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Submissions

Submission Guidelines

We operate two sister publications:

  • The Sandy River Review: An annual print anthology. Submissions are currently CLOSED. The submission period is open from November 15th to February 15th.
  • The River: An online-only publication. Submissions are currently CLOSED. The submission period is open from August 1st though March 31st.

Guidelines for both publications:

  • We do not accept previously published work.
  • We do not accept physical submissions.
  • All submissions must be digital, either through an online form or via the publication’s corresponding email.
  • Submissions should primarily be in English.
  • We are not accepting translations, reviews, interviews, or academic essays at this time.
  • Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • If we previously rejected a piece, please do not submit that piece again unless the piece has been heavily edited, changed, or altered.
  • If you are rejected from publication in The Sandy River Review, the editors may recommend you submit your work to The River. In this instance, acceptance into The River is not guaranteed, but the editors of The Sandy River Review see something in the work that may be attractive to the editors of The River.
  • Both publications operate with a rotating staff, thus each publication’s creative vision and tastes change throughout a given year.
  • We reserve the right to alter these guidelines at any time.
  • Please limit submissions to five poems or three prose entries. A mix of each is fine, so long as the total amount does not exceed five total pieces.

Poetry:

  • We accept all genres and styles of poetry.
  • We will review a maximum amount of 5 pages of poetry per submission. Please limit your submission to a total of five poems.
  • There is no minimum length requirement.
  • Please submit document as a Word document or PDF file.

Fiction:

  • Each work of fiction must have a maximum length of 3,500 words. (1,000 words for The River)
  • There is no minimum length requirement. Sudden and flash fiction are welcome.
  • We are interested in literary and genre fiction. (We are especially interested in pieces that include elements from both categories.)
  • Please limit submissions to a total of three prose entries.
  • Please submit document as a Word document or PDF file.

Nonfiction:

  • Each work of nonfiction must have a maximum length of 3,500 words. (1,000 words for The River)
  • There is no minimum length requirement.
  • We welcome all forms of creative nonfiction (memoir, personal essay, literary journalism, etc.).
  • Please limit submissions to a total of three prose entries.
  • Please submit document as a Word document or PDF file.

Short Dramatic Works:

  • Each short dramatic work must have a maximum length of 3,500 words. (No more than 6 pages for The River)
  • There is no minimum length requirement.
  • We accept all forms of dramatic works (short plays, excerpts, scenes, monologues, short screenplays, etc.).
  • Please submit document as a Word document or PDF file.

Photography + Visual Art:

  • Each submission should be formatted as at least 300 dpi quality.
  • We only accept .TIFF files.
  • We prefer artworks to be saved in CMYK color-mode.

Podcasts + Audio Essays (Only accepted at The River):

  • We only accept .MP3 file formats.
  • Each podcast or essay must have a maximum length of 20 minutes or 5 GB in size.
  • We accept all forms of podcasts and audio essays. (We enjoy being surprised!)

Original Music (Only accepted at The Sandy River Review):

  • We accept up to three song submissions.
  • Required for submission:
    • Song lyrics, accepted as a Word document or a PDF file.
    • A QR code to your song.
    • Bandcamp/Spotify/YouTube/SoundCloud/etc. information if you publish music on any platforms.

If accepted by either publication:

  • We will send a congratulatory email, in which we will finalize our request to publish your work.
  • By accepting, you are giving permission to either The Sandy River Review or The River to publish your work.
  • If you are published by The River, your work will remain in our online archive for the lifespan of this site.
  • If you are published by The Sandy River Review, you will received two mailed copies of the completed anthology after its print publication. A digital copy of the anthology will also be available via this site.
  • You will retain all ownership rights to the copyrights of your work.
  • All published work will be copy-edited.