Welcome to Electric Literature's submissions hub!
We have a number of categories, including Personal Narrative essays, Recommended Reading, and The Commuter. Please scroll down for information and guidelines on the category you are interested in.
Looking for member submissions? You received an email with the members only submission links when you joined. If you can't find that email or believe you never received it, please email editors@electricliterature.com. Please include the full name associated with your membership so we can confirm your subscription.
For more information on membership and benefits, please reach out to wynter@electricliterature.com.
If you are looking to pitch us a cultural criticism essay, interview, or reading list, please see our guidelines here.
Please note that we do not accept work that was created using generative AI in any category, with rare exception made for pieces that engage with the tool in an intentional, artistic, and transparent manner (e.g., “A conversation between Ethan Gilsdorf and ChatGPT”). Any use of AI in the creation of a piece must be disclosed in your submission.
Emerging Writers Contest — The 2026 Emerging Writers Contest is closed for submissions. View complete details for the contest, including eligibility information, submission guidelines, judges, and prizes here.
Prose, Poetry, and Graphic Narratives: The Commuter — The Commuter is closed for submissions. Members of Electric Literature can submit year round. Join today!
The Commuter is our home for poetry, flash, graphic, and experimental narratives. It publishes weekly on Wednesday morning, and has showcased the likes of Eshani Surya, Vanessa Chan, Aleksandar Hemon, Weike Wang, Tahirah Alexander Green, and Julia Wertz.
Please keep the following guidelines in mind:
- For Prose, submit one or more pieces, either standalone or connected, in a single document. The total word count should not exceed 1500 words. We encourage writers to push boundaries.
- For Poetry, submit 4–6 poems in a single document, and please limit the page count to 8. Keep in mind that due to our digital platform, not all poems may render exactly as they appear in a PDF.
- For Graphic Narrative, we are interested in both traditional and non-traditional forms of visual storytelling. Submit up to 3 pieces of narrative illustration, comics, mixed media narrative, or genre-negative oddments. For comics, each piece should contain a minimum of 3 panels. The total page count of your submission should not exceed 20 pages.
- Please submit all genres in .doc, .docx, or PDF.
- Please submit only once per category.
- Work previously published in any form cannot be considered.
- Please include your email address.
- If your work is selected, we offer a total payment of $100.
- Writers with a submission pending with Recommended Reading may still submit to The Commuter.
All submissions will be accepted through our Submittable page. For a sense of the kind of work we publish, check out recent issues of The Commuter.
For candid advice from our editors on how to make your poems, flash, graphic, and experimental narratives stand out, watch our video "How to Get Published in The Commuter."
General Fiction: Recommended Reading — Recommended Reading is closed for submissions. Members of Electric Literature can submit year round. Join today!
- Recommended Reading publishes fiction between 2,000 and 10,000 words. (For fiction shorter than 2,000 words, check for open submission periods to The Commuter.)
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted but please notify us immediately if a piece is accepted elsewhere. Work previously published in any form cannot be considered.
- Response time is six to eight months.
- Upon acceptance, we can offer authors $300 for publishing rights.
- During the general submissions periods, writers may submit one piece per period.
- Writers with a submission pending with The Commuter can still submit to Recommended Reading.
- Please do not submit a story already previously rejected by Electric Literature, even if the story has been revised (unless you've been invited to do so by an EL editor).
For candid advice from our editors on how to polish your first pages and revise your work, check out our "Submission Roulette II" event and our video "How to Get Published in Recommended Reading."
Essays: Personal Narrative — Personal Narrative is closed for submissions. Members of Electric Literature can submit year round. Join today!
- Submissions must be full drafts of personal essays submitted via Submittable
- While there are no restrictions on form or subject matter, submissions should center narrative and consider what it means to essay; in other words, write to interrogate, investigate, adventure, and introspect
- Submissions must be between 2,000 and 6,500 words in length
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know immediately if a submission is accepted elsewhere
- Previously published work will not be considered
- Response time is approximately six to eight months
- Writers may submit once per submission period, but writers can have active submissions across other EL categories. (This does not apply to year-round submitting members. For more information on member submissions, please refer to the welcome email you received when you signed up as member, or email wynter@electricliterature.com.)
- Upon acceptance, we can offer authors $100 for publishing rights, with 90-day exclusivity
- For more information on what we’re looking for, please watch our salon on EL’s General Nonfiction Program
Volunteer Reader Applications — We are not currently accepting reader applications. Please check this page for future updates.
We accept applications for volunteer readers to join our editorial team in one of three capacities:
- Recommended Reading, EL’s weekly fiction magazine, publishes one story a week: a mix of original work, forgotten classics, and forthcoming excerpts, each with a personal foreword by today’s best writers. Readers must commit to reading ten stories per week, ranging in length from 2,000 to 8,000 words.
- The Commuter, EL’s weekly magazine of flash fiction, poetry, and graphic narratives, publishes one piece of original work per week, as well as occasional forthcoming excerpts. Readers must commit to reading ten pieces of flash prose or poetry per week.
- EL publishes a selection of original creative nonfiction nearly every day of the week on wide-ranging topics, including but not limited to culture, literature, industry, craft, and personal narrative. Readers must commit to reading ten essays per week, running in length from 2,000 to 5,000 words.
Electric Literature receives a large volume of submissions in all categories, and a committed corps of volunteer readers is essential to helping the editors find new, unknown, and/or overlooked talent. All reader positions are volunteer and require a commitment to complete reading assignments on a weekly basis for approximately six months. Readers will work remotely and on their own schedules (as long as they meet the weekly deadline). Current readers are not allowed to submit their own work for consideration in the category they are reading in.
Electric Literature Seeks Editorial Intern
Electric Literature internships are designed to introduce students, emerging writers, and aspiring publishing professionals to literary digital publishing. Because we are a small, nonprofit publisher, we provide unique opportunities for professional development and resume-building. Former EL interns have gone on to have thriving careers in the industry, with placement at places like Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Simon & Schuster, Grove Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Many of our interns also receive fellowships, residencies, complete doctoral work, and publish their own books. And, of course, many have gone on to become valued staff members right here at Electric Lit.
Responsibilities:
- Write book lists and news items for electricliterature.com
- Provide feedback on pitches and submissions with written responses, and in editorial meetings
- Select images to pair with articles and brainstorm headlines and subheadings
- Format, copy edit, and draft articles in Wordpress
- Perform administrative tasks as needed
- Draft and schedule social media posts
- Attend and participate in biweekly staff meetings and weekly Recommended Reading, Personal Narrative, and web editorial meetings on a rotating basis
Skills:
- Experience using Wordpress, Canva, and Submittable is preferred but not required
- An enthusiastic, informed, and unique perspective on literature and culture
- Strong copyediting skills, and a firm grasp of grammar and spelling
- A strong worth ethic and ability to complete tasks independently
The ideal candidate:
- Has an educational background in journalism, literature, or creative writing
- Has prior internship or entry-level job experience at another publishing, media, or nonprofit organization
- Regularly reads new book releases, as well as literary magazines and literary websites (including but not limited to Recommended Reading, The Commuter, and electricliterature.com)
- Believes strongly in Electric Literature’s mission: to make literature more relevant, exciting, and inclusive
- Is organized, detail-oriented, and eager to learn
- Writes clearly and with personality
- Has an eye for design and understands what makes an image grab a reader’s attention
- Note: Undergraduate applicants should be in their junior or senior year, and should preferably have off-campus work or internship experience
This is a part-time, remote internship (20 hours/week) with a $300 per month stipend. Approximately 15 hours per week will be spent in the virtual office, with two to five hours per week spent reading submissions (five submissions per week, fiction and nonfiction). Candidates must be able to work three days per week (Monday–Thursday) during East Coast business hours (9:00 AM – 6:00 PM ET). The ideal schedule is three five-hour days in the virtual office, though accommodations may be made for other commitments. We ask that interns make a minimum three-month commitment, with the opportunity to extend the internship up to eight months.
To apply, please send the following via Submittable by 11:59 PM PT on September 13, 2026. Submissions will close early if we hit our application cap. We are looking to fill one position beginning in October and one beginning in January.
- A cover letter and resume.
- Write the headline and two- to three-paragraph introduction for a reading list (you can look at the lists section on our site for inspiration). Include five to seven book titles that you would include on the list, and a short capsule description of one of those books.