We accept fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, and book reviews. Graphic fiction/non-fiction is also welcome, but it must fit on a postcard.  We publish only one (1!) piece in print form each month-- we publish 1-4 pieces in our online issue.

You can expect to hear from us within a month to six months if we're on schedule, which is about 50% of the time. Even though it may take us a spell to get back to you, we offer personal feedback upon request. If you are still waiting to hear from us, please email and don't message through Submittable (info@hootreview.com).  

• ALL PROSE: <150 words. We're not going to count them, but...we mean it.
• ALL POETRY: <10 lines (if it's more, be open to "creative reformatting"), but still <150 words.  Remember, it has to fit on a postcard!
• BOOK REVIEWS: These will be published online or on the back of a postcard when possible. Still <150 words. Must be of a recently published book (within the last year). The book must be published by an independent or small press. You are welcome to query before submitting if you would like our feedback on the book you are reviewing. If you would like your book reviewed by us, please send a query letter to info@hootreview.com.

Only two pieces per submission, please.  Simultaneous submissions are, of course, allowed--but please let us know if your work is placed elsewhere.

We will read all types of work. However, we especially like work that is audacious, surprising, and energetic. Furthermore, we want this postcard to be shareable. As you're submitting, remember the Refrigerator Rule. Ask yourself: "Would someone want this hanging on their fridge?" Work that's about the depressingness of gloomy alcohol clinking on the bottom of a shadowy glass in the gloaming after a father's death wouldn't work as well hanging from a fridge or tucked playfully in someone's lunch bag.

That said, if you've got some melancholy work that is surprising, zesty, and GOOD, we would be very excited to check it out.

Note: We do not solicit work. Every submission we receive is given the same consideration and is read by at least two, but up to four people, and often out loud (while we consume delicious items, like raspberry tart and/or dumplings.)

Other Stuff

• You have to be okay with having your work ‘creatively’ formatted—so that it will both look cool and fit on a postcard.  Which means—we might paint the words on some wood and photograph them, or photo-edit the words onto an interesting-yet-appropriate thing, like a medicine bottle label, or a paper napkin, etc.  If you are submitting a poem, this sometimes means we have to change line breaks...though we try not to do this, and we always do it tastefully (at least, we think so.) Do not submit your work if you are not okay with this.
• We are often asked about what informs our decision regarding publishing a piece on a postcard versus publishing it in our online issue. Choosing pieces for postcards vs. online is not a matter of "which ones we like best." We love all of the pieces we publish. Factors include- what pieces we have for other months (we try to balance poems and prose, as well as keep style and content varied from postcard to postcard), appropriateness for sharing (see the Refrigerator Rule above), and illustration potential (both imagery and length of the piece factor here, as longer pieces are much harder to work with.)

Please only submit once per reading period.