Five on the Fifth Submission Guidelines
Five on the Fifth publishes five short pieces online on the fifth of each month. We accept flash fiction, general fiction, horror, nonfiction, book reviews, experimental work, and poetry. The maximum word count for submissions is 5,000 words.
We receive hundreds of submissions each month. Five on the Fifth is growing, and we (the editors) are very excited about it. Publication on Five on the Fifth is becoming more competitive with each issue.
Please ensure that your story is free of typos and grammatical errors. Your submission should be in proper manuscript format (Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, double-spaced), with no page numbering or identifying information (name, address, phone number, etc.) anywhere on the manuscript itself - that’s what the cover letter is for.
Cover letters should be concise, professional, and in third-person. Biographical statements should be a few sentences at most. Highlight your recent accomplishments. Also, make sure you only include identifying information in the cover letter that you’re comfortable sharing, meaning you don’t have to include your home address or phone number if you don’t wish to. As long as we can reach you by email or a social media account, we should be set.
A note on what we don't want: We do not publish novels and longer works. We do not publish fan fiction. We do not publish long articles or research papers. We do not publish erotica, though there can be erotic and/or graphic elements in your fiction, as long as they are tasteful and for the purpose of telling a great story.
Five on the Fifth exclusively accepts submissions through its submission manager, Submittable. Please read the full submission guidelines and submit your work by visiting Five on the Fifth's Submittable page.
All submissions must be previously unpublished.
Multiple submissions are permitted. However, for longer pieces such as general fiction, horror, longer experimental works, nonfiction, book reviews, and interviews, please only send two (2) pieces at once. For shorter pieces such as flash fiction and poetry, please only send three (3) pieces at once. You may also send one longer piece and one flash fiction or poetry piece at once, so two (2) pieces total.
We encourage simultaneous submissions. However, if your piece is accepted elsewhere, please immediately withdraw your piece using Submittable. If you withdraw your piece because it was accepted elsewhere, we are very happy for you. Getting published is hard work!
We have a fast editorial turnaround time. We usually reject and/or accept submissions in less than 30 days. A Note on Rejection: All members of our editorial team have experienced rejection as writers. We know it's not pleasant. We much prefer saying "yes!" to saying "no, thanks" but we only publish five short stories a month. Also, please realize that many great stories must be rejected each month simply due to the volume of submissions that we receive. Rejection Policy Update: If you are rejected one month, we ask that you wait five (5) months before submitting to us again. This is simply a courtesy towards the new writers submitting to us and allows them a fair chance to be seen and read by our editorial team, and hopefully published! It also gives you a chance to branch out and submit to/get published in many of the other great literary magazines out there, but we truly appreciate those who enjoy our magazine so much that they keep submitting to us!
If your piece is accepted for publication with Five on the Fifth, you will be required to send us a confirmation email, which will authorize Five on the Fifth to publish your short story in the month of publication, as well as authorize Five on the Fifth to retain the short story in its archives. Your piece will be featured on the website for its category in the month of publication, and will then remain on the website in the "Previous Issues" archives.
If accepted for publication, we ask for First North American Rights to publish. Following publication, all rights revert back to the author, but we do require permission for us to permanently archive your work online in our "Previous Issues" section.
At this time, we cannot afford to pay writers any form of monetary compensation. We currently run Five on the Fifth at a monetary loss, and spend many, many hours each month editing on a volunteer basis. We have recently added a Fiction/Nonfiction Tip Jar section on our Submittable page for anyone who would like to support our magazine with a contribution of $3 (of which we receive $1.86). All submissions will receive equal treatment whether you contribute or not. We do hope that in the future, as we grow, we will be able to pay our writers. We will do our best to promote accepted authors on our website and on social media.
Formatting Policy: The choices of formatting and cover art/photos are solely that of Five on the Fifth's editing staff. If, after your story has been published, you notice a formatting error (such as spacing or other minor technical issues), please email us and we will get it fixed ASAP. However, overall formatting, site lay-out and design, issue cover selection, or anything else that's policy-related is something that only Five on the Fifth's editing staff makes decisions on. We suggest that you thoroughly research our magazine and our policies before submitting so that there's no confusion. Your feedback is appreciated, but we cannot make major changes to the magazine to satisfy the individual needs or preferences of our submitters/writers.
Questions and inquiries may be e-mailed to fiveonthefifth@gmail.com or you may message us on our Facebook page. Please note: submissions are not accepted by e-mail.
Please remember to track your submissions to Five on the Fifth on Duotrope.
Ultimately, we aim to promote and support emerging writers! Thank you for considering Five on the Fifth as a home for your creative work.
