• submissions are currently closed

  • Flash sub window 10/1 - 10/31

  • Spring/Summer sub window 12/1 - 1/8

  • Fall/Winter sub window 6/1 - 7/8

  • Themed sub window 5/1 - 5/15

General Guidelines

All submissions are processed through Duosuma, available to anyone with a free Duotrope account. Our manager can be accessed through the button above after logging into or creating your account.

We don’t accept multiple submissions or, generally, reprints. However, we’re willing to consider pieces posted exclusively to an author’s website OR that have appeared in now-defunct publications. If this applies to your work, please say so in your cover letter. We encourage simultaneous submissions, but ask to be informed of an acceptance elsewhere promptly.

In addition to your work, you will be asked to submit a cover letter. It isn’t necessary to summarize or pitch your work, but please include your story or poem’s word or line count, a 50 word or less third-person biographical statement, and any applicable trigger warnings.

We encourage submissions from any author, poet, or artist interested in the Gothic, but especially those from marginalized communities.

Biannual Calls

spring/summer & fall/winter issues

  • POETRY: up to 3 pieces in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format. No single poem should exceed five pages in length.

    PROSE: a single short story of up to 5,000 words in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format

    ART: up to 2 pieces, in any visual medium, in .png or .jpeg format

  • PROSE EXCEEDING 5000 WORDS:

    For stories exceeding 5025 words, please send a query through the form on our ‘contact’ page first. Our editor-in-chief will be in touch shortly.

    ARTIST CONCERNS: We’re open to accepting any type of visual art, provided that it’s Gothic in theme. However, if you’re unsure about whether or not your preferred medium is a good fit, please reach out before submitting. Use the form on our ‘contact’ page to briefly explain your piece, and our editor-in-chief will be in touch shortly.

    While we can’t guarantee that we’ll accept your work before thoroughly reviewing with the whole team, we can help you decide if diet milk magazine is the right place to query.

  • diet milk magazine is currently able to pay $15 per poem, $0.01 per word ($40 minimum) for short stories, and $50 per art piece via PayPal. Payment thresholds will grow as we do. We look forward to the day we can offer pro rates.

  • Please allow up to three weeks for a response. Should the wait time increase, a public announcement will be made, but our team will do its best to keep turnaround brief.

    Upon rejection, you may submit again immediately. These should be pieces we haven’t read or seen before. Please only resubmit an edited piece if it was specifically requested.

  • diet milk magazine asks for first serial rights, a contract for which will be provided after your acknowledgement of acceptance. Upon publication, all rights revert back to the creator. We kindly ask that if you publish the piece elsewhere in the future, you credit us as the original publisher.

In The Bleak Midwinter

annual micro/flash fiction call

  • ‘In The Bleak Midwinter‘ is diet milk magazine’s annual micro/flash fiction call, which runs from Oct 1—31st. Twenty-five pieces will be selected and posted daily from December 1st through Christmas. Think of it like a eerie advent calendar.

    These pieces, posted to a dedicated blog on our website, will be compiled in January into an easy-to-read digital volume. The volumes will be available to download for free on our shop, and the original postings left up for those who prefer that method of reading.

  • MICRO FICTION: up to 3 pieces, no more than 350 words in length each, in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format

    FLASH FICTION: up to 3 pieces, between 351—1000 words in length each, in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format

    If you wish to submit a mix of micro and flash, that’s perfectly fine! But we still ask that you submit no more than 3 pieces at a time.

  • MICRO FICTION: $3 per piece

    FLASH FICTION: $5 per piece

    All payments made via PayPal

  • Please allow up to three weeks for a response. Should the wait time increase, a public announcement will be made, but our team will do its best to keep turnaround brief.

    Upon rejection, you may submit again immediately. These should be pieces we haven’t read or seen before. Please only resubmit an edited piece if it was specifically requested.

  • diet milk magazine asks for first serial rights, a contract for which will be provided after your acknowledgement of acceptance. Upon publication, all rights revert back to the creator. We kindly ask that if you publish the piece elsewhere in the future, you credit us as the original publisher.

Diet Milk Minis

2023 theme: FOOD

  • ‘Diet Milk Minis’ is a special, annual zine series, released annually! From May 1—May 15 every year, we’ll be open to submissions of poetry and prose that fits the year’s chosen theme. Themes are announced one month in advance.

    Ten pieces—5 stories and 5 poems—are selected after the closing of each period and compiled into a mini issue. These will be available for purchase through our storefront in both .pdf format and as a traditional, zine staple-bound zine.

  • POETRY: up to 3 pieces in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format. No single poem should exceed one page in length.

    PROSE: EITHER up to three stories of less than 999 words each OR a story of up to 2,000 words in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format

  • POETRY: $10 per piece

    PROSE: $20 per piece

    All payments made via PayPal

  • All poems and stories will be held under consideration until the end of the submission period. After closing, it may take as long as three weeks for us to make final selections. If you haven’t heard back after six weeks, please send a polite nudge.

  • diet milk magazine asks for first serial rights, a contract for which will be provided after your acknowledgement of acceptance. Upon publication, all rights revert back to the creator. We kindly ask that if you publish the piece elsewhere in the future, you credit us as the original publisher.