** SUBMISSIONS WILL BE CLOSED UNtil FURTHER NOTICE. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Please check out our STORY ARCHIVES here. **
SUBMISSION PERIODS / PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
CHEAP POP has (2) consistent publication seasons. This also means we'll have (2) consistent submission periods. We hope this consistent schedule helps you as your write, edit, and finalize your pieces for submission. Please note: We only publish work when we are currently open for submissions.
Please note: We will not respond (accept/reject) pieces until after a submissions period is closed. You are free to query us, but our method is to read every piece we get, even ones submitted at 11:59 PM on the last day. It's important to us that every piece gets the same care and attention. This also means we generally need a small buffer of time after submissions close to read and gauge pieces.
Submission Periods
Open the month of June (to be published starting in August of that same year)
Open the month of November (to be published starting in January of the next year)
Publication Schedule (when we are open for submissions)
Season 1: Pieces run starting mid-January
Season 2: Pieces run starting August
GUIDELINES
1. We're looking for your best work in 500 words or less—please, nothing greater than that.
2. We don't differentiate between Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and anything in-between, nor do we have restrictions on genre—if it pops, it pops! What we want to see is good writing, your best writing, and that's it. Please note: CHEAP POP does not publish poetry, so please do not send it.
3. Please paste your story in the body of an email and send it to CheapPopLit [at] gmail [dot] com. Include a word count.
4. Please write this in the subject line: SUBMISSION: [Title of Your Piece] by [Your Name]. (example: SUBMISSION: Here Kitty Kitty by Pat Smith)
5. No need to include a cover letter—feel free to, though, if you'd like!—but please do send a third-person bio of up to 150 words.
6. Send only one piece at a time. Simultaneous submissions are cool by us—just let us know if it's accepted elsewhere.
7. We are looking for original work only at this time—so please do not send us previously-published material.
8. CHEAP POP acquires First North American Serial Rights. Copyright reverts to author upon publication. If your piece goes on to be published somewhere else in the future, we hope you'll let folks know that it first appeared here. We cannot pay authors right now, but we'll do everything we can to promote you and your work.
9. We will respond to submissions as soon as humanly possible—and by a human! As writers ourselves, we know waiting can be the worst, but please keep in mind we want to give your work all the attention we can (rushing through submissions is not our M.O.). We appreciate your patience—really!
10. Whether your piece is accepted or not, please wait until the next submission period to submit again—we want to make room for everyone! Failure to comply to this may result in us straight-up deleting your submission, and no one wants that to happen.
11. Have a question not answered here? Feel free to send us an email—CheapPopLit [at] gmail [dot] com. We like emails.
