Submission Guidelines

The Mantelpiece is open to unsolicited submissions of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We consider all submissions for both our website and online magazine. Please send your work via email to submissions@themantelpiece.org

All submissions must be in English and previously unpublished. Translations are welcome and should be accompanied by a copy of the original. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, as long as we are notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere. 

You can download The Mantelpiece for free on our webpage to acquaint yourself with the material the magazine has published.

Please indicate in the subject line of your email the following:  SECTION, Title of your work, and word count. 

E.g.:

FICTION - Here and Forever - 2400 words

TRAVEL - China Moon - 3200 words

FOOD & DRINK - Nouvelle Cuisine - 1500 words

NON-FICTION - In Praise of Contemplation - 1840 words

POETRY - 7 Haiku - 21 lines

ESSAY - The Joy of Life - 1000 words

THE LIGHT SIDE - The Higher Truth - 16  lines

etc.

Your work has to come as an attachment to your email in a Word (doc or docx) document. Please include your name and email address in the Word document, either on the front page or in the header.

In the main text of your email, please write a short summary of your work (no more than 100 words) and a short bio (no more than 100 words). 

We accept simultaneous submissions.  But if your work is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission by dropping us an email.

Please submit no more than six poems at a time and please do not submit more than twice per section in a calendar year, unless we've specifically asked that you send more.

We aim to respond to all submissions within six months of receipt.

We don't accept previously published material and we acquire first publishing rights. The copyright remains with the author.

If you want to include a photo or illustration with your work, please paste LOW-resolution (screenshot) in the Word document (We will ask you to send us the High-res if we decide to publish your work). Make sure you have acquired all the rights to the work and credit the photographer/artist.

Payment: 

We pay (via PayPal) competitive, professional rates for all the material published on our website and in our magazine. A Purchase Order is issued when we accept the submission and the payment terms are 30 days after receipt of the invoice.