Call for Submissions
We know that sharing your art is a brave act–
we look forward to seeing your work!

FAQ's:
  • General magazine submissions are always free—there is no entry fee.
  • We currently pay $15/poem and $15/400 words for prose. Ruminate firmly believes in paying our contributors, and we are working hard to increase the amount we pay them.
  • We only accept submissions that are previously unpublished.
  • We do accept simultaneous submissions, however, please notify us right away if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • If you are interested in receiving writing feedback from the Ruminate staff, please review our writing critique sessions.
  • If you agree to allow Ruminate to publish your work, we will receive first serial rights and all rights revert back to you upon publication.
  • We only accept online submissions, as our readers are spread across the country. Any submissions made by postal mail or email will not be considered.
  • Our response time is 3-4 months. Please wait 3-4 months before inquiring about the status of your submission.
  • Please wait for a response to your submission before sending us more work.
As with all our submissions, we highly recommend reading a copy of the magazine to better understand the type of work we are looking for.

Download a free excerpt from our 10th anniversary issue.
Read an entire issue:
GENERAL SUBMISSIONS
Fiction is open.
General Magazine Submissions Reading period: February 16th-August 14th. (Between August 15th-February 15th we will only accept fiction submissions to our William Van Dyke Short Story Prize). We accept pieces that are 5,500 words or less.
Submit
Blog is open.
Ruminate is looking for guest bloggers to write for the Ruminate Blog, and we accept submissions year-round. Submissions are limited to 400-800 words.
Submit
Poetry is open.
General Magazine Submissions Reading period: June 1st-December 15th. (Between December 16th-May 15th we will only accept poetry submissions to our Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize.) You may submit up to five poems (we prefer 3-5), with a maximum of 60 lines per poem.
Submit
Nonfiction is closed.
General Magazine Submissions Reading period: November 16th-May 14th. (Between May 15th-November 15th we will only accept nonfiction submissions to our VanderMey Nonfiction Prize). We accept pieces that are 5,500 words or less.
Visual Art is closed.
General Magazine Submissions Reading period: September 16th-April 14th.
Readers Ruminate column
is closed.
Each issue of Ruminate includes personal notes, 300 words or less, from our readers on a particular topic. If the column is open, click submit below to learn more about this issue's topic. If it's closed, we notify our readers of the topic for each issue's Readers Ruminate column via our email newsletter and social media. To be notified of the topic, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, or sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Recognized by

"Ruminate is gorgeous and continues to forward
such profound work into the world."
—Shann Ray, winner of Ruminate's 2010 Short Story Prize and author of American Masculine (winner of the American Book Award) and American Copper (winner of the Foreword Book of the Year Readers' Choice Award)