Trace Fossils Review is seeking submission readers for our poetry and prose categories. We are a quarterly lit/art magazine publishing primarily online, with one print anthology released each year. We pride ourselves on fostering a supportive and welcoming community of readers, whose contributions to our magazine are integral to its continued successes. 

If you’re interested in becoming a reader for us, please fill out the form below and share 2-3 pieces of your writing with us. We are accepting readers on a rolling basis, and will inform applicants of their status as soon as possible. We can’t wait to hear from you!

*Please note that the Trace Fossils team is made up of volunteers, so we are unable to provide compensation at this time. 

Welcome to submissions for Trace Fossils Review!
 

To start, the type of material we crave here is difficult. Difficult to comprehend, difficult to put on paper, and difficult to submit. This review was created first and foremost as a refuge for the work that feels hard as stone, that leaves us possessed.
 

Because this is the genre we cherish most, our promise to you is that we will treat your thoughts as we treat an old house: tenderly, with open ears and the knowledge that it will never be truly ours. Thank you for honoring us with your pieces. For trusting us to foster something resonant inside these walls.

    We look forward to experiencing your work.

    Warmest thanks,
    Jessie & Gideon



Guidelines

    We host four submission periods for our quarterly publication:

• Summer: March-April
• Fall: June-July
• Winter: September-October
• Spring: December-January

This issue lies within the Summer window. Submissions close on April 30th at 11:59pm EST.

Poetry: Up to 3 pieces per period. No longer than 132 lines in length (a total three pages in our print issues). Submit all poetry in Times New Roman, 12pt font, single spaced. We accept .docx and .word files. Please include all submissions in ONE FILE.

Please make sure that your name does not appear anywhere within your doc. It ruins the fun of anonymity.

We pride ourselves on publishing upcoming authors. Feel free to mention past experience within your author bio, but that was, well, past. We are interested in the now. Reinvent.

We encourage simultaneous submissions. You’re welcome to have your piece running in multiple tabs; just keep us updated if you are accepted elsewhere.

Most decisions are made within sixteen weeks of submission. We will read the piece when we can dedicate the most time to it. Our masthead is composed of students, so if we are not turning over your pieces, trust that we are writing our own beside you.

We ask for First Serial Rights for all pieces. All rights revert back to the creator after six months—within that period, monogamy is a big thumbs up for us. Since we only publish unpublished work, it’s important to us that you tell everyone after about your first time. We reserve the right to republish the piece or include it in any anthologies, as well as to display it in our archives.

Unfortunately, because we are broke, we are not a paying market. We print a yearly anthology; all who are selected for our print publication will receive one contributor copy.

We are strong believers that writers support writers. All submissions are free. Feel free to check out our donation link at the bottom of our website.

In case you skimmed through the rest, we only accept unpublished work. We crave your freshest thoughts.

Don't expect heavy edits from our team. We trust that you send your best work. Plus, if we have major changes, it’s probably not right for us anyway.

If you believe your work may be sensitive to some readers, include a trigger warning. We don’t read cover letters until after, so put a small note at the top of your submission document.

This review holds no tolerance for bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and prejudice of the like. Any pieces that preach that gospel will be immediately turned away, and the author will be barred from future submissions.

Welcome to submissions for Trace Fossils Review!
 

To start, the type of material we crave here is difficult. Difficult to comprehend, difficult to put on paper, & difficult to submit. This review was created first & foremost as a refuge for the work that feels hard as stone, that leaves us possessed.
 

Because this is the genre we cherish most, our promise to you is that we will treat your thoughts as we treat an old house: tenderly, with open ears & the knowledge that it will never be truly ours. Thank you for honoring us with your pieces. For trusting us to foster something resonant inside these walls.

We look forward to experiencing your work.

Warmest thanks,

Jessie & Gideon



Guidelines

     We host four submission periods for our quarterly publication:

• Summer: March-April
• Fall: June-July
• Winter: September-October
• Spring: December-January

This issue lies within the Summer window. Submissions close on April 30th at 11:59pm EST. 

Fiction: For short stories and flash fiction, we ask for one piece at a time. Maximum of 4,000 words. For anything shorter than 300 words, we max out at three submissions per period.

Submit all fiction in Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced. We accept .docx and .word files. Please include all submissions in ONE FILE.

Please make sure that your name does not appear anywhere within your doc. It ruins the fun of anonymity.

We pride ourselves on publishing upcoming authors. Feel free to mention past experience within your author bio, but that was, well, past. We are interested in the now. Reinvent.

We encourage simultaneous submissions. You’re welcome to have your piece running in multiple tabs; just keep us updated if you are accepted anywhere else.

Most decisions are made within sixteen weeks of submission. We will read the piece when we can dedicate the most time to it. Our masthead is composed of students, so if we are not turning over your pieces, trust that we are writing our own beside you.

We ask for First Serial Rights for all pieces. All rights revert back to the creator after six months—within that period, monogamy is a big thumbs up for us. Since we only publish unpublished work, it’s important to us that you tell everyone after about your first time. We reserve the right to republish the piece or include it in any anthologies, as well as to display it in our archives.

Unfortunately, because we are broke, we are not a paying market. We print a yearly anthology; all who are selected for our print publication will receive one contributor copy.

We are strong believers that writers support writers. All submissions are free. Feel free to check out our donation link at the bottom of our website.

Just in case you skimmed through the rest, we only accept unpublished work. We crave your freshest thoughts.

Do not expect heavy edits from our team. We trust that you send your best work. Plus, if we have major changes, it’s probably not right for us anyway.

If you believe your work may be sensitive to some readers, include a trigger warning. We don’t read cover letters until after, so put a small note at the top of your submission document.

This review holds no tolerance for bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and prejudice of the like. Any pieces that preach that gospel will be immediately turned away, and the author will be barred from future submissions.

Welcome to submissions for Trace Fossils Review!
 

To start, the type of material we crave here is difficult. Difficult to comprehend, difficult to put on paper, & difficult to submit. This review was created first & foremost as a refuge for the work that feels hard as stone, that leaves us possessed. 

Because this is the genre we cherish most, our promise to you is that we will treat your thoughts as we treat an old house: tenderly, with open ears & the knowledge that it will never be truly ours. Thank you for honoring us with your pieces. For trusting us to foster something resonant inside these walls.

We look forward to experiencing your work.

Warmest thanks,

Jessie & Gideon



Guidelines

     We host four submission periods for our quarterly publication:

• Summer: March-April
• Fall: June-July
• Winter: September-October
• Spring: December-January

This issue lies within the Summer window. Submissions close on April 30th at 11:59pm EST.

Nonfiction: Personal essays, journalism, memoirs, critical essays and the like. One piece per reading period. Maximum of 4,000 words.

Submit all prose in Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced. We accept .docx and .word files. Please include all submissions in ONE FILE.

Please make sure that your name does not appear anywhere within your doc. It ruins the fun of anonymity.

We pride ourselves on publishing upcoming authors. Feel free to mention past experience within your author bio, but that was, well, past. We are interested in the now. Reinvent.

We encourage simultaneous submissions. You’re welcome to have your piece running in multiple tabs; just keep us updated if you are accepted anywhere else.

Most decisions are made within sixteen weeks of submission. We will read the piece when we can dedicate the most time to it. Our masthead is composed of students, so if we are not turning over your pieces, trust that we are writing our own beside you.

We ask for First Serial Rights for all pieces. All rights revert back to the creator after six months—within that period, monogamy is a big thumbs up for us. Since we only publish unpublished work, it’s important to us that you tell everyone after about your first time. We reserve the right to republish the piece or include it in any anthologies, as well as to display it in our archives.

Unfortunately, because we are broke, we are not a paying market. We print a yearly anthology; all who are selected for our print publication will receive one contributor copy.

We are strong believers that writers support writers. All submissions are free. Feel free to check out our donation link at the bottom of our website.

In case you skimmed through the rest, we only accept unpublished work. We crave your freshest thoughts.

Don't expect heavy edits from our team. We trust that you send your best work. Plus, if we have major changes, it’s probably not right for us anyway.

If you believe your work may be sensitive to some readers, include a trigger warning. We don’t read cover letters until after, so put a small note at the top of your submission document.

This review holds no tolerance for bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and prejudice of the like. Any pieces that preach that gospel will be immediately turned away, and the author will be barred from future submissions.

Welcome to submissions for Trace Fossils Review!

To start, the type of material we crave here is difficult. Difficult to comprehend, difficult to put on paper, & difficult to submit. This review was created first & foremost as a refuge for the work that feels hard as stone, that leaves us possessed. 

Because this is the genre we cherish most, our promise to you is that we will treat your thoughts as we treat an old house: tenderly, with open ears & the knowledge that it will never be truly ours. Thank you for honoring us with your pieces. For trusting us to foster something resonant inside these walls.

We look forward to experiencing your work.

Warmest thanks,

Jessie & Gideon

 

Guidelines

     We host four submission periods for our quarterly publication:

• Summer: March-April
• Fall: June-July
• Winter: September-October
• Spring: December-January

This issue lies within the Summer window. Submissions close on April 30th at 11:59pm EST.

Art/Multimedia: Up to 3 pieces per submission period.

For photography and multimedia, JPEG and PNG work for us. Submissions must have an image quality of at least 300 ppi.

Please make sure that your name does not appear anywhere within your doc. It ruins the fun of anonymity.

We pride ourselves on publishing upcoming authors. Feel free to mention past experience within your author bio, but that was, well, past. We are interested in the now. Reinvent.

We encourage simultaneous submissions. You’re welcome to have your piece running in multiple tabs; just keep us updated if you are accepted elsewhere.

Most decisions are made within sixteen weeks of submission. We will read the piece when we can dedicate the most time to it. Our masthead is composed of students, so if we are not turning over your pieces, trust that we are writing our own beside you.

We ask for First Serial Rights for all pieces. All rights revert back to the creator after six months—within that period, monogamy is a big thumbs up for us. Since we only publish unpublished work, it’s important to us that you tell everyone after about your first time. We reserve the right to republish the piece or include it in any anthologies, as well as to display it in our archives.

Unfortunately, because we are broke, we are not a paying market. We print a yearly anthology; all who are selected for our print publication will receive one contributor copy.

We are strong believers that writers support writers. All submissions are free. Feel free to check out our donation link at the bottom of our website.

In case you skimmed through the rest, we only accept unpublished work. We crave your freshest thoughts.

Do not expect heavy edits from our team. We trust that you send your best work. Plus, if we have major changes, it’s probably not right for us anyway.

If you believe your work may be sensitive to some readers, include a trigger warning. We don’t read cover letters until after, so put a small note at the top of your submission document.

This review holds no tolerance for bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, and prejudice of the like. Any pieces that preach that gospel will be immediately turned away, and the author will be barred from future submissions.