The submission window for Issue 7 is open until April 2nd. For updates, follow Alphabet Box at Twitter.com/Alphabet_Box

Submission guidelines below

Alphabet Box is an international literary journal that features the best writers of original poetry, personal essays, flash fiction and short prose. All voices are heard. Hate is not.

We award a minimum $27 USD honorarium upon publication acceptance. We intend to pay more in the future through self-funding and your contributions. All “tips” that you make go directly to the writers we feature. There is no fee to submit your work to Alphabet Box, but you must follow our guidelines.

If you’d like to help us continue to be free of both advertising while avoiding submission fees, and still be able to pay talented writers, please consider a one-time or sustaining tip. Thank you.


Submission guidelines

  • Alphabet Box does not accept previously published work. We feature only original writing.
  • We accept submissions up to a total of 900 words for up to five poems, up to 900 for essays, prose and fiction.
  • You may mix your submission. For example, you may submit two poems along with one essay and a prose piece — as long as you don’t exceed the combined total of 900 words. Submissions over the limit will not be considered.
  • When you submit, please include a maximum 150-word bio or self-introduction in the body of your email.
  • We only accept submissions via email. Please begin your email’s subject line with “AB submission” followed by your last name.
  • Upon acceptance for publication, you give Alphabet Box first rights to publish your submitted work online and in print.
  • After we publish your writing, your ownership rights return to you.
  • If we publish your work and you later learn it will be published elsewhere, we ask that you please mention that it was originally published in Alphabet Box.
  • Submissions to Issues 1 through 6, not selected, must be re-submitted for Issue 7, to be considered again.
  • Once an issue’s submission window is closed, our choice of the Featured Writer can take up to two months, depending on the volume of submissions received. Our goal is to announce the Featured Writer here and on Twitter within three weeks of an issue closing.

To submit, click here to email your work in the body of your email, or attached as a single document in a .PDF, or as a .DOC or .DOCX (such as Word) format.

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