Welcome to The Quarter.

The Quarter is an Annual Literary Journal of 25 pieces of poetry, prose, and comics. (Artwork is just a bonus.)

Quarter Press continues to support Physical Editions, albeit on a smaller scale, ensuring that short form literary work is still showcased in print.

Submissions will be open from March 1 to May 31.

Please Note: Submissions will be CAPPED at 1,000 and will close early if max is hit.

While there is no specific theme, some of our favorite submissions in the past came from The Quarter(ly) calls:

  • In the Dark

  • ALL of the WEIRD themes

  • burn this fucker down

  • What We Do With the Ashes

  • Laughter and Tears

What’ve you got to show us?

  • Fiction and / or Non-Fiction

    For Fiction: We’re open to micro works all the way up to 10,000 words. Just keep two things in mind: We want to be engaged and the submission must be completed (no pitches, please!)

    For Non-Fiction: We’d love to see any and all personal essays, media analysis (film, music, literature, etc.) up to 10,000 words. (Feel free to pitch non-fiction ideas; however, please note that our “Interest in seeing a draft” does NOT guarantee publication.) At the moment, we do not want reviews.

  • Poetry

    We’d love to see up to THREE poems from you.

    (We prefer them to be in one file, new poems starting on a new page.)

    We’re game for any style, traditional forms to prose to free verse, etc.

    However, it’s good to know that we rarely accept rhyming poems (especially if its not required by the form).

  • Art

    We’re open to see any art created in any medium at any time. Just know that it will need to “work in print” and—might—be presented in black and white.

    Art my have originally appeared on your personal website or social media; however, we do not wish to publish work that has appeared in other zines / journals / etc.

    We WILL NOT Accept any AI-Generated material.

    FYI, we tend to get more collage art than anything else.

    For The Quarter, you must submit via Submittable to be considered.

  • Graphic Stories

    Show us your comic strips or complete short works; we’d love to see them all! Please try to keep submissions to 20 pages or less. Feel free to also send a collection of comic strips / one shot comics, as well. (Please note that our publication size / dimensions might change between issues. Our “Norm” is 6x9”). These must be COMPLETE works.

    We’re also okay with work that has appeared on your personal website or social media; however, if it has been published elsewhere, we’ll pass.

    For Graphic Work / Comics, please send jpgs, PDFs, or PNGs. However, for bigger files, feel free to include a Google Drive or Dropbox folder link.

submit

The Boring, Necessary Bits

  • Unless otherwise noted above, we DO NOT accept previously published material.

    We Want: Works with fantastical elements: scary, happy, creepy, heartbreaking, bizarre, hilarious, whatever. While you can see our “Loves” lower on the page, we’re pretty open to anything that’s worth picking up.

    We (Probably) Won’t: Pick up works not tied to or containing fantastical elements. It’s kinda our thing. (However, that can simply mean a dreamy vibe. Interpret broadly.)

    Where to Tread Lightly: We’re pretty open-minded and okay with just about anything, but there better be a reason for it to be in the work. The darker, more explicit you go, the more we’ll really need to see its necessity to the work. We don’t want shock / horror / violence for its own sake.

    Definitely Will Not Publish: Any work that is hateful towards any race, creed, religion, gender, or identity. This aims to be an inclusive space. Anything created by generative AI.

  • We nominate for the Pushcart Prize and Best American Short Stories.

    Unpublished writers and professional folks, all ages, from all walks of life are considered here. We’ve published first timers here, and added another CV cred to well-established folks.

    Your work must be ORIGINAL. Again, we will not accept anything AI-Generated. (Can you tell that I’m not a fan of AI generated content?)

    Your work must be complete. For these shorter forms, we need to see the whole thing to make an informed decision.

    We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you let us know if / when it gets picked up by another venue as soon as possible.

    Also, it’s worth noting that if it comes down to someone who has been published by us before (here, in (ly), or The Quarter(ly),) and a new voice, we will lean into the new voice.

  • Rights: We request one-time, first publishing rights in print and digital PDF forms. All rights will be retained by the creator. We simply ask that when / if published elsewhere, acknowledgment is given to its appearance within The Quarter.

    If a “Best of” or Collected Anthology is published, publication rights will be renegotiated for that publication.

    Payment: We aim to be a paying venue, even if it’s just enough for a cup of coffee. Upon agreement of publication, contributors are offered $5 via PayPal and a PDF contributor copy.

  • Here’s a brief, incomplete list of ways to increase your rejection chances:

    • Start your story with a narrator waking up and / or not knowing where they are.

    • Sending multiple submissions more than 1k words each, at one time.

    • The “hook” of the first section / paragraphs that are in the present, then skipping back in time. This, more often than not, annoys me.

    • Lots! Of! Exclamation! Points! (Let the context guide the excitement.)

    • Only sending rhyming poetry. (While I don’t mind some, rhyming poems are not a personal preference and increase the chance of rejection with each new rhyme.)

    • Having the whole story / poem hinge on "the twist." (I'm not big on the reveal being the crux of the story.) Twists are good, but not when the story was written just for them.

    • Submitting to the incorrect submission type. (For example, don’t submit for The Quarter under the (ly) project.) These will go ignored.

  • 2025 Stats:

    Overall Year: 1,430 Submissions, 138 Acceptances, Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 10%

    Vol. 13 - This is Where We are Now - 343 Submissions, 34 Acceptances, 30 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 10%

    Vol 14 - What We Do With the Ashes - 476 Submissions, 39 Acceptances, 27 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 8%

    Vol. 15 - Animate Me - 215 Submissions, 26 Acceptances, 26 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 12%

    Vol. 16 - Mood : Stark - 396 Submissions, 39 Acceptances, Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 10%

    2024 Overall Stats: 1980 Submissions, 170 Acceptances, Acceptance Rate ~ 11% : 116 Offered Payment, 54 Offered a PDF

    Vol 9 - In the Dark - 709 Submissions, 49 Acceptances, 27 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~7%

    Vol 10 - WET - 357 Submissions, 35 Acceptances, 25 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 10%

    Vol. 11 - W3IRD - 595 Submissions, 55 Acceptances, 29 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 9%

    Vol. 12 - ; - 319 Submissions, 31 Acceptances, 25 Offered Payment, Acceptance Rate ~ 10%

    In 2023, The Quarter(ly) received a total of 1,775 submissions.

    Of those, 200 were accepted, for an approximate rate of 11%.*

    90 Submissions were offered the option of payment, and 110 accepted a PDF as payment.

    *Note that acceptance rates were higher / lower for different themes, as our lowest themed submission had around 300 subs, while our highest almost hit 650.

Submit Your Work

  • Written Work

    Please be prepared to provide your bio, type of submission, and the ENTIRE work(s).

    For non-fiction, feel free to submit a brief pitch for an interview / article idea. Remember that an interest in the pitch does not guarantee publication.

    For prose submissions, be sure your document is double-spaced, in a legible font.

  • Art

    Prepare to send us your bio and work(s) titles. You may include a link to your specific work / works for consideration or upload them as PDFs, jpegs, or pngs.

    Remember: Your work needs to “work in print” and may be published in black and white.

    All artwork will be considered for cover artwork. Please let us know if you would NOT like to appear on the cover.

  • Graphic Work

    Please send us bios for everyone involved in the work’s creation, along with the title and length of your submission.

    Feel free to link your submission or include it as a complete PDF—whatever makes the most sense for the project.

    Remember: Final publication size may differ, but our norm is 6x9”. We’re cool with color, but work may be published in black and white.

submit

Things we love.

 

As our publishing tastes cover a wide variety, here is a very incomplete list of authors, artists, and various media that we would die to work with / publish / have made. These are a HUGE indication of our aesthetics.

Carmen Maria Machado, Erin Morgenstern, Susanna Clarke, Ben Templesmith, Kelly Barnhill, Toni Morrison, David Almond, Take Shelter, Hanif Abdurraqib, The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand, Nova Ren Suma, Over the Garden Wall, Haruki Murakami, Donnie Darko, Daytripper, Jeff Lemire, Ray Bradbury, Sean Murphey, Joe Hill, The Golem and the Djinn, Louise Erdrich, Luca, Samurai Jack, What We Do in the Shadows, Coen Brothers, Spirited Away, Hannah Tinti, Brad Neely, Adventure Time, The Hawkline Monster, Michael Deforge, Allie Brosh, Stephen King, The Daniels Films, Kate Beaton, Graham Annable, The Legend of Ochi, Richard Ayoade, Joy Williams, Hundreds of Beavers, Helen Oyeyemi, N. K. Jemisin, Greener Grass, Karen Russell…

We love the blending of real life and the fantastic, the absurd, the magical, the heartbreaking, and the things that scare the shit out of us.

And if you want a more direct line, you can pick up a copy of one of our publications here.

Contact us.

If you feel like you’d be a good fit for the press, we’d love the opportunity to see your work. Please follow the above guidelines, but don’t hesitate to drop us a line if you have any questions about our submission process.

Our current response times are one to two months. If you haven’t heard back from us after that time, feel free to check back in about your status! (Note: I may take longer if you’ve submitted early and the Deadline for the issue hasn’t passed yet.)

chrisatquarterpress(at)gmail(dot)com

PO Box 591
Millen, GA 30442