#Submission & Publishing

🔥
7.5K readers visited

From submission to acceptance—the waiting, the feedback, and the moment it finally pays off. A space for writers navigating the publishing process.

ABO Personality Quiz
Take a quick quiz to find out whether you‘re Alpha, Beta, or Omega.
Scent
Personality
Ideal Love Pattern
Secret Desire
Your Dark Side
Start Test

Related Books

Related Topics

What royalties do publishers for romance novels typically offer?

4 Answers 645

What formatting do new yorker submissions require for fiction?

7 Answers 483
Bright paper, a clear font, and the thrill of sending a polished story off into the world — that's how I approach prepping fiction for 'The New Yorker'. Over the years I've sent and revised pieces for magazines, and what tends to work for them is simple, professional formatting: a .doc or .docx file (their online portal usually accepts these cleanly), Times New Roman or a similar serif at 12-point, double-spaced lines, and 1-inch margins. Put the title at the top of the first page and include a word count; page numbers in the header or footer make life easier for the editor. Keep the manuscript itself plain—no unusual fonts, complicated indents, or embedded images. It reads better and looks like you respect the reader's time.

When you prepare the submission, craft a short cover note in the submission form: your contact info, the title and word count, and a one-line note about whether the piece is previously unpublished. I always paste the story into the body of the submission form if that option exists and also upload the .docx because weird file conversions can mess up em dashes and italics. Don’t put your name at the top of the manuscript if their portal asks for blind reading—follow whatever their current instructions say about author ID. Be honest about simultaneous submissions; if the story is picked up elsewhere, notify them immediately so they can withdraw it from consideration.

Length and tone matter more than tiny formatting quirks. Many stories the magazine runs fall in the short-to-medium range—clean, economical pieces where every sentence pulls its weight—though longer works appear sometimes. Read recent fiction issues to get a sense of pacing and voice that resonate with their editors. Avoid gimmicks like unconventional spacing or opaque fonts; editors want to see how you use language, not your typesetting skills. Finally, be patient: response times can take months. I always treat the process as part craft, part endurance test, and try to learn from rejections. When a story finally lands well-formatted and in the right voice, it feels like sending a letter to someone who gets what I'm trying to say — and that little victory never gets old.
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status