We are closed indefinitely. When we reopen, we will send a news blast, update the website, and update Submittable.

We do not accept pieces generated with AI. Please do not submit them, even if you cite your "co-creator." If you submit something that we later determine to be created through use of AI like ChatGPT, we will immediately take down your story, art, poem, or essay and will not publish any of your work in the future.

We seek photography, poetry, and short stories that are literary fiction and lyrical creative nonfiction. We are generally disinterested in pandemic stories. We also do not generally take coming-of-age stories, pieces that center on YA age groups, or historical pieces.

Please reread our Philosophy page before submitting. Does your story dig into a difficult theme? Does it cover something heavy or hard to parse? Does it shed light on a typically disliked sort of character? We're not seeking general stories; we don't want your comedy, satire, romance, day-in-the-life stories. We don’t want your characters who face a difficult choice and always do the right thing.

For fiction, we do not have a word limit, but anything pushing 8,000 words may become unwieldy. We consider anything 1000 words or less (give or take) to be flash. Please do not submit book excerpts. Please do not submit genre fiction.

For poetry, we accept poems with both fictional and nonfictional inspirations. We do not have a strict word limit, though we will not typically accept poems above 500 words. Please do not submit song lyrics.

For creative nonfiction, we accept lyrical flash pieces at 1000 words or less, give or take. Please do not submit essays or book reviews.

For photography, please do not submit collages, traditional portraits, headshots, or other typical photographs of people; bright, colorful shots; typical sunsets or sunrises; or birds over water. We seek photographs that inspire tension and questions; desolate landscapes; bleakness and sparseness; ambient moods. Please note we do not accept vertical (portrait-oriented) photographs. We prefer horizontal (landscape-oriented) photographs but may consider squares.

We regret that we must explicitly state this, but previous submissions indicate that we must. Do not, under any circumstances, submit graphic depictions of rape or sexual violence.

Issues come out on the last Tuesday of March, June, September, and December. Submissions open at the beginning of January, April, July, and October and close at the end or when the submission cap is reached. You will hear back before the following issue is published (within 60 days). If you have not heard back within 60 days, please query.

Guidelines

When submitting, please do:

• Submit your work through Submittable. (Please submit to the correct category. If you do not see the correct category, that means we’ve reached our submission cap, so that category is closed. Any submissions to the incorrect category will be rejected unread.)

• Include your title.

• Include your prose or poetry submission as a Word doc or PDF.

• For photography, send a private link or image attachment. Please do not submit work that is publicly available.

• Include a cover letter with a short third-person bio. We publish work from emerging and established writers and artists alike; please do not fret if you have yet to be published.

• Include the title of your story and, for prose, page numbers in your manuscript.

• For prose, format your manuscripts in double-spaced, 12-pt Times New Roman font.

• Only submit unpublished works that are solely written by you and that you have the authority to publish.

• Submit simultaneously. Please withdraw your story immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.

When submitting, please don’t:

• Submit anything other than what is defined in the general submissions guidelines.

• Submit translations.

• Submit more than one story. Please wait until you have heard back before submitting a second story.

• Submit anything racist, bigoted, or excessively profane or hateful. We will make exceptions for stories that examine a character who falls into these categories, as long as the work clearly demonstrates the problematic nature of that character.

We will try to respond within 90 days, hopefully much sooner. If you have not heard from us at that time, you may inquire, though no response likely means we have chosen to include other pieces. Please do not inquire sooner, except to withdraw a submission.

Disclaimer

We are a digital publication only and do not print issues at this time.

We welcome submissions from persons of any age, race, sexual orientation, gender identification, nationality, and religion. Currently, we only publish works written in English. We specifically encourage submissions by or about disabled, neurodiverse, or ill people.

We reserve the right to reject any piece of work. We only publish so many stories, which, unfortunately, means that we must pass on many great stories. This is not a reflection on who you are as a person and is merely a reflection of the work itself and/or our limited space.

By submitting to Reservoir Road Literary Review, you affirm that your work is solely your own and you have the authority to publish it. You affirm that it is not in any way libelous or slanderous. You absolve Reservoir Road Literary Review and its staff from any and all issues, legal or otherwise, that could arise from the publication of your work. You acknowledge and accept that Reservoir Road Literary Review currently pays a nominal rate of $5 per accepted submission. You also consent to a light edit of your work.

Upon acceptance, Reservoir Road Literary Review requests exclusive digital publication of your work for 90 days from the date of first publication. At that point, you may do with it what you wish, though we ask that you please cite the original publication. We also request indefinite nonexclusive rights so that we may keep your story in our digital archives.