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Please read our full submission guidelines, here, before submitting.
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What we publish in Hippocampus Magazine
During our submission periods – March 1 through May 31 AND Sept. 1 through Nov. 30 – we accept the following:
- Personal Essays & Memoir Excerpts, max 4,000 words.
- Flash Creative Nonfiction, max 800 words.
Reviews, interviews, craft articles, and writing life articles by invitation/pitch to our editors directly, NOT via Submittable. Send to articles@hippocampusmagazine.com and we will forward to the right person.
Regular submissions come with a $3 submission fee. However, for those unable to cover the fee, we maintain a Submission Fund. To access the fund, contact us here.
What are we looking for in submissions?
True tales from your life. Honesty that possesses both the situation AND the story. Intensely personal experiences that reflect universal truths about what it means to be human. Firsthand accounts from the full spectrum of humanity – folx from the LGBTQIA+ community, Black writers, Indigenous writers, and writers of Color, disabled writers, writers of all genders, backgrounds, experiences, lifestyles, and identities.
What we publish elsewhere:
Our small press division Books by Hippocampus publishes book-length creative nonfiction, including:
- Memoirs
- Essay Collections
- Craft Books
Additionally, we occasionally publish themed anthologies, including through our The Way Things Were series.
Submission guidelines, as well as open anthology calls, are listed at our Books by Hippocampus submissions page.
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Dates & Deadlines
- We're open for magazine submissions twice per year: March 1 through May 31 AND Sept. 1 through Nov. 30.
- We're on hiatus from for book queries through Feb. 1, 2025.
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Reminder
Please read our full submission guidelines, here, before submitting.
Hippocampus Magazine and Press LLC is looking for book-length works for its small press division, Books by Hippocampus.
We're looking for work in the following categories (and, in parentheses, is what to submit for consideration):
- Memoirs (query, proposal + first three chapters or equivalent)
- Essay collections (query + three essays)
- Craft of writing books (proposal)
We'll respond to all queries/proposals within six months. Thank you for your interest.
Please note the selection process is competitive; during our early years, we'll have the capacity to publish two to three titles per year.
In honor of the shortest month of the year which includes the loving-est day of the year, we’re holding our second annual We Love Short Shorts Contest for Flash Creative Nonfiction!
Throughout the month of February, we’re inviting flash nonfiction writers to submit short essays (micro memoir) of up to 250 words; there is no theme. (View last year's winner and runner-up here.)
Our winner and two runners-up will be featured in a special We Love Short Shorts section of our March/April 2025 issue. Note that the three essays will be added during the second month of this bimonthly edition.
Here’s a full look at the details:
- Word Limit: 250 (does not include title)
- No theme!
- Submission Fee: $5
- First Prize: $250, publication + opportunity to serve as opening reader for a future Stories on Sunday event
- Two Runners Up: $100 each + publication
- Submission Period: Feb. 1–28
- One entry per person
- Entries read by members of our flash team; winners selected by our flash editors
- Decisions will be sent too all entrants by the second week of March
Any entries not chosen for a prize are still automatically considered for a future regular Hippocampus Magazine issue. We published two of these honorable mention essays last year. As with all accepted essays, we ask for one-time rights only.
Note: If you have a current submission under consideration at Hippocampus Magazine, you may still enter this contest.