Here at The Common, we understand that supporting a diverse exchange of ideas goes hand in hand with making the publishing world more accessible. We strive to make our submission opportunities available to everyone. As we open for fall submissions*, we thought now might be a good time to signal-boost some of our policies and guidelines designed to make this process run smoothly for the widest range of submitters. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! (And we hope to see you in the queue soon!)
Financial Difficulty
- If financial difficulty poses a barrier to submission, please call 413-542-5453 or email info@thecommononline.org to obtain a fee waiver. You’ll never be asked to prove or justify your request.
Disability
- For those who cannot access Submittable due to disability, please call 413-542-5453 or email info@thecommononline.org to disucss alternative submission methods.
Underrepresented Writers and Translators
- We especially encourage submissions from writers who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, LGBTQIA+-identifying, immigrant, international, low-income, and/or otherwise from communities underrepresented in U.S. literary magazines and journals.
Acceptance Rates and Reading Times
- Acceptance rates and reading times vary widely across genre. You can always check your submission’s status in Submittable. Fiction is by far the most competitive and the slowest-moving, because we receive so many submissions in this genre (and because all prose submissions are reviewed by 3 readers before going to an editor for a decision). Poetry is also very competitive, with faster reading times generally. We receive far fewer nonfiction submissions, so those are read faster and accepted at a higher rate.
→ Hot tip: Dispatches have the highest acceptance rate and the quickest turnaround time, because we publish them so frequently. This is a great option for first-time submitters! Dispatches can be prose or poems, but must be brief (<800 words), nonfiction, and very place-focused. Read some here for an idea of what we’re looking for!
When you’re ready, submit here!
* We are not accepting poetry submissions for the Fall 2026 submission period, because of a special forthcoming all-translations issue. However, subscribers may still submit poetry year-round. If you are not a subscriber or interested in becoming one, we encourage you to submit any poetry with a strong sense of place to our online Dispatches feature.
