We are a magazine that showcases compelling, accessible, and culturally relevant work--anything the mainstream is ignoring we are likely into. We seek to offer an authentic reflection of the contemporary, and most importantly, to uplift marginalized peoples in a fascinating and brutally honest way. Bring us your pain, your strength, your passion.
Starting with Volume 10, payment to contributors is based on profits from Patreon subscriptions as well as a tip option where readers can tip their favorite writers/creatives.
We now offer EXPEDITED RESPONSES ($5) to where you can hear back in 2 weeks versus our 3-4 month response time.
Not ready to submit? We offer year round critique services for poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction where a senior editor will review your piece and provide you with in-depth feedback on how to improve it before submitting.
Things to Note:
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums. All published works may be considered for our annually printed anthology, Pushcart nominations, and Best of the Net.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but we must ask that you withdraw your piece AS SOON AS YOU ARE MADE AWARE OF THE PIECE BEING ACCEPTED ELSEWHERE.
FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REJECTION.
Please only submit ONCE per reading period. If your piece is declined, please wait until the next reading period to submit again.
NOW ACCEPTING ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, and SHORT FILMS SUBMISSIONS FOR VOL 12
THEME: SPILLED MILK
Description:
We seek art that embraces the mistakes, the "ugly," the blemishes. Art that celebrates how messy life is, exploring it in a way that points out its nontraditional beauty, to make us appreciate the accidents, the mishaps, the unplanned. Show us your "imperfection" and let us appreciate its imperfectness, to show us there is beauty in the dark and to reject the idea that art has to be perfect. Don't cry over spilled milk, send it to us instead.
Subs Close March 31st.
ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, and Short Films
Visual, Performance/Film
- Please utilize JPEG with a minimum resolution of 300 PSI via attachment.
- 5 piece maximum per entry.
- Different mediums should be submitted separately: i.e. visual submissions should not be submitted alongside a video submission--but in their own separate submission.
- Non-poetic performance or short film videos should be 10 minutes or less.
- ALL VIDEO SUBMISSIONS MUST BE VIA YOUTUBE LINK HYPERLINKED IN A PDF OR WORD DOCUMENT.
- Please send a max 170-word description/commentary on the inspiration for your video piece!
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums and that all published works will be considered for inclusion in our annually printed anthology. All visual art submissions are also considered for the COVER of the volume and as such would be utilized in the promotion of the volume, by submitting you agree to this.
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT ONCE PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. If your piece is rejected, please wait until our next reading period to submit again. Thank you for your understanding.
NOW ACCEPTING FICTION SUBMISSIONS FOR Vol 12
Submission Window Closes March 31st
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for work that makes us see the world differently afterward. We especially want to hear from those in marginalized, underrepresented communities in order to give them a platform to share their works. We want to feel, to question, to experience the lives of those who have a unique story to tell. Awaken us with your weird, fantastical, genre-bending, haunting, and downright excellent storytelling. We want works that make us think, feel, and want more. There are no rules here, just give us your very best.
Those chosen will have their pieces published online and in print as well as receive payment. Payment varies based on our Patreon subscriptions. Volume 10 contributors received $8.50/person and ANATOMY contributors received $13, and we expect that number to increase or stay the same for this volume.
Requirements
- <4,000 words
- If submitting flash (<700 words), you can submit up to 2 pieces
- 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond font
- doc., docx.
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us immediately when a piece from your submission is accepted elsewhere.
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums and that all published works will be considered for inclusion in our annually printed anthology, Best of the Net, and Pushcart nominations.
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT ONCE PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. If your piece is rejected, please wait until our next reading period to submit again. Thank you for your understanding.
NOW ACCEPTING POETRY SUBMISSIONS FOR Vol 12
Submission Window Closes March 31st
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for work that makes us see the world differently afterward. We especially want to hear from those in marginalized, underrepresented communities in order to give them a platform to share their works. We want to feel, to question, to experience the lives of those who have a unique story to tell. Awaken us with your weird, fantastical, genre-bending, haunting, and downright excellent storytelling. We want works that make us think, feel, and want more. There are no rules here, just give us your very best.
Those chosen will have their pieces published online and in print as well as receive payment. Payment varies based on our Patreon subscriptions. Volume 10 contributors received $8.50/person and ANATOMY contributors received $13, and we expect that number to increase or stay the same for this volume.
*Please note that we now have a submission cap, and once this cap is reached, submissions will move towards paid submissions to avoid overwhelming each section.*
NOW ACCEPTING POETRY SUBMISSIONS FOR VOL 12
- up to 4 poems not exceeding 10 pages
- 12pt Times New Roman font, doc., docx.
- We are interested in all types of poetry, so please send whatever you feel is your best.
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us immediately when a piece from your submission is accepted elsewhere.
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums and that all published works will be considered for inclusion in our annually printed anthology, Best of the Net, and Pushcart nominations.
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT ONCE PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. If your piece is rejected, please wait until our next reading period to submit again. Thank you for your understanding.
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT ONCE PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. If your piece is rejected, please wait until our next reading period to submit again. Thank you for your understanding.
NOW ACCEPTING FICTION SUBMISSIONS FOR Vol 12 FOR ECLIPSE
Submission Window Closes March 31st
About ECLIPSE
“I find I am constantly being encouraged to pluck out some one aspect of myself and present this as the meaningful whole, eclipsing or denying the other parts of self.” - Audre Lorde, Sister, Outsider.
People who are biracial, nonbinary, multicultural constantly find themselves not being able to fit into the mold of what our society expects of them. Michelle Zauner in the essay/memoir Crying in H-Mart speculates on her mixed-race identity following her mother’s death. Audre Lorde in the essay “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” published in Sister, Outsider, talks about her inability to fit into the “mythical norm”—a knowing at the edge of our consciousness that says ‘that is not me’” when we look at what our society reveres as “normal” (i.e. straight, white, cis-het men). Rachel Charlene Lewis, a mixed-raced queer essayist-poet writes in the essay "Queering Gender, Queering Genre," published in Electric Lit, “There is, for me, validity to be found in space less easily labeled.” All of these great writers, thinkers, and creatives recognize that they do not fit on the binary scale of life and seek to break that scale. While society might reject our outsider status, within our work, all the many parts of ourselves are allowed to live freely and without judgment or definition. We want to read the parts of you that are not easily defined. We want all your facets, all your sides, all of your phases. No longer will we eclipse the parts of ourselves to better fit into a binary, we will become the sun, the stars, and the moon, all wrapped up into one.
Those chosen will have their pieces published online and in print as well as receive payment. Payment varies based on our Patreon subscriptions. Volume 10 contributors received $8.50/person and ANATOMY contributors received $13, and we expect that number to increase or stay the same for this volume.
Requirements
- <4,000 words
- If submitting flash (<700 words), you can submit up to 2 pieces
- 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond font
- doc., docx.
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us immediately when a piece from your submission is accepted elsewhere.
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums and that all published works will be considered for inclusion in our annually printed anthology, Best of the Net, and Pushcart nominations.
NOW ACCEPTING MUSIC SUBMISSIONS FOR VOL 12
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT ONCE PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. If your piece is rejected, please wait until our next reading period to submit again. Thank you for your understanding.
Submission Window Closes March 31st
Those chosen will have their pieces published online and in print as well as receive payment. Payment varies based on our Patreon subscriptions. Volume 10 contributors received $8.50/person and ANATOMY contributors received $13, and we expect that number to increase or stay the same for this volume.
Requirements
- 5 pieces max per entry, failure to follow this will result in automatic rejection
- Please send a max 100-word description/commentary on the inspiration for your video piece!
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums and that all published works will be considered for inclusion in our annually printed anthology, Best of the Net, and Pushcart nominations.