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 others—and 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’s nonfiction section is devoted to creative work that is as thoughtful as it is vivid. Take us someplace we haven’t been before, show us something that is not as it seems, guide us with an intelligent heart.
We accept micro CNF (100-500 words), flash CNF (500-1000 words), and traditional CNF (1000-4000 words). Micro CNF should be submitted via email at micro@identitytheory.com. Flash and traditional-length CNF may be submitted through this form or by emailing essays@identitytheory.com.
Please:
- Include an approximate word count in your cover letter.
- Include a brief third-person author biography (50–100 words), including publishing credits and links to social media or personal sites as you wish.
- Let us know if the piece has been published elsewhere, including online.
- Do not submit AI-generated or otherwise plagiarized work.
Notes:
- We nominate CNF for the Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize anthologies each year.
- We request electronic rights to your piece. You may continue to seek print publication immediately and online publication six months after we publish your essay.
- The estimated response time for newly submitted pieces is 1-3 months.
Identity Theory is seeking unpublished poems that place as much emphasis on language as they do on meaning-making. We hope to read poetry that takes full advantage of the musical potential of English verse, whether in the original composition or via literary translation.
All poetic schools, styles, forms, and modes are welcome.
Poetry submission notes and guidelines:
- Send three to five unpublished poems.
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please notify us promptly if your work has found a home elsewhere.
- Submission responses are emailed back within approximately 1-6 months from the submission date. As of March 2024, our expected response timeframe for poetry is 1-4 weeks.
- If inclined, you may include a brief bio within your email.
- If your submission is a poem in translation, please include a bio of the poet whose work you’re translating and clearly label your submission as a work in translation.
- By submitting to Identity Theory, translators are confirming that they have identified the original copyright holder and acquired the right to publish the poem in both the source and target languages.
- Please note that poems 8 lines or shorter may be submitted to our Micro section (see guidelines). Hybrid/blended genre works with poetic elements may be submitted to our Un-Identified section.
- For additional information (or to submit your poems via email), contact us at poetry@identitytheory.com.
Fiction Categories
We accept three categories of fiction: micro (100-500 words), flash (500-1000 words), and traditional (1000-4000 words).
1. Microfiction (100-500 words): Please send micro fiction via email to micro@identitytheory.com instead of using Submittable. You can use Submittable for micro, but it will be much faster to use email. For more info, read our micro submission guidelines. Anticipated response time for micro is one day to one month.
2. Flash fiction (500-1000 words): Please submit flash using this form or email us at fiction@identitytheory.com. Read our complete fiction submission guidelines here.
3. Traditional fiction (1000-4000 words): Please submit traditional fiction using this form or email us at fiction@identitytheory.com. Read our complete fiction submission guidelines here.
Guidelines
1. Please include a word count in your cover letter.
2. Please submit your piece in .doc or .docx format.
3. Please include a third-person bio from one sentence to one paragraph for us to include with your piece.
4. Please do not submit AI-generated or otherwise plagiarized work.
Notes
1. New fiction submissions longer than 500 words can expect a response within three months. Microfiction submissions less than 500 words can expect a response within one month if submitted via email but up three months if submitted through Submittable.
2. We will consider fiction of all lengths for nominations including Pushcart and Best of the Net. Fiction shorter than 1000 words is also eligible for Best Small Fictions consideration, and fiction shorter than 400 words is eligible for both Best Microfiction and Best Small Fictions consideration.
3. We currently don't offer paid compensation for accepted pieces.
4. We request first electronic rights of your story, and you are welcome to republish it elsewhere online after it has been on our site for six months. You are also welcome to seek print publication for your piece after it has appeared on our site.
5. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please respect our volunteer staff's time by withdrawing your piece from consideration after it is accepted elsewhere.
6. All flash and traditional-length submissions receive thoughtful consideration from multiple editors. Once your piece is placed "in-progress" in Submittable, you should receive a response within 1-4 weeks.
7. We don't generally accept previously published work, but we are open to reasonable exceptions if the work does not currently appear elsewhere online.
8. We promote our writers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Substack, LinkedIn, and sometimes TikTok. Please connect with us on those communities.
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.