The Externalist: A Journal of Perspectives is open to submissions year-round. Please browse the site to get a feel for the kinds of work we publish before you submit. Much of the material we receive is inappropriate for our journal, taking up valuable time for the editors of contributors to The Externalist. If you come to us from Duotrope Digest, please remember to report your acceptances and rejections. Duotrope's statistics are very helpful to us and to other writers.

General Guidelines

• Submissions intended to denigrate any population including, but not limited to, any race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability will be rejected. Period.
• Submissions must be in the body of an email and submitted to the appropriate editor. Attachments will not be opened and submissions to the general editor, unless specifically requested, will be deleted unread.
• The subject header of your email should read SUBMISSION - [Genre] - [Your Last Name]. If you use any other subject header, you risk your submission being lost to spam-filtered cyber space.
• All submissions should be accompanied by a brief letter that notes your name and address. Long lists of prior publications are irritating, but a brief bio is fine and please do note if this would be your first publication.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine if noted. You must inform the appropriate editor immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere.
• We do not consider translations.
• Wait until you hear about one submission before sending another. If we notice your name on more than one submission at any given time, both will be rejected. No exceptions.
• We anticipate a six to eight week response time. If you have not heard from us after three months, please send an email to the the appropriate editor and include STATUS INQUIRY as the subject of the email.
• Writings about failed marriages, relationships, or courtships are unlikely to be accepted unless the cause of the failure is a socially significant issue (i.e. global warming made me do it).
• Please query if you would like to send us:
  1. A reprint
  2. A one-act play
  3. An attachment for formatting purposes
  4. An interview

If you do not have access to email, you may submit to The Externalist, c/o Larina Warnock, PO Box 2052, Corvallis, OR 97339.

At this time, we are not publishing books, chapbooks, or any other material. We will post separate guidelines when we begin publishing these.

Address short fiction submissions to Larina Warnock.

1. Fiction submissions should be between 250-5000 words. The ideal length for stories published in The Externalist is between 500 and 2000 words.
2. Send only one story at a time no matter how short it is.
3. All styles and genres are acceptable as long as the story is well-written and the content is appropriate for The Externalist.
4. Due to the difficulty of publishing them, stories with significant formatting requirements must be truly exceptional to be accepted.
5. The Externalist does not publish translations.
6. We will consider reprints if the author owns reprint rights; however, we prefer original content. For our purposes, work posted on a personal web site, personal blog, or workshop forum is not considered previously published.