I have compiled a brief list of Magazines and Journals that accept unsolicited submissions from writers and artists of varying levels of experience.

What unsolicited means is that you may send them your work without being asked for it first. Also, if you just follow their submission guidelines, there is typically no need for a cover letter either. If you would still like to include a cover letter, please make sure it is concise and professional.

The publications listed accept everything from Poetry to Fiction to Visual Artwork.

I hope this helps some of you become a little more knowledgeable about the industry and pushes you to just take the leap and submit your work. You never know until you try.

One last note: Most magazines and journals do not accept simultaneous submissions. What that means is that you must only submit your piece to one publication at a time. It is a waiting game to hear back from them, but do not submit the piece to another journal, unless you get a denial from the one you already submitted it to.

Format
Name of publication

About: A small blurb, usually off the magazine’s website, about who they are.
Types of Submissions: Whether they accept poetry, prose, and/or artwork.
Online/Print: This indicates whether the publication is available online only, in print only, or a some combination of the two.
Accepting Submissions: Most publications have what is called a reading period. They only accept your submissions during a certain time and that is indicated here. Make sure your submissions are postmarked by the end of the time frame or they will probably not be considered at all and you may not even get a response.
Link A link to the website for more information and usually sample pieces. The link typically will direct you to the magazine’s submission guidelines. Be sure to read them carefully and always read sample work, if it is offered, before you submit your work.



American Poetry Review

About: The American Poetry Review publishes original poetry, literary criticism, interviews, essays and social commentary.
Types of Submissions: Poetry only
Online/Print: Print and some previews online.
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Arch Literary Journal

About: Arch is a new annual, online literary magazine of Washington University in St. Louis.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Essays, Translations, Book Reviews
Online/Print: Online only
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


ascent

About: Ascent welcomes fiction, poetry, and essays of all types and styles. As always, it's a good idea to read the magazine (or at least the sample work) to see if your work fits.
Types of Submissions Poetry, Fiction, Essays
Online/Print: Print and some online previews
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Bateau Literary Magazine

About: Bateau subscribes to no trend but serves to represent as wide a cross-section of contemporary writing as possible. For this reason, readers will most likely love and hate at least something in each issue. They consider this a good thing. To them, it means Bateau is eclectic, open-ended and not mired in a particular strain.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Flash Fiction, Playlets, Mini Reviews, B&W Comics, Illustrations
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Bellingham Review

About: The Bellingham Review hungers for a kind of writing that nudges the limits of form, or executes traditional forms exquisitely.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Essays
Online/Print: Print with some online examples
Accepting Submissions: from September 15th through February 1st
Link: [link]


Beloit Poetry Journal

About: Beloit is open to a wide range of forms and styles in contemporary poetry. They are always watching for new poets, quickened language, and poems that offer a new purchase on the political or social landscape.
Types of Submissions: Poetry only
Online/Print: Print with some online excerpts
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Blood Lotus

About: The eclectic tastes of the editors of Blood Lotus welcome submissions from both established and emerging writers. Writing on all subjects will be considered so long as it is not blatantly offensive (i.e., discriminates on the basis of gender, age, race, class, sexual orientation, etc.) and has not been previously published.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, “The Grey Area”
Online/Print: Online pdf format.
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Cave Wall

About: Cave Wall, published twice a year, is a national literary magazine dedicated to publishing the best in contemporary poetry.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Illustrations
Online/Print: Print with some online excerpts
Accepting Submissions: from February 1 through March 15
Link: [link]


Cincinnati Review

About: The Cincinnati Review draws together within its pages the finest creative and critical work from across the country. We provide a venue for writers of any background, at any point in their literary careers, to showcase their best writing. Each issue also features a portfolio of artwork from a local or national artist.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Reviews, Visual Art
Online/Print: Print with some online excerpts
Accepting Submissions: from September 1 through May 31
Link: [link]


Colorado Review

About: Colorado Review is a national literary journal. Each issue is approximately 200 pages. Published three times a year, CR has a circulation of approximately 1000, is carried by university and public libraries all over the country, and is distributed by Ingram Periodicals and Kent News to chain and independent bookstores and newsstands nationally.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction
Online/Print: Print with some online excerpts
Accepting Submissions: from September 1 through April 30
Link: [link]


diode

About: What is electropositive poetry? It’s poetry that excites and energizes. It’s poetry that uses language that crackles and sparks. We’re looking for poetry from all points on the arc, from formal to experimental (no light verse or erotic poetry, please).
Types of Submissions: Poetry only
Online/Print: Online only
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


The Dirty Goat

About: The Dirty Goat is a journey which may take the reader from avant-garde Czech drama on one page to contemporary Turkish poetry on the next. Continually expanding the cultures it explores, this journal offers a taste of some of the world's most provocative and talented artists. With its wide array of art and literature, The Dirty Goat is a glimpse into the cutting edge of the international arts scene.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Visual Art
Online/Print Both
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]

Fugue

About: Fugue Literary Journal accepts many types of literary work.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Creative Literary Criticism, Experimental writing.
Online/Print: Both
Accepting Submissions: from September 1 through May 1
Link: [link]


ForPoetry(dot)com

About: ForPoetry(dot)com is not open to beginner’s submissions. You should be familiar with literary journals and magazine prior to submission. They are interested in lyric poetry, vivid imagery, open form, natural landscape, philosophical themes but not at the expense of honesty and passion. Prose poems are acceptable.
Types of Submissions: Poetry only
Online/Print: Online only
Accepting Submissions: from August 16 through April 30.
Link: [link]


The Georgia Review

About: Since its inception in 1947, The Georgia Review has grown steadily to its current position as one of America's premier journals of arts and letters.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Visual Art
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: from August 16 through May 14
Link: [link]


Hanging Loose

About: Hanging Loose is one of the few publications that accepts submissions from high school aged writers. They have special submission requirements for those writers. A small blurb from them, about their publication, reads: “It doesn’t sound flippant, we hope, if we say that the most meaningful guide is the magazine itself. We’ve published it continually since 1966 so, to some extent, past is prologue. While we hope we will always be open to new ideas, it seems unlikely that we will develop an interest in formula romance or sing-song verse.”
Types of Submissions: Poetry (see Magazine for others)
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Inkwell Journal

About: Inkwell is dedicated to providing a forum for emerging writers.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Artwork, Comics
Online/Print: Print with some excepts online
Accepting Submissions: from August 1 through November 15
Link: [link]


Interim

About: Interim is an annual creative writing publication that features poetry, translation, belle lettres, short fiction, and book reviews.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Translations, Short Fiction, Book Reviews
Online/Print: Print and pdf format only.
Accepting Submissions: from September 1 through May 1
Link: [link]


jmww

About: jmww: a quarterly journal of writing publishes the best in fiction, poetry, flash, nonfiction, and art (or a close approximation) every April, July, October, and January (or thereabouts)
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Flash, Non-fiction, Visual Art
Online/Print: Online with a print anthology
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Juked

About: In publication since 1999, Juked is an independent journal that appears online as well as in annual print issues. They don't adhere to any particular themes or tastes, but some people tell them they see one, so who knows.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction
Online/Print: Both
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


The Ledge

About: Founded in 1988 by its editor-in-chief and publisher Timothy Monaghan, The Ledge Poetry & Fiction Magazine is published annually. Each perfect-bound issue of The Ledge features over 200 pages of cutting-edge contemporary poetry and fiction by a diverse and eclectic group of contributors of all backgrounds and persuasions.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: from October 1 through April 30
Link: [link]


New Orleans Review

About: New Orleans Review is a journal of contemporary literature and culture.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Translations, and Book Reviews
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: from August 15 through May 15
Link: [link]



New York Quarterly

About: Since its foundation in 1969 by Editor William Packard, New York Quarterly been devoted to excellence in the publication of a most eclectic cross-section of contemporary American poetry.
Types of Submissions: Poetry
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Nimrod

About: Nimrod serves the national and international community of writers and readers by presenting the best writing, whether experimental or traditional.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction
Online/Print: Print, other
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


Passages North

About: Passages North is an annual literary journal sponsored by Northern Michigan University. It's put together, edited and loved by a bunch of volunteers, mainly faculty and students, who love good literature and love sharing good literature. Passages North Online is its internet extension, and somewhat goofy alter-ego: a spectacular wreck of webcode and half-realized aesthetic vision meant not only to offer our visitors a sample of the material that appears in the printed journal, but to inform about the various goings-on related to our journal and to generally amuse and entertain and brighten days!
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction
Online/Print: Both
Accepting Submissions: from September 1st through April 15th
Link: [link]


Poet Lore

About: Poet Lore publishes original poems, book reviews, and critical essays about contemporary poetry, poetics, and poets.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Reviews, Essays
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


PoetryMagazine(dot)com

About: PoetryMagazine(dot)com has been around since 1996. You must be 18 to submit a piece. They do not accept any obscene, pornographic or otherwise offensive material.
Types of Submissions: Poetry only
Online/Print: Online only
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


roger

About: roger contributes to the tradition of literary journals by publishing fresh and energetic poetry and prose by established and emerging writers, both nationally and internationally.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction
Online/Print: Print only
Accepting Submissions: from August 1st through January 1st
Link: [link]


Skidrow Penthouse

About: Skidrow Penthouse is published to give emerging and idiosyncratic writers a new forum in which to publish their work.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Flash Fiction
Online/Print: Print with some online excerpts
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]



Sub-Lit

About: SUB-LIT isn’t an uptight rag. Sure, they want your best work, but they also appreciate originality, derisiveness, decisiveness, and most importantly, dissidence. Is your work experimental, focused on a less-than-mainstream topic, or reflective of counterculture? Good.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Visual Art
Online/Print: Online
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]


upstreet

About: upstreet, based in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, is an annual literary anthology containing the best new fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction available.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction
Online/Print: Print with some online excerpts
Accepting Submissions: from September 1 through March 1
Link: [link]


Zone 3

About: Zone 3’s aim is to publish the best contemporary writing available, both from beginning and established writers.
Types of Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction
Online/Print: Print
Accepting Submissions: Year Round
Link: [link]

Also, while compiling this list, I found this great resource for writers, wish I would have found it before I compiled the list. The Lit List [link]

If there are any questions, please send =VertigoArt a note. I am always happy to answer questions or direct you to where you can find the answers.