Identity Theory

There are presently no open calls for submissions.

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.

Identity Theory