When we say we're a literary journal, we mean we publish literary stories and poetry.

'What do you mean by literary stories and poetry?' we hear you cry.

You will find many definitions and explanations as to what qualifies a story as 'literary'. Here are a few guidelines we prefer to go by:

• Writing that has significant dramatic, thematic, or emotional impact on the reader.

• Writing that is important and memorable with permanent artistic (creative) value.

• Writing that demands readers to imagine, ensures momentum and significance, and provokes delight.

Essentially, we mean well-crafted stories and poems that examine the human condition.

Submit your work via our site on Submittable, and please be sure to follow submission guidelines.

YES!

We values writers' work, and believe it is important to pay for it.

Contributors are paid 10x the standard submission fee.

Annual short story and poetry competition winners are paid a minimum of 20x the submission fee.

Our editors are unpaid, and standard submission fees only cover the journal's running costs. Any additional funds leftover from submission fees are reinvested into competition prize funds.

Yes! Wherever possible we offer feedback on submissions.

If we have not provided you with feedback and you would like some, please do ask! We always provide feedback upon request. This comes at no extra cost.

If you make this request through the Submittable message function and do not receive a reply, your submission may have been archived and the message missed, so please fill in a website contact form, or email us directly on info@superlativelitjournal.com.

We have a highly-specialised team that consider every submission with the utmost care; we respond to every submission, and aim to do so for open journal submissions within 1-3 months. For monthly feature submissions, you will hear from us within 2 weeks of the closing deadline.

Should you be successful, you will be notified via Submittable, and possibly also contacted via email.

Superlative's annual competition schedule is:

• Earlybird Submissions: 01 September - 31 December

• Submissions accepted: 01 January - 31 August

• Judging: September

• Longlist Contacted & Announced: October

• Shortlist Contacted & Announced: November

• Winners Contacted & Announced: December

Different categories have different entry fees, ranging from £5 to £20.

Submission fees are purposefully nominal, and only cover the journal's running costs.

Our editors are unpaid, and standard submission fees only cover the journal's running costs. Any additional funds leftover from submission fees are reinvested into prize funds.

We aim to offer the best journal, and publish and promote as many writers, as possible. We hope our low submission fees are a small enough price to pay to promote emerging writers.

Please pay when you submit your piece via Submittable, by following the submission form instructions.

Yes! Please read back issues of the journal before submitting, to get a feel for the types of pieces we publish.

Print copies of back issues are available to buy, and e-copis are available to download for free.

Yes! Always!

As part of our editorial process, all submissions are reviewed anonymously. Our team evaluates each piece without knowing the author’s name, age, or background. Author details are only revealed once selections are finalised, ensuring every piece is judged purely on its merit.

Sometimes, this results in us accepting and publishing multiple pieces by the same author, sometimes even in consecutive months, and we are perfectly happy with that.

Yes!

You may submit as many times as you like to any and all categories.

Additionally, we do not enforce any embargoes following successful submissions.

Please only submit one piece per submission.

Yes! Absolutely!

Whilst it is unfortunate that there are sometimes astronomical international postage costs, we do not want this to be a barrier to people's work being published. We accept global submissions, and every piece is judged anonymously by our editors, so authors' geographical locations play no part in a piece's consideration.

Unfortunately not. We only accept previously unpublished work. Please do not submit pieces that have already been published by other journals, publishers, in anthologies, etc. We do accept work that has been self-published.

Yes.

We encourage simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.

Yes! Absolutely!

Whilst we don't currently have a specific submission category for work in translation, we absolutely do accept it, so please just note somewhere in your submission/on your document that it is a poem or story in translation.

Superlative accepts story and poetry submissions for the journal year-round.

We respond to every submission, and aim to do so within 1-3 months. Please be patient.

Superlative's annual competition schedule is:

• Submissions accepted: 01 January - 31 August

• Judging: September

• Longlist Contacted & Announced: October

• Shortlist Contacted & Announced: November

• Winners Contacted & Announced: December

Yes, absolutely.

If you would like to be considered for Superlative's Author of the Month roster, please get in touch.

We do offer placements/internships (voluntary) for guest editors, wherein you can gain experience working with our editors on pieces that are being considered for the journal.

We are occasionally looking for editors on a more permanent basis, especially as the journal continues to grow, so please do get in touch to enquire; please send your CV and a sample of your own prose or poetry to info@superlativelitjournal.com

Please fill out the contact form at the bottom of the homepage, e-mail info@superlativelitjournal.com, or get in touch via social media.