Identity Theory has published original literature—fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and more—online since 2000.

Based in southern Nevada and featuring an international staff of three dozen editors, our internet-only publication has earned the attention of major print media throughout the world—including the New York Times, Washington Post, and many othersand reaches thousands of influential readers every week.

We nominate our authors for prizes and anthologies. We promote our authors (past and present) on social media. We thoughtfully read every submission. And as one of the longest-running online-only literary journals, we provide a stable, long-term home for our contributors' work.

Quality writing in any format is welcome.

We have a free Submittable submission period at the beginning of each month, and we always offer a free email submission option in addition to the optional paid "tip jar" Submittable option below. 

We do not officially pay for stories, but we offer the following benefits:

  • We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net awards as well as other anthologies.
  • We promote the work we publish and some of the future/additional work of our contributors throughout our five-figure social media following across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We also promote the work of our contributors in our newsletter.
  • We sometimes send gift bags and special rewards to our contributors. In the past, these have included personalized Yeti mugs, Identity Theory merchandise, and gift cards for donuts. 

Simultaneous submissions are welcome long as you notify us as soon as your work is accepted elsewhere.

We are unlikely to accept previously published work but are willing to consider it if it no longer appears online. 

We publish new work every week, but we do not have a regular publication schedule. Once a story is accepted, it receives multiple rounds of edits and goes online when the time is right.

Queries related to blogging, interviews, reviews, and more go to Matt Borondy at editor@identitytheory.com.

Prose submissions under 500 words should be submitted via email to micro@identitytheory.com. Read the micro guidelines.

Please note: Submissions are always open. As noted above, we always offer free email submissions, and we have a free Submittable reading period at the beginning of each month that runs until we reach our cap. 

Please visit the submissions page of our website for more instructions on how to submit your writing via email.

$5.00

This is the paid submission form for Identity Theory. It exists for writers who want to use Submittable when our free submission cap has been exceeded—or who simply want to support our project financially.

You can use this form to submit fiction, poetry, essays, and hybrid work. 

Please note: writers always have the option of submitting for free via email if they don't want the benefits of tracking their submissions in Submittable. 

Our complete submission guidelines are available on our website. In summary:

  • We do not charge for submissions other than when using this paid submission form.
  • We do not officially pay for accepted work. However, we often send gift bags and provide other surprise benefits for our contributors, as a treat.
  • We nominate our best published pieces for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfiction anthologies.
  • We promote stories (and the other work of our contributors) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, TikTok, and the like. Please join our communities there.
  • We are here to help your work flourish. You remain free to seek print publication and other outlets for your work after we publish it, but we prefer to be the only publication in which your piece is published online for a reasonable span of time after we post it. 
  • We have been publishing for 24 years. As one of the longest-running online-only literary journals, we provide a stable, long-term home for our contributors' work.
  • For more info, view our specific guidelines for sending micro, fiction, poetry, and essays.
Identity Theory