Submission Guidelines

Submit only previously unpublished works. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please inform us promptly if your piece is accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions in the same genre are not accepted and will not be read or responded to. One submission per genre is permitted. Please wait until you receive a response from us before submitting in the same genre again. If your work is accepted, please wait two years from date of publication before submitting again. 

For the Print Edition:

Stories and essays should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages. We are unable to read submissions of more than 7,000 words.

Poems (up to 5 per submission) should be typed with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address in the header on each page.

Translations of poetry (up to 5 poems per submission) and prose (up to twenty pages double-spaced) should include a brief bio of the author and indicate whether the translator has been given permissions. For poetry, we encourage authors to include the departing language in their submission. 

Interviews and Reviews of literary collections or anthologies: Gulf Coast typically commissions book reviews, but unsolicited reviews are accepted and occasionally published. Single-book reviews should be no longer than four pages. We are particularly interested in reviews of first or second books. Interviews should not exceed twelve pages. All reviews and interviews should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages.

Art and Critical Art Writing: Gulf Coast is now accepting submissions of critical art writing.

For all other work, including proposals for commissioned work (reportage, travel writing, etc.) and graphic storytelling and visual narratives that are too large for upload in the online submissions manager, please query the Editor at EditorInChief@GulfCoastMag.org.

For Online Exclusives:

Gulf Coast will be closed to submissions for Online Exclusives from December 21st to January 25th. 

Stories and essays should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated, with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address on the first page, title on subsequent pages. We are less likely to accept submissions of more than 3,000 words.

Poems (up to 5 per submission) should be typed with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address in the header on each page.

Translations of poetry (up to 5 poems per submission) and prose (ideally, less than 3,000 words per each piece) should include a brief bio of the author and indicate whether the translator has been given permissions. For poetry, we encourage authors to include the departing language in their submission. 

Gulf Coast's Reading Fee

Gulf Coast is committed to supporting the authors who publish in our journal. This support takes many forms, including offering editorial guidance, exposing new work to the widest possible audience, and providing competitive honorariums for that work. We believe this financial support is vital to maintaining a vibrant literary culture. To this end, Gulf Coast has instituted a small reading fee ($3.00) for regular submissions, 100% of which will go toward increasing the honorariums for the authors whose work we publish in the journal and on the website. Gulf Coast is now able to pay $50 per page for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. We thank you for your support of the authors who make Gulf Coast possible.

Gulf Coast reads general print edition submissions, submitted through the online submissions manager, from September 1 through March 1. 

We no longer accept submissions by mail.

Submissions e-mailed directly to the editors or mailed to our offices will be discarded. Please visit our contest page for contest submission guidelines.

If you are already familiar with Gulf Coast's general submission guidelines, please read the details below.