Submission Guidelines

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the author is expected to state it is being considered elsewhere, and must inform RWJ immediately if the piece has been accepted by another publication. Failure to do this will cause the editors of RWJ to refuse to consider works from an author in the future.

Authors who submit work to River Walk Journal will automatically receive a free subscription to the journal.

Fiction - up to 8000 words.
No genre fiction. Show us, don't tell us. We're looking for highly descriptive works, and we should be able to draw a picture in our minds of your characters. Occasionally we see something brilliant that depends on description of characters' thoughts, but that's rare. We prefer believable dialog and factual accuracy. Yes, this is fiction, but we aren't real pleased to see writing that attempts to re-invent the wheel. Please do not send more work until you have heard back from us.

Creative Non-Fiction - up to 8000 words.
About the same as fiction, but here you have a bit more ability to speak of thoughts, especially in memoir style works. Please offer items with a universal message, or items that are intended to expand readers' horizons by exposing them to new cultures and/or beliefs. Please do not send more work until you have heard back from us.

Poetry - up to one page each piece, three pieces total per submission.
Again, show don't tell. We like items that strike a chord in the public at large. If it's too personal, and needs the writer to translate the meaning, then we probably won't take it. Again, the universal message is important. Try to say something in a new way. Please do not send more work until you have heard back from us.

Art - please query.
This is one area that may just fall on the whims of the publisher and board, so please ask. Only limit is, if someone could look at your work and then ask you if it's porn, we probably don't want it.

Reviews and Mechanics - please query.
Typically these will be done by staff or invited authors, but if you have a really groundbreaking idea, or managed to spend an evening with the rapt attention of John Updike or Allen Ginsberg, we'd love to hear about it.

General Guidelines - Only basic content guideline is we won't take erotica. Otherwise, subject matter is up to you. One point is, please do not submit items that cross classifications. We're willing to be open-minded, but if we can't put an item under only one classification, there won't be a home for it. This is a new publication, and authors will have a better chance of acceptance because of this. Currently there is no pay for accepted works.

To submit, fill in your basic details and hit the submit button to proceed. Please do not submit files with spaces or punctuation in the filenames.

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Genre:     Fiction Creative Non Fiction Poetry