WRITER'S GUIDELINES

Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine features writing by mom writers on the many faces of motherhood. We are looking for creative writing. We also look for profiles on mom writers and book reviews.

Review our mission statement and read the work on our site to get a feel for what we are looking for before submitting.

Guidelines for Creative Writing

Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine seeks:

• Creative nonfiction essays.
• Submissions written by women who are mothers: biological, adoptive, foster moms, step-mothers, and grandmothers.
• We prefer previously unpublished pieces. We do consider reprints, if you have the rights and the work is not currently available online.
• The author retains rights. Please credit us if your work is republished.
• Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please notify us if accepted elsewhere.
• Our standard response time is 2-4 weeks.
• Submissions should be 600 - 3,000 words. Please send a query along with the complete piece and send one essay per submission. Send only submissions within the text of an email to: editor@momwriterslitmag.com.
• For all essay and poetry submissions --
  • Spring issues (March publication) we are open for submissions in September.
  • Summer issues (June publication) we are open for submissions in January.
  • Fall issues (September publication) we are open for Submissions in March.
  • Winter issues (December publication) we are open for submissions in June.

What we like:

• Down-to-earth, thoughtful, complex, humorous, sincere, penetrating, and raw -- no sugar-coating, please.
• We look for factual details, clarity, and strong narrative development.

Poetry

We are looking for poems extraordinary for their originality, craftsmanship, and vision.  Poems of any length and form are welcomed. Maximum of two poems per poetry submission.  Please send your submission within the text of an email. Please refer to the above calendar for open submission dates.

Send submissions to: poetry@momwriterslitmag.com

Remuneration

Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine is not a paying market at this time.  However, if your work is accepted for our print magazine, you will receive one copy of the issue that your work appears in.

Creative Nonfiction Feature Essays

We look for personal essays/short stories, journal entries, and memoir excerpts by moms which read like fiction.
What we are looking for:

• A fresh topic, or a surprising take on a global or common experience or situation.
• Character development.
• Amusing narrative
• Rich details with a distinctive personal voice.

Submissions should be 600 - 3,000 words. Please send a query along with the complete piece. Send only submissions within the text of an email to: editor@momwriterslitmag.com

Book Reviews

• We look for reviews on creative nonfiction and fiction on any form of motherhood. We do review newly released work and older books. (No Children's Books please.)
• Please make no attacks on the author; restrict your critique to the author's arguments and ideas rather than critiquing the author herself.
• Try to give a well balanced, supported critique, offered in a supportive tone. We like to see reviews that considered skill as well as content.
• Send submissions in the text of an email to: reviews@momwriterslitmag.com
• Format: Title, Author, Publisher, Publication date, price, and ISBN at top.
• Length: 700 – 1,000 words

Writer Profiles and Interviews

• We seek profiles of mom writers/authors. They could be mothers, grandmothers, daughters, or mothers-to-be.
• Interview (Q&A) or profile format: 800 - 2,500 words.
• Do your homework - we are looking for profiles of well-known mom writers, but are also interested in the less-known, not-so-obvious writer. Surprise us. Please send us a query only first. Tell us why we should be interested in reading your profile and why we want to hear about her.
• Send queries/submissions in the text of an email to: profiles@momwriterslitmag.com.

Visual Art

We are looking for artwork in the form of photographs, sketches and graphic art to feature within our pages.  We are interested in artwork which conveys a unique perspective on motherhood.  Keep in mind that Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine is a black and white publication so please do not send works that are in color.  Images should be sent as an attached .jpg and should be 300dpi.
Send submissions to: editor@momwriterslitmag.com

General Questions

For general questions about Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine, contact Editor, Samantha Gianulis at editor@momwriterslitmag.com

Thanks – we look forward to reading your work!