Fresh-Cut Lit & More
SUBMISSIONS
Cleaver reads submissions year round, on a rolling basis, for our quarterly literary magazine.
Literary Submissions
We review submissions only through Subfolio, our online portal. We are not able to consider work sent to us through postal mail or email.
We are happy to read simultaneous submissions, with immediate notification if work is accepted elsewhere. Previously published work is not considered, although we will sometimes consider work previously shared on personal blogs. Translations are welcome with permission of the original author, or for works in the common domain.
If the $5 submission fee presents any kind of hardship, please email us at [email protected], tell us the genre category you’d like to submit in, and we will send you a no-fee submission link. No questions asked, no explanation necessary.
If you have a submission still in the queue and have not heard back from us, assume it has been held over for consideration for another issue.
If you have a question for an editor you’re working with, please message them directly through Subfolio.
If you previously submitted to Cleaver through Submittable, your submission and submission history have been moved to Subfolio. Please make a new, free account using the same email address, and you’ll be able to see your in-progress submissions as well as any archived submissions.
For inquiries, thwack us an email: [email protected].
Please note: Cleaver welcomes diverse human voices, but we do not consider AI-generated or AI-assisted work.
Book Reviews and Newsletter Submissions
Cleaver reviews books that have been recently published (within the past year or two) by small and indie presses, including shorter works such as poetry chapbooks and novellas. If you’re a reviewer interested in writing for Cleaver, if you’ve written a review you’d like us to consider, or if you’re an author, publisher, or publicist, please email Autumn Konopka directly with your query.
Note: If you previously queried via our submission forms, you are welcome to follow up with a direct email.
A TIP FROM OUR EDITORS
The most successful pitches are those that make a direct, specific connection between the proposed work/author and Cleaver.
- Why is the particular book or author relevant for us and our readers?
- How does it relate to our mission, the work we publish in our magazine, the kinds of books we review, or the authors we interview/feature?
- And/or how does it relate to our interests and experience as readers and editors?
- Finally, if you’re a past Cleaver contributor, make sure you let us know.
Autumn Konopka, Senior Editor (she/her)
Joy Manning, Editor (she/her)
NEWSLETTER PROMOTION & SHOUT OUTS
If you are a current or former Cleaver contributor with a book coming out and would like us to promote it in our newsletter and/or our social media, contact us via this form.
Craft Essay Submissions
Cleaver publishes craft essays on writerly topics. If you are a poet, fiction writer, essayist, or graphic narrative artist and would like to propose a craft essay, contact the editors with a query before submitting.
—Lisa Romeo, Prose Craft Essays Editor
For Poetry Craft Essays, contact Mark Danowsky.
AI Policy:
Cleaver welcomes diverse human voices, but we do not consider AI-generated or AI-assisted work.