WRITING FOR C(G)
Submission Information & Guidelines
This article is the most current reference for information on writing for Crossing Genres C(G) for short. Please subscribe to Crossing Genres for the latest changes to these guidelines.
WHO WE ARE
Crossing Genres, or C(G) for short, is an online literary magazine with a strong social justice focus, home to written and photographic work in multiple styles; creative non fiction including memoir, personal essay, photo narrative, op/ed pieces, and social justice theory from a personal lens, poetics, and various forms of flash fiction. We welcome new, emerging, and established writers; our current roster covers the full range of author experience, from first time published to seasoned writers with several novels under their belt
One of the primary goals of C(G) from our inception was to provide a forum for voices and experiences of those not traditionally heard in online or print publications. While we do consider and publish writers from all backgrounds, our mandate remains the active recruitment of women, POC, the GLBTQ community, supportive allies, others who may be culturally overlooked, and new, never been published writers. If you are someone who takes offense at that initiative and considers it “reverse discrimination”, I would suggest this is not the publication for you. Please do not send us your work.
WHAT WE WANT
This is summed up best by the following quote, from an essay entitled The Challenge of Memoir, by alto
… First, let’s define intentionally subversive. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not the Tarantino wannabe who sneers dismissively at anything resembling classic form and construction. Let’s be clear, that is not intentionally subversive, it’s a first year film student hiding what they lack in talent behind a black turtleneck and unending irony-of-pop-culture missives.
When we say intentionally subversive, we mean be brave. Instead of being the court jester of arcane nuance, call out what no one else has. Step away from the herd that publish long winded, moderately well written rants of those that have done them wrong, past and present. Suck it up, and send us the stuff you never thought you could, or would, write. Trust me when I say we‘d rather one submission that offers an authentically searing glance at the truth of where you live, than 100 works that lack any meaningful self awareness. Tell us the things that keep you up at night, about the lies you’ve built, and the absolution you’ve been denied. Tell us about the piece you’ve yet to workshop in your critique group, because they may just reveal the human constant that is our collective gut rot of fear and shame …
That is simply a rather dramatic way of saying, if you are going to accept the challenge of memoir, or any personal writing including poetry and other creative nonfiction, it will be assumed you have done the work. The gritty, scary, heavy lifting work that is borne out of a mindful and practiced self awareness.
ARE WE RIGHT FOR YOU?
By far the best way to decide if your writing is appropriate for this or any other publication, is to spend some time reading the publication, checking out a number of published works by different authors in various styles as well as the style in which you are submitting. Would your words be a good fit standing alongside those pieces? Though to really know if this is a publication you should submit to, please read this piece.
If what I say here resonates with you, and you just “get it”, please send away. If it doesn’t, or if it only sort of does, that’s cool, we all have different priorities and none is better than the other, they are simply different. But then I would suggest that you do us both a favor and find a place that is more appropriately suited for the work you are crafting.
While we accept and publish submissions of all types, currently we are especially interested in poetry and poetic prose, memoir with a strong narrative voice, and social justice theory with insights garnered through a personal lens.
WHAT WE PUBLISH
- We do accept work that is an original draft or work that has appeared on Medium independently (not in a publication).
- We do accept simultaneous submissions. Though we ask that you please notify us immediately if your piece has been accepted elsewhere.
- We may accept work that has been published outside of Medium (blog, magazine, thesis etc.). This will be at the discretion of the editorial team.
- We do not accept work that is currently appearing, or has previously appeared in a Medium publication. As is the policy with most all publications on Medium, publishing with C(G) then removing work and attempting to showcase it in another publication will result in permanent removal as a C(G) writer.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
By submitting a story for publication to the C(G), you are agreeing to fully comply with all submission guidelines.
Please proof your submission, or better yet have someone else do it for you, as it can be extremely difficult to edit ones own work and catch everything. No, we won’t reject on the basis of one or two misspelled words or an absent comma, though it should be free of obvious mistakes and typos.
- If you are a prospective writer for C(G), please send us an email with the subject line FIRST SUBMISSION. Include a short (200 words or less) bio and a link to your Medium draft. After review from our editorial team we will let you know the status of your submission within approximately 10 to 15 days. If you have not received a response by then, feel free to contact us to inquire on the status of your submission.
- If you are already a writer for C(G), please submit your draft via the “…” button, then choose “add to publication.” Your piece will normally appear within 7 to 10 days, or you will receive an email letting you know our reasons for refusal (though this is rare), and any suggestions that may improve it. Depending on the volume of publishing at the time you submit, it may sometimes be longer for your piece to appear. If you have not heard from us within 14 days feel free to inquire via our email portal: crossingenres@gmail.com.
- We do not accept word documents, in-line submissions, submissions via the regular mail service, or unsolicited inquiries on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media venue. If you send a submission in this manner it will not be acknowledged or considered.
- We are interested in work that is under 5000 words. Exceptions may be made with sole editorial discretion. Any flash fiction submissions must be under 1000 words.
- If your piece is accepted, we may sometimes work with you on edits to make sure it’s the best it can be before it appears in C(G). We will not make any edits to your work without prior approval, unless it is to add a photo, to facilitate layout, or to correct obvious typos.
Provided the above guidelines are followed, we read, consider, and respond to every submission sent to us. Our current acceptance rate is roughly 60–70% of submissions.
PUBLICATION VOLUME & FREQUENCY
At C(G) our goal is to publish seven to ten pieces per week, rarely less, and occasionally more. The specific length, style, and tone of work chosen will be intentionally diverse. As such, submissions are not published on a first received basis, thus time between submission acceptance and appearance on the homepage will be highly variable by necessity.
IMAGES
Please include an image relevant to content (how that is defined is solely up to you). The reason for the image requirement is specific to the page layout C(G) uses, since the full screen layout requires an image or else the page and your story may not render correctly in some browsers on some devices. Therefore please remember to include an image with all submissions (a minimum of 1200 px wide, like the image above, though any image equal or larger than your text width will do). If an image is not included, or the image does not meet the sizing guidelines we reserve the right to select an image for the piece without prior approval from you, or we may choose to decline the piece.
If you are having trouble finding an image that meets the sizing requirements, Unsplash has a truly first rate selection of free and no attribution required images, all of which are large scale.
TAGGING
When tagging your piece you may use up to five tags in total, but please use only one C(G) section tag per submission, and leave one tag blank so we may further streamline your piece into the appropriate area on the homepage. If more than one of the below tags are used, the system reads that as an error and your work will not be placed in any section. The current C(G) section tags are: creative non fiction, poetry, social justice, fiction, dogs, and quotes. We realize that work may fall into more than one category, but we ask you to please choose only one. Example, if your piece is poetic fiction, please only use one of the 6 C(G) tags, in this case either fiction OR poetry, but not both. Then leave one tag blank. The 3 remaining tags are up to you.
WHAT WE ASK OF YOU
If you become a writer for Crossing Genres we would ask that you be generous in support of the publication and your fellow writers by:
- Subscribing to the CROSSING GENRES publication and to the Editorial Director alto so as to be assured you will be sent writer updates.
- If enjoy a fellow C(G) authors work, please show your appreciation through generous use of recommends, responses, and / or highlights. No, we are not asking you to blindly recommend everything we publish. We are asking you to be mindfully generous of work written by your peers that you enjoy.
- If you have a Twitter account please follow the C(G) Twitter page below.
TO SUBMIT
Send a short (under 200 words) bio giving us an idea of who you are and a link to your draft: crossingenres@gmail.com, subject line FIRST SUBMISSION. If you have questions not answered in this guide, please feel free to email us at the above address.
We look forward to your submission.
Sincerely,
Allan G Rae
alto
Founder & Editorial Director
C(G) Crossing Genres
Alexainie
Senior Editor
C(G) Crossing Genres
Sean Howard
Editor
C(G) Crossing Genres
