Submissions

Scholars & Rogues invites guest submissions and reviews in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, blogging (political, cultural, arts, music, etc.), photography and visual arts.

BLOG: Scholars & Rogues publishes blog entries covering a range of subjects, including culture, politics, arts, literature, music, sports, the economy, the environment, humor, world affairs, reviews, criticism and personal essays. We pride ourselves on the breadth and diversity of topics addressed on our site, so the fact that we haven’t done something before is likely to be a positive, not a negative.

Our readers expect pieces that are informed, insightful and well-written, and we especially appreciate the unconventional – when writing is predictable, there’s little reason to read it.

As a general rule S&R doesn’t report the news – instead, we analyze it. However, we are open to publishing news that has been ignored elsewhere, provided the stories are well-sourced and of compelling interest to the public.

POETRY: Scholars & Rogues takes its poetry very seriously, and is particularly interested in helping innovate the future of verse. We’re looking for poems that we didn’t know we were looking for. While we invite both new and established voices writing in all styles, we would make the following observations:

• If we compare contemporary poetry to music, we might conclude that there’s a lot more in the way of Americana and Folk out there than there is Metal, Industrial and Goth. We love poetry that connects profoundly with nature, but we also revel in the energy of the city. As such, poetry that expresses or emerges from the technological and/or the urban is encouraged.
• Some of history’s greatest poetry has made use of rhyme and meter, but we now live in an age dominated by free verse. S&R is open to both free and formal work, but in all cases we encourage meticulous attention to craft.
• From our perspective, contemporary poetry often aims too low, preferring the pedestrian to the ambitious. Small victories are fine, but we love poets who swing for the fences. Grand failures are the price we pay for epic success, and that’s a price we’re willing to pay. Sometimes the grand failures are more interesting, anyway.
• We don’t worry a lot about how poetry is categorized these days. We’re okay with “street” and “academic” and everything “in between.” All that matters is a love of language and an ability to use it to connect the reader to the intuitive “click” that takes us places only art can access.
• All great artists that we’ve encountered are, to some respect, products of their influences. Poets who learned to love verse by reading the Beats are usually going to write things that evoke the energy and ethos of the beat movement. This is natural and proper. At S&R we respect the critical importance of influence, but we also understand the difference between influence and imitation. As such, we’re looking for an artistic maturity that has assimilated the influences and translated them into a voice that is uniquely that of the writer.
• We tend to regard poetry as primarily a written form, but we also recognize the genius of many artists whose work is more about the spoken word. Since online pubs aren’t limited to paper and ink, that means we can publish videos and audio clips, doesn’t it?

These observations do not mean that S&R excludes on the basis of style or genre or subject matter. Good is good, great is great, and our personal preferences don’t keep us away from talent. Period. Instead, please read these guidelines as an attempt to open the doors more widely than some other publications do. Surprise us. Impress us. Blow us away. S&R can be bafflingly diverse as a blog, and we hope that our poetry selections never get to be narrow or predictable.

• Please submit 3-5 poems of short to medium length (one page or less) and no more than two long poems at a time. Please do not submit more than once every three months unless the editor specifically requests it. .
• We do not accept poems that have been previously published (we, like most tenure and promotion committees, do not consider posts on personal blogs, Facebook pages, etc., as formal publication, so send those along) except in special cases. If you’d like us to consider work that has been previously published inquire with the editor before submitting.
• Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know if something you have submitted here is accepted elsewhere.
• We will reply to submissions as quickly as we can. We publish on an ongoing cycle, so accepted work will appear immediately instead of weekly, quarterly, etc.

All poetry submissions are handled via our online Submishmash engine. Submit to Scholars and Rogues Poetry.

FICTION AND CREATIVE NONFICTION: Every literary journal has its biases. We privilege some characteristics in writing and abhor others as what our old friend, George Gordon Byron called “cant.” Scholars and Rogues is no different. Above you’ll see poetry editor Sam Smith’s biases concerning poetry submissions. Below are mine concerning fiction and nonfiction:

• Fiction should tell a story. We don’t care how you tell the story, but you must tell a story. If we can’t discern a clear story in what you’ve written, we will not accept it.
• As noted elsewhere, we privilege literary fiction. This means we prefer fiction that emphasizes character and style in storytelling more than action and plot. We like action and plot – we simply don’t think they are as important as character development and mode of expression in the telling of a story. Remember this.
• We are not opposed to genre submissions if they are literary takes on the genre in question. Poe wrote detective stories, you know.
• We are open to short stories, short-short stories and flash fiction. We like the former most and the latter least. If you want to know what we consider a great flash fiction, read August Strindberg’s “Half a Sheet of Paper.”

Here are a few biases concerning nonfiction:

• We like creative nonfiction: memoir, personal essay, reflection, humor. Think about Frank McCourt, E.B. White, Annie Dillard, James Thurber. Or look at our own Pat Vecchio and Terry Hargrove. Or at my stuff. I’m very biased in favor of my stuff.
• What we’ll be looking for in nonfiction is literary interest. What that means is that the same sorts of style biases that will apply to our choices of fiction will also apply to our choices in nonfiction.

All fiction and nonfiction submissions are handled via our online Submishmash engine. Submit to Scholars and Rogues. NOTE: The page is labeled “Scholars & Rogues Poetry,” be we use the same engine for fiction and nonfiction. We hope we haven’t caused too much confusion here.

• We do not accept stories that have been previously published except in special cases. If you’d like us to consider work that has been previously published inquire with the editor before submitting.
• Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know if something you have submitted here is accepted elsewhere.
• We will reply to submissions as quickly as we can. We publish on an ongoing cycle, so accepted work will appear immediately instead of weekly, quarterly, etc.

REVIEWS AND CRITICISM: S&R publishes a lot of different kinds of content, and we welcome reviews of an equally broad array of material: books, art, music, whatever – if it’s worthy of a thoughtful review, we’d like to see it. In addition to reviews in a journalistic style, we’re also open to more academic work.

PHOTOGRAPHY: S&R routinely publishes photography and our criteria are wide open: we like everything from pristine, reflective nature shots to gritty urban landscapes to challenging art pieces. Ultimately, our primary concern is that the shot make us say “wow.” Surprise us.

COMICS, GRAPHIC ARTS, ILLUSTRATIONS: S&R strives to be a home to outstanding visual work as well as to words. As with photography, our primary criterion for acceptance is whether the work makes us say “wow.”

Submit blog entries, photography, visual arts, reviews and other inquiries to Sam Smith, Executive Editor.

• Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please let us know if something you have submitted here is accepted elsewhere.
• We will reply to submissions as quickly as we can. We publish on an ongoing cycle, so accepted work will appear immediately instead of weekly, quarterly, etc.
• Submit text materials in MS Word.
• Maximum width for visual materials is 550 pixels (sadly, we do have some basic technical constraints).

Sadly, S&R cannot offer payment for publications. Please direct any questions not addressed in the guidelines above to Sam Smith, Executive Editor.

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NOTE: A brief statement regarding the S&R LitJournal’s publication policies vs. blog publication by S&R staffers.