Guidelines for the FICTION OPEN:

Open to all writers, all themes, so have at it!

  • We don't publish stories for children, and we don't publish works longer than 20,000 words.
  • We do consider unpublished novel excerpts if they feel like complete stories.
  • It's fine to submit more than one story or to submit the same story to another category.
  • When we accept a story for publication, we are purchasing first-publication rights. (After we've published it, you can include it in your own collection.)

To make a submission: Please send your work via our new online submission procedure. It's easy, will save you postage and paper, and is much easier on the environment. Just click the yellow Submissions button above to get started!

Dates:
The category will be open to submissions for one full month, from the first day through midnight (Pacific time) of the last day of the month. (Exception: The December Fiction Open closes Jan. 2 each year.) Results will be posted at www.glimmertrain.org.

  • March. Results will be posted on May 31.
  • June. Results will be posted on August 31.
  • September. Results will be posted on November 30.
  • December. Results will be posted on February 28 (or 29, if there is one).

Reading fee:

  • $19 per story.

Prizes:

  • 1st place wins $2000, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies of that issue.
  • 2nd-place: $1000
  • 3rd-place:$600

Other considerations:

  • Open to all writers, all themes.
  • Word count range: 2,000 - 20,000. (Don't worry: A great 2,000 word story can compete against a great 20,000 word story. It's the story that counts.)

We look forward to reading your work!

I write to discover what I know.
--Flannery O'Connor



Every story we publish is unsolicited, and 86% of the stories we accepted last year came to us directly from the writer.
That's exactly how we like it.

One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train Stories is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the Midwest, O.Henry, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories anthologies.

Glimmer Train Press, 4763 SW Maplewood, PO Box 80430, Portland, OR 97280-1430 USA
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