Submissions

For questions regarding the status of a submission, please e-mail treehouse[dot]editors[at]gmail[dot]com.

Overall Guidelines:

Send your work via Submittable using the link below. We accept simultaneous submissions, and we’ll take up to three pieces per author at a time. These can be submitted as one file or multiple — it’s up to you, as long as you submit a total of no more than three pieces. File types accepted are .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, and .txt. Let us know if at any time after submitting, all or part of your submission is published elsewhere. Please don’t submit previously published work, including work on personal blogs, and please remove any identifying author information (name, address, etc.) from the file name and body of your submission.

Cover letters are nice, but not necessary.  In any case, please include a short bio (try to keep it around 50 words or less), and if you have a Twitter handle, website, blog, etc., include them.  If we accept your work, we’ll also push your social networks!

Creative Nonfiction Guidelines:

For creative nonfiction we accept all forms of essays. We will publish short nonfiction pieces with a maximum of 1,000 words. We encourage our writers to try new things in the genre.

Fiction Guidelines:

We’re looking for submissions of 1,000 words or less. Any subject matter is welcome. We like prose that puts us in a scene and keeps us there.

Poetry Guidelines:

We prefer vivid poems that give us a sense of why they matter to the poet and reader. As with the other genres, poems should not be very long.

Genre-Bender Guidelines:

If your creative work doesn’t fit into any other category, this is the genre for you. Experimental writing is encouraged. Length should be 1,000 words or less.

Brief Encounter Guidelines:

Brief Encounters are flash fiction, flash nonfiction, flash genre-benders, or short poems that respond to a monthly prompt.

Treehouse will suggest a prompt every four weeks or so. Pieces submitted should take into account the theme chosen by Treehouse editors as a starting point for the BE or somehow relate to the subject within the submission. Beyond that, they can do whatever they want. Brief Encounters should be no longer than 400 words. We publish new Brief Encounters on Thursdays.

Find our newest Brief Encounters and prompts here.

5 Things Guidelines (Contributors Only):

Any writer whose work has been accepted for publication in Treehouse is invited to submit to this contributors-only series. Write about literally anything you want, as long as it’s formatted as a list of five items. If invited, please send us your 5 Things as an email attachment to treehouse.editors@gmail.com (or simply reply to your acceptance email). Read example 5 Things lists here.

Note: Response time runs approximately two months from the date you submit your work.  This time frame various depends on a number of factors, and it can sometimes be shorter or longer.  We’ll do our best to get back to you as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience in the meantime!

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