Getting Your Work Into For Literature Monthly: What Actually Works
For Literature Monthly is a literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction on a rolling basis. They accept submissions through their website portal, and the review cycle typically runs about four to six weeks. I've had three pieces accepted and two rejections over the past two years, so I know enough about the process to share what I've learned without guessing. You submit directly through their online system at forliteraturemonthly.com. There's no agent requirement, no geography restriction, and they welcome multiple submissions as long as you note it in your cover letter. The current guidelines state a maximum of 3,000 words for fiction and up to five poems in a single package. They want PDF or Word documents only. I learned that last one the hard way after my editor mentioned they couldn't open a Google Doc link, which delayed my submission by three weeks while I resent everything properly. Their stated preference is for contemporary literary fiction with strong voice. That's vague on paper, but from reading accepted work across several issues, a pattern emerges. They gravitate toward pieces that begin in media res rather than slow-building character studies. Stories that spend the first two pages establishing setting tend to get passed over unless the prose is immediately striking. Poetry submissions that work usually avoid abstract imagery in favor of concrete, sensory details anchored in specific moments.
One thing beginners consistently miss: they format their submissions with single spacing and 12-point font, which is standard. But several rejected writers used italics for dialogue or embedded scene breaks with asterisks. The readers have told me that non-standard formatting creates friction, even if it seems minor to the writer. Stick to plain text with standard scene breaks (a centered asterisk or blank line). It makes their job easier and yours look more professional by association.
The blind review process
For Literature Monthly uses a blind reading process for the first pass. Your name and contact information are stripped from the manuscript before it reaches the reading team. This means you cannot reference your previous publications or academic credentials in the story itself. Keep the cover letter separate. I once accidentally included a bio paragraph in the body of my fiction submission and got an immediate return notification. The system flagged it, but not all manuscripts make it past that gate, and some do slip through before the first reader notices. The second round of reviews is not blind. At that stage, the editors see your full submission package including any relevant publication history. This is why the cover letter matters, but only at that point. Don't oversell yourself in the initial letter. A simple paragraph stating your name, a brief bio line, and the word count is sufficient. They don't need to know your MFA program or where your story previously appeared in a regional journal.
Get the Full Details
For Literature Monthly response times and tracking
The stated turnaround is four to six weeks. In practice, I've seen responses come back in as little as ten days or as long as eight weeks during busy periods. The submission portal gives you a tracking number, but it doesn't update until a decision is made. Don't email to check status before the six-week mark. They receive around 200 to 300 submissions per month across all genres, and a status inquiry email adds to the workload without changing the outcome. The biggest waste of time is submitting work that doesn't fit the page limit. I've seen two submissions where writers chopped a story down to under 3,000 words but the cuts were so arbitrary that the narrative collapsed. Don't just trim scenes. Revise the piece to work within the constraints, or submit it elsewhere. Another frequent error is opening with weather descriptions or philosophical musings. The reading team processes dozens of stories per week. If the first paragraph doesn't establish character, conflict, or intrigue, it gets archived. There's also a bias against over-polished generic prose. Stories that read perfectly fine but don't have a distinct voice tend to blend together and get lost in the pile. A slightly rougher piece with a strong point of view will often outrank a technically flawless but emotionally flat story. This isn't something you can force, but it's useful to know when you're evaluating whether to revise another piece or move it along.
Rejection is normal and usually not personal
The acceptance rate is roughly 3 to 5 percent across all categories. Most submissions go unpublished, and the rejection emails are standardized. A personalized rejection with specific notes is rare but happens occasionally when the editors feel your work is close but not quite there yet. Treat that as valuable feedback rather than encouragement to keep sending the same piece back. Revise it substantially or submit something new. For Literature Monthly does publish an annual best-of issue featuring selected pieces from the year's regular issues. If your story appears in a monthly issue, keep an eye out for that. It's unpaid beyond the standard contributor copy, but it gives your work longer visibility and counts as a notable credit on a CV or query letter.
