

Wallstrait is currently seeking remote, volunteer Readers.

Our goal is to be one of the fastest-responding journals in the business, publish a crazy diverse range of fiction coming only from submissions, and give a line or two of feedback as time permits. If this sounds like your kind of vibe, we might have a spot for you at Wallstrait.

If you're looking for money, we can tell you we have none. What little we do have goes to our contributors. But who knows? You might enjoy it. 

The Starchy, Somewhat Formal Stuff: Readers are responsible for reading assigned material quickly and efficiently and providing thorough and thoughtful feedback. The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s degree in English or related field and some experience with an academic or literary journal. The only nonnegotiable requirements for this role, however, are a love for short fiction and the ability to thrive in a team environment. These volunteer positions require approximately 4-6 hours of work per week. All work is completed via Submittable, Slack, and email. 

Note: Our current reading period ends June 1, and our next reading period opens on September 1. New Readers joining will have the chance to participate in few reviews as a warmup for this fall.

Title Upgrade Opportunity: After completing one full three-month reading period with us while demonstrating prompt and thoughtful feedback, your "Reader" title will be eligible for an upgrade to an "Assistant Editor" title—which is just cooler sounding. We offer this small token of appreciation as a way to recognize Readers with a track record of providing the kind of consistent, thoughtful, and timely feedback that's so critical to the success of our journal. We're a relatively new outfit, so there will be additional opportunities for advancement in the not-so-distant future.

What to Do: If you're interested, please use this form to introduce yourself. Nothing overly formal. We don't have a list of demands. Just say hello, outline any experience and/or publication credits you think might be relevant, and maybe even say something about your tastes in fiction. You totally don't need to include a resume/CV, but if you want, you can attach it. 

Our Timeline and Process: We'll accept applications through May 8. We'll review each submission carefully and respond to all applicants. 

The next step would be a quick, informal, get-to-know-you Zoom chat with our Editor and/or Fiction Editor. We're not a journal that does regular meetings, but we like to do an initial meeting before bringing someone on. Nothing starchy—no "gotcha" questions. It's not a high-stakes interview. We're pretty laid-back. It just gives us an opportunity to get to know each other, and for us to explain more about the day-to-day and answer any questions.

All applicants can expect to hear from us no later than May 15.

Thanks for your interest in Wallstrait! We're looking forward to hearing from you.