We are currently CLOSED for submissions.
This journal submits annual nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
WORDCOUNT: 500 words maximum.
PUBLICATION STATUS: Original, previously unpublished work.
LANGUAGE: English and English translations.
SUBJECT MATTER: Work must pull inspiration from a news story, article, essay, and/or other form of media “current” at the time of submission.
MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: Please submit only one piece of work to us at a time. We’re happy to accept a new submission when you’ve heard back from our editors on your last submission.
SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Always allowed. Please inform us promptly if you’ve decided to withdraw a pending submission by emailing editor@ripefiction.com.
ACCEPTANCE/REJECTION TIMES: Expect a response to your submission within 1-7 days. We make final decisions on publications every Sunday. Query after one week.
COMPENSATION: $0.08/word, with a $40 minimum.
We love seeing work from previously unpublished writers, ESL writers, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ writers, and other marginalized voices.
We have a special interest in fiction which…
Directly speaks to, interrogates, complicates, and/or sheds light on a news story, article, essay and/or media “current” at the time of submission.
Challenges power structures, especially as written by members of communities that are oppressed and marginalized by those power structures
Celebrates community, compassion and acts of rebellion; gives voices to the silenced; uplifts the disenfranchised and confronts the disparities of privilege.
Expands the focus of “international news” beyond the native english-speaking world and explores the diverse experiences of a global population.
Is inspired by current events directly affecting the writer and their community.
Experiments with voice, form, and medium.
We’re not interested in fiction that…
Champions the privileged and upholds power structures, or positions acts of protest, rebellion, and revolution as inherently negative.
Treats members of a privileged class, caste or group as oppressed or wronged by a marginalized community, or characterizes the privileged as the saviors of the marginalized.
Promotes fascism, racism, transphobia, sexism, ableism, homophobia, fatphobia, etc., or fetishizes groups of people based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, or body-type.
Is inspired by real life occurrences personal only to the author.
Is not directly related to and clearly inspired by a current event news story, piece of media, or non-fiction publication.
Is fanfiction. Works inspired by popular media should be distinct, transformative, and should not infringe on the copyright of a published work.
Isn’t fiction. We aren’t a publisher of poetry or non-fiction (no personal essays, open letters, non-narrative drabbles or opinion pieces).
How to submit:
Please submit the following via email to editor@ripefiction.com:
Cover letter, including:
Your byline/preferred name.
Direct link to the media that your submission is addressing.
Brief writer’s statement on your submission, including anything you’d like the reader to understand about you and your connection to your submission.
Brief writer’s bio.
Your work as a doc, docx, or rtf attachment with all personal information removed (no name, contact info, or other identifying personal information in the file or file name). Your file should only include your story’s title, text and wordcount.
Files including identifying personal information will be declined for publication.
If the reader’s experience of your story is dependent on non-standard formatting, please additionally include a pdf copy of your work formatted to your specifications. We do not accept stories embedded in the body of an email.
Feeling lost?
Check out an example submission.