GUIDELINES
The Vagabond’s Verse publishes original creative literary and artistic works that reflect the complexities of living—which includes all forms of realist, speculative, dystopian, romantic, horror, etc., fiction, non-fiction (essays, philosophical takes, ranting), poetry, art, video and photography from creatives who have felt in some way, like Vagabonds, like wanderers in one way or another.
We kindly request that you follow the submission instructions to ensure a seamless publication process. We look forward to seeing all of your brilliant work.
Submissions for Issue #2 will reopen in January 2026. In the meantime, we accept submissions for our digital publication, Weekly Verses (all year round, no deadline).
Publication Rights
There is no fee for submission. We accept only original works from individuals aged 13 and above. Please do not submit work that is not yours for legal liabilities. We uphold First North American serial rights (FNASR), meaning we hold the right to publish your work (cannot be published anywhere else until after our own publication), and then the rights return to you. Please let us know if your work has been selected for another magazine before our own publication.
Language Requirements
Submissions in languages other than English are welcome and should be accompanied by a translated version for improved readability.
International Submissions
For our print issues, we accept submissions from artists based in the U.S. and Canada.
If you are based in another country, your work can still be selected and published on our digital publication, Weekly Verses.
Genre-Specific Guidelines
Prose: Fiction, Nonfiction—No more than four submissions, all in separate documents, a maximum of 2,000 words, double-spaced, PDF. Format, Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins on both sides.
Poetry: No more than five submissions, all in separate documents, a maximum of two pages or 500 words or less.
Visual Art (Image, Audio, and Video)—Submit no more than five original works; in-color and black-and-white visuals are accepted. Ensure that you submit high-quality images. We encourage you to submit visual art accompanied by an artist statement for pieces that you feel require one. It helps give perspective and more meaning to the viewer, but is not required.
Save all your files under your name & the name of the work, if it has a title.
Response Time
The response time varies, but we promise to respond to you as soon as possible (within two to three weeks).
Compensation
As a non-profit magazine, we currently do not have enough donations/funds to reward each selected writer or artist financially. However, if you are in the United States, we will mail you a copy of our first in-print issue upon release if you are published in it.