Submission Guidelines

We take submissions on a rolling basis and publish tri-annually, in August, December, and April.

Submitting is just $2 for poetry and flashfic, $3 for op-ed, and $3 for fiction over 1000 words; however, if you would like editorial feedback from our team of editors, you may pay an optional $25 fee by using the ‘Tip Jar’ function in Duosuma or this link to our PayPal.me (be sure to click ‘Send’ and not ‘Request’). We no longer accept submissions through email. Please use the Duosuma by Duotrope platform to submit your work. Unsolicited email submissions will go unread.

Each piece will be carefully chosen based on genre, theme, and voice. If you want to know more about what we like, we recommend reading what we’ve already published. We do not publish racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic material. We are open to adult content in stories, poetry, or non-fiction, but we do not publish erotica.

We would like to maintain close relationships with our writers, so any larger editorial changes will be in conversation with the submitter of the piece. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but we ask that if your piece is accepted elsewhere that you let us know as soon as possible – there’s nothing worse than falling in love with a piece and then realizing we can’t publish it. As always, please do not submit anything that has been previously published online or elsewhere (this includes on social media).

KAIROS holds first publication rights and we do ask that you cite us as such if your piece becomes a part of a collection. Upon publication, all rights revert back to the writer of the piece.

You should receive an email confirmation that we have received your submission within one (1) business week. After that, please do not contact us about the status of your submission until eight-to-ten weeks have passed. For an inquiry of this sort or any sort, do not hesitate to email The Editors at KAIROS at editors@kairoslit.com. 

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The genre-specific guidelines to submission are below.

POETRY

Include up to five (5) poems in a single document. Please submit no more than ten pages of poetry. The file name of the document should not include any identifying information, as we read submissions anonymously.

FICTION

Please submit a single document. The file name of the document should not include any identifying information, as we read submissions anonymously. You may include up to two (2) flash fiction pieces or one (1) short fiction piece. Please format your fiction in standard manuscript style (double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font-face with page numbers). Flash fiction is anything up to 1000 words. We will accept any submissions that are below 10,000 words, but we usually prefer submissions that are in the 5,000-7,500 word range. Please do not submit anything above 10,000 words. If a piece is an excerpt of a forth-coming novel, novella, or chapbook, please do not submit it. 

CREATIVE NON-FICTION and OP-ED

Please submit a single document. The file name of the document should not include any identifying information, as we read submissions anonymously. You may only submit one (1) creative non-fiction piece or one (1) opinion/editorial piece, critical essay. Please format your submission in standard manuscript style (double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font-face with page numbers). Please do not submit anything above 10,000 words. If a piece is an excerpt of a forth-coming novel, novella, or chapbook, or will be published elsewhere online or in print, please do not submit it.