PFN – Talk Vomit Seeking Submissions on: Girlhood

THEME: Our summer edition’s theme is girlhood, however you interpret that.

We now manage submissions through our Google Form, linked here.

The details:

• Non-fiction under 4,000 words, fiction under 2,000, and poetry just generally kept to a minimum
• Please submit one prose piece or two poems.
• Turnaround times vary. Expect a response within approximately one month of submissions closing.
• Talk Vomit believes wholeheartedly in simultaneous submissions and raises their eyebrows at places that don’t. BUT, if your piece is accepted elsewhere, please email talk@talkvomit.com as soon as you can. If you don’t, it stands to be quite embarrassing for both of us.

Some stuff we particularly like:

• Gothic stories. Not high fantasy stuff, usually, but moody and atmospheric pieces that take a microscope to the underbelly of our communities and relationships
• Flash satire
• Essays that weave first-person with cultural criticism; essays with a fresh coming-of-age narrative (one can come of age at many times in their life, in many ways; Monica is currently particularly interested in coming-of-age stories related to motherhood, fwiw)
• Cultural criticism, in general
• Book reviews, especially those in the 300-600 word range — unless you’re baking in some first-person narrative and lengthier criticism. If that’s the case, follow our general nonfiction word limit.
• Serial stories. Feel free to pitch one at talk@talkvomit.com. Let’s get Dickensian about it.

At the end of the day, we’re curating each quarterly to fit a theme and meet our editorial needs. We say no to a lot of a solid pieces that we simply don’t have room for. Don’t hesitate to submit to the next round if your piece is not accepted.

If your piece is a thinly-veiled homage to Lolita, we will delete it without response. Read something else.

Payment: We’re very pleased to pay our contributors thanks to print zine sales and supporters of our Substack. Our rates are DIY-zine rates, but we hope they will increase. Fiction and nonfiction run in the $10-30 range; poetry in the $5-15 range. The rate will be higher for print exclusives. We issue honraria via Venmo and PayPal.https://talkvomit.com/submissions/