Taking Submissions: Solarpunk Magazine July 2023 Window

Submission Window: July 1st – 14th, 2023
Payment: Fiction: 1500-7500 words ($.08 per word, $100 minimum), Poetry: up to 5 poems or 5 pages of poems, whichever is shorter. ($40 per poem), Nonfiction: 1000-2000 words ($75 per essay or article), Cover Art: $100 for reprints, $200 for original unpublished, Interior Art: $50 for reprints, $100 for original unpublished
Theme: Hopeful short stories and poetry that strive for a utopian ideal, that are set in futures where communities are optimistically struggling to solve or adapt to climate change, to create or maintain a world in which humanity, technology, and nature coexist in harmony rather than in conflict.

All submissions to Solarpunk Magazine are done via Moksha. Any submissions received via email will be deleted without a response. Please don’t email us to describe your story and ask if it’s something we’d be interested in before submitting. We appreciate the consideration, but its easier if you just submit the story through Moksha.

Please read the full submission guidelines on down below or on our Moksha page before submitting your work. All submission periods end at 11:59 pm PST on the 14th of their given month.

2023 Submission Window Schedule:

January 1-14
March 1-14 (Colorful Roots: BIPOC authors only)
May 1-14
July 1-14
September 1-14

2023 Issue Release Schedule:

Issue #7 – January 10
Issue #8 – March 14
Issue #9 – May 9
Issue #10 – July 11 (Theme: Colorful Roots)*
Issue #11 – September 12 (Theme: Solarpunk Myths)**
Issue #12 – November 14

*Submissions for the Colorful Roots themed issue will be accepted during our March submission window. This is to accommodate our guest editor’s (TBA) schedule.
**Submissions for the Solarpunk Myths themed issue will be accepted during any open submission window. Please include #SolarpunkMyths in your cover letter.
***More information on 2023 themed issues can be found below in the Full Submission Guidelines fiction section.

The Basics:

If your work is accepted, please wait two full submission windows before submitting again. For example, if a story you receive word in April that your story is accepted, please do not submit during the May and July open windows, but feel free to do so once the September window opens.

Simultaneous submissions: Yes, but please let us know immediately if your submission gets accepted elsewhere before you hear from us.

Unsolicited reprints: No

Translations: Yes

Multiple Submissions: No, not within each category. But you can enter one submission per category per submission period. For example, you can submit one short story, poetry, and a nonfiction article all in the same submission window using each individual submission portal.

Policy on Artificial Intelligence

We recognize that there is a lot of positive potential for human societies in the development and use of artificial intelligence. We also recognize that there is a lot of justifiable concern over AI and the plagiarizing of human art and literary works, as well as the potential—particularly under capitalism—of AI being used to displace paying jobs for human artists and authors as a means of further enriching those at the top.

Solarpunk Magazine is and remains a venue for human authors and artists to showcase their work. As a result, until further notice, we’ve implemented a strict policy that we do not accept any work created or altered by artificial intelligence programs such as, but not limited to, Midjourney and ChatGPT.

For a more in depth explanation of the reasoning behind this policy, please click here.

Basic Formatting:

•12 pt Times New Roman or comparable font
•Double spaced (poetry does not need to be double spaced)
•Indent paragraphs, no extra space after paragraphs (also not relevant for poetry)
•Please number your pages
•.doc, .docx, or .pdf for text files
•.jpg or .png 300+ DPI for image files

Word Counts & Pay Rates:

Solarpunk Magazine pays professional market rates for fiction as defined by SFWA. Dollar amounts reflect the United States dollar (USD).
Our rates are as follows:

Fiction: 1500-7500 words ($.08 per word, $100 minimum)
Poetry: up to 5 poems or 5 pages of poems, whichever is shorter. ($40 per poem)
Nonfiction: 1000-2000 words ($75 per essay or article)
Cover Art: $100 for reprints, $200 for original unpublished
Interior Art: $50 for reprints, $100 for original unpublished

If your submission is accepted, a copy of our publishing contract will be emailed to you to read, sign, and return.


Full Submission Guidelines

  • All submissions are done via Moksha. Any submissions received via email will be deleted without response.
  • Additional guidelines for each specific submission category are available below.
  • For fiction and nonfiction, please format your submission document as follows:
    • double-spaced
    • 12pt Times New Roman font
    • indented paragraphs
    • no extra space after paragraphs
  • A cover letter is not required. However, we appreciate a brief paragraph telling us a little bit about yourself like where you’re from and why you love solarpunk. There is no need to include a third person bio. We will collect that and other needed info if your submission is accepted for publication.
  • Responding to all submissions is important to us, and we do our best to respond in a timely manner. However, we receive a very large number of submissions. So if you have not received a response within 60 days of submitting, then please feel free to inquire by sending an email to the appropriate department address found at solarpunkmagazine.com/contact.
  • Simultaneous submissions are okay. Please let us know immediately if your submission gets accepted elsewhere before you hear from us.
  • We only accept submissions of original, unpublished work. We do not accept unsolicited reprints.
    • Exceptions:
      • Visual Art: We do accept art reprints. Art is considered a reprint if it has been published anywhere online including but not limited to Patreon, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Art Station, Deviant Art, personal or artist websites, etc.
      • Translations: We accept translated works that have been previously published in languages other than English. If accepted, translated stories that have never appeared before in English will be paid $.08 per word.
  • We do not accept submissions of work in languages other than English at this time, though we hope to in the future.
  • We do not accept multiple submissions within a single category. However, you may enter one submission in each available category (fiction, poetry, art, and nonfiction) per open submission period.
  • If you are submitting work in more than one category (fiction, poetry, nonfiction or art), please use each of the separate submission portals for your submission in each category.
  • We generally don’t provide feedback on submissions. We’d love to, but we get so many submissions that it’s just not possible.
  • Please include the following with your submission:​​​
    • Attach your stories, articles, or poems in .doc, .docx. or .pdf format.Use .png or .jpeg attachments for visual art with a DPI of 300 or higher.We love to amplify voices from marginalized communities that are most impacted by climate change and other global problems. In fact, it’s one of the key characteristics of solarpunk. If you are part of such a community then we strongly encourage you not only to submit your work, but also to include one or more of the following tags with your submission as part of your cover letter:
      • #ownvoices#indigenous#globalsouth#bipoc#lgbtqia#actuallyautistic#neurodivergent#disabled#translation

      We realize there are many other tags that could be included, but we have to stop at some point or the list would be dozens of pages long. If you are unsure of which tag(s) you should use, feel free to inquire at [email protected].

    • Themed issue submission windows:
      • Solarpunk Myths – What myths will be important to communities in solarpunk futures? What function and role will those myths play in people’s individual lives and in community life?
        Please include #SolarpunkMyths in your submission cover letter.
      • Colorful Roots – Our second all BIPOC issue will publish in July 2023, and will have a special submission window to be announced soon.
        *Please include #ColorfulRoots in your submission cover letter.
    • If we accept your work, we ask that you not publish it elsewhere or post it online prior to or within six months after publication in Solarpunk Magazine. For the rights we are asking for and other conditions, please see our publishing contract.
  • We are a professional rate paying market as defined by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Our current rates are:
    • $.08 per word for fiction ($100 minimum)
    • $40 per poem
    • $75 for for nonfiction
    • $100 for reprint cover art, $200 for original unpublished cover art
    • $50 for reprint interior art, $100 for original unpublished interior art
  • Payments are made via PayPal. If you live in an area where PayPal is not available, then we will work with you to make other arrangements.
  • We strive to ensure that our magazine and website is a space where everyone in our reading and broader communities feels welcome and safe. In that spirit we strictly enforce the following content guidelines:
    • We also do not accept work that:
      • is discriminatory or derogatory against communities that are and have historically been marginalized
      • disparages sex workers, or that glorifies or sexualizes violence against them
      • glorifies or sexualizes violence against people of marginalized communities
      • reduces people from marginalized communities to objects or otherwise dehumanizes them.
      • glorifies or sexualizes violence against children
      • contains graphic abuse of animals
      • We understand that stories and art may include elements of these things in service of critiquing present day society. But there is what we believe to be a clear difference between these elements being present in a work and work glorifying or advocating for these things.
    • Solarpunk Magazine reserves the right to place content warning notices on any work that we accept for publishing if we feel it is warranted in order to ensure our magazine is a welcoming and safe space for all our readers. We will work with artists and authors as needed to determine the appropriate and correct content warnings, if any. If you are not okay with this, then we respect that and encourage you to submit work that won’t require content warnings.
  • If your submission is accepted, a copy of our publishing contract will be emailed to you to read, sign, and return.

Fiction

Our fiction editors are interested in works that stir readers with themes of defiance, change, and achievement. This effect isn’t likely to come via high concept utopias alone, but rather, from vibrant characters whose struggles affect the reader. Speculative elements should be apparent but not dominating; our disbelief suspended not by necessity, but immersion. Any genre of science fiction, interstitial fiction, magic realism, or fantasy has potential as a solarpunk forum—we welcome robots and elves with equal excitement.

Basics:
1500-7500 words
Please use standard manuscript formatting (12 pt Times New Roman or similar font, double spacing, 1″ margins, page number at the top of each page, indented paragraphs, no extra space between paragraphs).

Poetry

Send up to 5 poems or 5 pages of poems, whichever is shorter. Prose poetry is fine, but if you are in doubt, submit it as fiction.
If possible, please remove all identifying information (your name, email address, etc.) from your submission file. Your submission won’t be rejected if your manuscript is not anonymous but we prefer to form our initial impressions on the work alone.

What our poetry editor, J.D. Likes:

Above all else, I value style and form, no matter which kind you choose. There needs to be a certain level of polish to the poetry you submit to us. Your ideas may be interesting, revelatory even, but if the quality isn’t there, then I’m afraid it’s not for me. Also, don’t worry about submitting poetry that rhymes, though I do adore that kind of poetry, and it’s always a delight to read a masterful modern one.

Some classic speculative poems I enjoy:

Echoes from the Outer Dark by Robert E. Howard
Goblin Fruit by Christina Rossetti
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning
Because I could not conquer death by Emily Dickinson

Recent speculative poetry I’ve enjoyed:

Rochambeau by Jessica Lévai
Elegy for a Poet by Herb Kauderer
Field Guide To The Invasive Species of Minnestoa by Amelia Gorman

Nonfiction

For non-fiction submissions, we’re interested in reviews, interviews, reports, articles, essays, and general audience-aimed overviews of academic papers relevant to solarpunk. Tell us about some cool science or technology that’s going to help us rewild the world, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or clean up our agricultural act. Weave us the stories of real people who are up to amazing things or of real projects that are underway to help create the world we want to live in. Give us a critical review (of a work, a set of works, or a topic) that rises high enough for a view of the forest as well as the trees. Stake an interesting claim and then convince us that you’re onto something. The possibilities are broad. Interesting is important. Thought-provoking is encouraged. So is keeping it kind. And, again, relevance to solarpunk is key.

Some basics:

1- Please don’t send us your solarpunk manifesto or ‘What is Solarpunk’ article. We aren’t interested in publishing those at this time.

2- Non-fiction submissions should be 1000-2000 words long, clearly written, and accessible to general readers. Jargon, when it is necessary at all, should be clearly defined in the text or in footnotes.

3- We prefer to read things in standard manuscript format (double spacing, 1″ margins, page number at the top of each page). Footnotes should be used sparingly, endnotes not at all. Hyperlinks are great and a handful of references for further reading are fine, but not necessary. These are not meant to be academic publications!

4- Any accompanying photos, figures, or other graphics should be the digital equivalent of camera-ready and when the manuscript author does not own the rights to the image, it is the author’s responsibility to secure permission for the publication of the image(s), with any costs to be borne by the author.

5- Submissions should be in English, but either British, Canadian, or American spellings are okay, so long as the manuscript sticks to one style or the other.

Please note that our unlike our other departments, nonfiction is always open for submissions.

Thanks and good luck!

Art

We accept art submissions for both cover art and interior magazine art. We are only interested in art that qualifies as solarpunk. If you think your work qualifies, but are unsure, submit and we’ll review your work.

We are not accepting submissions of AI generated art.

To be considered for cover art, work must be portrait orientation, 8.5×11 inches or a larger equivalent, and at least 300 DPI. For interior art, we also want at least 300 DPI, but orientation and size are open.

We prefer work with color, but we do also accept B&W submissions. We’re particularly interested in solarpunk art that features living beings, both human and nonhuman, rather than just architecture and technology scenes.

To have your art considered by our art team, please use the Art Submissions Portal to submit a link to your solarpunk art portfolio. Your portfolio folder should indicate which works are reprints, and which are unpublished.

Via: Solarpunk Magazine.

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